Unraid won't boot - Black screen after USB boot Hardware: Motherboard: MSI MPG X870E Carbon WiFi CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X RAM: G.Skill Flare X5 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 GPU: RTX 4070 Ti Super 16GB (PCIe Slot 1) PSU: be quiet! Straight Power 12 1000W Platinum Problem: Unraid USB stick is correctly recognized in BIOS boot menu as UEFI device After selecting the USB stick, screen stays completely black No text, no Unraid boot menu, nothing Monitor is connected via HDMI/DP to the RTX 4070 Ti Super What I've tried: Secure Boot is disabled Tested USB stick in different USB 2.0 ports (black ones) BIOS settings are correct (UEFI boot, USB first in boot order) Waited 2-3 minutes after USB boot - stays black Question: Does anyone have experience with X870E + Unraid? Do I need to set specific boot parameters (nomodeset?) or are there known compatibility issues with the new chipset?

[SOLVED?] Black screen after USB boot - MSI X870E Carbon + Ryzen 9950X + RTX 4070 Ti Super

Hardware:
- Motherboard: MSI MPG X870E Carbon WiFi (AMD X870E chipset)
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X
- RAM: G.Skill Flare X5 32GB DDR5-6000 CL30
- GPU: RTX 4070 Ti Super 16GB (PCIe Slot 1, monitor connected via HDMI/DP)
- PSU: be quiet! Straight Power 12 1000W Platinum
- Unraid Version: 7.2.3

Problem:
Unraid USB stick is correctly recognized in BIOS boot menu as UEFI device. After selecting the USB boot entry, screen goes completely black with no response - no text output, no boot menu, nothing. System appears frozen.

BIOS Settings:
✅ Secure Boot: Disabled
✅ Above 4G Decoding: Enabled
✅ Boot mode: UEFI only (X870E has no Legacy/CSM option)
✅ USB tested in multiple USB 2.0 ports (black ports on rear I/O)
✅ Latest stable BIOS installed

What I've tried:
1. Edited /boot/syslinux/syslinux.cfg - Added boot parameters:
append nomodeset modprobe.blacklist=nouveau nouveau.modeset=0 initrd=/bzroot
Result: Still black screen

2. Created /config/modprobe.d/nouveau.conf with:
blacklist nouveau
Result: Still black screen

3. Waited 5+ minutes after boot - No change, screen stays black

Suspected cause:
RTX 4070 Ti Super (Ada Lovelace architecture) conflicts with nouveau driver during early boot. X870E is very new (Sept 2024) which may have additional compatibility issues.

Next steps I'm considering:
1. Test with older RTX 2080 Ti to rule out GPU-specific issue
2. Test headless boot - check if system is accessible via http://tower.local despite black screen
3. Try more aggressive boot parameters: acpi=off nomodeset iommu=soft
4. Disable Resizable BAR in BIOS as potential conflict

Questions:
- Has anyone successfully booted Unraid 7.x on X870E with RTX 4000 series?
- Should nouveau blacklist work, or does RTX 4070 Ti require different approach?
- Are there known X870E chipset requirements I'm missing?
- Would a temporary basic GPU (GT 1030, etc.) for initial setup be recommended?

Any help appreciated!

Edited January 8Jan 8 by tschatscher

3 hours ago, tschatscher said:

[SOLVED?]

Is this solved or not?

3 hours ago, tschatscher said:

After selecting the USB boot entry, screen goes completely black with no response - no text output, no boot menu,

Does this mean you don't even see the Unraid boot menu?

Yes, the screen remains black; I can't select anything and I can't see anything.

Ubuntu works, I just tested it.

try disabling secure boot.
enable csm compability.

your unraid may not correctly setup for uefi boot and needs to boo t via csm first.

8 minutes ago, tschatscher said:

I can't select anything and I can't see anything.

That means it's not any option/setting; the menu would still show.

Recommend first trying the flash drive in another PC to confirm it's correctly created or try a different flash drive in that one, but created using RUFUS:

- Open Rufus and change "Boot selection" to "Freedos"

- Set the "Volume label" to UNRAID

- set filesytem to FAT32

- click START

- once done, unpack the Unraid ZIP to the flash drive

If you are booting UEFI nothing else you need to do, if you are booting legacy/CSM, run the make_bootable.bat as administrator first.

... please don't muti post:
https://forums.unraid.net/topic/196343-unraid-wont-boot-black-screen-after-usb-boot/#comment-1600377

Please don't create multiple topics for the same thing. Merged.

I tried the same USB stick on another PC and it worked without any problems. I also tried several USB sticks and ports, but nothing worked.

Did you disable secure boot?

Original Problem: After selecting Unraid USB stick in BIOS boot menu, screen would go completely black with no response. System appeared frozen with no text output or boot menu. Hardware: - Motherboard: MSI MPG X870E Carbon WiFi (AMD X870E chipset) - CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D - RAM: G.Skill Flare X5 32GB DDR5-6000 CL30 - GPU: RTX 4070 Ti Super 16GB - Unraid Version: 7.2.3 What didn't work: - Editing syslinux.cfg boot parameters (nomodeset, nouveau blacklist, etc.) - Creating /config/modprobe.d/nouveau.conf - BIOS settings changes (Secure Boot disabled, CSM, etc.) - Different USB ports Solution - Replace Bootloader: The default Syslinux bootloader doesn't work properly with X870E chipset. Had to replace it with Limine bootloader. Steps: 1. Download Limine v10.6.2 binary from: https://github.com/limine-bootloader/limine/tree/v10.6.2-binary 2. Replace bootloader on Unraid USB stick 3. Adapt configuration file for Limine 4. Boot works perfectly! This appears to be a compatibility issue between the very new X870E platform and the standard Syslinux bootloader that Unraid uses. Limine provides better support for modern UEFI implementations. Hope this helps anyone else with similar hardware!

Subject: X870E Chipset Boot Failure - Bootloader Compatibility Issue

Hello Unraid Support Team,

I'm reporting a compatibility issue and workaround for very new hardware.

Hardware Configuration:

- Motherboard: MSI MPG X870E Carbon WiFi (AMD X870E chipset - released Sept 2024)

- CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D

- Unraid Version: 7.2.3

Issue:

Unraid USB stick would not boot - black screen immediately after selecting boot device in BIOS. No text output, no boot menu, complete freeze.

Troubleshooting Attempted:

- Modified syslinux.cfg boot parameters (nomodeset, nouveau blacklist, acpi=off, etc.)

- Created modprobe.d configuration files

- Tested all USB ports (2.0 and 3.0)

- Verified BIOS settings (Secure Boot disabled, Above 4G enabled, etc.)

- Tested with different GPUs

- Tried USB stick on older hardware (worked fine)

Root Cause:

The default Syslinux bootloader appears incompatible with the X870E chipset's UEFI implementation.

Working Solution:

Replaced Syslinux with Limine bootloader v10.6.2:

GitHub

GitHub - limine-bootloader/limine at v10.6.2-binary

Modern, advanced, portable, multiprotocol bootloader and boot manager. (Official mirror of https://codeberg.org/Limine/Limine) - GitHub - limine-bootloader/limine at v10.6.2-binary

After replacing the bootloader and adapting the configuration, Unraid boots perfectly.

Questions for Support:

1. Is this a known issue with X870E and other very new AMD platforms?

2. Will future Unraid versions include updated bootloader with better X870E support?

3. What is the recommended approach for users encountering this - continue using Limine or wait for official fix?

4. Are there any potential issues running Unraid long-term with a non-standard bootloader?

The X870E platform is AMD's newest chipset (released September 2024), so this may affect other users with cutting-edge hardware. Official guidance would be helpful.

Thank you for your assistance!

@JorgeB I take full responsibility for this. I told him to try a different bootloader due to him being able to successfully boot both windows and a linux liveISO such as ubuntu. This got me thinking, after trying a whole bunch of BIOS settings, that his system did not like GRUB or whatever bootloader comes prepackaged with unraid.

I instructed him to try using Limine as the bootloader and made him fully aware that this is unsupported and to revert back upon any further issues. It was the only way I could get his system to boot beyond the bootlodaer which would not even load the unraid boot menu prior.

(I personally have switched bootloaders on my own system for testing purposes)

Edited January 8Jan 8 by MowMdown

Was fast boot disabled in the bios?

44 minutes ago, SimonF said:

Was fast boot disabled in the bios?

Apparently MSI does not offer a fastboot setting anymore for AMD systems per MSI: https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?threads/pro-b650m-b-motherboard-no-fast-boot-option-in-bios.396082/#post-2252516

But yes we tried. His motherboard does in fact not have a fastboot option: https://discord.com/channels/216281096667529216/780505064816246834/1458863546464075941

Edited January 9Jan 9 by MowMdown

10 hours ago, tschatscher said:

Is this a known issue with X870E and other very new AMD platforms?

2. Will future Unraid versions include updated bootloader with better X870E support?

There are other users using boards with the same chipset, so at worst it's an issue with that specific board. You might want to contact their support for a BIOS update.

Thank you for this thread. I can confirm this is not isolated to MSI. I experienced the exact same issue on an ASRock X870E Taichi with a Ryzen 9950X: My system would freeze on a black screen immediately after the BIOS logo, even though Ubuntu booted perfectly.

After replacing the default bootloader with Limine, the system now boots Unraid without issues. Since this is now confirmed across two different motherboard vendors, it strongly suggests a chipset-wide compatibility issue with the current Unraid bootloader

3 hours ago, pany said:

it strongly suggests a chipset-wide compatibility issue with the current Unraid bootloader

There are other users using boards with the same chipset without issues, but since it happens with two different brands, there may be a new BIOS or AGESA causing the issue.

FWIW on my ASRock X870E Taichi I saw the same behavior across 3 BIOS versions (3.50, 4.03, and 4.04), including full CMOS resets.

On 1/8/2026 at 8:08 PM, tschatscher said:

adapting the configuration

@tschatscher Can you please post/attach the config file for the limine boot loader? It may help other users with a similar issue.

Had some time to look into this, if anyone else has the same issue, you just need to copy the BOOTX64.EFI limine binary to /EFI/boot replacing the stock Unraid one, then create a file in that same folder named limine.conf with the entries below (for a stock config, you an adapt if necessary), I've also attached it below if you prefer to donwnload it.

Stock config:

interface_branding: Lime Technology, Inc.
timeout: 5
default_entry: 1

/Unraid OS
    protocol: linux
    path: boot():/bzimage
    module_path: boot():/bzroot

/Unraid OS GUI Mode
    protocol: linux
    path: boot():/bzimage
    module_path: boot():/bzroot
    module_path: boot():/bzroot-gui

/Unraid OS Safe Mode (no plugins, no GUI)
    protocol: linux
    path: boot():/bzimage
    module_path: boot():/bzroot
    cmdline: unraidsafemode

/Unraid OS GUI Safe Mode (no plugins)
    protocol: linux
    path: boot():/bzimage
    module_path: boot():/bzroot
    module_path: boot():/bzroot-gui
    cmdline: unraidsafemode

/Memtest86+
    protocol: linux
    path: boot():/memtest

Of course editing the boot options using the GUI won't work; it would need to be done manually.

limine.conf

I also experienced this issue after updating my BIOS from F7 to F11 on a Gigabyte X870E Aorus Pro. Looks like this includes AMD AGESA 1.2.8.0.

Tried clearing CMOS a couple times, clearing TPM and Secure Boot keys (because they decided to enable secure boot by default in F8). Nothing I tried would get Unraid to boot.

Had some other strange issues with this BIOS update so I just rolled back to F7. Unraid is back to working order.

Edited March 7Mar 7 by turtleinarock

Had the same issue on an MSI Pro B850P with the latest update which includes AMD AGESA 1.3.0, the Limine solution worked for now.

Hi,

I've just started testing, but I've downloaded 7.2.4 to a USB, added the limine binary to the /EFI/boot and added the config files.

So far the Mac mini 2012 has booted with the external Thunderbolt 2 enclosures connected. Just running through some testing now.

J

On 3/7/2026 at 11:10 AM, turtleinarock said:

I also experienced this issue after updating my BIOS from F7 to F11 on a Gigabyte X870E Aorus Pro. Looks like this includes AMD AGESA 1.2.8.0.

Tried clearing CMOS a couple times, clearing TPM and Secure Boot keys (because they decided to enable secure boot by default in F8). Nothing I tried would get Unraid to boot.

Had some other strange issues with this BIOS update so I just rolled back to F7. Unraid is back to working order.

Hi turtleinarock,

I upgraded from a similar versions in X870E Aorus ELITE WF7 ICE when moving from F7 to F10a.
To get bios to view the bootable unraid usb:

Enable CSM,

Disable storage boot option control. I believe this just disables the checks for UEFI or Legacy. Not really sure howGigabyte classifies those bootloaders.
(Optionally disable PCI Device ROM Priority?) I disabled mine. I doubt it matters for the bootable drive.

The unraid bootable will appear as "USB".

I ended up using the limine binary solution above and it works perfectly on F11.