Volume group "pve" not found

[Rellik_evets]

I have been using proxmox to host a home server setup for the last few months. In January I upgraded the RAM in the PC running proxmox. This caused Secure Boot to panic a bit (whoops), but after disabling Secure Boot the hardware seems fine. However, proxmox now refuses to boot but instead repeats:

Volume group "pve" not found
Cannot process volume group pve

several times until it gives up and displays this message:

Gave up waiting for root file system device. Common problems:
 - Boot args (cat /proc/cmdline)
    - Check rootdelay= (did the system wait long enough?)
 - Missing modules (cat /proc/modules; ls /dev)
ALERT! /dev/mapper/pve-root does not exist. Dropping to shell!

BusyBox v1.30.1 (Debian 1:1.30.1-6+b3) built-in shell (ash)

(initramfs)

This issue seems very similar to the one documented here. However, commenting out global_filter from /etc/lvm/lvm.conf had no effect for me and /etc/default/grub did not exist. Users in that thread also link to this post with the same issue. It seems like the second thread dealt with an issue specific to that particular version of proxmox(?) and I am not sure I understand where in the thread they found a solution.

TL;DR: proxmox is returning a "volume group 'pve' not found" error after a hardware change. Is there a way that I can fix this without completely nuking my install?

 

[gurubert]

Try to add rootdelay=10 to the kernel command line in grub.

 

[Rellik_evets]

Try to add rootdelay=10 to the kernel command line in grub.

Can you elaborate on this process? I have tried to figure out which file to add that line to, and my system appears to have different or missing files compared to the other guides I have seen. The file I have seen referenced the most when working with grub boot args is /etc/default/grub, which does not appear to exist. Are there additional workaround steps I need to take?

 

[gurubert]

You can add that by editing the menu edit when grub is running.

Hit shift in the boot process to get into the grub menu and then e to edit the entry. Add the rootdelay at the end of the linux line and hit F10 to boot it.

 

[Rellik_evets]

Thank you for that explanation! I followed those steps, and the rootdelay definitely took effect- the system waited a noticeable amount of time before booting. However, I am continuing to get the same error. Even after waiting, the system's attempt to boot results in "volume group 'pve' not found" errors. Any ideas what else could still be causing this problem?

(initramfs) cat /proc/cmdline
BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.11.22-5-pve root=/dev/mapper/pve-root ro quiet rootdelay=10
(initramfs)

The file /dev/mapper/pve-root does not appear to exist, and I'm worried that could be the problem. I don't know how it could have disappeared or how to fix it though.

 

[gurubert]

It looks like there is more broken than could be fixed with the root delay.

Boot the system with a rescue disk (e.g. grml) and look for the logical volume.

 

[Rellik_evets]

Can you provide more detail on how to do that? I created a grml disk and was able to boot from it, but I'm not sure how to view logical volumes on the other disks from the flash drive. lvs and lvscan returned nothing. I'm guessing chroot is involved? I've never really explored any system at this low-level before, so this is all new territory for me. The more detail, the better! Also, thank you for all your help thus far! I appreciate you taking time to bother helping me.

 

[gurubert]

I am sorry but this is an operation that cannot be guided via forum posts.
There are companies that provide support for Linux and Proxmox system. It looks like it is time to call one of them.

 

[indiependente]

Hi @Rellik_evets. I am in the same situation right now, but don't need to recover the data on the drive. Did you manage to fix this in the end? Thanks.