Anybody had any bad experiences using CL (server) on AMD server hardware (Epyc 9124)? Please feel free to chime in!
The last time I had an issue with CL on AMD was several years ago when it had issues with the Mobile Ryzen 3500. That was fixed a few revisions later when it was traced to a unique way mobile Ryzen was exposing the IOMMU.
Since then I have tested CL up to the Ryzen 6900HX and never had an install or function issue.
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I’m having a problem getting Clear Linux to install on an Asustor Flashstor FS6806x. Definitely an odd machine, running a Ryzen Embedded V3C14 CPU.
The latest build of Clear Linux I can get to boot is 37290. This is after trying to boot a few later versions (40960, 38790, 38600, and 38510).
I started off installing build 36010 because you reported success with that build. Then I let swupd auto upgrade through several later versions, which it did. It didn’t occur to me these later versions would fail to boot, but they did.
I’m thinking this Flashstor FS6806X may have some idiosyncrasy with its IOMMU, but I haven’t figured out how to log the boot messages from the installer to verify this. The boot messages just scroll off the screen until the boot hangs. Often the last message logged by the installer is “nvidiafb: Device ID: 10de2188”.
The Ryzen Embedded V3C14 has no iGPU so I have attached an external GPU to an M.2 host adapter. Amazon.com: cablecc PCI-E 3.0 M.2 M-Key to Oculink SFF-8611 SFF-8612 Host Adapter for GPD Win Max2 External Graphics Card & SSD : Electronics
This is just temporary so I can get CL installed. Definitely a Rube Goldberg arrangement.
I would prefer to run the very latest build of Clear Linux, if I could figure out how to get it to boot.
Do you know how to pull up and review your boot logs?
After typing out my lengthy problem description, inspiration struck. Adding nomodeset to the kernel command line solved the problem. It was a problem with the GPU driver, not the IOMMU.
I now have the latest version of Clear Linux up and running on my Flashstor FS6806X. It even boots now. So, yay!
(I’m assuming this will still work even with the GPU disconnected, but I haven’t tried that yet.)