SuperMicro X9SRE only boots UEFI Debian 8.1 when “forced”

bootsupermicrouefi

I have the following configuration:

SuperMicro X9SRE (Intel C602 chipset) updated to latest firmware v3.2 (01/2015)
LSI Spitfire 9211-4i HBA with 1 GiB NAND cache
3 x 2 TiB SATA 6Gbps HDDs in hardware RAID-5
Debian Jessie 8.1 installed in UEFI mode on the RAID-5 array (using netinst image force booted in UEFI mode; confirmed it was UEFI with efibootmgr)

biosver

When I just turn on the server and let it go, I get this:

error

Note that the PXE is not currently booting to anything, and the default configuration from my hosting provider is to have the PXE at the top of the boot order to allow a "rescue" PXE environment to be loaded using the control panel. The expected behavior is that the PXE will exit and pass the torch on to the next item in the boot order. Speaking of boot order, here's what I have:

bootoder

The highlighted one in white is the one I want to boot.

Here is what the UEFI priority list looks like:

uefibootorder

But it doesn't work. However, if I "force" (override) the boot order, either in the setup screen or by pressing F11 to access the boot menu, it works:

works

If I press enter with "debian" selected here, I get grub loading, and indeed, the system boots up completely and correctly!

grub

What'n the world is going on here? How do I convince the server to boot up Debian from power on without manual intervention?

Best Answer

So it looks like, for some reason or another, having the PXE firmware be first in the boot order (which is how it was when I first got the server) breaks UEFI booting. When I set UEFI:debian as the first entry in the boot order, it boots all by itself, no intervention needed.

The downside, of course, is that if I need a rescue OS over PXE, I need to first log in over IPMI, come into the firmware setup, and change the boot order back. :/

Ah, well. SuperMicro......

Related Solutions

Debian – Xen only sees 512MB of System RAM. Should be 8GB. (UEFI boot)

"Fixed" by commenting out the parts that use BIOS e801 and e820 maps. Not sure why the no-real-mode won't work.

diff -ur orig/xen-4.0.1//xen/arch/x86/setup.c mod/xen-4.0.1//xen/arch/x86/setup.c
--- orig/xen-4.0.1//xen/arch/x86/setup.c        2010-08-29 15:13:22.000000000 +0000
+++ mod/xen-4.0.1//xen/arch/x86/setup.c 2012-01-28 01:33:22.000000000 +0000
@@ -589,6 +589,8 @@
     if ( ((unsigned long)cpu0_stack & (STACK_SIZE-1)) != 0 )
         EARLY_FAIL("Misaligned CPU0 stack.\n");

+#if 0
+    /* disable raw e801 and e820 for now in favor of multiboot provided maps */
     if ( e820_raw_nr != 0 )
     {
         memmap_type = "Xen-e820";
@@ -604,7 +606,9 @@
         e820_raw[1].type = E820_RAM;
         e820_raw_nr = 2;
     }
-    else if ( mbi->flags & MBI_MEMMAP )
+    else 
+#endif 
+    if ( mbi->flags & MBI_MEMMAP )
     {
         memmap_type = "Multiboot-e820";
         while ( (bytes < mbi->mmap_length) && (e820_raw_nr < E820MAX) )

xm dmesg now shows proper amount of RAM

(XEN) Xen version 4.0.1 (Debian 4.0.1-4nobios1) (@) (gcc version 4.4.5 (Debian 4.4.5-8) ) Sat Jan 28 01:33:24 UTC 2012
(XEN) Bootloader: GRUB 1.99-14
(XEN) Command line: placeholder no-real-mode e820-verbose
(XEN) Video information:
(XEN)  VGA is text mode 80x25, font 8x16
(XEN)  VBE/DDC methods: V2; EDID transfer time: 1 seconds
(XEN) Disc information:
(XEN)  Found 2 MBR signatures
(XEN)  Found 2 EDD information structures
(XEN) Initial Multiboot-e820 RAM map:
(XEN)  0000000000000000 - 00000000000a0000 (usable)
(XEN)  0000000000100000 - 0000000020000000 (usable)
(XEN)  0000000020000000 - 0000000020200000 (reserved)
(XEN)  0000000020200000 - 0000000040000000 (usable)
(XEN)  0000000040000000 - 0000000040200000 (reserved)
(XEN)  0000000040200000 - 00000000ba5cc000 (usable)
(XEN)  00000000ba5cc000 - 00000000ba628000 (ACPI NVS)
(XEN)  00000000ba628000 - 00000000bab36000 (reserved)
(XEN)  00000000bab36000 - 00000000bab39000 (ACPI NVS)
(XEN)  00000000bab39000 - 00000000bad9f000 (reserved)
(XEN)  00000000bad9f000 - 00000000badb0000 (ACPI NVS)
(XEN)  00000000badb0000 - 00000000badc4000 (reserved)
(XEN)  00000000badc4000 - 00000000badc5000 (reserved)
(XEN)  00000000badc5000 - 00000000badc7000 (reserved)
(XEN)  00000000badc7000 - 00000000badc9000 (usable)
(XEN)  00000000badc9000 - 00000000badca000 (ACPI NVS)
(XEN)  00000000badca000 - 00000000badcb000 (reserved)
(XEN)  00000000badcb000 - 00000000badd2000 (reserved)
(XEN)  00000000badd2000 - 00000000baddc000 (ACPI NVS)
(XEN)  00000000baddc000 - 00000000bade9000 (reserved)
(XEN)  00000000bade9000 - 00000000bae2a000 (reserved)
(XEN)  00000000bae2a000 - 00000000bae35000 (reserved)
(XEN)  00000000bae35000 - 00000000bae38000 (reserved)
(XEN)  00000000bae38000 - 00000000bae7b000 (ACPI NVS)
(XEN)  00000000bae7b000 - 00000000bb000000 (usable)
(XEN)  00000000bb800000 - 00000000bfa00000 (reserved)
(XEN)  00000000fed1c000 - 00000000fed20000 (reserved)
(XEN)  00000000ff000000 - 0000000100000000 (reserved)
(XEN)  0000000100000000 - 000000023fe00000 (usable)
(XEN) Checking MTRR ranges...
(XEN)  MTRR cap: d0a type: c00
(XEN)  MTRR[0]: base 6 mask e00000800
(XEN)  MTRR[1]: base 200000006 mask fc0000800
(XEN)  MTRR[2]: base bb800000 mask fff800800
(XEN)  MTRR[3]: base bc000000 mask ffc000800
(XEN)  MTRR[4]: base c0000000 mask fc0000800
(XEN)  MTRR[5]: base 23fe00000 mask fffe00800
(XEN)  MTRR[6]: base bb000006 mask fff800000
(XEN)  MTRR[7]: base 0 mask 0
(XEN)  MTRR[8]: base 0 mask 0
(XEN)  MTRR[9]: base 0 mask 0
(XEN) Multiboot-e820 RAM map:
(XEN)  0000000000000000 - 00000000000a0000 (usable)
(XEN)  0000000000100000 - 0000000020000000 (usable)
(XEN)  0000000020000000 - 0000000020200000 (reserved)
(XEN)  0000000020200000 - 0000000040000000 (usable)
(XEN)  0000000040000000 - 0000000040200000 (reserved)
(XEN)  0000000040200000 - 00000000ba5cc000 (usable)
(XEN)  00000000ba5cc000 - 00000000ba628000 (ACPI NVS)
(XEN)  00000000ba628000 - 00000000bab36000 (reserved)
(XEN)  00000000bab36000 - 00000000bab39000 (ACPI NVS)
(XEN)  00000000bab39000 - 00000000bad9f000 (reserved)
(XEN)  00000000bad9f000 - 00000000badb0000 (ACPI NVS)
(XEN)  00000000badb0000 - 00000000badc7000 (reserved)
(XEN)  00000000badc7000 - 00000000badc9000 (usable)
(XEN)  00000000badc9000 - 00000000badca000 (ACPI NVS)
(XEN)  00000000badca000 - 00000000badd2000 (reserved)
(XEN)  00000000badd2000 - 00000000baddc000 (ACPI NVS)
(XEN)  00000000baddc000 - 00000000bae38000 (reserved)
(XEN)  00000000bae38000 - 00000000bae7b000 (ACPI NVS)
(XEN)  00000000bae7b000 - 00000000bb000000 (usable)
(XEN)  00000000bb800000 - 00000000bfa00000 (reserved)
(XEN)  00000000fed1c000 - 00000000fed20000 (reserved)
(XEN)  00000000ff000000 - 0000000100000000 (reserved)
(XEN)  0000000100000000 - 000000023fe00000 (usable)
(XEN) ACPI: RSDP 000FCB00, 0024 (r2 ALASKA)
(XEN) ACPI: XSDT BA61D068, 004C (r1 ALASKA    A M I  1072009 AMI     10013)
(XEN) ACPI: FACP BA627210, 00F4 (r4 ALASKA    A M I  1072009 AMI     10013)
(XEN) ACPI: DSDT BA61D140, A0CD (r2 ALASKA    A M I        0 INTL 20051117)
(XEN) ACPI: FACS BADD3F80, 0040
(XEN) ACPI: APIC BA627308, 0092 (r3 ALASKA    A M I  1072009 AMI     10013)
(XEN) ACPI: SSDT BA6273A0, 01D6 (r1 AMICPU     PROC        1 MSFT  3000001)
(XEN) ACPI: MCFG BA627578, 003C (r1 ALASKA    A M I  1072009 MSFT       97)
(XEN) ACPI: HPET BA6275B8, 0038 (r1 ALASKA    A M I  1072009 AMI.        4)
(XEN) System RAM: 8096MB (8291276kB)

Kickstarting Ubuntu 14.04: How to create an “EFI boot partition” from the ks.cfg

Do not use kickstart with debian based distributions. Kickstart will be converted to preseed, so its better to use preseed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preseed) directly.

As recommended start with an example preseed: https://help.ubuntu.com/14.04/installation-guide/example-preseed.txt

Then boot with preseed url and DEBCONF_DEBUG=5 into the installer. Every time the installer asks a question, you will see the config option logged on console 4. Then you can use this name to set the correct value.

For partitioning you can see an example in the linked example-preseed.txt, you will need to adapt it for your EFI partition.

Best Answer

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Debian – Xen only sees 512MB of System RAM. Should be 8GB. (UEFI boot)

Kickstarting Ubuntu 14.04: How to create an “EFI boot partition” from the ks.cfg

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