Reboot to black screen after fresh install

Knobody1960

KaOS-2026.02-x86_64.iso
MSI Desktop with only 1 video card
Display (HP X34): 3440x1440 in 34", 60 Hz [External]
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X (24) @ 5.72 GHz
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti [Discrete]
Memory: 4.09 GiB / 62.71 GiB

Greetings.

New user here, I watched a youtube video showcasing the latest version of KaOS and liked the look of the Niri desktop and decided to give it a try. The Live ISO worked perfectly on my desktop, so I ran the installer and all went well.

On reboot, after the Limine boot loader, I was eventually greeted with a login prompt as expected. Entered my password, pressed enter, and......... nothing!

I waited a good 2 minutes before doing anything, then pressed ALT-F1, then ALT-F2, which then gave me a slightly lighter black screen and a mouse cursor, but no desktop.

Pressing ALT-3 to 12 and cycling through did not reveal a VT, so the only alternative was to reset. I did search online for a solution but sadly found nothing.

Has anyone experienced this, and if so, is there a solution?

Thanks.

EDIT>
After finding and reading the KaOS posting guide, here is more info>
I did checksum the .iso file
I installed directly from the booted iso through VenToy
I erased the disk and used automatic partitioning in the installer
Installation log here
Xorg log here

demm

First off, ventoy is not supported (https://kaosx.us/install/usb_flash/), that might be your issue, but since this seems to be a system running non-free nvidia 590, it might be you are missing the needed nomodeset on the kernel (boot) line. Once the Limine bootloader starts enter e to edit, go to the last line > end and add nvidia_drm.modeset=1, then use F10 to boot the system. If that fixes your issue, you will need to add this to the Limine files in /boot.
After updating to nvidia 595 (currently in the build repo for testing), that extra drm shouldn't be needed.

I do have a favor to ask though, since you have the needed hardware to run a much-needed test for the upcoming new ISO. Would you mind using a test ISO (if yes, then I will link it here) and boot it with non-free nvidia in Live mode? So far, I have not found any testers (and I do not have the hardware) for nvidia 590 (non-free) with the complete new way of creating ISOs/running Live.

Knobody1960

demm - Thanks for the reply, I'll certainly give your suggestion a try. As for the ISO testing, I'd be happy to help.
Regards.

demm

If you can, it would really be helpful if you can boot into non-free (Live) with this ISO:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/kaos-test/files/iso/KaOS-2026.03.26-x86_64.iso

(this ISO should no longer need the added bootline once installed, nvidia 595 is supposed to have added the drm.modeset in this version)

Knobody1960

I tried both the free and non-free driver versions, but none of them would boot past Limine! Just a black screen, and I waited 2 1/2 minutes.
That was using Ventoy and grub1 mode.
I then tried Ventoy grub2 mode and got the message - "No bootfile found for UEFI Maybe the image does not support x64 UEFI".
No idea why.
I'm trying to find an actual USB stick and will burn the image to that with Balena Etcher and see if that makes a difference.

EDIT: could you give me a sha256 checksum for the iso file, maybe it was corrupted on download?
Regards.

demm

Neither ventoy or balena etcher are supported, please use a supported way to create a bootable USB (as posted in my first reply).
Info for the ISO file:
https://forum.kaosx.us/d/3321-test-cycle-202603-iso/17

Knobody1960

Ah sorry, forgot about that, rewriting with dd now.
EDIT - checksum was correct

Knobody1960

Success!! Worked perfectly.
Sysinfo log available here

Anything else you want me to test?
Regards.
EDIT: I selected the non-free install option (which was default), changed language to English, keyboard to DE, clean format (all defaults) plus encryption. The German keyboard WAS working on LUKS password entry - great improvement, much appreciated 🙂

demm

Oh, you installed it too 🙂
That wasn't strictly needed, main thing I needed to know if all the overlay/limine/dracut changes worked with non-free in Live mode, so that is answered now, it does, thank you.
Since you installed this test ISO, make sure to read the first post too, so you know why you have a lot of newer packages then the repositories, should you try to update (that will go away once the ISO is released):
https://forum.kaosx.us/d/3321-test-cycle-202603-iso

Knobody1960

While I was waiting on the install I went online with Falkon, messed about in the menus, and also played Kpatience without any issues. All seemed absolutely stable. Nice work.
If you don't need any more testing today, I'll restore my old system and wait for the next iso release.
Regards.

demm

Knobody1960 wait for the next iso release

The ISO you just used will be the next stable release, a few more tests need to be run here, then all is set to release tomorrow.

Knobody1960

Just found something odd - In the wallpaper selection tool, it looks like it has your wallpaper folder as the default: /home/anke/Pictures/Wallpapers

demm

That is an error, but not big enough to redo the ISO for (already corrected in git, so thank you for posting).