So I finally managed to get my Aros machine to start up, a bad RAM slot confused me for a whole day! But now it's stuck in the eternal GRUB loop.

Hardware:
Motherboard: ASUS P8Z68-V LX, BIOS 0703 (Aptio v2.00.1201)
CPU: Intel Core i5-2400 @ 3.10GHz (Sandy Bridge, integrated HD Graphics 2000)
RAM: 2x Corsair Vengeance LP DDR3, 8GB total, running in DIMM_A1+A2 (DIMM_B2 slot confirmed defective via DRAM_LED, excluded)
GPU tested: both integrated HD 2000 AND discrete GeForce 9500GS (PCIEX16_1 slot) — identical failure with both
PSU: Corsair CX550
Storage: Samsung MZYTY256HDHP-000L2 256GB SSD, SATA3G_3, IDE mode
Boot media: 8GB USB stick, AROS One v1.3 64-bit (ABIv11) written via dd directly from the official .vhd USB image

Symptom:

GRUB boots and displays all 4 menu options correctly (Default, Safe VESA, Safe VGA, Early Boot DOpus4). Selecting ANY of the four options results in identical behavior: ~2 seconds after selection, monitor reports "No video input" and the system automatically reboots back to the GRUB menu. This happens consistently regardless of which graphics path (iGPU or discrete GeForce 9500GS) is active.
Already tried, no change in behavior:

SATA mode: switched AHCI → IDE
Boot method: tried both UEFI boot and Legacy Boot Override for the USB device
BIOS "Initiate Graphic Adapter": tried both iGPU and PCIE/PCI
Swapped monitor cable between HDMI/DVI/VGA (confirmed HDMI works fine for BIOS/GRUB display)
Tested with both integrated graphics and discrete GeForce 9500GS installed

Any pointers on what else to check would be very welcome. I noticed in some older post that next step might be to disable SATA, Network etc as well and see what happens?

Best regards!

I see that the motherboard has had a few BIOS updates; I have the latest version (4105) on mine.
https://www.asus.com/pl/supportonly/p8z68v_lx/helpdesk_bios/

My bet would be on USB pendriver preparation. Most of the time when we get reports of "crashes right after grub" it's due to wrongly recorded pendrive.

I'm not aware if using 'dd' is a valid approach. AROS One author suggests using either rufus or etcher software for his VHD image.

A standardw way to create a bootable pendrive is to use InstallAROS from a VM:

https://arosnews.github.io/how-to-prepare-usb-flash-drive-aros/

Additionally try first to boot a standard "core" system from one of the nightly builds (just to verify, don't use it for "production". https://build.axrt.org/download/builds/AROS-ABIv11/

You're a genius and I owe you at least 3 beers. Onwards to the actual installation!!

Great that it worked Now, if you want a cooler effect, you can download the version where I've modified the AROS logo - here's what it looks like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8wh9D86_MU

This is also version 4105; the only difference is the logo

That is a beauty!! And a nice desktop as well, your games distro right? I've downloaded it and put it on a pendrive but haven't had the time to try it out yet.

I'd love that version, and don't forget you have beers to collect if you pass through the western parts of Sweden. We can occupy my now empty office and do some serious geeking

Struggling with the network, he did not get an IP automatically so i started playing around with ifconfig and route add and now when I get the "Message too long" errors it reminded me of the fact that i did the same thing on Virtualbox.
So now I guess I'm about to do something stupid and complicated again soo.. is there an easier way?

add rtl8169.device and check "Start networking during system boot". that's all

Ah, wrong device!
Again, thanks a lot, I really hope you like beer ..

No I'll stop now, everything works and I'm going to collect my Kickstarts and play with Amiberry and the old KOEI games that I haven't found in working versions for whd, find that Simplegit client (might be hard) or write my own (probably even harder) and then just enjoy my wonderful AROS machine.

I do wonder about HDToolbox though, that little piece of software that, as soon as you think you finally understand it, always proves you wrong. (didn't they rewrite it for AmigaOS3.2?)
I have a 256GB disk, HDToolbox lists it as 238, which is fine. But from what I understand I only use half of i so The "first" partition0 which is listed as 238gb should have free space for a WORK partition but there's no "unused space" anywhere?
Or am I just wrong again??
In the other hand, I think I'll manage with 123.9GB it's more the habit of having a Work:

[quote name=ami-elvis post=12785]@ami-elvis - No I'll stop now, everything works and I'm going to collect my Kickstarts and play with Amiberry and the old KOEI games that I haven't found in working versions for whd, find that Simplegit client (might be hard) or write my own (probably even harder) and then just enjoy my wonderful AROS machine.

I do wonder about HDToolbox though, that little piece of software that, as soon as you think you finally understand it, always proves you wrong. (didn't they rewrite it for AmigaOS3.2?)
I have a 256GB disk, HDToolbox lists it as 238, which is fine. But from what I understand I only use half of i so The "first" partition0 which is listed as 238gb should have free space for a WORK partition but there's no "unused space" anywhere?
Or am I just wrong again??
In the other hand, I think I'll manage with 123.9GB it's more the habit of having a Work:[/quote]

Have you created an RDB partition table for the AROS partitions? My SSD is set up as follows:

PC-MBR with 1 partition which is...

PC-EBR extended partition table with 1 partition which is...

RDB partition table with multiple partitions which are each...

SFS-BE of size <= 120 GB.

Cheers,
Nigel.

Hi, well this is the part I really should document. I never managed to get the Installer to setup Work partition for me and I always crash HDToolbox when I try to prepare them myself so I end up letting the installer do it.
I'll check it out tomorrow, there should be 120GB unused space somewhere although I couldnt find it.
Thanks!!

Don't use HDToolbox to create partitions; InstallAROS will do it all for you automatically and without errors!

I'm probablty doing something wrong but I've never managed to get it to set up a Work: for me though. I tried it with this installation as well but it just told me "disc is full" and i had to restart installation. Maybe next time, one day I'll conquer the mysterious secrets of the HDToolbox .

But I ended up with "unit 4" - PC-MBR 238G
..and inside that Partition 0 - PC-EBR 238.4G
..with another Partition0 - RDB 124G

And there I noticed I could use "Add Entry" for my remaining 114G, so yet another Partition 0, RDB table and RDB type and inside I could create DH1. (a table that are only able to hold 1 single partition, is it really a table?). It worked sort of, at least I could format it but there's "no disc in drive" so I can't use it. Better start all over, for the learnings!

Aah, wrong filsystem, i must have slipped in the list. Well, old man learns things after all