ASUS Zenbook S14 (UX5406) Installation Issues

[XenExplorer]

So i have historically always loved asus Laptops because they usually work out of the box with alot of Linux distros and also qubes. I can recommend the 2024 and 2025 generations with the core 1xx and core 2xx they work flawless. Now i got one of the newer zenbooks with the 386H chip, but maybe its too New im thinking and it may not be supported yet? Anyhow the installer stalls at the following:

The image where the ‘-’ is the end screen where it just stops doing anything. I tried using different USB sticks and drives with and without DD mode so that cant be it.

Hoping someone can shed some light in the issue.

[corporateblush]

For the purpose of better verbosity, you should try to start that “Troubleshooting…” option on install. You can even consider to add rd.debug when previous is not verbose enough

Also what is set for the vmd/ahci in your bios? I am not telling I can help, but this info might help others more in the know (and you) to further investigate and help.

[XenExplorer]

The troubleshooting Option ends up the same as the other options. The VMD setting is toggled on in bios. Just for the Heck of it i disabled it and tried installing, no luck either..

[corporateblush]

Of course the same would happen with that option. The point was to provide us with more verbose screens of what happens.
Do not disable vmd, I said to let us know what is the setting for it.

[catacombs]

Curious as to how you created the USB Installer of Qubes.

[corporateblush]

@catacombs

Curious as to how you created the USB Installer of Qubes.

Well, I disregarded such a question, because in the OP the user says

@XenExplorer

So i have historically always loved asus Laptops because they usually work out of the box with alot of Linux distros and also qubes. I can recommend the 2024 and 2025 generations with the core 1xx and core 2xx they work flawless.

… which I read the user has a lot of experience with Qubes, so the user knows pretty mucjh all the quirks and perks about installing Qubes.

I am almost sure that the gut feeling of the “too new hardware” is actually correct, but for that we would first have to confirm that NVME drive is accessible and what VMD plays in that.

[XenExplorer]

I used rufus

[XenExplorer]

Yea my Bad. I posted some more Screenshots. Hopefully someone can elaborate.

Maybe some Command/tweak to get the installer at least to Boot in the GUI?

[corporateblush]

From there, I cannot help anymore. Now I don’t even see previous errors, and the installation went further. If that would be my installation, I would suspect corrupt/failing NVME SSD

[catacombs]

Rufus has a lot of options, Rufus has sometimes worked for me, sometimes, and sometimes not at alll. I have not had good experiences building the Qubes install USB from Windows.

I have discovered I should use a fast USB. not an old one. now I use a 3.2 USB. I have discovered using a freshly new SSD/Hard Drive might need to get started by, well sometimes it is not recognized by firmware. that is a rare case. I have used a Windows Install USB to start a freshly new drive. As every one who manufacturers drives, will make sure that Windows can be installed to it. I only run it as far as to format the drive.

If II had your Laptop sitting in front of me, right now, I would create a USB install of desktop Fedora 43. Use the live version of Fedora 43, Install Fedora 43 on the target computer drive.

This should give you some idea if the laptop is -working - functional. Download the Qubes ISO there, Verify Qubes Iso. use disks to blank the USB key. Then use Fedora Media Writer to put ;your Qubes Install on the USB. Then try to do the install again. I am hypothesizing that when blanking drives it serves the purpose of testing the drives for errors.

I am guessing you remember that a Qubes install , to the laptop drive, is in two parts. first to write something onto the drive. then a restart where it will install the different Qubes, Debian Fedora, Whonix.

Each of these steps might allow you to isolate an issue.

Most likely the initial speculation that you might have some incompatible bit of hardware to the current Qubes, Llinux Kernel. ??

The Qubes documentation on how to install Qubes is excellent. Tho it is easy for someone who has experience in Linus to overlook some detail or the other.

I know, I have made nearly every mistake that could be made .

Best Wishes

I should write for a newcomer to Qubes, instead of the experience level of the OP.

One can search the HCL for all the bits and pieces of computer hardware you have.
Of the different methods to discover what the hardware specificallly is, I would use a USB of live Easy OS. but there are some other good options that the user might be more familiar with.

[Atrate]

386H is very new. First of all it may only work with kernel-latest, second of all, you may need to do some graphics driver shenanigans, like in Framework Laptop 13 Pro is stable? - #2 by qubes85156

[XenExplorer]

Thanks so much for the responses i really apreciate it. In the meantime i installed fedora, mint, some other mainstream distros and they pretty much all work out of the box. So the kernel/drivers out there do support the hardware well and they work. The issue is as expected, a qubes specific, either a SDD or GPU problem.

I tried a text based install, it gave me errors where it cant really handle the partitions well and thus did not offer me an option to install. Stuck there.

Then i tried some parameters, forcing usage of some intel and some other drivrers, to no avail. The GUI installer just wont start.

I also tried to install qubes using a well supported asus laptop with similar specs, but directly to an external SSD. As soon as the gui completed the writing to SSD phase, and it wants to restart, i just plugged it into the newer laptop and booted the thing. It worked, and the installer GUI showed up and i could install the Qubes etc. After that was done, again a black screen after the reboot..

Im almost at the point where im just going to have to be patient, and wait for a newer qubes release.. But.. If anyone has some ideas to get it running before that, please let me know! Thanks!

[corporateblush]

@XenExplorer

If anyone has some ideas to get it running before that, please let me know!

You got the idea by @Atrate, but I didn’t see you tried it?

[XenExplorer]

Yes, but to no avail. I cant install using VNC, network not working/recognized. Which is again, another hint at unsupported hardware issues.

[FranklyFlawless]

Tell us the exact hardware model.

[XenExplorer]

Zenbook s14 386h 32 GB ram

[FranklyFlawless]

Okay, title has been updated, so when others acquire the same hardware, this topic will serve as the entry point before the HCL report is submitted.

[XenExplorer]

I have to retract some statements i made earlier. Other distros like ubuntu and even fedora do NOT work out of the box like i said earlier. Sound does not work, and there are serious performance issues. Even fedora 45 is struggling at one point or another.

So this specific laptop model, just needs more time for support to catch up. On the other hand, earlier zenbook models with the 2xx intel chips work out of the box, if anyone wants a nice oled to go with qubes.

[XenExplorer]

Update on this matter: kernel latest on fedora now supports audio on this device as well as other fixes (i think its 7.2x something). So for anyone waiting like myself, the next version of qubes will most likely run on this machine!

(And hopefully the installer too)