Hi,
I have exactly the same problem with my Apollo Lake pc based on Asrock J4205 board. It just doesn't boot, ends on blinking cursor. BIOS is standard UEFI, asus-like.
Pendrive is most preferred one for problematic devices - Kingston DataTraveller G3, which boots perfectly fine on everything else than my HTPC 🙂 (old laptops, macbook pro, gaming rig etc.)