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skips
n00b
Joined: 24 Mar 2025
Posts: 21
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 Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2025 8:08 pm Post subject: |
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I can see the entry in the UEFI boot manager when using the one-shot boot menu but it is greyed out. I think this might be something specific for this server.
I did some research on reddit forums and apparently it is a know issue with Dell servers and the only solution is to buy an (expensive) Dell NVMe adapter.
I'll keep digging. Thank you for all the support! |
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pingtoo
Veteran
Joined: 10 Sep 2021
Posts: 1665
Location: Richmond Hill, Canada
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| Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2025 8:49 pm Post subject: |
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| skips wrote: | I can see the entry in the UEFI boot manager when using the one-shot boot menu but it is greyed out. I think this might be something specific for this server.
I did some research on reddit forums and apparently it is a know issue with Dell servers and the only solution is to buy an (expensive) Dell NVMe adapter.
I'll keep digging. Thank you for all the support! |
From my reading about it seems to me in order to use one-shot boot menu, it is two step process, it seem you need to first enable it, then subsequently use one-shot boot menu. But of cause this is my interpretation of the document may be that you already done it.
One question you seems not yet answer, is that were you able see the NVMe device in anywhere in UEFI environment?
Please note, what is on boot menu does not count as visible. What is on boot menu just a string that efibootmgr wrote to non--volatile memory. |
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NeddySeagoon
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Joined: 05 Jul 2003
Posts: 55212
Location: 56N 3W
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| Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2025 9:25 pm Post subject: |
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skips,
| Code: | | GRUB_PLATFORMS="efi-64" |
is what I wanted to see in emerge --info.
pingtoo has a good point. Can you try the ESP on a USB stick?
Once grub loads, it makes it own arrangements for reading things, so /boot should be OK.
Root on NVMe should still work too.
_________________
Regards,
NeddySeagoon
Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail. |
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skips
n00b
Joined: 24 Mar 2025
Posts: 21
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| Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2025 1:57 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks - I'll try that out when I'm back home on the weekend. Just to be on the same page as to what I need to do:
- Partition a USB drive with GPT and one EFI partition
- Format partition with vfat and mount it (e.g. at /efi_usb)
- Run grub-install --efi-directory=/efi_usb
- Reboot and pray
Am I missing something? |
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NeddySeagoon
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Joined: 05 Jul 2003
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Location: 56N 3W
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| Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2025 1:59 pm Post subject: |
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skips,
That should be enough.
If you want to, you can put the kernel and initrd(s) drive there too. That would be the next step for me.
_________________
Regards,
NeddySeagoon
Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail. |
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skips
n00b
Joined: 24 Mar 2025
Posts: 21
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| Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2025 8:55 pm Post subject: |
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Hey everybody, thanks for your patience. I have done this now and ... well, at least it's a different error:
| Code: | error: no such device: bce381c4-6226-467c-954b-c9e6314f8572
error: unknown filesystem.
Entering rescue mode
grub rescue> |
The UUID points to my root partition which is counter-intuitive to me. Shouldn't grub try to grab my /boot partition to load the kernel from there? The root and /boot partition are both formatted with XFS which should be supported; I even tried insmod xfs in the grub rescue shell, still it produces the unkown filesystem error. |
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sublogic
Guru
Joined: 21 Mar 2022
Posts: 331
Location: Pennsylvania, USA
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| Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2025 12:41 am Post subject: |
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| skips wrote: | | Code: | error: no such device: bce381c4-6226-467c-954b-c9e6314f8572
error: unknown filesystem.
Entering rescue mode
grub rescue> |
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That's progress, isn't it ? You got into grub.
Try exploring in the grub shell. Start with the ls command. |
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skips
n00b
Joined: 24 Mar 2025
Posts: 21
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| Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2025 8:08 am Post subject: |
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Progress for sure, let's see how close I can get to solve it.
After exploring a few options, it looks like it doesn't find the /boot partition or cannot read the filesystem. For instance, I tried listing the different partitions:
| Code: | error: no such device: bce381c4-6226-467c-954b-c9e6314f8572.
error: unknown filesystem.
Entering rescue mode...
grub rescue> ls
(hd0) (hd1) (hd1,gpt2) (hd1,gpt1) (hd2) (hd3) (hd4) (hd4,gpt1)
grub rescue> ls (hd0)
(hd0): Filesystem is unknown.
grub rescue> ls (hd1)
(hd1): Filesystem is unknown.
grub rescue> ls (hd1,gpt2)
(hd1,gpt2): Filesystem is unknown.
grub rescue> insmod xfs
grub rescue> ls (hd1,gpt1)
(hd1,gpt1): Filesystem is unknown.
grub rescue> ls (hd2)
(hd2): Filesystem is unknown.
grub rescue> ls (hd3)
(hd3): Filesystem is unknown.
grub rescue> ls (hd4)
(hd4): Filesystem is unknown.
grub rescue> ls (hd4,gpt1)
(hd4,gpt1): Filesystem is unknown.
grub rescue> ls (hd0)
(hd0): Filesystem is unknown.
grub rescue> |
EDIT:
I removed all HDDs from the bays and the only remaining devices are (hd0) and (hd0,gpt1). Both of which I cannot ls ("Filesystem is unknown"). |
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NeddySeagoon
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Joined: 05 Jul 2003
Posts: 55212
Location: 56N 3W
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| Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2025 11:21 am Post subject: |
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skips,
| Code: | grub rescue> ls
(hd0) (hd1) (hd1,gpt2) (hd1,gpt1) (hd2) (hd3) (hd4) (hd4,gpt1) |
Reformatting that a bit
| Code: | (hd0)
(hd1) (hd1,gpt2) (hd1,gpt1)
(hd2)
(hd3)
(hd4) (hd4,gpt1) |
hd0, hd2 and hd3 are not partitioned yet.
hd1 uses GPT and has two partitions
hd4 is GPT with one partition.
Is grub looking at the correct partition on the correct drive?
| Code: | | error: no such device: bce381c4-6226-467c-954b-c9e6314f8572 |
That should be grubs root ... your boot partition.
I'm not sure if that is the filesystem UUID or the PARTUUID
If it points to the kernel root fs, grub is trying to read the /boot directory inside the kernels root filesystem, which should be empty given that you have a separate boot partition.
_________________
Regards,
NeddySeagoon
Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail. |
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pingtoo
Veteran
Joined: 10 Sep 2021
Posts: 1665
Location: Richmond Hill, Canada
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| Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2025 11:55 am Post subject: |
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May be you can try "lsmod" in Grub to see what modules already loaded.
And use "insmod ext2" if not loaded and then try "ls (hd1,1)" and/or "ls (hd1,2)". I am not sure if the "ls (hd1,gpt1)" is right syntax.
I think (hd4,gpt1) is your USB. |
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NeddySeagoon
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Joined: 05 Jul 2003
Posts: 55212
Location: 56N 3W
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| Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2025 12:02 pm Post subject: |
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skips,
Previously, in grub.cfg you had
| Code: | | search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root bce381c4-6226-467c-954b-c9e6314f8572 |
That's your /boot fs UUID - grubs root.
It matches your new error too. | Code: | | error: no such device: bce381c4-6226-467c-954b-c9e6314f8572 |
That means that they are eiter beth wrong, or both correct :)
They are consistent anyway.
_________________
Regards,
NeddySeagoon
Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail. |
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skips
n00b
Joined: 24 Mar 2025
Posts: 21
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| Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2025 4:20 pm Post subject: |
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My bad - I don't have a separate /boot partition anymore, so the ID is correct.
Anyways, I think the issue is that Dell doesn't support generic PCIe adapters for booting into NVMe modules.
I expanded on the idea with the USB drive as workaround and partitioned a /boot section next to the EFI partition on it. Luckily this works and I can boot my system - FINALLY!
I have ordered a Dell BOSS S1 card as NVMe adapter. Once it arrives, I can confirm the issue.
Thanks everybody for your help, this is truly and sincerely appreciated! I will continue configuring my new server and will let you know as soon as I have tested the Dell adapter. |
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Installing Gentoo
