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Unable to boot UEFI only board from CentOS7 USB

CDavid
Beginner
5,278 Views

Hi,

We recently purchased some Intel servers with m50cyp1ur204 board, to manage a new HPC cluster.

Those servers come with a crippled BMC that won't allow booting from virtual media, unless you buy a license, useful to us only for the first installation, after which we will have a PXE server.

This leaves us only with the option of booting from USB.

I tried to create a CentOS 7 USB on a Linux laptop with several tools, starting with the obvious dd, manual partitioning of the USB to create gpt with EFI partition, and Etcher. With no avail.

The server board won't recognize the created USB as a boot device.

Ubuntu USB booted without a problem.

 

Advice on how to create a CentOS 7 USB, with Linux tools, that will boot on a UEFI only board is appreciated,

David

 

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1 Solution
AdrianM_Intel
Moderator
4,961 Views

Hello CDavid,

 

Thank you for your patience.

 

We do not have any recommended method to create a CentOS ISO image in USB however you can follow the steps recommended in CentOS website. The issue present could be related to how the USB ISO was created.

 

We tried the steps in the link below and we were able to successfully start the installation of CentOS 7.7 (minimal ISO image).

 

https://docs.centos.org/en-US/centos/install-guide/Making_Media_USB_Linux/

 

CentOS.jpg

 

The BIOS detected the USB drive containing Installation files, the first boot device. (CentOS shown as a second boot device is an installation in NVMe drive).

 

BIOS.jpg

 

and after selecting the drive "grub" prompt appeared on the screen. 

 

prompt screen.jpg

 

To start with the installation, we followed the steps below (reference from 3rd party websites )

and the installation screen successfully loaded.

 

grub> ls (to find the USB partition)

 

In our case USB was detected as "hd0,msdos1" 

hd0.jpg

 

grub> set root=(hd0,msdos1)

 

root.jpg

 

The next step is to chain load the bootloader. to find the location of the bootloader file.

 

grub> chainloader / and press tab key to find the folders

 

chainloader.jpg

 

in our case, bootloader file was located in /EFI/BOOT/grubx64.efi

 

grub>chainloader /EFI/BOOT/grubx64.efi

 

grub> boot

 

this should start the installation screen.

 

installation screen.jpg

 

Hope this helps.

 

Regards,

 

Adrian M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

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13 Replies
Paul_R_Intel
Moderator
5,270 Views

Hello CDavid,

 

Thank you for joining the community, I understand that you have been having issues booting from CentOS 7 USB, unfortunately, Intel doesn't provide any technical support to this open-source operating system. If you encounter any technical problem or difficulty in the installation or usage of any software above, seek support from the corresponding open-source operating system community. Here you can find the tested Operating Systems for Intel® Server System M50CYP Family and their support:



Please let us know if there is anything else that we can do for you.  in case we do not hear from you, we are going to follow up on 11/23rd if you have any response prior to this email feel free to contact us back.   


Regards 

 

 

Paul R. 

Intel Customer Support Technician 

For firmware updates and troubleshooting tips, visit: 

https://intel.com/support/serverbios 


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CDavid
Beginner
5,262 Views

Hello Paul_R_Intel,

From a serious and respected company like Intel, that actively support open source,

I was hoping for an answer that will help me understand the cause of the problem so I can find the solution.

Specially when the answer can focus on the cause from the hardware side.

Not a Dell style answer of "this table says I don't need to help you".

 

I guess I did learn something from the thread,

Thanks,

David

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Paul_R_Intel
Moderator
5,239 Views

Hello CDavid,


Thank you for your reply, let us investigate further. I will give you an update as soon as possible.


Best regards,


Paul R. 

Intel Customer Support Technician 

For firmware updates and troubleshooting tips, visit: 

https://intel.com/support/serverbios 


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Paul_R_Intel
Moderator
5,219 Views

Hello CDavid,


I hope you are doing great, thank you for your patience and time, we used CentOS 7 ISO image and copied it to a USB drive using Rufus, the USB is recognized in BIOS and we were able to start the installation process.


Could you check if the USB drive is listed in Boot Manager and if it's displaying any error when selecting the USB drive?


In case we do not hear from you, we are going to follow up on 11/29th.



Best regards,


Paul R. 

Intel Customer Support Technician 

For firmware updates and troubleshooting tips, visit: 

https://intel.com/support/serverbios 




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CDavid
Beginner
5,180 Views

Hello Paul_R_Intel,

Thank you for your reply.

However I cannot validate the solution as Rufus is a Windows only tool, and I don't have access to any Windows computer.

My original post specifically mention that I'm looking for an advice on how to create a CentOS 7 USB, with Linux tools.

Assistance with understanding the USB structure the BIOS is looking for, may help me find the solution myself.

 

Best regards,

David

 

 

 

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Paul_R_Intel
Moderator
5,143 Views

Hello CDavid,


Thank you for your reply, let us investigate the USB structure to make sure we don't miss any details. I will give you an update as soon as possible.


Best regards,


Paul R. 

Intel Customer Support Technician 

For firmware updates and troubleshooting tips, visit: 

https://intel.com/support/serverbios 


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Paul_R_Intel
Moderator
5,122 Views

Hello CDavid,


Thank you for your patience and time. We would like to know if you have tried creating the USB using a different Centos version or a different ISO and if you have made sure to enable the UEFI in BIOS.


You can find useful information on how to create the USB device here:


Could you check if the USB drive is listed in Boot Manager and if it's displaying any error when selecting the USB drive?



In case we do not hear from you, we are going to follow up on 12/02nd


Best regards,


Paul R. 

Intel Customer Support Technician 

For firmware updates and troubleshooting tips, visit: 

https://intel.com/support/serverbios 




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CDavid
Beginner
5,082 Views

Hi Paul_R_Intel,

Thank you for your answer, but it it's only bring us full cycle to the original post.

The board is UEFI only, so no other option in the BIOS.

The USB disk was created by dd as the link you offered suggests.

This USB was tested to install a non Intel UEFI board successfully.

 

Best regards,

David

 

 

 

 

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Paul_R_Intel
Moderator
5,055 Views

Hello CDavid,


Thank you for your reply, let us investigate further. I will give you an update as soon as possible.


Best regards,


Paul R. 

Intel Customer Support Technician 

For firmware updates and troubleshooting tips, visit: 

https://intel.com/support/serverbios 


0 Kudos
AdrianM_Intel
Moderator
4,962 Views

Hello CDavid,

 

Thank you for your patience.

 

We do not have any recommended method to create a CentOS ISO image in USB however you can follow the steps recommended in CentOS website. The issue present could be related to how the USB ISO was created.

 

We tried the steps in the link below and we were able to successfully start the installation of CentOS 7.7 (minimal ISO image).

 

https://docs.centos.org/en-US/centos/install-guide/Making_Media_USB_Linux/

 

CentOS.jpg

 

The BIOS detected the USB drive containing Installation files, the first boot device. (CentOS shown as a second boot device is an installation in NVMe drive).

 

BIOS.jpg

 

and after selecting the drive "grub" prompt appeared on the screen. 

 

prompt screen.jpg

 

To start with the installation, we followed the steps below (reference from 3rd party websites )

and the installation screen successfully loaded.

 

grub> ls (to find the USB partition)

 

In our case USB was detected as "hd0,msdos1" 

hd0.jpg

 

grub> set root=(hd0,msdos1)

 

root.jpg

 

The next step is to chain load the bootloader. to find the location of the bootloader file.

 

grub> chainloader / and press tab key to find the folders

 

chainloader.jpg

 

in our case, bootloader file was located in /EFI/BOOT/grubx64.efi

 

grub>chainloader /EFI/BOOT/grubx64.efi

 

grub> boot

 

this should start the installation screen.

 

installation screen.jpg

 

Hope this helps.

 

Regards,

 

Adrian M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

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CDavid
Beginner
4,750 Views

Thank you Adrian for the detailed and helpful answer.

The boot and installation now work flawlessly.

 

Regards,

David

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AdrianM_Intel
Moderator
4,885 Views

Hello CDavid,


Were you able to check the previous post? 


Let me know if you need more assistance.


Regards,


Adrian M.

Intel Customer Support Technician 



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Paul_R_Intel
Moderator
4,758 Views

Hello CDavid,


We would like to know if you were able to check the previous post? 


Let me know if you need more assistance.


Best regards,


Paul R. 

Intel Customer Support Technician 

For firmware updates and troubleshooting tips, visit: 

https://intel.com/support/serverbios 


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