Persistent Install Failure With Linux Based OSes

Operating Systems & Open Source Linux
1

Hi everyone, I have been encountering a funky error when I was trying to set up my new server.

Whenever I try to install a Linux based OS (tried Proxmox and Debian), the process breaks down in the following manner.

  1. The GRUB shows up and I can choose the install procedure.
  2. As soon as it should start installing, USB devices lose connections (Keyboard, USB-Boot-Stick).
  3. The installer rightly informs me, that it lost contact to the device with the image and the process aborts.

I tried to install via PXE but there the same thing happens. I can install Windows without issues. I never encountered such an error, but maybe some of you have?

Here are the specs:

Threadripper 3975wx
512GB Samsung DDR4 3200
Asus Sage WRX80 SE Wifi (newest BIOS and newest Firmware)
2 x RTX 3090 (Watercooled)
2 x Samsung pm1735 6.4TB AIC
2 x Netlist 1951 7.68TB AIC
1 x Optane 905p 960GB
1 x Optane P1600x 118GB
Silverstone RM42-502
1700W Enermax Platimax PSU

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2

What happens is that the installer likely doesn’t have the correct driver for the USB hubs on your mainboard in it’s own libraries. It should then use a generic driver instead but apparently it doesn’t.

That leaves the question, which versions of those Linux environments did you try?

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3

Hey Dutch_Master, thank you for the reply! That sounds convincing. I tried Proxmox 8.2 and 7.4 as well as Debian netinst 12.5.0. But then again, why would the same error occur when I am doing an install via PXE over the network from a different machine, without using a USB?

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4

No idea, really. One way to test is using a recent Live-CD image and see if that works as expected or fails too. If it fails, it might be something kernel-related and that’s way out of my expertise. Maybe ping some more knowledgable folk, like @wendell

5

Gotcha, I will try the live-cd route tomorrow and report back how it went. Thank you for the hint and let’s see if this resolves the issue.

6

My go-to method for these type of “refuses to install” situations is to swap the drive to another machine, install there, and swap it back. It seems to work great if you have a spare PC. Then again I’m much more of a "how can I circumvent the problem’ guy, as opposed to “i want to know why this problem exists” when it comes to computers. As long as I get the result I want it won’t keep me up an night.

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7

Try the full install (DVD image?)

If generating the boot-stick on windows, try writing it using the Fedora Media Writer. Rufus and similar have let me down with the latest linux-distro versions recently.

8

Thank you for all the suggestions. I have tried them all, but with little success.

Even taking the SSD to another system and trying to install there didn’t work. Trying to eliminate the media-creation tool as an error source by trying the suggested ones and others didn’t help. Tried two different USB sticks, tried a different SSD, tried INTEL vs AMD.

I finally went with XCP-ng, it installed without issues. Thank you all for your contributions!

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