Cannot boot from any USB stick

[dlobel]

Hello,

I'm trying to boot TrueNAS from an USB stick. I've tried on 4 types USB sticks but i keep getting stuck at the same position. Whatever I try, my system always freezes after the masks info is shown after loading the kernal. I've created the USB sticks with RUFUS under Windows 10 and with DD on MacOS. I've tried different versions of FreeNAS (9, 11 and 12) but no success.

My target system is an HP Prodesk 400 G5. I've updated my BIOS to the latest version and my BIOS is booting in EUFI mode (Legacy enabled, security is off).
Currently I'm lost.

• Motherboard make and model: HP Prodesk 400
• CPU make and model: Interl core i5
• RAM quantity: 8GB
• Hard drives: 1x VME 256GB and 1x SSD 1TB
• Hard disk controllers: VMWE and SATA
• Network cards: Interl 1GB ethernet

See screenshot where my boot always freezes. Thanks for you suggestions.

 

[Hellione]

Hi! My suggestions are
1. Use USB2 Stick & Port.
2. Write Image with another version of Rufus to test, if it doesn´t work already.
3. Save time and nerves, and use a more server like system.

 

[Samuel Tai]

Also, try a live USB for another OS, like Ubuntu, to see if your system can actually boot from USB. Also, reading the manual, did you change the boot order for your system in the UEFI BIOS?

 

[dlobel]

Yes, I also downloaded UBUNTU and that also won't load from USB stick. Tries several sticks and USB ports, result is the same. In my UEFI bios the first drive to load is the USB. As you can see from the screenshot above, is starts loading the kernal but is crashes always on the same point. Never had any issues with this machine under Windows 10.

 

[Samuel Tai]

This smells like secure boot isn't completely disabled, and HP's done something to the UEFI BIOS to lie about disabling secure boot.

 

[dlobel]

This smells like secure boot isn't completely disabled, and HP's done something to the UEFI BIOS to lie about disabling secure boot.

The bios states: "legacy boot enabled, secure boot disabled". But it sounds like they are not completely fair about that.

 

[pschatz100]

The bios states: "legacy boot enabled, secure boot disabled". But it sounds like they are not completely fair about that.

I suspect that you have LEGACY boot enabled instead of UEFI boot in the motherboard bios. When you run the TrueNAS installer to create the boot drive, it prompts you to select BIOS or UEFI boot image. If you selected UEFI when you created the boot drive, then you have to set the motherboard to UEFI boot as well.

If you can, set UEFI boot on the motherboard and see if that solves the problem. If not, then re-run the installer and create a new boot drive using BIOS boot. That should work with the LEGACY setting.

 

[dlobel]

This morning I made the following pics of my BIOS settings. I hope you guys see the point that I'm missing within these settings. UEFI boot is on, legacy off and secure off. All other settings are off or are set to factory. USB2 device is in USB2 port inserted. After boot TrueNAS installer options are show the installer freezes.

 

[dlobel]

This smells like secure boot isn't completely disabled, and HP's done something to the UEFI BIOS to lie about disabling secure boot.

I think you're right ... I'm certain that the boot device isn't the problem, the BIOS is doing someting unexpected.

 

[dlobel]

Is it possible to use an MBR USB device to Legacy load Freenas?

 

[dlobel]

Just checking: are the RUFUS settings correct? It states MBR (Legacy) but I have no option of selecting GPT (UEFI).

When creating the USB boot device, Legacy won't see the USB device, i can only use it in UEFI mode

 

[dlobel]

i'm starting to believe my last resort is getting freenas to boot from a legacy (BIOS) mode. the question is: How do I get an ISO tob be writtten to USB stick in MBR? Somebody?

 

[Samuel Tai]

The ISO includes both legacy and UEFI bootloaders. So long as you're creating the drive using something that performs an exact block-for-block write like dd, it should boot either way.

 

[Hellione]

You could also install Truenas on another system. Just plug your boot drive in another computer for installation. Or connect a cd drive for installation. Would be a fast workaround.

 

[dlobel]

I finally got Freenas up and running. I have to say with quite a bit of headache. The problem is that the HP configuration in the BIOS is quite stubborn. After a lot of trying I found out that UEFI boot was not going to work. I then focused on Legacy (BIOS) boot. This was not easy. The USB sticks were not picked up by Legacy boot. I had created the sticks with DD, Rufus and Etcher. Finally I manually put a GRUB MBR on the stick after which I could image Feeenas 11.1. After Freenas 11.1 was fully running I was able to upgrade to version 12.

I want to thank everyone here for supporting me on this journey!