beelink X55 - Install won't start!

The problem very well may be in a new kernel. I for example have problem specifically with newer kernel. That is why I suggested OP tries older setup.
 
The problem very well may be in a new kernel. I for example have problem specifically with newer kernel. That is why I suggested OP tries older setup.

Yes, is surely worth a try, never said anything against that :)

But, workarounds for weird SoCs normally get added to newer kernels (or ported back to older ones). But also weird old SoCs, with not much users, may break on newer kernels without noticing...
Anyway, mdurkin mentions that he doesn't even gets to the kernel stage, it seems that GRUB does not even load - or, at least, gets no graphical output.
 
Hello,

I'm getting the same issue trying to install Proxmox (or Debian) on a beelink x55 and vbook A1.
On the other end, Ubuntu server and Centos are installing themselves without issue.

To install proxmox, I had to use 2 usb dongle at the same time
a) one with a usb bootable dongle created from scratch
b) one with a rufus/etcher/dd copy of the proxmox install iso

The PC will boot on the a) and mount b) during init step. The install will work but at the first reboot, it will hang like when trying to boot from the usb install dongle b).

I probably need now to boot from an ubuntu live cd and do a grub-install on /dev/sda

To create a), I followed https://github.com/ndeineko/grub2-bios-uefi-usb and copied the boot folder from the proxmox install iso onto the usb dongle.


It's far from being solved yet.

EDIT: I also tried to install Debian 8.11 and 9.5 without success. (same behavior with a black screen and white cursor, before the grub menu)
 
Hmm, after a bit of research, there seems more people to have problems on this PC/board with Debian (and Proxmox VE's root is Debian).
Out of interest, could you try a newer Debian Testing (Buster) netinst image? A daily generated one could be found at: https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/daily-builds/daily/arch-latest/amd64/iso-cd/
It has a newer kernel and bootloader version than Debian stable (Stretch), possibly including more workarounds for certain hardware, so maybe worth a shot.

Interesting - the daily latest netinst boots with no issues. I progressed to the first graphical install screen no problem but stopped there as that's not really what I want to install.
So whatever issue is on the current proxmox, it does look like it has been resolved in this later debian.
Suggestions of what to do next appreciated. I guess I could install this daily debian, and then install proxmox - would that work? I would prefer not to be running a daily debian though!
 
Hello,

I'm getting the same issue trying to install Proxmox (or Debian) on a beelink x55 and vbook A1.
On the other end, Ubuntu server and Centos are installing themselves without issue.

To install proxmox, I had to use 2 usb dongle at the same time
a) one with a usb bootable dongle created from scratch
b) one with a rufus/etcher/dd copy of the proxmox install iso

The PC will boot on the a) and mount b) during init step. The install will work but at the first reboot, it will hang like when trying to boot from the usb install dongle b).

I probably need now to boot from an ubuntu live cd and do a grub-install on /dev/sda

To create a), I followed https://github.com/ndeineko/grub2-bios-uefi-usb and copied the boot folder from the proxmox install iso onto the usb dongle.


It's far from being solved yet.

EDIT: I also tried to install Debian 8.11 and 9.5 without success. (same behavior with a black screen and white cursor, before the grub menu)
I wonder if there's a way to replace grub on the proxmox install CD/USB for this later version? or to port the version from the latest debian netinst which I just confirmed also works fine. I'm hoping we have a helpful grub expert watching!!!
 
Try imageUSB to make bootable USB and change your CSM parameters in BIOS to legacy
already done. I tried rufus/UltraISO/dd/unetbootin/etcher/win32image/... . The partition table and flags are the same.

The issue is not with the usb dongle. It's with the bootloader used by Debian that's doesn't support as many platforms as the one used by Ubuntu 18.04 or Centos 7.
 
already done. I tried rufus/UltraISO/dd/unetbootin/etcher/win32image/... . The partition table and flags are the same.

The issue is not with the usb dongle. It's with the bootloader used by Debian that's doesn't support as many platforms as the one used by Ubuntu 18.04 or Centos 7.
I can second that. I've also tried many writers, several USB sticks, and a CD-ROM drive. They all boot fine on another pc, and other installers boot fine on the x55. The new testing version of Debian has the problem fixed.
Possibly the proxmox Devs might be able to back port the installer components to create a working installer for the current version, or maybe someone will come up with a manual workaround. Possibly installing in a separate machine and updating grub might be an option - I don't know enough about grub so would need to do some more research...
 
I can also confirm that debian-testing-amd64-netinst is booting and installing fine. The installed system is also booting.
 
Suggestions of what to do next appreciated. I guess I could install this daily debian, and then install proxmox - would that work? I would prefer not to be running a daily debian though!

While installing Proxmox VE on Debian is totally valid and supported, you're right here, installing PVE on the daily testing images won't work for now.
Those are based on what will become the next Debian and Proxmox VE 6.X release sometimes in the middle of 2019, and currently we have no repo online (which makes sense, as it's still before the next Debian release freeze and we may still get some incompatibilities).

What you could do is installing the testing image, with only small disk space and Debootrap a Debian 9 "Jessie" from there, and just use the Debian daily testing as "glorified" bootloader...
PVE can then be installed if you boot the PVE Jessie the first time.

That's quite hacky and not really ideal, I know, looking at how much work you put already in it seems that you're do not fear such things :)

Did not found a possible cause after a quick look at the differneces between our and unstables GRUB, yet...
 
While installing Proxmox VE on Debian is totally valid and supported, you're right here, installing PVE on the daily testing images won't work for now.
Those are based on what will become the next Debian and Proxmox VE 6.X release sometimes in the middle of 2019, and currently we have no repo online (which makes sense, as it's still before the next Debian release freeze and we may still get some incompatibilities).

What you could do is installing the testing image, with only small disk space and Debootrap a Debian 9 "Jessie" from there, and just use the Debian daily testing as "glorified" bootloader...
PVE can then be installed if you boot the PVE Jessie the first time.

That's quite hacky and not really ideal, I know, looking at how much work you put already in it seems that you're do not fear such things :)

Did not found a possible cause after a quick look at the differneces between our and unstables GRUB, yet...
Ugh!!! I've definitely not done that before!

I was trying to work out if there's a way to backport grub from testing onto the installed proxmox booted on another machine. I haven't had chance to try yet. There have been a number of minor version updates to grub going on the package name / version, but I'm struggling to find the bug fixes anywhere. I think it's a reasonable assumption though that the older grub on Debian 9 is the problem given I can't find anything else on a current release that won't boot!
If anyone knows an easy way to backport it, please let me know!!
 
Last edited:
If anyone knows an easy way to backport it, please let me know!!

You could just install Debian 9 stretch on a disk on another PC, like you tried before, but manually install the newer grub .deb package with dpkg -i before switching back to the problematic PC?
If it then boots we know it was just the different GRUB and you can install PVE on top of that.
 
You could just install Debian 9 stretch on a disk on another PC, like you tried before, but manually install the newer grub .deb package with dpkg -i before switching back to the problematic PC?
If it then boots we know it was just the different GRUB and you can install PVE on top of that.
Yes - that's sort of what I'm thinking, or the same on the proxmox install. In the briefest few seconds I had to look at the grub packages I got the impression the main package is a dummy that creates a set of dependencies of several other packages. I could be completely wrong but it looked like I would need to do more than dpkg -i grub2 - perhaps a few more packages.
I was also wondering about adding the testing Deb repos to proxmox and forcing the newer grub install that way, then pinning that version. Again - not something I've done before and haven't had time to have a go yet!!
 
Same issue : debian 9.5 netinstall (and Ubuntu ISO on USB stick boots to a single underline cursor. Secure boot off, fastboot off, various USB params tried without success.
Interestingly... an old copy of "LibreELEC-Intel.x86_64-8.0-devel-20170130110609-r25167-gd210441.img" boots fine. Ran across this awhile back when trying to find a version of linux to run on a cherry trail system.
? what is in this libreELEC that enables it and how to upgrade an ISO of debian and ubuntu to include it? Better yet, how to get the distro managers to update their installers and bootloaders?
 
at the risk of causing wild excitement, I managed to get proxmox to boot.
Whilst I did install the testing version of grub2 this alone did not fix it. I just wanted to mention in case others are trying this.
I then changed quite a few other things, so I'm now going to try and work out exactly what fixed it. I'm doing this on another PC on a flash media install, so final test would be on the SSD. I'll get back with more details once I've narrowed things down...
 
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Looking forward to your step-by-step recipe.
FYI: Be careful with BIOS settings... It is possible to brick the X55 purely through the settings... (Maybe the result of setting the OS in BIOS to "linux') AND big and BOLD "THERE IS NO NVRAM / BIOS REST SWITCH" which most systems and motherboards have!
 
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Looking forward to your step-by-step recipe.
FYI: Be careful with BIOS settings... It is possible to brick the X55 purely through the settings... (Maybe the result of setting the OS in BIOS to "linux') AND big and BOLD "THERE IS NO NVRAM / BIOS REST SWITCH" which most systems and motherboards have!
I've already done that - unplug, remove battery connector, BIOS resets. Seems to work ok, but you're right, there's no cmos reset jumper, or automatic reset after x failed boots - not that I can tell.
 
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