Fails to boot after fresh install

Jim@@@

New Member
May 14, 2015
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0
1
Hi,
I used a brand new machine and installed from a disk. It finished installing, but before restarting, it says:

waiting for /dev to be fully populated ... acer-wmi No WMI interface, unable to load

Then, after restarting it, it does not find the boot drive (system).

I am new to Linux, and could you tell me how to fix it?
I've tried it a few times, and the only thing I can think of is this "acer-wmi". Files are there.

It is an Acer desktop with Core i7 & 8GB memory & 1TB HDD.

Please help. This cool program got me interested in Linux, I am so excited but I cannot even start...
Thank you!
 
Hi, liska,
I've installed 4 times, and same thing. Proxmox ISO hash is OK. Have not checked the DVD.
Installing proxmox separately (migration) is not an option, due to my lack of experience.
I booted up with GParted Live, and all the partitions, grub is there, but I don't know enough to diagnose what is wrong.

Found this, but I don't know what to do: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1471845

Thanks!
 
And does it find grub on boot? Try that live cd I have mentioned and choose boot from hard drive or something like that. After successful boot run grub-install /dev/sda and reboot. Some change?
Anyway, if this does not help, try to install debian first, the transition is not complicated and is well described on that page.
You seem to be installing proxmox on laptop instead of some kind of server hardware, this is why you are experiencing these problems.
 
Dear liska,
Using the disk, I was able to boot Proxmox. Halleluyah! Thank you, liska!
I am using a desktop box by Acer, and not the laptop.
However...

>grub-install /dev/sda and reboot

Here is the message before reboot:
This GPT partition label contains no BIOS partition. embedding won't be possible.
embedding is not possible, but this is required for RAID and LVM install.

After the reboot, same error: No device is found.
This is a screenshot from GParted. The drive itself is 2TB.
Grub.jpg

What can I do from here?
Please advise again.
 
Was there any message after typing grub-install /dev/sda ? It should write something like Installation finished. No error reported.

You can also boot systemrescuecd and use chroot to repair broken grub:
mkdir /mnt/sysimage
mount /dev/pve/root /mnt/sysimage
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/sysimage/boot
mount -o bind /dev /mnt/sysimage/dev
mount -o bind /proc /mnt/sysimage/proc

chroot /mnt/sysimage /bin/bash

grub-install --recheck /dev/sda

If this does not help you, try to install debian first. In fact it is more easy than preceding advice.
 
As I mentioned before, when I did

grub-install /dev/sda

The error message was:
This GPT partition label contains no BIOS partition. embedding won't be possible.
embedding is not possible, but this is required for RAID and LVM install.

I tried as per your instruction, but it gave me an error on the third line:
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/sysimage/boot

Error message:
NTFS signature is missing.
Failed to mount '/dev/sda1/ does not seem to have a valid NTFS.

I guess the only option left for me is to install debian and manually install proxmox...

I have another question. What is the best partitioning for proxmox? I have 1 TB, and allocated 20GB for swap. I don't remember how much was the max and min size for... I don't even remember exactly what they were. For image storage and something else. I want to have 1 instance with AD DC and file server with Samba. Another instance for Quickbooks database. Maybe another for something else.

Thank you for bearing with me so far.


 
Well, I can`t help you anymore with these errors;(
The last option is really easy, don`t be afraid. Here is detailed howto http://debian-handbook.info/browse/stable/sect.installation-steps.html

20GB is ok I think. Anyway during install you will be asked how you want to distribute your hard drive, use definitely LVM.
As linux beginner, it would be better to select everything in one LVM partition - here is just a potential problem you will go out of space in the future and everything will collapse. And the probability is higher when using samba. But if you will take a look on that, there should be no problem.

On my servers, there is first partition for boot around 1mb, then lvm partition(volume) for system around 20gb, then the rest for guest data and 10gb for swap.

Anyway, your hw is suboptimal and maybe you will probably find more problems in the future. But as a start point it should be ok.
 
Last edited:
Hi, it seems that many people are having a problem installing Proxmox on a box with UEFI. I was looking and looking to see if could disable it on my motherboard, but I could not find it. Maybe it is just an old BIOS. Then I don't understand.

The installation CD created 128MB EFI partition, so I don't know if it creates that regardless.

I was able to install proxmox on a laptop, starting with Debian installation. I did not see any comments on successful installation with EFI motherboard in this way either. I might be able to try when I find time.


I really need proxmox on a desktop box, so maybe all I could do is to buy a motherboard...? What I have is a retail Acer Veriton PC.
It is getting a little out of my hand, though it is a part of tough learning process.

Thanks, liska!
 
I have here a debian installation ion a PC qwith EFI, then upgraded to Proxmox and it works fine. I suggest you the following steps:
1) Install debian 7.8 on your PC
2) check you're indeed using EFI instead of BIOS with the command:

[ -d /sys/firmware/efi ] && echo "EFI boot on HDD" || echo "Legacy boot on HDD"

3) if the debian install was successfull you're able to reboot and login) , try installing proxmox 3.4 again
4) if the proxmox 3.4 installation do not work, re-install debian with a minimum set of packages, then activate proxmox on top of it following the wiki instructions

It will work believe me :)

Note: you can find generic instructions about reinstalling grub on efi PC here: https://wiki.debian.org/GrubEFIReinstall#Reinstalling_grub-efi_on_your_hard_drive
 
manu,
First of all, thank you for your reply.

I tried to install debian 7.8, and the PC did not boot.
The command that you mentioned does not give me proper info since the only way to boot the system is through a rescue CD. It shows "Legacy Boot."

Here are some pictures of BIOS screen:
BIOS SS1.jpgBIOS SS2.jpg

Do you anything that has to do with EFI? "Launch CSM" is close, but no success.
 
If you see "Legacy boot", it means you're not using EFI :)
After the debian install and rebooting, after the bios screen, do you see the grub menu ?
 
Hi, manu,
I am sorry for the late reply. I've been trying and trying. Also contacted Acer customer support for BIOS upgrade.

I think it is Acer BIOS/EFI that is so messed up.
Their BIOS/EFI would not let me boot Linux system. It seems that it only allows Windows boot.

To answer your question, I do not see grub menu. It says, "Reboot and Select proper Boot Device."
I've never heard that BIOS not booting Linux, and only capable to boot Windows OS, but that seems to be the case.

My options are:
1- Buy a new retail motherboard for this Acer box
2- Keep using the rescue disk to boot

Do you see any problem with option 2, except I will have a problem for remote reboot of Proxmox?
I hope it won't happen, though.

Thanks!
 
I tried again booting from the USB Flashdrive using the RESCUE option and it worked!
The question is how do I make the computer to boot permanently without having the USB flashdrive inserted :(
 

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