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Problems PXE booting a UEFI debian-installer

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  Problems PXE booting a UEFI debian-installer Andy Smith <andy@strugglers.net> - 2020-11-20 02:00 +0100
    Re: Problems PXE booting a UEFI debian-installer Andrei POPESCU <andreimpopescu@gmail.com> - 2020-11-20 11:40 +0100
      Re: Problems PXE booting a UEFI debian-installer Andy Smith <andy@strugglers.net> - 2020-11-20 16:20 +0100
        Re: Problems PXE booting a UEFI debian-installer Andrei POPESCU <andreimpopescu@gmail.com> - 2020-11-20 16:50 +0100
    Re: Problems PXE booting a UEFI debian-installer Andy Smith <andy@strugglers.net> - 2020-11-21 23:30 +0100

#228789 — Problems PXE booting a UEFI debian-installer

Hi,

I'm new to machines that absolutely require EFI booting. I have a
machine that only has NVMe devices, and I understand it needs to be
installed in EFI mode to boot.

I'm trying to install by PXE. I've done this hundreds of times with
a legacy BIOS, but it's not working for me in EFI mode and I feel
like the problem is with my tftp setup or the netboot files within.

Can anyone see what I'm doing wrong here?

I've prepped my netboot server as covered here:

    https://wiki.debian.org/PXEBootInstall

Specifically where it mentions EFI I've made the changes it
suggests:

    If you are booting with UEFI, you should link grub and
    grubx64.efi into the root of your tftp directory:

    # cd /srv/tftp
    # ln -s debian-installer/amd64/grubx64.efi .
    # ln -s debian-installer/amd64/grub .

    You may also have to edit grub/grub.cfg in order to set your
    serial console, if needed (I replaced the section about the
    graphical terminal)

For that bit I just shoved:

serial --speed=115200 --unit=1 --word=8 --parity=no --stop=1
terminal_input console serial
terminal_output console serial

into the grub/grub.cfg file just after the section at the top about
setting gfxmode.

Also each of the "linux" lines in the menuentry sections I changed
them from:

    linux    /debian-installer/amd64/linux vga=788 --- quiet

to:

    linux    /debian-installer/amd64/linux --- console=ttyS1,115200n8r console=tty1

because I am doing this on a serial console.

The full content of this grub/grub.cfg file is available here:

    https://paste.debian.net/1173533/

When I trigger a PXE boot by telling the machine to give me a boot
menu, then selecting its eth0, I see it get an address from DHCP and
my tftpd logs show it request the correct files:

Nov 20 00:29:48 admin in.tftpd[19654]: RRQ from 192.168.80.30 filename debian-installer/amd64/bootnetx64.efi
Nov 20 00:29:49 admin in.tftpd[19654]: tftp: client does not accept options
Nov 20 00:29:49 admin in.tftpd[19655]: RRQ from 192.168.80.30 filename debian-installer/amd64/bootnetx64.efi
Nov 20 00:29:50 admin in.tftpd[19656]: RRQ from 192.168.80.30 filename debian-installer/amd64/grubx64.efi

On the console of the machine I see it say that it's downloaded an
"NBP" then the screen shows:

Welcome to GRUB!

then after a pause it clears and I just have a grub> prompt where I
would normally have expected the installer menu. Therefore I believe
it has correctly downloaded the files it needs, I'm looking at the
running grub from the tftp server, yet something has gone wrong with
the grub configuration.

I have tried both the buster netboot.tar.gz and the daily d-i build
and get the same behaviour with both.

I've also read the relevant part of the release notes:

    https://www.debian.org/releases/buster/amd64/ch04s05.en.html

and they don't tell me anything different than what I've already
done, either.

Any ideas?

Cheers,
Andy

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#228801

[Multipart message — attachments visible in raw view] — view raw

On Vi, 20 nov 20, 00:56:19, Andy Smith wrote:
> 
> I have tried both the buster netboot.tar.gz and the daily d-i build
> and get the same behaviour with both.
> 
> I've also read the relevant part of the release notes:
> 
>     https://www.debian.org/releases/buster/amd64/ch04s05.en.html
> 
> and they don't tell me anything different than what I've already
> done, either.
> 
> Any ideas?

Maybe the Installation Guide has more information:

https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/installmanual

Kind regards,
Andrei
-- 
http://wiki.debian.org/FAQsFromDebianUser

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#228808

Hi Andrei,

On Fri, Nov 20, 2020 at 12:30:49PM +0200, Andrei POPESCU wrote:
> On Vi, 20 nov 20, 00:56:19, Andy Smith wrote:
> > 
> > I have tried both the buster netboot.tar.gz and the daily d-i build
> > and get the same behaviour with both.
> > 
> > I've also read the relevant part of the release notes:
> > 
> >     https://www.debian.org/releases/buster/amd64/ch04s05.en.html
> > 
> > and they don't tell me anything different than what I've already
> > done, either.
> > 
> > Any ideas?
> 
> Maybe the Installation Guide has more information:
> 
> https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/installmanual

That links to the same place:
https://www.debian.org/releases/buster/amd64/ch04s05.en.html

Cheers,
Andy

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#228810

[Multipart message — attachments visible in raw view] — view raw

On Vi, 20 nov 20, 15:15:42, Andy Smith wrote:
> Hi Andrei,
> 
> On Fri, Nov 20, 2020 at 12:30:49PM +0200, Andrei POPESCU wrote:
> > On Vi, 20 nov 20, 00:56:19, Andy Smith wrote:
> > > 
> > > I have tried both the buster netboot.tar.gz and the daily d-i build
> > > and get the same behaviour with both.
> > > 
> > > I've also read the relevant part of the release notes:
> > > 
> > >     https://www.debian.org/releases/buster/amd64/ch04s05.en.html
> > > 
> > > and they don't tell me anything different than what I've already
> > > done, either.
> > > 
> > > Any ideas?
> > 
> > Maybe the Installation Guide has more information:
> > 
> > https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/installmanual
> 
> That links to the same place:
> https://www.debian.org/releases/buster/amd64/ch04s05.en.html

Sorry, I was mislead by you referring to the document as "release notes" 
above[1] and didn't bother to check.


[1] which is a different document, see:
https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/releasenotes

Kind regards,
Andrei
-- 
http://wiki.debian.org/FAQsFromDebianUser

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#228877

This was very occasionally working but mostly not. I updated the
boot firmware of the Intel I350 NICs and now it seems to work every
time.

Previously it was stopping after downloading
debian-installer/amd64/grubx64.efi by TFTP, and just showing me a
grub> prompt. Now it goes on to request all the other bits of the
installer, and works.

I have no idea what was wrong before but there are a few other
reports of EFI PXE boot problems being fixed by NIC firmware
upgrade.

Cheers,
Andy

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