Did you update your system after the installation?
If yes check if you have the previous kernel .
As root you can edit the /boot/efi/EFI/loader/loader.conf to use the kernel you want.
I hope it will work for you as it dit for me when i installed and updated solus the first time.
Edit
You will find the kernels that you have in /boot/efi/EFI/com.solus-project
vasiliospavlos By setting nomodeset you are forcing the system to fallback to llvmpipe which is CPU rendered, not GPU.
Hmmm. I figured as much. it's the only way I can get into the desktop though. Which is even more confusing, because it should be loading the same drivers as it did on the Live USB, no?
I did update the system, I installed it using a Live USB i downloaded maybe an hour before that. When you say "use the kernel you want", is it as easy as changing that string of text? How do I know what to enter? Are there other steps involved in updating the kernel? Sorry, total noob about that stuff.
vasiliospavlos is it as easy as changing that string of text
Yes .
vasiliospavlos How do I know what to enter?
Copy the kernel version you want from /boot/efi/EFI/com.solus-project
to
/boot/efi/EFI/loader.conf
e.g.
if in /boot/efi/EFI/com.solus-project folder there is kernel-com.solus-project.current.5.3.18-140
you edit the /boot/efi/EFI/loader.conf file to read
default Solus-current-5.3.18-140
On the next reboot the kernel current-5.3.18-140 will be used
stylste Going to try this today and will report back!
okay, so update.
I don’t have any of those folders (except boot,
obviously). I am nearly certain I installed with UEFI in mind but there’s a ‘grub’ folder.
inside of ‘boot’ there are four archives which appear to be kernel names / versions.
should I reinstall as UEFI and see if that’s the case?
Edit: well tried reinstalling as UEFI. That was a colassal mistake. Same issue now I don’t have grub to enable ‘nomodeset’ (black screens, monitors turn off from no signal)
edit 2: now I can’t even get past my motherboards boot screen. Cool.
edit 3: the saga continues. I’m running the live USB. Just going to format the SSD and start over (again)
edit 4: SSD formatted and awaiting instructions lol
Do you have any other linux dist. instlled on your ssd now or earlier?
stylste Nope! Only and ever Solus.
(technically none right now)
Is there any other disk mounted on the system?
Edit
What is the output of
lsblk
on the teminal?
Because your ssd disk has already two instalations in it i could suggest before the third installation a full wipe.You can do it from the live media using the dd command.
Read here : https://how-to.fandom.com/wiki/How_to_wipe_a_hard_drive_clean_in_Linux
I got this error when running sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/nvme0n1 bs=1M
dd: error writing '/nvme0n1': No space left on device
1+0 records in
0+0 records out
0 bytes copied, 0.000540503 s, 0.0 kB/s
edit: I just changed the command to sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/nvme0n1 bs=1M
it appears to be running (no errors yet). In top it shows dd running at 90% CPU 
edit #2: Okay, weird, it ran for a while, but then still gave me an error:
dd: error writing '/dev/nvme0n1': No space left on device
953870+0 records in
953869+0 records out
1000204886016 bytes (1.0 TB, 932 GiB) copied, 784.706 s, 1.3 GB/s
I'm learning a metric ton! Now what?
Install nvme-cli to check your disk for errors
sudo eopkg install nvme-cli
and run it
sudo nvme smart-log /dev/nvme0n1
It did not like that. TON of "failed" errors when installing the pkg. Like, dozens.
Says no space left on device. Going to reboot live USB and try again.
here's the output from sudo nvme smart-log /dev/nvme0n1
critical_warning : 0
temperature : 45 C
available_spare : 100%
available_spare_threshold : 10%
percentage_used : 0%
data_units_read : 17,305
data_units_written : 2,058,962
host_read_commands : 241,815
host_write_commands : 2,122,446
controller_busy_time : 14
power_cycles : 24
power_on_hours : 1
unsafe_shutdowns : 10
media_errors : 0
num_err_log_entries : 33
Warning Temperature Time : 0
Critical Composite Temperature Time : 0
Temperature Sensor 1 : 45 C
Temperature Sensor 2 : 54 C
Thermal Management T1 Trans Count : 0
Thermal Management T2 Trans Count : 0
Thermal Management T1 Total Time : 0
Thermal Management T2 Total Time : 0
Try in mbr-bios mode
stylste uh...like....reboot and use the Live USB in a non-UEFI environment?
yes
output appears to be the same
Smart Log for NVME device:nvme0n1 namespace-id:ffffffff
critical_warning : 0
temperature : 45 C
available_spare : 100%
available_spare_threshold : 10%
percentage_used : 0%
data_units_read : 17,312
data_units_written : 2,058,962
host_read_commands : 241,954
host_write_commands : 2,122,446
controller_busy_time : 14
power_cycles : 24
power_on_hours : 1
unsafe_shutdowns : 10
media_errors : 0
num_err_log_entries : 34
Warning Temperature Time : 0
Critical Composite Temperature Time : 0
Temperature Sensor 1 : 45 C
Temperature Sensor 2 : 54 C
Thermal Management T1 Trans Count : 0
Thermal Management T2 Trans Count : 0
Thermal Management T1 Total Time : 0
Thermal Management T2 Total Time : 0
