Troubleshooting I/O errors and read-only file systems on Elastic Metal EM-A11XX-SSD servers

Reviewed on September 01, 2026

Problem

On machines built on the Elastic Metal EM‑A11XX‑SSD line, you are encountering one or more of the following issues when running recent Linux kernels:

Disks experience I/O packet loss
The file system (e.g., EXT4) immediately switches to read‑only mode to protect the data
System logs show DMA errors related to the IOMMU subsystem

This page explains the incompatibility causing the problem, lists the affected machines and operating systems, and provides a workaround.

Affected machines and operating systems

The following Elastic Metal servers are affected by the incompatibility issue (specifically, only those built on the HP ProLiant DL320e Gen8 v2 chassis):

EM‑A110X‑SSD
EM‑A111X‑SSD
EM‑A115X‑SSD
EM‑A116X‑SSD

The following operating systems and kernel versions are affected:

Ubuntu (kernels 7.x.x, e.g., Ubuntu 26.04)
Debian / Proxmox VE (kernels ≥ 6.17.13, e.g., Debian Trixie)

A default change in the handling of Intel IOMMU in recent Linux kernels (Debian/Ubuntu) degrades the SATA link (drops to 1.5 Gbps, AHCI link resets) and generates I/O errors on the disk controller via the IOMMU subsystem (DMAR: ERROR: DMA PTE …).

Workaround

To resolve the issue without completely disabling IOMMU virtualization (VT‑d), configure the IOMMU in passthrough mode (iommu=pt).

Open a root terminal and create a dedicated GRUB configuration file:

echo 'GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="$GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT intel_iommu=on iommu=pt"' | sudo tee /etc/default/grub.d/iommu.cfg

Update the GRUB configuration:
```
sudo update-grub
```
Reboot the server to apply the change:
```
sudo reboot
```

Still need help?

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Problem

Affected machines and operating systems

Cause

Workaround