AMD FX/A6 unable to boot modern OSes

I’ve been running into an issue where older AMD parts have been completely unable to boot OSes and am wondering if there is a bios setting, AMD bug, or maybe even not AMD related issue. I can only really test AMD since that is what I have around. I’m trying to get my hands on my friend’s old Intel based platforms that are around the same age in the meantime.

Case 1:
AMD FX6350
Dont remember motherboard

Friend wants to install windows 10 from USB to SSD. Installer hangs during install and will never complete. Various combinations of UEFI/Legacy, GPT/MBR, IOMMU tried. Using IDE mode and Legacy boot got me the furthest progress but would still randomly freeze. Ubuntu/Manjaro on USB would not boot. Solution was to install Windows 10 using a different computer, then move the drive over.

-Present day-
Goal: trying to install OPNsense(vga image)

Case 2:

AMD a4-7400k
Asrock A88M-G/3.1
Tried to boot OPNsense, hard reset. all default settings. I figured I try the other system I have next to me instead.

Case 3:
System that is currently plugged in
AMD A6-6400k
Gigabyte F2A58M-HD2

Tried to boot OPNsense, could not boot. all default settings.
Using OPNsense safe mode, able to get to installer, hard resets when configuring drives to install on.
Tried to boot Manjaro, hard reset about 3 seconds upon reaching the desktop.
Tried various combinations of no ssd, IDE/RAID/AHCI, IOMMU, HPET, Legacy/UEFI

Any ideas?

Make a USB Ubuntu installer, but don’t install, just “try it out”
Try this with both with and without a hard drive hooked up
Sounds like a problem with the sata controller, are you using latest bios?

hmmm curious OPNsense is bsd based and should boot even on very old hardware, Manjaro may have graphic driver issues, not sure on that era of APU as I don’t have any to test.

Have you checked the Drives, RAM, power supplies and cooling are good on these systems?

It sounds like there might actually be some kind of hardware problem. Older/budget AMD boards from that era aren’t really built to last. Hard reset sounds like a hardware or power failure.
afaik, Linux doesn’t generally reboot with a hidden bluescreen/error, like Windows likes to do. It’ll lock up and try to recover it’s self, sometimes infinitely.

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I run poor-dozer on my desktop as well, FX-6300 with 990FX chipset.
Try turning off IOMMU in the bios. Depending on how old your Linux kernel is, or if the uEFI is buggy, it can cause booting issues.
Turn off IDE mode. It is emulation and the Linux kernel is smart and will see issues. Leave it as AHCI or what ever the passthrough option is. Leave the uEFI in legacy mode (CSM) because not everything in that generation understands uEFI and will fail to boot.

Al of those systems should be on their own motherboard yeah? If so, and you are swapping peripherals around, it may be the actual peripherals causing you grief.

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I do remember in some cases needing to add “iommu=1 iommu=pt” to my grub kernel line when i was running an FX8370 may also have been needed on a Phenom II X6 1090T. guessing he’s already tried that though, I don’t think that would cause hard resets though.

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yeeeessss!! Thanks everyone. So the true culprit was the power supply. The irritating thing was that I originally pulled this psu from a system that died thinking it was the psu. but then ended up replacing the mobo because that was dead and assumed the psu was fine. I kept the replacement psu since it was old anyways. Turns out it really was bad and maybe killed the old mobo?

About AHCI/IDE, That did make a difference on my friends computer, that one HAD to be in IDE mode.

For IOMMU, I do remember older linux required those changes but i’ve noticed that the current ones are fine.

In addition, some of the comments about CSM and the such did help with booting more consistently. I am currently on the A6-6400k system but will need to see why my nic (supermicro 2xSFP+) is causing the a6-7400k to not always boot. I suspect it is attempting a network boot for some reason.

Thanks for everyone’s input!

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Yup, they seem to do that, though it’s hard to be sure. My first thought when I read your story.

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