Installing Zorin OS 18 Core on Windows 11: Black screen, can't load boot device menu

Installing Zorin OS
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I am trying to install Zorin OS 18 Core on my refurbished DELL XPS 8930 with Windows 11 I just bought secondhand. I've followed the Install Zorin OS guide but am stuck at "Boot from the USB Install Drive".

Here is my device information:

Device name DESKTOP-NEFS87M
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-9700 CPU @ 3.00GHz (3.00 GHz)
Installed RAM 16.0 GB (15.8 GB usable)
Device ID B91756A4-9A19-47C7-B52E-81501D00F549
Product ID 00325-81382-09098-AAOEM
System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
Pen and touch No pen or touch input is available for this display

The seller told me that the GPU is an Nvidia GTX 1050ti.

This is the monitor I am using: onn 24" FHD (1920 x 1080p) 100hz Office Monitor with 6.07 ft HDMI Cable, Black - Walmart.com

Balena etcher did not work, so instead I used Rufus, here's a screenshot of the settings I used:

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image474×541 13.5 KB

I followed this guide: Flashing Zorin OS using Rufus - Tutorials & Guides - Zorin Forum

When I shut down my computer, turn it back on and press F12 my monitor stays black but the light on its power button flashes blue. The screen just stays black so I can't access the UEFI settings or disable secure boot.

I did some searching online and also tried to access the UEFI settings by going to Settings, then Windows Update-> Advanced Options -> Recovery -> Advanced startup -> Restart now. When I did this, I got the same black screen with blue flashing light.

I also checked the integrity of my iso file using Quickhash and saw that the checksums matched.

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I was able to install Zorin OS and am just seeing this now - I didn't rewrite the iso in Rufus, kept it the same as in my screenshot.

I used ChatGPT and what ended up doing the trick was switching the HDMI port I was plugged into on my Dell XPS 8930 tower. I initially plugged my HDMI cable into the top one which was apparently the motherboard HDMI port.

After plugging into the one toward the bottom, the GPU HDMI port, the Dell logo popped up on my monitor (it hadn't before) and I was finally able to access the UEFI settings menu. From there I disabled secure boot, saved and restarted.

Once I was in the test mode for Zorin it told me that RST (or RAID) was detected and I would have to disable that before installing Zorin. So I went back to the UEFI settings, changed SATA Operation from RAID to AHCI, and was then able to install Zorin. I chose the version of Zorin for modern Nvidia drivers.

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