New 9.3 Install hangs at GRUB

[ChiknNutz]

I am attempting to install the latest FreeNAS 9.3 on an admittedly older system, but I can boot to USB. I have been messing around with this most of the day so far. This is a brand new install. Here is what I have done:

1. Tried to install from ISO image on new Sandisk Cruzer 16GB, hung up at GRUB (nothing beyond "GRUB" on the screen).
2. Burned ISO image to CD and all seemed to go fine, install to USB completed successfully.
3. System reboot to USB yields the exact same GRUB message ("GRUB _" to be exact, flashing underscore).
4. Changed Boot sequence to start at the Sandisk USB drive.
5. I have went into the BIOS and tried each possible USB emulation method, landed on the "Force FDD" to get it to at least boot to the USB.
6. Have verified that I can boot to MS DOS via formatted USB drive.
7. Have tried to do the workaround posted on the Documentation page, but hitting the Esc key does nothing because GRUB never actually starts.
8. Since I have two USB drives, I have tried the installer on both, both installed FrreNAS successfully from CD, but neither boot after system restart.

 

[dlavigne]

Do you know if the system supports this?

NOTE: beginning with version 9.3, FreeNAS® boots from a GPT partition. This means that the system BIOS must be able to boot using either the legacy BIOS firmware interface or EFI.

 

[gpsguy]

The OP has already stated its an older system. I wonder how old it is.

To the OP, please list your hardware details per the forum rules. We can"t help you diagnose the problem without knowing what you have.


Sent from my phone

 

[ChiknNutz]

What have I not listed? All the pertinent details are in my signature. The only thing I haven't included are the hard drives, which are brand new Seagate 3TB NAS drives, 4 of them.

 

[gpsguy]

Those of us in mobile devices can't see your signature. If you want help - please post the information in the body of your message.


Sent from my phone

 

[ChiknNutz]

Oh ok, didn't know that.

• Antec Titan 650 case w/650W power supply
• ASUS P5M2-E mobo
• Intel Xeon 3040 Conroe 1.86 GHz CPU
• 8 GB PC2-5300 ECC Unbuffered RAM
• 4 - Seagate NAS HDD ST3000VN000 3TB 64MB Cache
• 16GB Sandisk Cruzer Fit USB drive

 

[ChiknNutz]

Do you know if the system supports this?

NOTE: beginning with version 9.3, FreeNAS® boots from a GPT partition. This means that the system BIOS must be able to boot using either the legacy BIOS firmware interface or EFI.

In the BIOS under the USB Configuration menu, there is an option called "BIOS EHCI Hand-Off" and I have tested it both ways, enabled and disabled with the same results. I also have an option for "Legacy USB Support" which I have also tried different selections. Since this is an older board, there is no option for USB 3.0, only 2.0 so that is not an issue.

I just wonder if the hardware simply is too old or is incompatible. If so, really disappointed as I have already spent way more on this than I had anticipated and will have to spend another $400 or so if I want to upgrade all the necessary components (new mobo, CPU and RAM).

 

[BigDave]

According to the ark page for your CPU, it does not support ECC RAM.

 

[gpsguy]

I downloaded the manual and did a quick look, my guess is that it's too old to support FreeNAS 9.3. The mobo looks like it was released in July 2007.

If you don't want to fork out more money for newer components, you might want to try FreeNAS 9.2.1.9 instead. You won't have all the features that 9.3 has, nor will you be able to upgrade to 10.x, but the older version might fulfill your needs.

You can download it here: http://download.freenas.org/9.2.1.9/RELEASE/ and the documentation for it is available here: http://doc.freenas.org/

 

[ChiknNutz]

According to the ark page for your CPU, it does not support ECC RAM.

Huh? I've been using 1GB of ECC RAM for the past 7 or 8 years now while using Windows Home Server. I just swapped it out for 8GB and it posts just fine. While I see what you mean from the CPU page you posted, but that simply isn't correct.

 

[Bidule0hm]

It's not because it POST that ECC is enabled and works. The RAM is maybe used as non-ECC RAM so basically useless.

 

[BigDave]

Huh? I've been using 1GB of ECC RAM for the past 7 or 8 years now while using Windows Home Server. I just swapped it out for 8GB and it posts just fine. While I see what you mean from the CPU page you posted, but that simply isn't correct.

This would not be the first time Intel has put out incorrect info

 

[ChiknNutz]

It's not because it POST that ECC is enabled and works. The RAM is maybe used as non-ECC RAM so basically useless.

Well I'll be dipped in $h!t.

Is there a way to perform a test to see if the RAM is recognized as ECC?

 

[Bidule0hm]

That's a big can of worms... there's no 100 % sure test (excepted to generate a hardware error by doing nasty things to the RAM...) but there's some software tests: https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/How-to-Check-ECC-RAM-Functionality-462/ they can't certify that ECC works if they pass, but if they fail then you can be sure ECC doesn't works. The ecc_check.c test is the most reliable one, if you do one test then do this one ;)

 

[ChiknNutz]

Okay, on a somewhat related note, is the OS installation onto the USB drive hardware specific at all? Here's the deal, I downloaded 9.3 and created an ISO on a CD, then installed onto the USB. I am now in the process of swapping out all the old hardware for new stuff since the old stuff didn't work. Question is, do I need to recreate the USB drive after I have all the new hardware in place or is that process completely hardware independent?

 

[danb35]

is the OS installation onto the USB drive hardware specific at all?

With the possible exception of network configuration, not at all. If you'd manually configured a network interface on the old hardware, I believe that configuration would be tied to the driver used for that NIC. If the same NIC hardware wasn't present on the new machine, you might need to reconfigure your network (which you can do from the console menu).

 

[krantz]

I hope everything solved fine.

 

[ChiknNutz]

Yes it did, but not after I ended up replacing everything