New installation on a novacustom v56 fails to complete boot

User Support General
1

Hi,

last year I tested Qubes OS on a laptop borrowed from work. All went well.

Last week I decided that it was time to retire my almost 10 years old thinkpad. So I bought a novacustom v56 to replace it and with the idea of running Qubes on it (since it’s certified).

I’ve installed R4.2.4 (and even R4.2.3) more than half a dozen times (a couple of them checking installation media) and I always get stuck at the same point:

Installation completes successfully. But on the first run, I check the Qubes configuration options and during that configuration, the graphical installer seems to die and I get this on the vga console:

v56
v561397×617 353 KB

This screen stays stuck there until I reboot (by pressing ctrl-alt-del, powering off and on, or logging in on tty2 and issuing a sudo reboot).

Then, on the second boot, after entering the luks passphrase, the system doesn’t seem to finish booting up. The login manager never shows up. I can switch to tty2 and login there, but not to the gui.

In that first boot configuration menu I tried different setups: default options with debian as default template, default options, no configuration at all. No change: no login manager.

I tried disabling wifi and bluetooth radios on dasharo firmware setup. Nothing also.

To rule out a hardware issue I booted a live ubuntu iso on a usb stick. Graphics, audio, wifi network, all seems to be working fine.

I’m beginning to run out on ideas. Any pointer would be very much appreciated.

Thanks!

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As you noted, the NovaCustom V56 is officially certified, meaning both @novacustom and @marmarek have tested and confirmed that Qubes installs and runs well on it, so this is certainly strange and should not be happening.

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Did you install with kernel-latest?

https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/certified-hardware/novacustom-v56-series/#disclaimers

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That was it!

Now that you pointed out that page to me, I recall having seen it a couple of weeks ago while browsing installation documentation. But I forgot it… :man_shrugging:

Thank you very much!!

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Oops, I read too fast and thought you said you even tried 4.3, so I mentally ruled out lack of kernel-latest as the culprit. Glad it’s working for you now!

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