[gentoo-user] NVMe drive and grub

[gentoo-user] NVMe drive and grub

[peter]

Hello list,

I have a new box with an NVMe SSD drive attached to the PCI bus via an M.2 interface. The drive shows up as /dev/nvme0n1, with partitions /dev/nvme0n1p1, /dev/nvme0n1p2, ... 

After following the instructions in the handbook for a UEFI system, I get as far as a kernel panic. Grub finds the kernel and starts it, but it seems to be passing a null root device name.

Can anyone offer some advice to help me get past this?

A few pints of Wainwright go to the winner. Conditions apply  :-)

Rgds
Peter

Re: [gentoo-user] NVMe drive and grub

[Jeremi Piotrowski]

On Thu, Apr 7, 2016 at 5:24 PM,  <peter@prh.myzen.co.uk> wrote:
> Hello list,
>
> I have a new box with an NVMe SSD drive attached to the PCI bus via an M.2 interface. The drive shows up as /dev/nvme0n1, with partitions /dev/nvme0n1p1, /dev/nvme0n1p2, ...
>
> After following the instructions in the handbook for a UEFI system, I get as far as a kernel panic. Grub finds the kernel and starts it, but it seems to be passing a null root device name.
>

  What is in your grub.conf? Have you thought about adding an
initramfs and letting it drop you
  to its rescue shell so that you can investigate?

[gentoo-user] Re: NVMe drive and grub

[Remy Blank]

peter@prh.myzen.co.uk wrote on 2016-04-07 17:24:
> I have a new box with an NVMe SSD drive attached to the PCI bus via an M.2 interface. The drive shows up as /dev/nvme0n1, with partitions /dev/nvme0n1p1, /dev/nvme0n1p2, ... 
> 
> After following the instructions in the handbook for a UEFI system, I get as far as a kernel panic. Grub finds the kernel and starts it, but it seems to be passing a null root device name.
> 
> Can anyone offer some advice to help me get past this?

Make sure you have BLK_DEV_NVME compiled into your kernel (not as a
module), and that you pass the right device name as a root FS to the
kernel. It might also help to use a very recent kernel.

FWIW, I'm writing this from a laptop that boots from two NVMe devices in
RAID 1 configuration, with kernel 4.4.5.

-- Remy

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: NVMe drive and grub

[peter]

Remy Blank <remy.blank@pobox.com> wrote :

> peter@prh.myzen.co.uk
> wrote on 2016-04-07 17:24:
> > I have a new box with an NVMe SSD drive attached to the PCI bus via an M.2
> interface. The drive shows up as /dev/nvme0n1, with partitions /dev/nvme0n1p1,
> /dev/nvme0n1p2, ... 
> > 
> > After following the instructions in the handbook for a UEFI system, I get as
> far as a kernel panic. Grub finds the kernel and starts it, but it seems to be
> passing a null root device name.
> > 
> > Can anyone offer some advice to help me get past this?
> 
> Make sure you have BLK_DEV_NVME compiled into your kernel (not as a
> module), and that you pass the right device name as a root FS to the
> kernel. It might also help to use a very recent kernel.

Yes, I have that compiled in, and the kernel is 4.1.15-r1.

> FWIW, I'm writing this from a laptop that boots from two NVMe devices in
> RAID 1 configuration, with kernel 4.4.5.

Now, that's just showing off  :-) 

-- 
Rgds
Peter

Re: [gentoo-user] NVMe drive and grub

[Peter Humphrey]

On Thursday 07 April 2016 17:56:55 Jeremi Piotrowski wrote:
> On Thu, Apr 7, 2016 at 5:24 PM,  <peter@prh.myzen.co.uk> wrote:
> > Hello list,
> > 
> > I have a new box with an NVMe SSD drive attached to the PCI bus via an
> > M.2 interface. The drive shows up as /dev/nvme0n1, with partitions
> > /dev/nvme0n1p1, /dev/nvme0n1p2, ...
> > 
> > After following the instructions in the handbook for a UEFI system, I
> > get as far as a kernel panic. Grub finds the kernel and starts it, but
> > it seems to be passing a null root device name.
>   What is in your grub.conf? Have you thought about adding an
> initramfs and letting it drop you to its rescue shell so that you can
> investigate?

Grub.cfg looks all right to me: at least, it does include a sensible root= 
value.

I never see a grub screen - it just starts the current kernel. I did wonder 
about an initramfs and I'm trying it now. I've also followed Remy's advice 
and used gentoo-sources-4.4.6.

So far I've spent about 30 hours scratching my head, clutching at straws and 
going round in circles. I'm getting dizzy.  :-)

-- 
Rgds
Peter

linux counter 5290, 1994/04/23

Re: [gentoo-user] NVMe drive and grub

[Poison BL.]

On Fri, Apr 8, 2016 at 8:21 AM, Peter Humphrey <peter@prh.myzen.co.uk> wrote:
> On Thursday 07 April 2016 17:56:55 Jeremi Piotrowski wrote:
>>   What is in your grub.conf? Have you thought about adding an
>> initramfs and letting it drop you to its rescue shell so that you can
>> investigate?
>
> Grub.cfg looks all right to me: at least, it does include a sensible root=
> value.
>
> I never see a grub screen - it just starts the current kernel. I did wonder
> about an initramfs and I'm trying it now. I've also followed Remy's advice
> and used gentoo-sources-4.4.6.
>
> So far I've spent about 30 hours scratching my head, clutching at straws and
> going round in circles. I'm getting dizzy.  :-)
>
> --
> Rgds
> Peter

So, you have Grub setup to give a menu, pause, or at least do
something visible, and it's skipping right past that? That makes me
suspect that Grub's not running at all, and that the kernel's being
loaded by UEFI directly.

What files are in /boot/ on your efi partition (preferably identified
with the file command)?

If you have a kernel in there named bootx64.efi, that's likely the culprit.

-- 
Poison [BLX]
Joshua M. Murphy

[gentoo-user] Re: NVMe drive and grub

[Remy Blank]

peter@prh.myzen.co.uk wrote on 2016-04-08 11:01:
> Remy Blank <remy.blank@pobox.com> wrote :
> 
>> peter@prh.myzen.co.uk
>> wrote on 2016-04-07 17:24:
>>> I have a new box with an NVMe SSD drive attached to the PCI bus via an M.2
>> interface. The drive shows up as /dev/nvme0n1, with partitions /dev/nvme0n1p1,
>> /dev/nvme0n1p2, ... 
>>>
>>> After following the instructions in the handbook for a UEFI system, I get as
>> far as a kernel panic. Grub finds the kernel and starts it, but it seems to be
>> passing a null root device name.
>>>
>>> Can anyone offer some advice to help me get past this?
>>
>> Make sure you have BLK_DEV_NVME compiled into your kernel (not as a
>> module), and that you pass the right device name as a root FS to the
>> kernel. It might also help to use a very recent kernel.
> 
> Yes, I have that compiled in, and the kernel is 4.1.15-r1.
> 
>> FWIW, I'm writing this from a laptop that boots from two NVMe devices in
>> RAID 1 configuration, with kernel 4.4.5.
> 
> Now, that's just showing off  :-) 

Now now, I was merely providing evidence that what you are trying to do
actually works.

... But yeah, it's fast :)

-- Remy

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: NVMe drive and grub

[J. Roeleveld]

On Thursday, April 07, 2016 07:41:35 PM Remy Blank wrote:
> peter@prh.myzen.co.uk wrote on 2016-04-07 17:24:
> > I have a new box with an NVMe SSD drive attached to the PCI bus via an M.2
> > interface. The drive shows up as /dev/nvme0n1, with partitions
> > /dev/nvme0n1p1, /dev/nvme0n1p2, ...
> > 
> > After following the instructions in the handbook for a UEFI system, I get
> > as far as a kernel panic. Grub finds the kernel and starts it, but it
> > seems to be passing a null root device name.
> > 
> > Can anyone offer some advice to help me get past this?
> 
> Make sure you have BLK_DEV_NVME compiled into your kernel (not as a
> module), and that you pass the right device name as a root FS to the
> kernel. It might also help to use a very recent kernel.
> 
> FWIW, I'm writing this from a laptop that boots from two NVMe devices in
> RAID 1 configuration, with kernel 4.4.5.
> 
> -- Remy

Remy (and others),

I have been trying to get Gentoo to boot from an NVME device, but I am getting 
stuck.

The kernel-config I use will boot when the root-device is on a spinning sata-
disk and I can see the NVME device.
When using the same config with the root-partition on the NVME, it fails, 
complaining it can't find the root-partition.

The NVME driver is loaded into the kernel (not module).

Does anyone have a working config for a 4.4.6 kernel or any other version that 
is currently in portage?

Along with the boot-options being used?

Many thanks,

Joost

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: NVMe drive and grub

[J. Roeleveld]

On June 16, 2016 7:43:10 AM GMT+02:00, "J. Roeleveld" <joost@antarean.org> wrote:
>On Thursday, April 07, 2016 07:41:35 PM Remy Blank wrote:
>> peter@prh.myzen.co.uk wrote on 2016-04-07 17:24:
>> > I have a new box with an NVMe SSD drive attached to the PCI bus via
>an M.2
>> > interface. The drive shows up as /dev/nvme0n1, with partitions
>> > /dev/nvme0n1p1, /dev/nvme0n1p2, ...
>> > 
>> > After following the instructions in the handbook for a UEFI system,
>I get
>> > as far as a kernel panic. Grub finds the kernel and starts it, but
>it
>> > seems to be passing a null root device name.
>> > 
>> > Can anyone offer some advice to help me get past this?
>> 
>> Make sure you have BLK_DEV_NVME compiled into your kernel (not as a
>> module), and that you pass the right device name as a root FS to the
>> kernel. It might also help to use a very recent kernel.
>> 
>> FWIW, I'm writing this from a laptop that boots from two NVMe devices
>in
>> RAID 1 configuration, with kernel 4.4.5.
>> 
>> -- Remy
>
>Remy (and others),
>
>I have been trying to get Gentoo to boot from an NVME device, but I am
>getting 
>stuck.
>
>The kernel-config I use will boot when the root-device is on a spinning
>sata-
>disk and I can see the NVME device.
>When using the same config with the root-partition on the NVME, it
>fails, 
>complaining it can't find the root-partition.
>
>The NVME driver is loaded into the kernel (not module).
>
>Does anyone have a working config for a 4.4.6 kernel or any other
>version that 
>is currently in portage?
>
>Along with the boot-options being used?
>
>Many thanks,
>
>Joost

Ignore this.
Got it working, had to enable UEFI first for the NVME device in bios....

Problem caused by silly BIOS devs at ASUS....

--
Joost
-- 
Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: NVMe drive and grub

[Peter Humphrey]

On Thursday 16 Jun 2016 06:11:10 J. Roeleveld wrote:
> On June 16, 2016 7:43:10 AM GMT+02:00, "J. Roeleveld" <joost@antarean.org> 
wrote:
> >On Thursday, April 07, 2016 07:41:35 PM Remy Blank wrote:
> >> peter@prh.myzen.co.uk wrote on 2016-04-07 17:24:
> >> > I have a new box with an NVMe SSD drive attached to the PCI bus via
> >
> >an M.2
> >
> >> > interface. The drive shows up as /dev/nvme0n1, with partitions
> >> > /dev/nvme0n1p1, /dev/nvme0n1p2, ...
> >> > 
> >> > After following the instructions in the handbook for a UEFI system,
> >
> >I get
> >
> >> > as far as a kernel panic. Grub finds the kernel and starts it, but
> >
> >it
> >
> >> > seems to be passing a null root device name.
> >> > 
> >> > Can anyone offer some advice to help me get past this?
> >> 
> >> Make sure you have BLK_DEV_NVME compiled into your kernel (not as a
> >> module), and that you pass the right device name as a root FS to the
> >> kernel. It might also help to use a very recent kernel.
> >> 
> >> FWIW, I'm writing this from a laptop that boots from two NVMe devices
> >
> >in
> >
> >> RAID 1 configuration, with kernel 4.4.5.
> >> 
> >> -- Remy
> >
> >Remy (and others),
> >
> >I have been trying to get Gentoo to boot from an NVME device, but I am
> >getting
> >stuck.
> >
> >The kernel-config I use will boot when the root-device is on a spinning
> >sata-
> >disk and I can see the NVME device.
> >When using the same config with the root-partition on the NVME, it
> >fails,
> >complaining it can't find the root-partition.
> >
> >The NVME driver is loaded into the kernel (not module).
> >
> >Does anyone have a working config for a 4.4.6 kernel or any other
> >version that
> >is currently in portage?
> >
> >Along with the boot-options being used?
> >
> >Many thanks,
> >
> >Joost
> 
> Ignore this.
> Got it working, had to enable UEFI first for the NVME device in bios....

Glad to hear it. You had me scratching my head there, trying to remember 
exactly what I did.

> Problem caused by silly BIOS devs at ASUS....

When confronted with new ways of doing things I naturally assume I don't 
understand, before I start name calling.  :)

-- 
Rgds
Peter

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: NVMe drive and grub

[J. Roeleveld]

On Thursday, June 16, 2016 09:28:53 AM Peter Humphrey wrote:
> On Thursday 16 Jun 2016 06:11:10 J. Roeleveld wrote:

> > 
> > Ignore this.
> > Got it working, had to enable UEFI first for the NVME device in bios....
> 
> Glad to hear it. You had me scratching my head there, trying to remember
> exactly what I did.

I was scratching mine as well....

> > Problem caused by silly BIOS devs at ASUS....
> 
> When confronted with new ways of doing things I naturally assume I don't
> understand, before I start name calling.  :)

The bios is configured to boot in UEFI mode.
But apparently, some of the devices are not, by default....

I fail to see the logic in that.

--
Joost

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: NVMe drive and grub

[Peter Humphrey]

On Thursday 16 Jun 2016 12:31:42 J. Roeleveld wrote:
> On Thursday, June 16, 2016 09:28:53 AM Peter Humphrey wrote:
> > On Thursday 16 Jun 2016 06:11:10 J. Roeleveld wrote:
> > > Ignore this.
> > > Got it working, had to enable UEFI first for the NVME device in
> > > bios....
> > 
> > Glad to hear it. You had me scratching my head there, trying to remember
> > exactly what I did.
> 
> I was scratching mine as well....
> 
> > > Problem caused by silly BIOS devs at ASUS....
> > 
> > When confronted with new ways of doing things I naturally assume I don't
> > understand, before I start name calling.  :)
> 
> The bios is configured to boot in UEFI mode.
> But apparently, some of the devices are not, by default....
> 
> I fail to see the logic in that.

Hmm. That is odd. Not everything in my BIOS seems entirely logical either, 
but at least I've learned how to use it.

-- 
Rgds
Peter