Attempting fresh QubesOS install on Corsair Build Kit

User Support
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Background

Hello, after a pretty horrid experience attempting to install CachyOS (Failed to run pacstrap will haunt me in my dreams), I have decided to try and install QubesOS onto my currently bricked PC. Before this it was running Windows 11 and I could arguably go back, but I’d rather try this first.

I said before I thought it was too complicated to try and use QubesOS for gaming, but it should be an interesting learning experience none the less.

Install Set-up

My set-up is a corsair DIY build kit, similar to this one from their site:

  • CPU: Intel i9-14900k

  • GPU: Nvidia RTX 4080

  • RAM: 32GB DDR5 5600MHz

  • USB with QubesOS 4.3 ISO flashed with BalenaEtcher

  • Wired connection to router

  • ISO drive plugged into motherboard

  • Monitor plugged into GPU (Did not detect from motherboard)

Installation Attempts

First Attempt: Normal Run

Tried install normally, turned off secure boot and attempted to install with option “Test this media and install QubesOS”. Installation failed.

Errors

  • Firmware Bug: CPU APIC ID mismatch
  • ACPI BIOS Error (bug):
    • I had this issue when installing another OS, possible related to issues with MSI motherboards not conforming to UEFI specifications which fails in GRUB boot loader
    • From the look of the code line, it looks like QubesOS might use the systemd work around, but I cannot confirm this
  • tmpfs: Unsupported parameter ‘huge’
  • 2 nouveau errors
    • These are issues already mentioned with the documentation, issue is with Nvidia card with known work arounds

Second Attempt: BIOS edits

Tried to install after changing the BIOS mode, of which I have the option of UEFI which I used in previous attempt, and CSM which from what I read should be ‘legacy mode’. Installation failed.
Errors

  • Same as above
    • I had hoped the BIOS mode change would fix the ACPI error, but it did not

Third Attempt: Working on it

This is the part where the guide suggests handling nouveau errors.
From the documents:

These errors may also occur due to an incompatible Nvidia graphics card. If you have one, follow the following instructions:

  1. Disable secure/fast boot and use legacy mode
  2. Enter GRUB, move the selection to the first choice, and then press the Tab key.
  3. Now, you are in edit mode. Move the text cursor with your arrow key and after kernel= line, add:

nouveau.modeset=0 rd.driver.blacklist=nouveau video=vesa:off

If the above code doesn’t fix the problem, replace it with:

noexitboot=1 modprobe.blacklist=nouveau rd.driver.blacklist=nouveau --- intitrd.img

The documents also direct you to a community guide.

Errors
I haven’t attempted it yet and am looking for feedback.

  1. I’m assuming all of this is done from the live version running from the USB and not installed yet on my drive
  2. From the documentation, it says to use the Tab key, I’m assuming this is outdated and is now the e key, unless there is something I’m missing
  3. After hitting the e key, I do not see any kernel= line, I’m assuming place these above the last module2 line.
  4. From the community guide, in the EFI section, is this while GRUB is up, or after attempting install than using a TTY? Somewhat confusing usage of dom0 to me as I am not officially in QubesOS, just the image

Notes and Thoughts

So far hasn’t been anything too unexpected, but I do want to say how much I love the quality documentation of QubesOS. They really do a good job of solving issues and keeping the information easy to find, even if I’m not always smart enough to use it :sweat_smile:

Any and all help appreciated, otherwise I might have to tuck tail and return to Windows. Also considering the issues with other OS installs, I performed hardware checks on RAM and my drive to make sure there were no issues.

2 
Me: @marmarek, are these warnings safe to ignore?
Marek: Yes, this is too-verbose message from Linux.
1 Like
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I appreciate the links!
Funnily enough the forum about the APIC non-issue was posted to recently again and I ended up reading it just after :sweat_smile:
I’ll update the original for clarity with links!

4

Realizing I don’t have the user-level to edit my own post :sweat_smile: I’ll add the additions here!
Errors
These are mostly just over-reporting

  • [SOLVED] Firmware Bug: CPU APIC ID mismatch
  • [SOLVED] ACPI BIOS Error (bug):
    • Non-issue, another verbose error message, most forums mention this
  • [SOLVED] tmpfs: Unsupported parameter ‘huge’
    • Non-issue, as mentioned in above comment

The Nvidia related errors

  • [SOLVED] 2 nouveau errors
    • After reading the RHEL docs to understand the GRUB menu a bit more and re-reading the community guide, I answered some of my questions
    • Use e to edit the menu option, the kernel= line in the edit menu is the one that contains vmlinuz-*, add the nouveau.mode ... vesa:off options on to the end of that line

Current Errors
Unfortunately, after the nouveau errors were removed, installations was still unsuccessful. Reading from @Yuguoi post Qubes OS X11 boot failed I have the same errors relating to the (EE) errors in /tmp/X.log
I’m going to explore some more and see what I can come up with

Curiously,
WARNING brltty:unsupported generic resource identifier: bluetooth:
runs every 5 seconds after the failure and keeps appearing in syslog. Obviously this is from an installation failure so it doesn’t really matter, but I found it interesting, so I’ll mention it