I’m attempting to install NixOS on my device but am encountering issues with the Live ISO. After booting from the USB, the initial boot menu appears. However, upon selecting any option, the system either remains on the menu screen or returns to the BIOS without proceeding with the boot process. There are no error messages displayed.
I’ve tried multiple USB drives, utilized various USB ports, and created the bootable media using dd, Etcher, and Rufus, all without success. This issue occurs with both nixos-minimal-24.11.717534.b000159bba69-x86_64-linux.iso and nixos-gnome-24.11.717534.b000159bba69-x86_64-linux.iso.
Okay, I found out the issue.
It’s caused by the touchscreen display I have connected to my device — that’s why the NixOS Live ISO wasn’t booting.
I tried connecting a different monitor, and the Live ISO booted just fine.
My touchscreen is connected via two cables: HDMI for data and USB for power.
If I connect power cable to the device I am booting, everything works fine.
If I connect power cable to the external power supply (so that display always gets power), weird issues arise. The NixOS live image boot menu becomes unpredictable, all options do the same thing: they either reopen the boot menu, or go to bios, or boot nixos (which then fails to boot).
I can reliably reproduce it on many NixOS live ISOs: minimal or graphical, 2023, 2024 or 2025 (i dont have older ISOs). This doesnt happen with ISOs for other distros, everything else boots fine, as far as i can see.
Im not sure how to debug grub issues like that, I can try if you tell me what to do and where to look.
Well, this is what I was asking for more detail on. What does it look like? Does any text flash on screen? When it boots nixos and fails, what does nixos say it failed on?
