[qubes-users] Installation error. Alienware M17 R3, I9 10thgen, rtx 2080, 32Gb ram

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1

I’m not completely new to Qubes OS and have it installed on inferior machines before but due to hardware limitations always reverted back to something lighter. This time though i have a pretty decent machine, it runs windows in RAID0 and I have a 2230 form factor m.2 ssd with no raid and this has ubuntu installed. My plan was to get rid of the ubuntu installation and use Qubes.

I knew the graphics was going to be an issue as it has always been with Nvidia. This time round though i’m at a loss.

I’ve downloaded a fresh copy of 4.0.3 dd’ using Linux and Rufus on windows. Tried both without modification and neither worked. (This is using both 16Gb and an 8Gb because of issues raised about anything higher than 8).
Tried to losetup mount the iso but its not possible it complains about the sector not being 512bytes and fails to mount. If i mount it any other way i get the first partition which can not be modified. So only option is to mount the second partition and manually edit; /mnt/EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.cfg. Remove lines noexitboot=1 and mapbs=1, try again and still failure although i should mention the RGB keyboard does hold its color meaning the loading has finished and something is open. Theres no response to ctrl alt f6 or f2. it will respond to ctrl alt del and the power off button shutting down the installation. One comment that did get me quite far but still jammed the computer was to use a comments answer from QubesOS issue 5165. This managed to get a full but slow output that gave very few warnings until you get to a dracut warning timeout script error. This will happen a few times and then request you copy the error to a usb stick for viewing but at this point nothing but a reboot is possible even after a half hour wait.

The usb installations are fine and even with the modified settings i can install Qubes on an old machine lying around. Alienware’s bios is a bit tricky and it seems Legacy mode has been completely removed leaving only UEFI. Secure boot is disabled but qubes install is unable to detect this. So im kind of lost on what it is i should be doing. Blacklisting nouveau drivers doesn’t help much.

If anyone has experienced this or if i need to give further details please let me know. Logs are difficult to get as they are unable to be saved due to the crashing.

Warmest regards

Kaine

2

“I knew the graphics was going to be an issue as it has always been with Nvidia. This time round though i’m at a loss.”

I am probably not as Linux savvy as you, just an experience which might give you insight. I have been working on an Alienware 17 inch, Core I7 Skylake processor, 16 GB RAM 512 M2, one TB spinning drive. I have Legacy Boot. I have experienced that I can boot after installing to the one TB spinning drive, but I can install to the m2, with a test Iso of 4.1 and mostly seems to work.

I suspect there is an issue with the Nividia Graphics card, and Qubes 4.0.3, I read does not have support for that. I think I had it working though many months ago, but the screen did not show the depth of color that Windows 10 had.

That being said, Alienware was not to meant to allow dual boot between different OS’s, and as you know, the firmware has been dovetailed to Windows 10… Qubes was designed to be the only OS on computer. Still I have Legacy Boot.

Right now I am using one of the test iso’s of 4.1, which has a later kernel and a video driver for this Nividia graphics card.

There are several threads on different parts of this subject.

Not sure what the status is of having an I9 10th generation.

I doubt if it relates to your issue, I have a fresh install, and the button for update does not show up. I don’t see a common denominator to your issue. and I am using a test Iso of 4.1 from about June. Which is not trustworthy from a security stand point. Keep hoping for a release of Qubes 4.1 with Fedora 33.

I know our developers are very overworked. I know the real solution to these things is to find a way for Qubes Project to have more money, a lot more money. I live on Social Security, so I will not provide the solution to overworked, under compensated developers.

There is another forum. https://forum.qubes-os.org/

3

“I knew the graphics was going to be an issue as it has always been with Nvidia. This time round though i’m at a loss.”

I am probably not as Linux savvy as you, just an experience which might give you insight. I have been working on an Alienware 17 inch, Core I7 Skylake processor, 16 GB RAM 512 M2, one TB spinning drive. I have Legacy Boot. I have experienced that I can Not boot after installing to the one TB spinning drive, but I can install to the m2, with a test Iso of 4.1 and boots, I still have a tab missing to do updates. Guessing the link to updates is broken. I did find that it would not shut down when I was still connected to WiFi, I broke connection and it immediately shutdown.

I suspect there is an issue with the Nividia Graphics card, and Qubes 4.0.3, I read does not have support for that. I think I had it working though many months ago, but the screen did not show the depth of color that Windows 10 had.

That being said, Alienware was not to meant to allow dual boot between different OS’s, and as you know, the firmware has been dovetailed to Windows 10… Qubes was designed to be the only OS on computer. Still I have Legacy Boot.

Right now I am using one of the test iso’s of 4.1, which has a later kernel and a video driver for this Nividia graphics card.

There are several threads on different parts of this subject.

Not sure what the status is of having an I9 10th generation.

I doubt if it relates to your issue, I have a fresh install, and the button for update does not show up. I don’t see a common denominator to your issue. and I am using a test Iso of 4.1 from about June. Which is not trustworthy from a security stand point. Keep hoping for a release of Qubes 4.1 with Fedora 33.

I know our developers are very overworked. I know the real solution to these things is to find a way for Qubes Project to have more money, a lot more money. I live on Social Security, so I will not provide the solution to overworked, under compensated developers.

There is another forum. [https://forum.qubes-os.org](https://forum.qubes-os.org/)