Unable to install Redhat Linux 7.6/ Centos 7 on R730

Hello,

RHEL 7 is supported, but it looks like the driver in 7.6 either doesn't like the device, or the firmware version. If you can, you might consider pulling the PCI card and completing the installation, then adding the card back in and installing the kernel modules. I'm not sure what your specific device is, but you should be able to check the support page to locate the current driver version we're hosting here:

https://www.dell.com/support/home/product-support/product/poweredge-r730/drivers

If removing the card isn't possible, you may consider preparing an .ISO with the files and loading it to a USB or a web server. When the RHEL installer gets to the black screen where you can choose to begin the install or test the media, press tab. This will pull up a shell and you can append the inst.dd=driverLocation, driverLocation being a path to the driver update image you would need to prepare.

If you want to send over any other error info, I'm happy to look it over and see if there is anything I might be able to add.

RHEL 7.5 out of box driver will not work on RHEL 7.6 because non white-listed KABI used in driver.  RHEL 7.6  has latest drivers so no need to use out of box driver 

Hello!

I am experiencing a very similar issue on a R530 server. I am trying to install CentOS 7.6 but I always and invariantly get a blank screen while the kernel is loading. I have updated all the firmware and drivers on the R530 but to no avail. 

What I have tried to do so far:

• Update all the firmware
• Switched from legacy BIOS to UEFI and back
• Disabled USB 3
• Disabled all Network adapters
• Rebooted many many times

If there is a working solution or if you have any advice or if you need further info, please let me know.

Giorgio

On my R530 I installed fine using the Lifecycle controller. My above listing was about using a specific driver, in my test I just used what was loaded into the LCC already, which were the drivers for RHEL 7.4. I used that, hit accept, and loaded into the installer. I had no issues with the installation or follow up boots. I ran a yum update and rebooted, system came up fine.

It would have been the build 1810 iso. I did use the everything .ISO, also.

I succeeded in booting the system after removing a couple of PCI cards that I had just installed. So tomorrow I will install the OS. But ultimately I will need those cards so I am going to investigate what is wrong with them. In case I need further support, I think that I will open a new thread. Thank you for the feedback anyway!

*I could install any flavor of CentOS

My problem was an old RS232 PCI card that made the kernel crash. Removed the card I could not any flavor of CentOS.

The only piece of advise that I can give you is: be sure to update the firmware and drivers before installing the OS.

Any update on this? I'm having a similar problem with a FX2 enclosure, trying to image a FC640 node. Centos 6.7 will install just fine, but 7.6 (centos or rhel) will hang just after the Welcome banner during install. I'm using kickstart, presently. Will an earlier version of 7 work?

Thanks for your reply.

I called Dell yesterday. They tried to disable the PCIe bus in order to disable the fiber HBA,  but it seems like it can't be done. I'll have someone go out to the site and pull them. In the meantime, I tried blacklisting it in my pxeboot config. I'm not seeing any trace of it in the kernel output at boot time, but it still hangs in the same place. No error. Just hangs. The firmware, as far as I can tell, is all up to date for the most part.