Installation GUI fails because of drivers and text installer fails because of encryption

[yanlong]

Hello,

I am trying to install Qubes R4.3.0 (using the kernel-latest option) on a new workstation. I have been following detailed troubleshooting steps assisted by an LLM, but I have hit a dead end where the Graphical Installer crashes, and the Text Installer functionality seems to be bugged regarding encryption.

Hardware:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X (Zen 5)
• GPU: NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada/Blackwell
• Motherboard: ASUS ProArt X870E-CREATOR WIFI
• BIOS: Updated to latest (2004). Secure Boot Disabled. Virtualization/IOMMU Enabled. Primary Video set to IGFX (Internal).

Issue 1: Graphical Installer Crashes (Missing Drivers / Signal 6)
I am able to boot into the graphical installer. The language selection screen appears. However, as soon as I move the mouse or attempt to click, it freezes and the screen goes black after a moment (Signal 6).

I investigated in the Anaconda shell (Ctrl+Alt+F2).
Checking /tmp/X.log shows that Xorg cannot find the specific drivers for my hardware:

(EE) Failed to load module "amdgpu" (module does not exist)
(EE) Failed to load module "fbdev" (module does not exist)
(EE) Failed to load module "vesa" (module does not exist)
(EE) Caught signal 6 (Aborted). Server aborting.

I checked /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers/ and confirmed that amdgpu_drv.so is physically missing from the ISO.
The drivers that are present are:
ati, dummy, intel, modesetting, nouveau, openchrome, qxl, radeon, vmware.

Issue 2: Text Mode Encryption Deadlock
Since the GUI crashes, I attempted to use the Text Installer (inst.text). However, I cannot enable disk encryption.

1. Automatic Method Failure: In the “Installation Destination” menu, the global option [ ] Encrypt my data does not appear in the disk list. When I attempt to proceed by selecting “Use All Space” (hoping it defaults to encryption), the installer fails with the error:
   Encryption requested for LUKS device nvme0n1p3 but no encryption key specified for this device.
   It never prompts me to enter a password, leaving me stuck in a loop.

2. Manual Method: If I manually partition, the partition settings menu does not offer an [ ] Encrypt checkbox for the root partition.

3. Shell Workaround Attempt: I manually created the LUKS container and LVM structure in the shell (cryptsetup, pvcreate, etc.) and unlocked it.

   • The installer detects the logical volumes after a rescan.
   • However, when I assign mount points, it errors with: The existing unlocked LUKS device cannot be used for the installation without an encryption key specified for this device.
   • The text UI offers no way to input the key for an already-open device.

[corny]

GUI issue might be due to this issue

AMD iGPU issue after recent update

After a seemingly random amount of time, my display will cut out and typically not recover. The cutout doesn’t seem to correlate to any particular activity or lack of activity. Audio is unaffected which is essentially the only way I’m able to differentiate this from a system crash. I recently updated dom0 and switched to fedora 42 templates. I assume the template switch is unrelated and that the dom0 update is the cause. I’m using an AMD processor with the iGPU being used for output. Kernel ve…

You could try not using latest for install. Or use mitigation.

[yanlong]

i tried not using latest. i’m not sure what mitigation means

[corny]

Did you read the thread I linked ? Did you try what this poster suggested ?

btw I don’t think the igpu is the issue, it is more likely the motherboard. I have 9600x and another user has 9950x and we both run 4.3 with iGPU. but I have MSI motherboard

AMD iGPU issue after recent update

This particular issue was discussed on the Qubes Matrix chat. The boot-time black screen on kernel-latest is the result of AMDs XDNA driver misbehaving. You can fix it by adding a kernel boot option module_blacklist=amdxdna

[yanlong]

i tried the fix mentioned in the thread and it didn’t make a big difference. still crashes. is it possible to just use the text installer correctly?