Solved Brand new build, gets stuck with no video during Windows install?

The specs for this build are Asus Z790 Max Gaming Wifi7 motherboard, Intel i5-14600K, G.SKILL Trident Z5 RGB Series DDR5 RAM (Intel XMP 3.0) 32GB (2x16GB) 6400MT/s CL32-39-39-102 1.40V (F5-6400J3239G16GA2-TZ5RK), Samsung 990 Pro 2tb SSD, Cooler Master N400 case, Pioneer DVR-S21WBK/PLUS DVD Burner, StarTech.com 3.5in Front Bay 22-in-1 USB 2.0 Internal Multi Media Memory Card Reader.

As usual with a new build, I go to Asus's website and get the latest motherboard firmware and update the firmware before installing Windows, the latest version of firmware for this motherboard was version 1825.

I'm using a flash drive created with the latest Microsoft Media Creation Tool, downloaded from their website so I'm not 100% sure what version Windows it's installing (since it doesn't say during the creation) but I assume it's 25H2.

When I install Windows I get through the part where it asks what drive I want to install on and I select the 2tb Samsung, it installs and says that the computer may reboot several times. Then it reboots and I get the spinning circle with the message "Installing X% Please keep your computer on. Your computer may restart a few times." when the computer restarts I get a black screen and the hard drive activity light is blighting fairly regularly but the install never proceeds past this point and I'm left it for a couple hours like that. In the event that the USB card reader or DVD drive is somehow interfering with the install I've shut down and unplugged them and tried booting from the flash drive again; deleting any existing partitions and trying again with the same results. If I turn the computer off and try and from the bios boot from the Samsung SSD I get the same "Installing...." message and it eventually reboots to the same black screen.

Does anyone have any idea what the problem here is and how to overcome it?

@NormAtHome

First, here's ten points just for filling out your computer specs.


I'm not an Intel guy but you may need the Intel RST driver??
Also, you need to check whether the SATA controller is set to AHCI or RAID.

You may have to wait for someone that knows more about this.

I've never seen that issue.

What GPU is in the build?

I presume that the BIOS default for the drive controller is AHCI rather than RAID.

All that comes to mind is disconnecting the optical drive and the card reader while doing the install. Pretty random, though.

Ghot said:

@NormAtHome

First, here's ten points just for filling out your computer specs.


I'm not an Intel guy but you may need the Intel RST driver??
Also, you need to check whether the SATA controller is set to AHCI or RAID.

You may have to wait for someone that knows more about this.

Click to expand...

The thing is I've build at least 10 computers with Z790 motherboards over this last year and none of them required that the intel RST drivers be separately loaded during the Windows 11 Pro install.

bobkn said:

I might subtract a few because "system 1" isn't the system in the post text.

Click to expand...

Why? Just because the computer I'm asking about is a build that's not my main working computer? In my office I have 4 computers, 3 desktop and 1 server and the computer I'm asking about is a build for someone else.

bobkn said:

I've never seen that issue.

What GPU is in the build?

I presume that the BIOS default for the drive controller is AHCI rather than RAID.

All that comes to mind is disconnecting the optical drive and the card reader while doing the install. Pretty random, though.

Click to expand...

The Intel Core i5-14600K features integrated Intel UHD Graphics 770. This integrated GPU has a base frequency of 300 MHz and a maximum dynamic frequency of 1.55 GHz. It supports up to 4 displays, DirectX 12.1, and features like Intel Quick Sync Video

Since one of the other posters asked, I'm looking in the bios for the setting for AHCI / Raid and I can't find it, fyi Intel Rapid Storage is set to default which is off and Google suggests it should either be under PCH Storage configuration or under Advanced / System Agent (SA) Configuration / VMD menu however under VMD config these are the options (see photo):

NormAtHome said:

it should either be under PCH Storage configuration or under Advanced / System Agent (SA) Configuration / VMD menu however under VMD config these are the options (see photo):

Click to expand...

When the VMD controller is enabled, it's set to "RAID".
Disabling it sets it to AHCI, although it doesn't indicate as such.

Reinstall again, and when you get to the black screen try resetting the graphics driver:

Press Win + Ctrl + Shift + B
Hold all four keys simultaneously. The screen will briefly flash or go black for a couple of seconds, indicating the driver has reloaded.

This may or may not work, but it can't hurt to try.

Scott said:

When the VMD controller is enabled, it's set to "RAID".
Disabling it sets it to AHCI, although it doesn't indicate as such.

Reinstall again, and when you get to the black screen try resetting the graphics driver:

Press Win + Ctrl + Shift + B
Hold all four keys simultaneously. The screen will briefly flash or go black for a couple of seconds, indicating the driver has reloaded.

This may or may not work, but it can't hurt to try.

Click to expand...

I'll try "Enable VMD Controller to disable; fyi my most recent attempt to install was stuck on the black screen and Win+Ctrl+Shif+B failed to do anything but thanks for the information. I'll be back after I try changing the VMD setting to disabled.

NormAtHome said:

The Intel Core i5-14600K features integrated Intel UHD Graphics 770. This integrated GPU has a base frequency of 300 MHz and a maximum dynamic frequency of 1.55 GHz. It supports up to 4 displays, DirectX 12.1, and features like Intel Quick Sync Video

Since one of the other posters asked, I'm looking in the bios for the setting for AHCI / Raid and I can't find it, fyi Intel Rapid Storage is set to default which is off and Google suggests it should either be under PCH Storage configuration or under Advanced / System Agent (SA) Configuration / VMD menu however under VMD config these are the options (see photo):

Click to expand...

The 14600 would need an F suffix to lack an iGPU. You didn't mention that you were using the iGPU in the first post. I didn't assume it.

It's too bad that Asus didn't produce a separate downloadable BIOS manual for the Z790 Max Gaming Wifi7. (My old Z690-E has one.) The user manual seems pretty limited as regards settings.

A bit of Web searching suggests that the Intel IRST drivers are needed to install Win11 on an NVME drive if VMD is enabled, even if RAID is not used. Disabling that would allow the standard Windows drivers to be used.

Searching also suggests that enabling VMD will not do anything useful for most, if RAID (or Optane) is not used.

I'm surprised that it was enabled. Disabled should be the default.

Do you, per chance, have an external monitor plugged in via HDMI cable but turned off? If so, unplug the HDMI cable.

@NormAtHome

Yes... if you have more than one monitor connected... disconnect the extra one(s).

An odd thing that I noticed after changing

bobkn said:

The 14600 would need an F suffix to lack an iGPU. You didn't mention that you were using the iGPU in the first post. I didn't assume it.

It's too bad that Asus didn't produce a separate downloadable BIOS manual for the Z790 Max Gaming Wifi7. (My old Z690-E has one.) The user manual seems pretty limited as regards settings.

A bit of Web searching suggests that the Intel IRST drivers are needed to install Win11 on an NVME drive, even if RAID is not used. Disabling that would allow the standard Windows drivers to be used.

Click to expand...

If I'd been using a discrete GPU I would have mentioned it, I would have thought that since I didn't people would understand that I'm using the on chip graphics; I didn't know off the top of my head which one it was and had to look it up to add it to my reply to you.

Over the course of 2025 I built 10 computers for friends and family to replace their old non-Windows 11 compatible computers, I used exclusively the Asus Z790 Gaming WIFI 7 which I usually got from Microcenter. However for this build Microcenter was out of stock and had no eta on that board so I bought this one Asus Z790 MAX Gaming WIFI 7 from Amazon which appears identical to the previous board but in no instance of those other 10 computers did I need to load any drivers for the Intel storage controller for the Windows install to work properly. So you understand why I'm wondering why the Z790 Gaming Wifi7 did not need that but that the Z790 MAX Gaming Wifi7 would need that? Also before posting I also saw people mentioning two things i.e. you need the RST drivers loaded and you want the Samsung nvme drivers also; but as I mentioned none of my other Z790 builds required that but I did try in one of my many attempts before posting to load the RST drivers but ended up with the same results.

gewb said:

Do you, per chance, have an external monitor plugged in via HDMI cable but turned off? If so, unplug the HDMI cable.

Click to expand...

This motherboard has a single HDMI port for the onboard graphics, I'm using a single monitor attached to that HDMI port, there are not multiple monitors attached.

Send it back to Amazon and get the Z890(?)

bobkn said:

The 14600 would need an F suffix to lack an iGPU. You didn't mention that you were using the iGPU in the first post. I didn't assume it.

It's too bad that Asus didn't produce a separate downloadable BIOS manual for the Z790 Max Gaming Wifi7. (My old Z690-E has one.) The user manual seems pretty limited as regards settings.

A bit of Web searching suggests that the Intel IRST drivers are needed to install Win11 on an NVME drive if VMD is enabled, even if RAID is not used. Disabling that would allow the standard Windows drivers to be used.

Searching also suggests that enabling VMD will not do anything useful for most, if RAID (or Optane) is not used.

I'm surprised that it was enabled. Disabled should be the default.

Click to expand...

Something odd that I'd just throw in here as a note: I have the provided speaker attached to the front panel connectors speaker header for beep codes and I always get a single beep when the computer boots up before the "Hit Del or F2 to enter bios" appears; when I changed the VMD to disabled and used the F10 key to save changes and exit the computer appeared to reboot but I did not get a beep and the "Hit Del or F2 to enter bios" did not appear and I ended up stuck in with the same black screen / hard drive activity blinking as I do when Windows reboots during install.

When I tried again to use the install media to install Windows (with VMD disabled) and I got the the partition screen where the "load drivers" option was and I tried to load the RST drivers by browsing to the folder I created on the install media it showed no available drivers however "Hide drivers that aren't compatible with this computers hardware" was checked and if I unchecked that then the RST drivers appeared. So the Windows installer believes the RST drivers aren't necessary when VMD is disabled.

I'm not sure what to make of this.

bobkn said:

I might subtract a few because "system 1" isn't the system in the post text. Nor is it system 2.

Click to expand...

I have to agree with @Ghot, They do mention the computer specs at the very beginning of the post. That is unless they edited the post to add the specs.

john1955 said:

Send it back to Amazon and get the Z890(?)

Click to expand...

The Z890 does not support this cpu and both the CPU and motherboard packages have been opened (and by this point are non-returnable) and fyi the person this is for specifically did not want a platform with an AI co-processor

NormAtHome said:

An odd thing that I noticed after changing

If I'd been using a discrete GPU I would have mentioned it, I would have thought that since I didn't people would understand that I'm using the on chip graphics; I didn't know off the top of my head which one it was and had to look it up to add it to my reply to you.

Over the course of 2025 I built 10 computers for friends and family to replace their old non-Windows 11 compatible computers, I used exclusively the Asus Z790 Gaming WIFI 7 which I usually got from Microcenter. However for this build Microcenter was out of stock and had no eta on that board so I bought this one Asus Z790 MAX Gaming WIFI 7 from Amazon which appears identical to the previous board but in no instance of those other 10 computers did I need to load any drivers for the Intel storage controller for the Windows install to work properly. So you understand why I'm wondering why the Z790 Gaming Wifi7 did not need that but that the Z790 MAX Gaming Wifi7 would need that? Also before posting I also saw people mentioning two things i.e. you need the RST drivers loaded and you want the Samsung nvme drivers also; but as I mentioned none of my other Z790 builds required that but I did try in one of my many attempts before posting to load the RST drivers but ended up with the same results.

Click to expand...

You didn't need to specify the exact iGPU. I just wondered whether you were using a discrete card but had failed to mention it. (Not that I thought it had anything to do with your problem.)

Some older Samsung SSDs require proprietary drivers. However, the 990 Pro uses the standard Microsoft drivers.

If you disable VMD, I hope that the Win11 install will proceed without needing any additional drivers.

The Asus Z790 Max Gaming WIFI7 is reportedly an upgraded version of the Asus Z790 Gaming WIFI7. They're supposed to be very similar, with the Max being better with very fast DDR5. (I haven't tried a 1:1 comparison.) Assuming that there's nothing wrong with the Max, I suppose it comes down to BIOS settings. But I'm surprised that stuff like VMD weren't set to the defaults, which would have made the install go as in your past successes.

I apologize for responses that seem insensitive. I hope that you get things sorted soonest.

Winuser said:

I have to agree with @Ghot, They do mention the computer specs at the very beginning of the post. That is unless they edited the post to add the specs.

Click to expand...

But the specs that I mention at the very beginning of my post are the specs of the computer I'm asking about, not the specs of my day to day main computer which the forum adds automatically.

NormAtHome said:

But the specs that I mention at the very beginning of my post are the specs of the computer I'm asking about, not the specs of my day to day main computer which the forum adds automatically.

Click to expand...

I'm agreeing with @Ghot about giving you 10 points because you did list the specs for the computer your trying to setup.

bobkn said:

You didn't need to specify the exact iGPU. I just wondered whether you were using a discrete card but had failed to mention it. (Not that I thought it had anything to do with the problem.)

Some Samsung SSDs require proprietary drivers. However, 990 Pro uses the standard Windows drivers.

If you disable VMD, I hope that the Win11 install will proceed without needing any additional drivers.

The Asus Z790 Max Gaming WIFI7 is reportedly an upgraded version of the Asus Z790 Gaming WIFI7. They're supposed to be very similar, with the Max being better with very fast DDR5.

Click to expand...

Sorry, no joy; same problem when the computer reboots when the install requires it I get this black screen and hard drive activity light blinking