New Proxmox installation stuck on "Loading initial ramdisk ..."

Proxmox
1

I just bought a new computer to run Proxmox VE at home. I installed the Proxmox 8.1-1 ISO. The installation seemed to go smoothly, although I had to use text mode to avoid X windows issues. Unfortunately, the system hangs at “Loading initial ramdisk …”

I have managed to get 7.4 working, but I’d like to be able to move to 8.1.

My system:

  • CPU: AMD Ryzen 5600g
  • 16 GB RAM
  • Video: GEFORCE RTX 4060
  • Motherboard: ASRock B550M Pro4
  • Microcode: 0xa50000f

Attempts at troubleshooting:

  • I edited the GRUB boot line to remove “quiet”. It didn’t say anything useful. “Booting a command list” appeared before the “Loading Linux…” line.
  • I ran a memory test. It passed.
  • I installed Ubuntu 22.04.3, the server version. It booted up without trouble.
  • I installed Debian 12.2.0. It had no issues.
  • After I installed Debian, I attempted to install Proxmox on top of it. Once I installed the Proxmox kernel on it, I was back in the same situation.
  • I installed Proxmox 7.4. I had to wrestle with X to get the installer to work, but once it was installed it booted up.

So I’m stuck on Proxmox 7.4 until I can figure out some better troubleshooting steps. Any suggestions on what to try next?

(Also posted on Proxmox Support Forum)

2

Is there any reason not to do an upgrade from the successful 7.4 installation? That seems like the easiest thing to do.

That error does look familiar. I think I dealt with that when I was trying to install PVE on a MacMini (the T2 security chip caused issues). If I remember, I had to boot the installer and chroot into the new installation and then manually run proxmox-boot-tool.

3

Too late now, but I guarantee that was an nVidia driver issue. You probably could have used an alternate TTY and blacklisted or upgraded the driver.