Proxmox V8.4 Installation with 2009 Era legacy HP / Dell Servers

Ramoment

New Member
Jun 13, 2025
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Hello all,

(I am brand new to Proxmox so forgive me if I am making a thread that may have some trivial answers.)
I am trying to install proxmox onto (one of, and if possible,) two server racks that I got from my university's IT department when they retired them.

I am trying to install proxmox from a USB .ISO that I created with Balena Etcher.
when attempting to install ProxMox on either however, both appear to have the same issue:
- If attempting to boot from the Graphical VE or Terminal UI both will get hung up: After "Loading Initial Ramdisk", the screen will go black and not load further
- When Attempting to Load through Terminal UI, I have attempted adding the "nomodeset" kernel parameter, but am then met with "could not insert 'intel_rng': no such device".
-
I read in another forum post that disabling the "MPS Table Mode" In BIOS seems to fix the issue, but I do not seem to have that option in either BIOS.
- I have also read that installing Debian, then installing PROXMOX on top of that may fix the issue, though have not tried this.

Could I perhaps be missing a driver of some sort, or a configuration setting to be compatible with Legacy / BIOS?
Both servers are aged, and my goal is using both to learn my way around VM's Hypervisors, and server clusters, and the like.

Any input would be greatly appreciated!
(Servers ↓)
  • HP Proliant DL165 G5P
    • 32 GB RAM: REG PC2-5300 DDR2-667MHZ
    • 2TB Seagate SATA HDD (ST2000DM001)
    • [x2], AMD Opteron 2300 Quad Core
    • Production Run in 2006-2009 (?)
  • Dell Poweredge 1950
    • 32GB RAM: DDR2 667Mhz
    • 2 TB Seagate SATA HDD (ST2000DM001)
    • [x2], Intel Xeon 5100 Quad core
    • [1 of 2] 1000W hot-swap Power supply
    • Production run 2014 (?)
  • Each SSD is blank, Both Servers have Virtual Machine Support set to ENABLE in BIOS.
  • the Proxmox Memory test runs fine without any returned errors on either.
  • Neither have Graphics cards or additional implements: Both use the OEM VGA video output.
 
Production run 2014 (?)
Depending on the exact model more like 2006 ... 19 years old. Both servers are VERY old an the proper support of video cards in them has been dropped or changed significantly in the Linux Kernel.

This is asked a lot and has a couple of workarounds as you mentioned already. The best way to do that is to install Debian before or install PVE on the disk in another machine. Feel free to search the forums for more information about this well known problem of legacy old hardware.
 
I had not considered installing the software onto the hard drive from another device. I will try this as well as an install through Debian and get back. Thank you very much!!