Trouble with the baremetal usb install

proxmon

New Member
Jul 31, 2014
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Hello,

Board/CPU: Supermicro x10SBA
Mem: 8GB DDR3
SSD: Samsung 256GB
Installation target: Leaf 16GB USB
Proxmox installer: Patriot 16GB USB

I am new to proxmox and I was not able to install it. I followed this guide.

- made bootable Patriot USB with proxmox iso
- install wizard launches, I select /dev/sdb Leaf drive
- does not exit gracefully, the boot loader could not be installed
- it appears that proxmox is trying to install the boot loader to /dev/sda Patriot which is causing the fail

To remedy this I set the BIOS boot order to list the Leaf USB drive first. However, with this method I cannot boot to the Patriot USB to install proxmox.

I then tried this (removed Leaf drive from the system):

- made bootable Patriot USB with proxmox iso
- install wizard launches, I select /dev/sda Samsung SSD
- install exits gracefully, I am prompted to reboot
- grub loads with options to start proxmox, proxmox recovery, memtest, etc
- selecting proxmox or proxmox recovery causes the system to reboot indefinitely

Any ideas would be much appreciated.
 
Hello proxmon,

To remedy this I set the BIOS boot order to list the Leaf USB drive first. However, with this method I cannot boot to the Patriot USB to install proxmox.

Note that the first device in boot order is not necessarily /dev/sda!

In your case I think SSD is /dev/sda - wondering why your 1st attempt did not work - because, yes, grub-bootloader is always installed at /dev/sda - did you remove the SSD?

So it should work if you boot temporarily from your installation stick (leave boot order in order to boot always from SSD, only the bootloader is there, the OS is on the stick, install at the other stick and reboot then. I did it once and it worked - but I had to change in /boot/grub/grub.cfg the following line (added the red part):

linux /vmlinuz-2.6.32-27-pve root=/dev/mapper/pve-root ro quiet rootdelay=2

Reason: it lasts a while (approx. 0.5 sec) until the USB comes came up and the lvm environment becomes ready

selecting proxmox or proxmox recovery causes the system to reboot indefinitely

On the other hand your second attempt with SSD should work - you can try to make the above mentioned change, even I cannot imagine that you have the related problem with SSD ....

Are there any messages after the boot-attempt?

Kind regards

Mr.Holmes
 
In your case I think SSD is /dev/sda - wondering why your 1st attempt did not work - because, yes, grub-bootloader is always installed at /dev/sda - did you remove the SSD?
At the beginning of the install proxmox lists the Patriot drive as /dev/sda. Any way to force the Leaf drive to be sda instead?

I had to change in /boot/grub/grub.cfg the following line (added the red part):

linux /vmlinuz-2.6.32-27-pve root=/dev/mapper/pve-root ro quiet rootdelay=2
Is grub.cfg located on the installation media?

Are there any messages after the boot-attempt?
None, after selecting proxmox monitor goes dark. The system reboots and the BIOS splash screen appears.
 
Update: mostly works!

1. Create proxmox install media on Patriot USB
2. Start install, choose /dev/sda Samsung SSD
3. On boot, choose Patriot USB
4. Type pveboot at prompt, proxmox successfully boots!

So there is a grub issue. Within proxmox I used 'upgrade-from-grub-legacy'. Options are:
- /dev/sda 250059 MB Samsung Evo
- /dev/sda2 534 MB /boot
- /dev/sdb 31625 MB Patriot Memory

When I choose the sda option I receive 'No error reported' /usr/sbin/grub-probe: error: cannot find a device for / (is /dev mount?)
When I choose the sda2 option I receive an embedding warning plus the error above.

So I can use proxmox but only when the boot process is helped by the Patriot drive. Any ideas?
 
Hello proxmon

1. Create proxmox install media on Patriot USB
2. Start install, choose /dev/sda Samsung SSD
3. On boot, choose Patriot USB
4. Type pveboot at prompt, proxmox successfully boots!

So there is a grub issue. Within proxmox I used 'upgrade-from-grub-legacy'. Options are:
- /dev/sda 250059 MB Samsung Evo
- /dev/sda2 534 MB /boot
- /dev/sdb 31625 MB Patriot Memory

1. proxmox seems to be installed definitely on /dev/sda = SSD
2. the bootloader grub is also there

Suggestion: now check the installation - I recommend for this NOT to use the proxmox installation media but a powerful LINUX live media (I prefer lubuntu 14.04)

1. create a directory for bootloader-investigation, e.g. /bootx

2. mount proxmox boot partition on it

Code:
mount /dev/sda2 /bootx

3. check in grub.cfg if the proper hd is specified by

Code:
cat /bootx/grub/grub.cfg | grep hd

As a result you should see some lines containing set root='(hd0,gpt2)'

4. verify if lvm pve exist by

Code:
pvdisplay

The result should contain:

PV Name /dev/sda3
VG Name pve


If all the above is ok I really cannot imagine - some grub experiments will be necessary then. I do it usually by adding echo commands in the related menuentry section (menuentry 'Proxmox Virtual.... in that case) of /bootx/grub/grub.cfg in order to verify the progress. You can also try to add there the previously mentioned rootdelay=2

I don´t think upgrade-from-grub-legacy will help.

Kind regards

Mr.Holmes
 
Thanks for reply, however, I was not able to get this to work.

Proxmox is not for me, please close this thread.
 
Just use an external USB CD/DVD drive. It has always worked for me when I had some trouble with USB.

IMO, you shouldn't really ditch PVE just because you had a hard time with installing it once. Not all hardware is equal and the wiki page can't document every specific kind.
 

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