diff --git a/src/lib/gateway-state.ts b/src/lib/gateway-state.ts
index 1b78a02d29..25c05d3d1b 100644
--- a/src/lib/gateway-state.ts
+++ b/src/lib/gateway-state.ts
@@ -59,7 +59,10 @@ export function getReportedGatewayName(output = ""): string | null {
 }
 
 export function isGatewayConnected(statusOutput = ""): boolean {
-  return typeof statusOutput === "string" && statusOutput.includes("Connected");
+  return (
+    typeof statusOutput === "string" &&
+    (statusOutput.includes("Connected") || statusOutput.includes("Server Status"))
+  );
 }
 
 export function hasActiveGatewayInfo(activeGatewayInfoOutput = ""): boolean {
@@ -80,11 +83,20 @@ export function isGatewayHealthy(
   activeGatewayInfoOutput = "",
 ): boolean {
   const namedGatewayKnown = hasStaleGateway(gwInfoOutput);
-  if (!namedGatewayKnown || !isGatewayConnected(statusOutput)) return false;
-
   const activeGatewayName =
     getReportedGatewayName(statusOutput) || getReportedGatewayName(activeGatewayInfoOutput);
-  return activeGatewayName === GATEWAY_NAME;
+  const connected = isGatewayConnected(statusOutput);
+  const activeInfo = hasActiveGatewayInfo(activeGatewayInfoOutput);
+
+  // Primary path: status reports connected and gateway name matches
+  if (connected && activeGatewayName === GATEWAY_NAME) return true;
+
+  // Fallback: status is empty (ARM64/non-TTY) but gateway info confirms
+  // the named gateway exists and has an active endpoint
+  const statusEmpty = typeof statusOutput === 'string' && stripAnsi(statusOutput).trim().length === 0;
+  if (statusEmpty && namedGatewayKnown && activeInfo && activeGatewayName === GATEWAY_NAME) return true;
+
+  return false;
 }
 
 export function getGatewayReuseState(
diff --git a/src/lib/onboard.ts b/src/lib/onboard.ts
index 53a2f0ec77..56400137d1 100644
--- a/src/lib/onboard.ts
+++ b/src/lib/onboard.ts
@@ -2486,9 +2486,14 @@ async function startGatewayWithOptions(_gpu, { exitOnFailure = true } = {}) {
         }
         console.log("  Waiting for gateway health...");
 
-        const healthPollCount = envInt("NEMOCLAW_HEALTH_POLL_COUNT", 5);
-        const healthPollInterval = envInt("NEMOCLAW_HEALTH_POLL_INTERVAL", 2);
+        // ARM64 (e.g. Raspberry Pi) needs more time: k3s takes 90-180s to init
+        const isArm64 = process.arch === "arm64";
+        const healthPollCount = envInt("NEMOCLAW_HEALTH_POLL_COUNT", isArm64 ? 30 : 5);
+        const healthPollInterval = envInt("NEMOCLAW_HEALTH_POLL_INTERVAL", isArm64 ? 10 : 2);
         for (let i = 0; i < healthPollCount; i++) {
+          // Ensure the gateway is selected before each probe (non-TTY environments
+          // like ARM64 may not have it selected automatically)
+          runCaptureOpenshell(["gateway", "select", GATEWAY_NAME], { ignoreError: true });
           const status = runCaptureOpenshell(["status"], { ignoreError: true });
           const namedInfo = runCaptureOpenshell(["gateway", "info", "-g", GATEWAY_NAME], {
             ignoreError: true,
diff --git a/test/gateway-state.test.ts b/test/gateway-state.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5b980f0c7b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/gateway-state.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,213 @@
+// SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2026 NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+//
+// Unit tests for gateway-state.ts classifiers.
+// Covers ARM64/non-TTY fallback paths where `openshell status` returns empty output.
+// See: https://github.com/NVIDIA/NemoClaw/issues/1711
+
+import { describe, it, expect } from "vitest";
+import {
+  isGatewayConnected,
+  isGatewayHealthy,
+  getGatewayReuseState,
+  hasStaleGateway,
+  hasActiveGatewayInfo,
+  getReportedGatewayName,
+} from "../src/lib/gateway-state.js";
+
+// Realistic CLI outputs
+const STATUS_CONNECTED = `
+Server Status
+
+Gateway: nemoclaw
+Server: https://127.0.0.1:8080/
+Connected
+`;
+
+const STATUS_SERVER_STATUS_ONLY = `
+Server Status
+
+Gateway: nemoclaw
+Server: https://127.0.0.1:8080/
+`;
+
+const GW_INFO_BASE = `
+Gateway Info
+
+Gateway: nemoclaw
+Gateway endpoint: https://127.0.0.1:8080/
+`;
+
+// Both aliases reference the same fixture — previously duplicated as
+// GW_INFO_NAMED / GW_INFO_ACTIVE.
+const GW_INFO_NAMED = GW_INFO_BASE;
+const GW_INFO_ACTIVE = GW_INFO_BASE;
+
+const GW_INFO_MISSING = "No gateway metadata found";
+
+// Active endpoint without a "Gateway: <name>" line — unnamed gateway
+const GW_INFO_UNNAMED_ENDPOINT = `
+Gateway Info
+
+Gateway endpoint: https://127.0.0.1:8080/
+`;
+
+// Status output with a foreign (non-nemoclaw) gateway name
+const STATUS_FOREIGN = `
+Server Status
+
+Gateway: other-gw
+Server: https://127.0.0.1:9090/
+Connected
+`;
+
+describe("hasStaleGateway", () => {
+  it("returns true when output contains the named gateway", () => {
+    expect(hasStaleGateway(GW_INFO_NAMED)).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it("returns false for empty string", () => {
+    expect(hasStaleGateway("")).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it("returns false when output says no gateway metadata found", () => {
+    expect(hasStaleGateway(GW_INFO_MISSING)).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it("returns false when gateway name does not match", () => {
+    const other = GW_INFO_NAMED.replace("nemoclaw", "other-gw");
+    expect(hasStaleGateway(other)).toBe(false);
+  });
+});
+
+describe("hasActiveGatewayInfo", () => {
+  it("returns true when output contains Gateway endpoint", () => {
+    expect(hasActiveGatewayInfo(GW_INFO_ACTIVE)).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it("returns true for unnamed endpoint output", () => {
+    expect(hasActiveGatewayInfo(GW_INFO_UNNAMED_ENDPOINT)).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it("returns false for empty string", () => {
+    expect(hasActiveGatewayInfo("")).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it("returns false when output says no gateway metadata found", () => {
+    expect(hasActiveGatewayInfo(GW_INFO_MISSING)).toBe(false);
+  });
+});
+
+describe("getReportedGatewayName", () => {
+  it("extracts gateway name from status output", () => {
+    expect(getReportedGatewayName(STATUS_CONNECTED)).toBe("nemoclaw");
+  });
+
+  it("extracts gateway name from gateway info output", () => {
+    expect(getReportedGatewayName(GW_INFO_NAMED)).toBe("nemoclaw");
+  });
+
+  it("returns null for empty string", () => {
+    expect(getReportedGatewayName("")).toBeNull();
+  });
+
+  it("returns null when no Gateway: line is present", () => {
+    expect(getReportedGatewayName(GW_INFO_UNNAMED_ENDPOINT)).toBeNull();
+  });
+
+  it("returns null for undefined", () => {
+    expect(getReportedGatewayName()).toBeNull();
+  });
+});
+
+describe("isGatewayConnected", () => {
+  it("matches 'Connected' keyword", () => {
+    expect(isGatewayConnected(STATUS_CONNECTED)).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it("matches 'Server Status' keyword (OpenShell 0.0.25+)", () => {
+    expect(isGatewayConnected(STATUS_SERVER_STATUS_ONLY)).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it("returns false for empty string", () => {
+    expect(isGatewayConnected("")).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it("returns false for undefined", () => {
+    expect(isGatewayConnected()).toBe(false);
+  });
+});
+
+describe("isGatewayHealthy", () => {
+  it("returns true when status shows Connected and gateway name matches", () => {
+    expect(isGatewayHealthy(STATUS_CONNECTED, GW_INFO_NAMED, GW_INFO_ACTIVE)).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it("returns true when status shows Server Status and gateway name matches", () => {
+    expect(isGatewayHealthy(STATUS_SERVER_STATUS_ONLY, GW_INFO_NAMED, GW_INFO_ACTIVE)).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it("returns true via fallback when status is empty but gateway info confirms health (#1711)", () => {
+    // ARM64 / non-TTY: openshell status returns ""
+    expect(isGatewayHealthy("", GW_INFO_NAMED, GW_INFO_ACTIVE)).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it("returns false when nothing is available", () => {
+    expect(isGatewayHealthy("", "", "")).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it("returns false when gateway info is missing", () => {
+    expect(isGatewayHealthy("", GW_INFO_MISSING, "")).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it("returns false when gateway name does not match", () => {
+    const wrongName = GW_INFO_ACTIVE.replace("nemoclaw", "other-gw");
+    expect(isGatewayHealthy("", GW_INFO_NAMED, wrongName)).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it("does not trigger fallback when status is non-empty", () => {
+    // Non-empty status that lacks Connected/Server Status should not fall through to fallback
+    const nonEmptyStatus = "some unexpected output";
+    expect(isGatewayHealthy(nonEmptyStatus, GW_INFO_NAMED, GW_INFO_ACTIVE)).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it("returns false for Disconnected status (regression)", () => {
+    // Disconnected is non-empty, so fallback must not trigger
+    expect(isGatewayHealthy("Disconnected", GW_INFO_NAMED, GW_INFO_ACTIVE)).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it("returns true via fallback when status contains only ANSI escapes", () => {
+    // Some terminals emit bare ANSI codes with no readable text — should
+    // be treated as empty after stripping, triggering the ARM64 fallback.
+    const ansiOnly = "\x1b[0m\x1b[32m";
+    expect(isGatewayHealthy(ansiOnly, GW_INFO_NAMED, GW_INFO_ACTIVE)).toBe(true);
+  });
+});
+
+describe("getGatewayReuseState", () => {
+  it("returns 'healthy' for normal connected state", () => {
+    expect(getGatewayReuseState(STATUS_CONNECTED, GW_INFO_NAMED, GW_INFO_ACTIVE)).toBe("healthy");
+  });
+
+  it("returns 'healthy' via ARM64 fallback path (#1711)", () => {
+    expect(getGatewayReuseState("", GW_INFO_NAMED, GW_INFO_ACTIVE)).toBe("healthy");
+  });
+
+  it("returns 'foreign-active' when connected to a different gateway", () => {
+    expect(getGatewayReuseState(STATUS_FOREIGN, "", "")).toBe("foreign-active");
+  });
+
+  it("returns 'stale' when named gateway exists but no active endpoint", () => {
+    // gwInfo has "Gateway: nemoclaw" but activeGatewayInfo is empty — no live endpoint
+    expect(getGatewayReuseState("", GW_INFO_NAMED, "")).toBe("stale");
+  });
+
+  it("returns 'active-unnamed' when endpoint exists without gateway name", () => {
+    // No status, no gwInfo, but activeGatewayInfo has an endpoint without a Gateway: line
+    expect(getGatewayReuseState("", "", GW_INFO_UNNAMED_ENDPOINT)).toBe("active-unnamed");
+  });
+
+  it("returns 'missing' when all outputs are empty", () => {
+    expect(getGatewayReuseState("", "", "")).toBe("missing");
+  });
+});
diff --git a/test/onboard.test.ts b/test/onboard.test.ts
index b4bc918c2d..a1b9366aa6 100644
--- a/test/onboard.test.ts
+++ b/test/onboard.test.ts
@@ -963,7 +963,7 @@ describe("onboard helpers", () => {
         "",
         "Gateway Info\n\n  Gateway: nemoclaw\n  Gateway endpoint: https://127.0.0.1:8080",
       ),
-    ).toBe("active-unnamed");
+    ).toBe("healthy");
     expect(
       getGatewayReuseState(
         "Gateway status: Connected",