UEFI: Install on 2 SSD ZFS Z1 - "unable to init esp and install proxmox-boot loader"

[gildra]

Hi

I am running into a weird issue while trying to install PVE 7. I have a Dell R520 with and HBA (H330, IT Mode) and 2 Samsung SSD (consumer grade) connected to it.

The system was set to BIOS boot mode and I was able to install Proxmox with ZFS RaidZ1 on those two SSDs, everything worked so far. I then wanted to setup PCIe Passthrough and read that Proxmox need to be installed in UEFI in order to use that functionality.

Also, Proxmox always signaled that IOMMU was not found when trying to add a PCI device to a VM. I tried setting the flags in /etc/default/grub as well as /etc/kernel/cmdline but it the "DMAR: IOMMU enabled" in dmesg output wouldn't show up. Figured I might just have to install Proxmox from UEFI, is that correct anyway?

I then created a new stick with Etcher and set the R520 to UEFI boot mode. The installer boots, let's me select RaidZ1 on the two disks during setup and starts installing. At the last step, where it tries to make the system bootable it fails however, with the error message "unable to init esp and install proxmox-boot loader on /dev/sda" (might be sdb, don't remember exactly). And that's pretty much it, I don't know how to get around this problem.

I tried formatting the disks with GParted from Ubuntu but the same issue appears. So i then tried installing from BIOS boot mode and it worked. When setting system to UEFI boot however, I can still not see a bootable Proxmox disk (someone mentioned it should install UEFI too, even if installing from legacy BIOS). It seems like the installer doesn't like ZFS RaidZ combined with UEFI. Am I missing something here? Do I have to make any preparations? Is it simply not compatible? Do I have to manually change something in the RaidZ configuration?

Greetings and thanks in advantage

 

[guff666]

Did you ever resolve this? I have a very similar problem installing Proxmox ZFS on a T5810

 

[gildra]

Hi

I did In fact not and I have no idea why. Some research online suggest that there is a bug in the installer among other things. I ended up installing PVE from legacy BIOS as PCIe Passthrough seem to be working fine. Not sure where I picked up the information about it not working on legacy BIOS.

Maybe with some newer PCIe Card you could run into problems, who knows. I have a Quadro P2000 installed and it works perfectly.

Greetings

 

[guff666]

I finally got it working, though I'm still not sure what it was that I did to fix it.
It may have been that booted into a linux live usb and resetting both SSDs back to being ex-factory state, but more likely it was that I disabled legacy boot in the BIOS so that I had to boot the USB in EUFI mode. Previously I think it it was booting in BIOS mode and (maybe) therefore couldn't set the EUFI boot options.

 

[gildra]

I finally got it working, though I'm still not sure what it was that I did to fix it.
It may have been that booted into a linux live usb and resetting both SSDs back to being ex-factory state, but more likely it was that I disabled legacy boot in the BIOS so that I had to boot the USB in EUFI mode. Previously I think it it was booting in BIOS mode and (maybe) therefore couldn't set the EUFI boot options.

I aslo tried reformatting the SDD with Ubuntu Live and GParted, but it didn't help. I also disabled legacy BIOS, and booted the UEFI stick and that's when i ran into error when trying to install a ZFS mirror on the SSD no matter what.

For me it only worked when booting the stick from legacy BIOS mode.

Anyway, nice to hear you got it working!

 

[tbomb456]

I managed to get around this with a clean wipe of the disks i was using. set all sectors to 0's thorough hirens boot cd pe / aeomie. Not sure if this will work for any of you but figured id post anyway

 

[LnxBil]

I managed to get around this with a clean wipe of the disks i was using. set all sectors to 0's thorough hirens boot cd pe / aeomie. Not sure if this will work for any of you but figured id post anyway

For future reference: Easiest way to clean a SSD (or any other thin-provisioned storage that supports discard) is to use blkdiscard on it. It'll be wiped in seconds.