I’m attempting to install TrueNAS SCALE but I’m unable to progress past the initial “Start TrueNAS SCALE Installation” menu. As soon as I select it to start installing, the system goes to a blank screen, and the keyboard becomes completely unresponsive (Caps Lock no longer toggles). The system stays powered on, but there are no debug LEDs or error indicators.
Here’s everything I’ve tried so far:
Multiple USB sticks and multiple USB ports
Verified ISO with SHA256 and flashed using BalenaEtcher
Also attempted installation via Ventoy
Ran Memtest — RAM passed
Tried with one RAM stick in A2 as recommended
Disabled Secure Boot and virtualisation
Boot priority set only to the USB installer
Tested with integrated graphics and a dedicated GPU
Tried different monitors and cables
System still hangs at a blank screen every time
At this point, I’m out of ideas. If anyone has seen this behaviour or knows what might cause the installer to freeze before loading, I’d appreciate any suggestions.
You might try turning off the wifi in the BIOS / UEFI. Try booting a live Linux and see if it works. Debian is what TrueNAS is based on.
It freezes while detecting something on your hardware, most likely
I tried searching forum for your MB but yours was the only MSI I saw
Tried Debian using a live debian ‘try debian’ iso and it seemed to work fine. Had also tried Ubuntu which is working fine.
I disabled the board’s Onboard Wi-Fi/BT Module Control → Wi-Fi/Bt Off, but still no luck in getting past this black screen.
Edit: Trying the normal smaller Debian installer iso and seems to be working fine. Did get a firmware bug error that promptly went away and let me continue installing. ‘Failed to pass event in the TPM final events log.’.
I believe all overclocking features are off. I do have choices to set BIOS UEFI/CSM Mode to either UEFI or CSM. Once I enable CSM I can choose in Boot mode select between UEFI or LEGACY+UEFI.
You are just trying things at this point. You can try disabling your NIC to see if it doesn’t like your RealTek. If the install to the boot drive works, you just have to shut it down with the console menu but at least it might get you installed.
You can try upgrading the BIOS version. You didn’t state the version you were on, so just guessing.
If you have a spare computer, you can try doing the install on that with just your install USB and your boot drive. You don’t want any other drives connected so you won’t overwrite your good data.
I don’t think it is an install USB problem but you can try using Rufus to make the install USB and make sure to chose the DD option over ISO mode.
Is there a reason you are trying 25.04 instead of 25.10?
At this point, it is mostly guessing. Did you list all the hardware in your first post?
Enabling CSM and booting the system fails to display anything, whether it be with Boot mode select set to UEFI or LEGACY+UEFI. (Had to reset BIOS settings in order to access BIOS again)
Disabling my NIC by setting On-board LAN Controller → disabled, didn’t fix the issue.
I am running BIOS version 7E71v1A50 (latest as of 2026-02-09).
I do not have a spare computer at the moment to install TrueNAS on.
I am trying 25.04 as I intend to run HexOS (which is on this same version) which also suffers from the same installation issue. Please note that while troubleshooting on this forum I have not been installing with a HexOS iso but with the regular TrueNAS SCALE one.
I am also running this computer connected to a ASUS VG258 monitor via a displayport cable.
I would also like to thank you for taking your time in helping me troubleshoot. I appreciate it a lot
