[SOLVED] VMs run but unwilling to boot beyond boot loader

[Jesster]

Hey everyone,

I have an older IBM Blade that has been running VMware and I recently formatted it to run Proxmox.
The blade is now part of a cluster and is having some trouble running any existing VMs, or new VMs.

The issue is any VM on this host (blade03-ibc02) will "run" the VM but when reviewing the console, it is just looping.

I can create a brand new VM and select the CentOS installer ISO, start the VM and witness the ISO boot menu (Install/Troubleshoot, etc.).
As soon as I select 'install' I see a black screen and then the Proxmox BIOS logo just like when it's powered on.

I can reproduce this with any new VM I try to create regardless of boot media, scsi controller, stroage (local lvm, NFS or iSCSI).
Any existing VMs from the cluster will not actually run on this node either - live migrations will panic the guest OS upon for example.


I verified the BIOS has VT enabled, I'm surprised VMware ran fine and Proxmox will not run any VM.

Any suggestions?



Below I have posted some technical output that may help.

proxmox-ve: 6.0-2 (running kernel: 5.0.21-4-pve)
pve-manager: 6.0-9 (running version: 6.0-9/508dcee0)
pve-kernel-5.0: 6.0-9
pve-kernel-helper: 6.0-9
pve-kernel-5.0.21-4-pve: 5.0.21-8
pve-kernel-5.0.21-3-pve: 5.0.21-7
pve-kernel-5.0.21-2-pve: 5.0.21-7
pve-kernel-5.0.15-1-pve: 5.0.15-1
ceph-fuse: 12.2.12-pve1
corosync: 3.0.2-pve4
criu: 3.11-3
glusterfs-client: 5.5-3
ksm-control-daemon: 1.3-1
libjs-extjs: 6.0.1-10
libknet1: 1.13-pve1
libpve-access-control: 6.0-2
libpve-apiclient-perl: 3.0-2
libpve-common-perl: 6.0-5
libpve-guest-common-perl: 3.0-1
libpve-http-server-perl: 3.0-3
libpve-storage-perl: 6.0-9
libqb0: 1.0.5-1
lvm2: 2.03.02-pve3
lxc-pve: 3.1.0-65
lxcfs: 3.0.3-pve60
novnc-pve: 1.1.0-1
proxmox-mini-journalreader: 1.1-1
proxmox-widget-toolkit: 2.0-8
pve-cluster: 6.0-7
pve-container: 3.0-7
pve-docs: 6.0-7
pve-edk2-firmware: 2.20190614-1
pve-firewall: 4.0-7
pve-firmware: 3.0-2
pve-ha-manager: 3.0-2
pve-i18n: 2.0-3
pve-qemu-kvm: 4.0.1-3
pve-xtermjs: 3.13.2-1
qemu-server: 6.0-9
smartmontools: 7.0-pve2
spiceterm: 3.1-1
vncterm: 1.6-1
zfsutils-linux: 0.8.2-pve1

Architecture: x86_64
CPU op-mode(s): 32-bit, 64-bit
Byte Order: Little Endian
Address sizes: 38 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
CPU(s): 8
On-line CPU(s) list: 0-7
Thread(s) per core: 1
Core(s) per socket: 4
Socket(s): 2
NUMA node(s): 1
Vendor ID: GenuineIntel
CPU family: 6
Model: 23
Model name: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5405 @ 2.00GHz
Stepping: 10
CPU MHz: 2000.101
BogoMIPS: 4000.04
Virtualization: VT-x
L1d cache: 32K
L1i cache: 32K
L2 cache: 6144K
NUMA node0 CPU(s): 0-7
Flags: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl cpuid aperfmperf pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm dca sse4_1 xsave lahf_lm pti tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority dtherm

Qemu Process:
root 2655 5.2 1.1 1444052 185756 ? Sl 21:02 0:31 /usr/bin/kvm -id 814666 -name qemu-test-blade03 -chardev socket,id=qmp,path=/var/run/qemu-server/814666.qmp,server,nowait -mon chardev=qmp,mode=control -chardev socket,id=qmp-event,path=/var/run/qmeventd.sock,reconnect=5 -mon chardev=qmp-event,mode=control -pidfile /var/run/qemu-server/814666.pid -daemonize -smbios type=1,uuid=28ffdd6c-d508-4ce2-b5ed-4480bf07b0da -smp 1,sockets=1,cores=1,maxcpus=1 -nodefaults -boot menu=on,strict=on,reboot-timeout=1000,splash=/usr/share/qemu-server/bootsplash.jpg -vnc unix:/var/run/qemu-server/814666.vnc,password -cpu kvm64,+lahf_lm,+sep,+kvm_pv_unhalt,+kvm_pv_eoi,enforce -m 1024 -device pci-bridge,id=pci.1,chassis_nr=1,bus=pci.0,addr=0x1e -device pci-bridge,id=pci.2,chassis_nr=2,bus=pci.0,addr=0x1f -device vmgenid,guid=66ac2ddb-f980-450b-9c7a-0fe542271450 -device piix3-usb-uhci,id=uhci,bus=pci.0,addr=0x1.0x2 -device usb-tablet,id=tablet,bus=uhci.0,port=1 -device VGA,id=vga,bus=pci.0,addr=0x2 -device virtio-balloon-pci,id=balloon0,bus=pci.0,addr=0x3 -iscsi initiator-name=iqn.1993-08.org.debian:01:1abbbb17fca -drive file=/var/lib/vz/template/iso/CentOS-7-x86_64-Minimal-1908.iso,if=none,id=drive-ide2,media=cdrom,aio=threads -device ide-cd,bus=ide.1,unit=0,drive=drive-ide2,id=ide2,bootindex=100 -device virtio-scsi-pci,id=scsihw0,bus=pci.0,addr=0x5 -drive file=/dev/pve/vm-814666-disk-0,if=none,id=drive-scsi0,cache=writeback,format=raw,aio=threads,detect-zeroes=on -device scsi-hd,bus=scsihw0.0,channel=0,scsi-id=0,lun=0,drive=drive-scsi0,id=scsi0,bootindex=200 -machine type=pc

Watch the VM boot loop here

And here are some dmidecode tables:

BIOS Information
Vendor: IBM
Version: -[BCE141AUS-1.17]-
Release Date: 03/13/2009
Address: 0xF20F0
Runtime Size: 57104 bytes
ROM Size: 4096 kB

Handle 0x0001, DMI type 1, 27 bytes
System Information
Manufacturer: IBM
Product Name: IBM eServer BladeCenter HS21 -[8853PGE]-
Version: Not Specified
Serial Number:
UUID:
Wake-up Type: Power Switch
SKU Number: Not Specified
Family: Not Specified

Handle 0x0005, DMI type 7, 19 bytes
Cache Information
Socket Designation: Internal L2 Cache
Configuration: Enabled, Not Socketed, Level 2
Operational Mode: Varies With Memory Address
Location: Internal
Installed Size: 12288 kB
Maximum Size: 12288 kB
Supported SRAM Types:
Burst
Installed SRAM Type: Burst
Speed: Unknown
Error Correction Type: Unknown
System Type: Unified
Associativity: 8-way Set-associative

Handle 0x0006, DMI type 7, 19 bytes
Cache Information
Socket Designation: Internal L1 Cache
Configuration: Enabled, Not Socketed, Level 1
Operational Mode: Varies With Memory Address
Location: Internal
Installed Size: 32 kB
Maximum Size: 32 kB
Supported SRAM Types:
Synchronous
Installed SRAM Type: Synchronous
Speed: Unknown
Error Correction Type: Unknown
System Type: Unified
Associativity: 4-way Set-associative

Handle 0x0007, DMI type 7, 19 bytes
Cache Information
Socket Designation: Internal L2 Cache
Configuration: Enabled, Not Socketed, Level 2
Operational Mode: Varies With Memory Address
Location: Internal
Installed Size: 12288 kB
Maximum Size: 12288 kB
Supported SRAM Types:
Burst
Installed SRAM Type: Burst
Speed: Unknown
Error Correction Type: Unknown
System Type: Unified
Associativity: 8-way Set-associative

Handle 0x0008, DMI type 4, 32 bytes
Processor Information
Socket Designation: Socket 1 CPU 1
Type: Central Processor
Family: Xeon
Manufacturer: GenuineIntel
ID: 7A 06 00 00 01 03 00 00
Signature: Type 0, Family 6, Model 7, Stepping 10
Flags:
FPU (Floating-point unit on-chip)
CX8 (CMPXCHG8 instruction supported)
APIC (On-chip APIC hardware supported)
Version: Intel Xeon
Voltage: 2.9 V
External Clock: 333 MHz
Max Speed: 4000 MHz
Current Speed: 2000 MHz
Status: Populated, Enabled
Upgrade: ZIF Socket
L1 Cache Handle: 0x0004
L2 Cache Handle: 0x0005
L3 Cache Handle: Not Provided

Handle 0x0009, DMI type 4, 32 bytes
Processor Information
Socket Designation: Socket 2 CPU 2
Type: Central Processor
Family: Xeon
Manufacturer: GenuineIntel
ID: 7A 06 00 00 01 03 00 00
Signature: Type 0, Family 6, Model 7, Stepping 10
Flags:
FPU (Floating-point unit on-chip)
CX8 (CMPXCHG8 instruction supported)
APIC (On-chip APIC hardware supported)
Version: Intel Xeon
Voltage: 2.9 V
External Clock: 333 MHz
Max Speed: 4000 MHz
Current Speed: 2000 MHz
Status: Populated, Enabled
Upgrade: ZIF Socket
L1 Cache Handle: 0x0006
L2 Cache Handle: 0x0007
L3 Cache Handle: Not Provided

VM Config
root@blade03-ibc02:~# qm list
VMID NAME STATUS MEM(MB) BOOTDISK(GB) PID
814666 qemu-test-blade03 running 1024 12.00 2655
root@blade03-ibc02:~# qm config 814666
boot: dc
bootdisk: scsi0
cores: 1
ide2: local:iso/CentOS-7-x86_64-Minimal-1908.iso,media=cdrom
memory: 1024
name: qemu-test-blade03
numa: 0
ostype: l26
scsi0: local-lvm:vm-814666-disk-0,cache=writeback,size=12G
scsihw: virtio-scsi-pci
smbios1: uuid=28ffdd6c-d508-4ce2-b5ed-4480bf07b0da
sockets: 1
vmgenid: 66ac2ddb-f980-450b-9c7a-0fe542271450

 

[Seed]

Try any other distros?

 

[Jesster]

Tried Debian flavors and CentOS and Windows Server

 

[tom]

try the 5.3 kernel, the kernel you use has an issue with ancient hardware.

https://forum.proxmox.com/threads/linux-kernel-5-3-for-proxmox-ve.59398/

 

[Jesster]

try the 5.3 kernel, the kernel you use has an issue with ancient hardware.

https://forum.proxmox.com/threads/linux-kernel-5-3-for-proxmox-ve.59398/

@tom ! That fixed it Thank You!