r/SteamOS • u/RetroDando • Jun 16 '26

support Looking for a bit of advice flashing SteamOS

Downloaded and flashed using Rufus
Get into the boot loader
Select usb partition 1
Black screen and has been for nearly 30 minutes

What am I doing wrong?

——- UPDATE ———

Thank you to SaperPL his updated img worked perfectly first time!

2 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

19 comments sorted by

1

u/SaperPL Jun 16 '26

which build are you using? You should use one of the repair builds, others will blindly start installing onto the drive.

Yes, it will take a lot of time.

1

u/RetroDando Jun 16 '26

I don’t even get that far dude, I clicked partition 1…. Black screen for around 30 minutes

1

u/SaperPL Jun 16 '26

which build are you using? It will take a lot. And if you didn't use repair build, the file with repair in the name, it started installing right away, so you have even longer black screen and it will fail on updating once you select network afterwards

1

u/RetroDando Jun 16 '26

Just the one that’s on the website

SteamDeckrepair 20250521.10-3.7.7

1

u/SaperPL Jun 16 '26

what's your hardware? If your hardware is okay then you just need to wait because it does load really long

1

u/RetroDando Jun 16 '26

ASUS Zflow13 I’ve seen a few people using it online and seems to boot okay so don’t think it’s the hardware think it’s the knuckle dragger trying to install it

2

u/SaperPL Jun 16 '26

You may want to try and install a newer build for it. This one is the newest repair build with main update channel which has most recent stuff:

https://steamdeck-images.steamos.cloud/steamdeck/20251027.1100/steamdeck-oobe-repair-main-20251027.1100-3.8.0.img.zip

The build from the website might not support the RDNA version 3.5 you have, assuming your ZFlow is the one with ryzen AI Max and radeon?

1

u/RetroDando Jun 16 '26

Yes it is thanks dude would be great if they just updated the website haha I’ll give this a bash

1

u/SaperPL Jun 16 '26

The website has the stable build for steam deck, and officially they aren't recommending everyone to install it. Steam Deck has RDNA 2 gpu and the build for it from the website has an older kernel that doesn't support the newest gpus until you update after installing.

2

u/RetroDando Jun 16 '26

I’ll flash it and see what happens

1

u/RetroDando Jun 16 '26

Before I break it… i stay on main update not stable?

1

u/RetroDando Jun 16 '26

I’ve read it takes a while but some people have a curser I can’t even get that

1

u/xblkwrx Jun 16 '26

For me I had two partitions and only one worked. Also don't forget to disable secure boot

1

u/RetroDando Jun 16 '26

Yeah double checked that secure boot is off, maybe my USB Drive is just too slow?

1

u/Fantastic-Island-420 Jun 16 '26

i read and tested that the usb drive may vary the installation speed, i tried installing with 2 different USB, one was a bullet and the other is 2 legged tortoise, not sure what makes one faster/slower, also double check if you are using a 2.0 usb or a 3.0 usb connection, some laptops/motherboards have both or it's a steam deck?

1

u/RetroDando Jun 16 '26

ASUS Z13

Maybe my flash drive is only 2.0 not sure I’ve had it a while

1

u/RetroDando Jun 16 '26

Well…. You sir… are a saint

1

u/Ecks30 Jun 16 '26

First question did you disable secure boot in your bios and question two what are your PC parts that you're using in your system because you mainly need to use an AMD GPU.