diff --git a/frontend/src/scenes/health/components/HealthEmptyState.test.tsx b/frontend/src/scenes/health/components/HealthEmptyState.test.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..edd98984ba97
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/src/scenes/health/components/HealthEmptyState.test.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+import '@testing-library/jest-dom'
+
+import { cleanup, render, screen } from '@testing-library/react'
+
+import { HealthEmptyState } from './HealthEmptyState'
+
+describe('HealthEmptyState', () => {
+    afterEach(cleanup)
+
+    it('points a project with no events at install instead of declaring it healthy', () => {
+        render(<HealthEmptyState hasIngestedEvents={false} />)
+
+        expect(screen.getByText('Health checks have not run yet')).toBeInTheDocument()
+        // LemonBanner renders the action twice for its responsive layout, so there is at least one.
+        expect(screen.getAllByText('Install PostHog').length).toBeGreaterThan(0)
+        expect(screen.queryByText('All systems healthy')).not.toBeInTheDocument()
+    })
+
+    it('declares a project with events healthy when no issues are found', () => {
+        render(<HealthEmptyState hasIngestedEvents={true} />)
+
+        expect(screen.getByText('All systems healthy')).toBeInTheDocument()
+        expect(screen.queryByText('Install PostHog')).not.toBeInTheDocument()
+    })
+})
diff --git a/frontend/src/scenes/health/components/HealthEmptyState.tsx b/frontend/src/scenes/health/components/HealthEmptyState.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..52ee058cd130
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/src/scenes/health/components/HealthEmptyState.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+import { LemonBanner } from '@posthog/lemon-ui'
+
+import { urls } from 'scenes/urls'
+
+import { ProductKey } from '~/queries/schema/schema-general'
+import { OnboardingStepKey } from '~/types'
+
+export function HealthEmptyState({ hasIngestedEvents }: { hasIngestedEvents: boolean }): JSX.Element {
+    // Without any ingested events the checks have nothing to run against, so treat an empty result
+    // set as "not set up yet" and point the user at install rather than claiming everything is fine.
+    if (!hasIngestedEvents) {
+        return (
+            <LemonBanner
+                type="info"
+                action={{
+                    to: urls.onboarding({
+                        productKey: ProductKey.PRODUCT_ANALYTICS,
+                        stepKey: OnboardingStepKey.INSTALL,
+                    }),
+                    children: 'Install PostHog',
+                    'data-attr': 'health-empty-install',
+                }}
+            >
+                <p className="font-semibold mb-0">Health checks have not run yet</p>
+                <p className="text-sm mt-1 mb-0">
+                    Health checks start once your project receives data. Install PostHog to send your first events.
+                </p>
+            </LemonBanner>
+        )
+    }
+
+    return (
+        <LemonBanner type="success">
+            <p className="font-semibold mb-0">All systems healthy</p>
+            <p className="text-sm mt-1 mb-0">No active health issues found for your project.</p>
+        </LemonBanner>
+    )
+}
diff --git a/frontend/src/scenes/health/components/HealthIssueList.tsx b/frontend/src/scenes/health/components/HealthIssueList.tsx
index a812f1715f40..c9d1cabfcebe 100644
--- a/frontend/src/scenes/health/components/HealthIssueList.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/scenes/health/components/HealthIssueList.tsx
@@ -10,20 +10,23 @@ import type { HealthIssueCategory } from '../healthCategories'
 import { healthSceneLogic } from '../healthSceneLogic'
 import { severityToTagType, worstSeverity } from '../healthUtils'
 import type { HealthIssue } from '../types'
+import { HealthEmptyState } from './HealthEmptyState'
 import { HealthIssueCard } from './HealthIssueCard'
 
 export const HealthIssueList = (): JSX.Element => {
-    const { issues, healthIssuesLoading, healthIssues } = useValues(healthSceneLogic)
+    const { issues, healthIssuesLoading, healthIssues, hasIngestedEvents, currentTeam } = useValues(healthSceneLogic)
     const { snoozeIssue, dismissIssue, undismissIssue, loadHealthIssues } = useActions(healthSceneLogic)
 
+    const loadingSkeleton = (
+        <div className="flex flex-col gap-3">
+            <LemonSkeleton className="h-16 rounded" />
+            <LemonSkeleton className="h-16 rounded" />
+            <LemonSkeleton className="h-16 rounded" />
+        </div>
+    )
+
     if (healthIssuesLoading && !healthIssues) {
-        return (
-            <div className="flex flex-col gap-3">
-                <LemonSkeleton className="h-16 rounded" />
-                <LemonSkeleton className="h-16 rounded" />
-                <LemonSkeleton className="h-16 rounded" />
-            </div>
-        )
+        return loadingSkeleton
     }
 
     if (!healthIssuesLoading && healthIssues === null) {
@@ -35,12 +38,14 @@ export const HealthIssueList = (): JSX.Element => {
     }
 
     if (issues.length === 0) {
-        return (
-            <LemonBanner type="success">
-                <p className="font-semibold mb-0">All systems healthy</p>
-                <p className="text-sm mt-1 mb-0">No active health issues found for your project.</p>
-            </LemonBanner>
-        )
+        // The health request resolves off currentTeamIdStrict, which falls back to "@current", so it
+        // can finish before currentTeam itself loads (e.g. during OAuth bootstrap). Until the team
+        // resolves we can't tell "no events yet" from "already installed", so keep the loading state
+        // rather than flash the install prompt at a project that is already installed.
+        if (!currentTeam) {
+            return loadingSkeleton
+        }
+        return <HealthEmptyState hasIngestedEvents={hasIngestedEvents} />
     }
 
     const groupedByCategory: Partial<Record<HealthIssueCategory, HealthIssue[]>> = {}
diff --git a/frontend/src/scenes/health/components/HealthIssueSummaryCards.tsx b/frontend/src/scenes/health/components/HealthIssueSummaryCards.tsx
index b86ce5e53a86..e296832c0870 100644
--- a/frontend/src/scenes/health/components/HealthIssueSummaryCards.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/scenes/health/components/HealthIssueSummaryCards.tsx
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ import { severityColor } from '../healthUtils'
 import type { CategoryHealthSummary } from '../types'
 
 export const HealthIssueSummaryCards = (): JSX.Element => {
-    const { categorySummaries, healthIssuesLoading, healthIssues } = useValues(healthSceneLogic)
+    const { categorySummaries, healthIssuesLoading, healthIssues, hasIngestedEvents } = useValues(healthSceneLogic)
 
     if (healthIssuesLoading && !healthIssues) {
         return (
@@ -29,6 +29,13 @@ export const HealthIssueSummaryCards = (): JSX.Element => {
         return <></>
     }
 
+    // A project that has never ingested an event has no data for any check to run against, so the
+    // per-category "healthy" cards would be a premature success claim — and would contradict the
+    // install prompt the empty issue list shows just below them. Hide the cards until data arrives.
+    if (!hasIngestedEvents) {
+        return <></>
+    }
+
     return (
         <div className="grid grid-cols-1 @2xl/main-content:grid-cols-3 gap-4">
             {categorySummaries.map((summary: CategoryHealthSummary) => (
diff --git a/frontend/src/scenes/health/components/HealthTables.stories.tsx b/frontend/src/scenes/health/components/HealthTables.stories.tsx
index 34d48612cd3b..954ac1440b8f 100644
--- a/frontend/src/scenes/health/components/HealthTables.stories.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/scenes/health/components/HealthTables.stories.tsx
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import DataModelingDetailContent from '../categoryDetail/categories/DataModeling
 import { SdkOutdatedRenderer } from '../renderers/SdkOutdatedRenderer'
 import type { HealthIssue, HealthIssueSeverity } from '../types'
 import { DataModelingHealthTable } from './DataModelingHealthTable'
+import { HealthEmptyState } from './HealthEmptyState'
 import { IngestionWarningTable } from './IngestionWarningTable'
 import { PipelineHealthTable } from './PipelineHealthTable'
 import { WebAnalyticsHealthTable } from './WebAnalyticsHealthTable'
@@ -298,6 +299,10 @@ export const WebAnalyticsEmpty: StoryFn = () => (
     <WebAnalyticsHealthTable issues={[]} onSnooze={noop} onDismiss={noop} onUndismiss={noop} />
 )
 
+export const EmptyAllHealthy: StoryFn = () => <HealthEmptyState hasIngestedEvents={true} />
+
+export const EmptyNoEventsYet: StoryFn = () => <HealthEmptyState hasIngestedEvents={false} />
+
 export const SdkOutdatedDefault: StoryFn = () => <SdkOutdatedRenderer issue={SDK_OUTDATED_ISSUE} />
 
 export const SdkOutdatedEmpty: StoryFn = () => <SdkOutdatedRenderer issue={SDK_OUTDATED_EMPTY_ISSUE} />
diff --git a/frontend/src/scenes/health/healthSceneLogic.tsx b/frontend/src/scenes/health/healthSceneLogic.tsx
index 666964fa3ee8..418a831085ed 100644
--- a/frontend/src/scenes/health/healthSceneLogic.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/scenes/health/healthSceneLogic.tsx
@@ -8,11 +8,17 @@ import { sceneConfigurations } from 'scenes/scenes'
 import { Scene } from 'scenes/sceneTypes'
 import { teamLogic } from 'scenes/teamLogic'
 
-import { Breadcrumb } from '~/types'
+import { Breadcrumb, TeamPublicType, TeamType } from '~/types'
 
 import { CATEGORY_ORDER, HEALTH_CATEGORY_CONFIG, categoryForKind } from './healthCategories'
 import type { CategoryHealthSummary, HealthIssue, HealthIssueSeverity } from './types'
-import { REFRESH_COOLDOWN_MS, REFRESH_POLL_COUNT, REFRESH_POLL_INTERVAL_MS, SEVERITY_ORDER } from './types'
+import {
+    HEALTH_ISSUES_LOAD_TIMEOUT_MS,
+    REFRESH_COOLDOWN_MS,
+    REFRESH_POLL_COUNT,
+    REFRESH_POLL_INTERVAL_MS,
+    SEVERITY_ORDER,
+} from './types'
 
 export interface HealthIssuesResponse {
     results: HealthIssue[]
@@ -23,9 +29,11 @@ export interface HealthIssuesResponse {
 
 // Generated by kea-typegen. Update if you're an agent, ignore if you're human.
 export interface healthSceneLogicValues {
+    currentTeam: TeamPublicType | TeamType | null // teamLogic
     currentTeamIdStrict: number | string // teamLogic
     breadcrumbs: Breadcrumb[]
     categorySummaries: CategoryHealthSummary[]
+    hasIngestedEvents: boolean
     healthIssues: HealthIssuesResponse | null
     healthIssuesLoading: boolean
     isManualRefresh: boolean
@@ -88,6 +96,7 @@ export interface healthSceneLogicMeta {
     __keaTypeGenInternalSelectorTypes: {
         issues: (healthIssues: HealthIssuesResponse | null) => HealthIssue[]
         totalCount: (healthIssues: HealthIssuesResponse | null) => number
+        hasIngestedEvents: (currentTeam: TeamPublicType | TeamType | null) => boolean
         categorySummaries: (issues: HealthIssue[]) => CategoryHealthSummary[]
     }
 }
@@ -102,7 +111,7 @@ export type healthSceneLogicType = MakeLogicType<
 export const healthSceneLogic = kea<healthSceneLogicType>([
     path(['scenes', 'health', 'healthSceneLogic']),
     connect({
-        values: [teamLogic, ['currentTeamIdStrict']],
+        values: [teamLogic, ['currentTeamIdStrict', 'currentTeam']],
     }),
     actions({
         setShowDismissed: (show: boolean) => ({ show }),
@@ -156,7 +165,7 @@ export const healthSceneLogic = kea<healthSceneLogicType>([
                     const queryString = new URLSearchParams(params).toString()
                     const url = `api/environments/${values.currentTeamIdStrict}/health_issues/?${queryString}`
 
-                    return await api.get(url)
+                    return await api.get(url, { signal: AbortSignal.timeout(HEALTH_ISSUES_LOAD_TIMEOUT_MS) })
                 },
             },
         ],
@@ -170,6 +179,12 @@ export const healthSceneLogic = kea<healthSceneLogicType>([
             (s) => [s.healthIssues],
             (healthIssues: HealthIssuesResponse | null): number => healthIssues?.count ?? 0,
         ],
+        // A project that has never ingested an event has no data for any check to run against, so an
+        // empty result set there means "checks have not run yet", not "everything is healthy".
+        hasIngestedEvents: [
+            (s) => [s.currentTeam],
+            (currentTeam: TeamPublicType | TeamType | null): boolean => !!currentTeam?.ingested_event,
+        ],
         categorySummaries: [
             (s) => [s.issues],
             (issues: HealthIssue[]): CategoryHealthSummary[] => {
diff --git a/frontend/src/scenes/health/types.ts b/frontend/src/scenes/health/types.ts
index a7a23f432704..1e78d07a3fe0 100644
--- a/frontend/src/scenes/health/types.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/scenes/health/types.ts
@@ -12,6 +12,10 @@ export const REFRESH_COOLDOWN_MS = 5 * 60 * 1000
 export const REFRESH_POLL_INTERVAL_MS = 5000
 export const REFRESH_POLL_COUNT = 12
 
+// Bound the issues load so a request that never settles fails instead of leaving the page on
+// skeletons forever. On timeout the loader rejects and the scene falls through to its retry banner.
+export const HEALTH_ISSUES_LOAD_TIMEOUT_MS = 30 * 1000
+
 export interface HealthIssue {
     id: string
     kind: string