Install problem

[genesis1]

I've been trying Proxmox on an old socket 775's and had no problem installing on a previous motherboard/system but recently bought an old intel board with the Q35 chipset. I expected as before, a trouble free install. However, although the motherboard can see the USB, it refuses to boot the proxmox install with a no boot device report.
I've tried multiple ways, rufus iso and DD setting. I've tried Belena etcher.
I have usb boot turned on in bios, I have usb set as first boot device, I have VT-d turned on. I am at a loss to what else to do? It seems when using rufus set to DD or Etcher that bios does not recognise it as bootable.

 

[sterzy]

Hi,

have you tried disabling secure boot in the BIOS? We currently do not sign our ISOs, so having secure boot enabled would prevent PVE from booting.

 

[genesis1]

There is no secure boot listed in the bios. There is TPM which is disabled.

 

[genesis1]

Strange thing is...here is what the Boot menu shows. If I remove the usb proxmox installer and the hdd it will still show 'proxmox' listed on the Boot options. Why when there is no devices attached???
(This picture shows when hdd, usb are attached.)

 

[sterzy]

Can you give us some information about what BIOS version and motherboard you are using? This seems rather BIOS-specific, so I doubt I can answer your question from the information you provided this far.

 

[genesis1]

Intel DQ35JOE Intel LGA775 DDR2 Micro ATX Motherboard.

 

[genesis1]

 

[sterzy]

Can you add the USB key to the boot device priority list? If that does not work, have you tried disabling UEFI boot?

 

[genesis1]

I can add the usb to the Boot priority list and set it as first Boot device. I can also hit f10 and select the usb stick. I've tried with and without UEFi enabled and still no boot. I seemed to have tried everything I can think of combination wise. I've removed the battery and reset cmos, I've tried setting bios defaults.

However, I must just mention I did get it to work once and installed proxmox, but for reasons too long to go into, I needed to reinstall it but have been unable to do so and don't know why. I've even tried another usb stick.
I've also tried a windows install usb stick and that booted no problem. So it's just proxmox it doesn't seem to like.
I'm sure when it worked the first time I had Uefi enabled as without it I got a stream of errors, one saying couldn't communicate with TPM obviously because its disabled.
But as I say it worked once UEFI was enabled. But it won't work now.

 

[sterzy]

That seems very strange, can you still boot into the proxmox setup that is currently installed? The hardware you are using is like 15 years old at this point, so maybe its rather flaky and the first proxmox and windows boot were more of a fluke? As I said, seems really odd.

 

[genesis1]

No as I wiped the hdd to prepare it for a new install. Yes it is a puzzle. It seems it will only detect my hdd in ide mode. If I setvit to sata its listed butcthen shows sata ports 0-5 empty. I will try resetting the jumper to go into the advanced bios to reset and see if that does anything. It's infuriating when it's not a consistent thing. I mean when I set the Boot order and it fails to boot. If I then reboot and go into bios, the Boot order has been rearranged again.
I will keep trying a few more times before I give up.
I really wanted to experiment on a budget with gpu passthrough. My previous board socket 775 worked fine but was the wrong chipset.
I've considered buying a dell server but if I end up with the same problem of not booting proxmox (and I've read some who have) its wasted money.

 

[genesis1]

Is there another way to make proxmox bootable. I tried EXSI and that booted from the USB straight off. So its something about proxmox thats causing no boot.

 

[genesis1]

Can I burn proxmox to cd/dvd and is there a particular way I should do this?

 

[bbgeek17]

I suspect you tried already, but did not notice it mentioned. Have you tried: different USB ports, different USB sticks?
As far as CD is concerned - any regular method is fine: https://cims.nyu.edu/webapps/content/systems/resources/peripherals/burning

In the end another option to try is to make Deb11 bootable usb/cd and install that, followed by Proxmox install:
https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Install_Proxmox_VE_on_Debian_11_Bullseye

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Ultra low latency all-NVME shared storage for Proxmox - https://www.blockbridge.com/proxmox

 

[genesis1]

Yes I have. I've tried dvd boot and it won't recognise that either! Just tested a debian iso which is hybrid and used rufus to write it to usb as dd. Booted straight away. Have no idea why proxmox wont.

 

[bbgeek17]

Have you checked the SHA256SUMS of the Proxmox ISO? Did you try an older version?
https://www.proxmox.com/en/downloads/category/iso-images-pve

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Blockbridge : Ultra low latency all-NVME shared storage for Proxmox - https://www.blockbridge.com/proxmox

 

[genesis1]

I've not checked the sha sum but I tried v6 and it was the same result. I've downloaded v7 3 times in case of a corrupt download. If I plug the usb into my laptop it boots proxmox no problem but for some reason I cannot fathom, it won't boot on this motherboard yet every other installer will like debian, Windows, exsi etc all will boot without a problem.

 

[bbgeek17]

Since this is clearly not a production worthy hardware, my advice - use proxmox-on-debian install procedure and move on.
https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Install_Proxmox_VE_on_Debian_11_Bullseye

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Blockbridge : Ultra low latency all-NVME shared storage for Proxmox - https://www.blockbridge.com/proxmox

 

[genesis1]

You say that, but I've seen many reports of the same problem on pro servers where people are reporting they can't install proxmox. There's got to be something in the coding of the bootloader that makes it install on some and not on others, seems very strange,yet everything else including EXSI server software will boot fine from a USB. Just trying to solve a puzzle.

 

[genesis1]

Got a bit further but had this error. The last time I got this far I changed to UEFI mode in bios and that successfully booted proxmox. This time it doesn't work unfortunately.
This happens if I write the usb as iso without dd.
If I write it with dd it skips the usb completely and just reports no boot device found.