Boot BW64 from NVME drive in PCIe adapter fails -SOLVED

[wizard]

Solved, see here: viewtopic.php?p=119039#p119039
Hardware:
HP 5810 desktop UEFI boot
NVME drive in PCIe adapter

This computers bios does not recognize the NVME drive in the adapter as a boot device, but found a work-around and can boot Windows 10/11 from the NVME. I've installed Puppy BW64 and grub2 to the NVME, this is the boot sequence:

-Grub menu runs
-Select BW64
-Boot fails with a message saying it can't find the NVME drive/UUID.

I'm guessing that Puppy lacks the driver needed to recognize the NVME at this stage. Is there a kernel swap that might fix this?

Thanks
wizard

[dimkr]

If you boot BookwormPup64 from a flash drive, does it recognize the drive? Or, is there any distro that boots fine from this drive?

Please share the output of these commands from any distro, where the drive is recognized (not necessarily at boot time):

Code: Select all

lsmod
lspci
dmesg
fdisk -l

[wizard]

@dimkr

If you boot BookwormPup64 from a flash drive, does it recognize the drive?

Yes

Or, if there any distro that boots fine from this drive?

Have only tried Puppy

I can boot MS Windows from the NVME by booting a Refind/Duet USB first and select the NVME from the Refind menu. Duet loads the driver: "NvmExpressDxe.efi" which recognizes the drive.

Here's the command outputs:

dima.txt

(62.68 KiB) Downloaded 8 times

Thanks
wizard

[rcrsn51]

I once handled this situation using the Starter Kit with a "split install". The main bootable drive had a skeleton install of the Kit containing the vmlinuz and initrd. Its grub entry had the "from=" and "changes=" arguments pointing to the target install on the non-bootable NVME drive using UUIDs.

[wizard]

@rcrsn51

Have never used those arguments, do you have an example or is there a help for them?

Thanks
wizard

[rcrsn51]

Have never used those arguments,

?????
They are part of every DebianDog boot entry. See the Deblive Multi Installer.

[dimkr]

@wizard I'm not sure if there's any missing driver: as far as I see, all required drivers are built-in to the kernel (and nvme0 is detected before init is started, at a very early stage). Can you share the GRUB configuration file?

[Clarity]

@wizard Try your Ventoy USB booting the ISO. If it boots, let me know, I think I might not this. Further, if it stops at GRUB, run debugsave and post so that @dimkr or peebee can address the WoofCE resolution. Lastly if it stops at a point where the desktop should emerge, post that as well.

[dimkr]

I recommend that you don't use Ventoy, it's built from a big stack of outdated (some patched) components. If it works, it can work for the wrong reasons, and if it doesn't work, your time is better spent on isolating the issue in the kernel or the boot loader. Nobody is working on improved Ventoy support in woof-CE (https://github.com/search?q=repo%3Apupp ... pe=commits).

[wizard]

@dimkr

OK, gave up on getting Puppy grub2 to boot the NVME directly, but can now boot the internal SSD drive Windows 10, NVME Windows 11 and NVME Puppy BW64, working as follows:

Boot sequence is:
-Boot from Refind/Duet USB
-Refind menu runs showing W10, W11, and Grub
Choosing W10 or W11 boots them directly
Choosing Grub runs the Grub menu to select BW64

Hardware:
HP 5810 - UEFI boot
SSD internal= Kingston 256gb GPT
--p1= 100mb, fat32, EFI
--p2= 16mb,uk, MRP
--p3= 223gb, ntfs, BDP, Windows 10

NVME+adapter in PCIe v2 slot= WD 256gb GPT
--p1= 100mb, fat32, ESP
--p2= 50gb, ntfs, Windows 11
--p3= 20gb, ext3, Puppy BW64

What would be interesting would be to move the Refind/Duet USB boot to the internal SSD or HDD.

Here's the grub.cfg I was using before.

grub.cfg.gz

remove fake .gz

(1.02 KiB) Downloaded 4 times

Thanks
wizard