Install on eMMC fails (GMKTec G9)

Brief description of the problem

Installation to /dev/mmcblk0 fails after “Warning: Don’t know how to resize unknown… skipped”

I’m not 100% certain that is the cause of the problem, but it is the first indication of a failure, followed by

systemd-fsck-root.service: Bound to unit dev-disk-by\x2dlabel-ROOT.device, but unit isn't active.
localhost systemd[1]: Dependency failed for File System Check on /dev/disk/by-label/ROOT."

Other distros like MicroOS and TrueNAS install and run correctly on this device.

Detailed step by step instructions to reproduce the problem

On GMKTec G9 or maybe any device with an ISO/USB install and an internal eMMC, select /dev/mmcblk0 as the target disk. Installation will proceed, until the initial bootstrapping, where it stops and enters emergency console due to the root partition not being available.

rdsosreport.txt:

@rhythmicbalancer Thanks for the report here.

The GMKTec G9 looks like a really nice little mini NAS, and it would be great to see this functioning fine with Rockstor.

The service you mention failing is, however, not one of our own service but from our upstream of openSUSE. Could you try doing a generic openSUSE Leap or Tumblweed (matched to the Rockstor installer you tried) to see if this same issue happens. If so then this is an up-stream issue - otherwise this may be something to do with our installer config regarding eMMC support.

Likely this is to do with our kiwi-ng based installer which uses an OEM config defined in the following repository:

A potential work-around, if the generic upstream installer of openSUSE Leap or Tumbleweed ends up working just fine, is to follow the instruction on the download page re:

  • Built on openSUSE Rpm: Install on Vanilla openSUSE/SuSE SLES

Which points to the following doc guide: Install on Vanilla openSUSE/SuSE SLES — Rockstor documentation

Hope that helps.

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@rhythmicbalancer We are also in the throws of testing a newly build installer - this should be available for download in the next few days, and will be identifiable as having our 5.1.0-0 ‘rockstor’ rpm pre-installed.

It would be good if you could also test this newer installer - once it is finalised - on your pure nvme NAS with eMMC boot. I currently have no such device here, but in time hope to acquire a device in this class.

Hope that helps.

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to further isolate this, can you run the installation with all other drives disconnected, so that there is truly only one choice available to the installation? I don’t think that’s necessarily a problem, but will certainly ensure it’s not. If/when the install is successful, you can power down, reconnect & startup again.

And finally. FWIW, did you completely wipe the eMMC before installation? We have seen that because of some remnants of other things (and it’s not always clear why that is) is impeding the installation. The other distis you’ve tried might perform this is a pre-step that is not included here.

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