When coding around with the pentoo-installer in virtual machines, grub simply refused to detect the virtual device mounted on /dev/vda.
The solution was in this article:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/KVM#Preparing_an_.28Arch.29_Linux_guest
# grub > device (hd0) /dev/vda > root (hd0,0) > setup (hd0) > quit
Also put this in /boot/grub/device.map:
(hd0) /dev/vda