Can't boot from latest ISO

[Catch]

Hi,

I've been struggling to get my HP microserver N40L booting from the latest iso image (I've checked the sha256 checksum to be sure it's correct) and I'm hoping someone might be able to help.

I initially tried creating a bootable usb stick (2gb) from the iso, but that failed (I tried several methods of doing this including USB disk creator in ubuntu and dd). It's probably worth noting that I did install Ubuntu from the usb stick so I know it boots from usb devices.

My next attempt was to burn the iso to CD and use a USB CD drive (the N40L doesn't have one and I don't have a spare one knocking around). That's also just failed.

The symptoms in both cases are that I'm asked to supply some bootable media. If I didn't know better I'd say the image was missing a MBR, but it's much more likely that I'm missing something.

For those who know about the N40L (I saw a few of you when I was searching the forum prior to posting this) I've not yet upgraded the BIOS, I don't expect that to make a difference (or will it???).

Does anyone have any idea what's going on?

Thanks in advance.

 

[William Grzybowski]

http://doc.freenas.org/index.php/Burning_an_IMG_File

 

[Catch]

I tried doing that earlier. I should have mentioned it.

I get the following issue (please ignore any obvious typos or formatting issues)

<stuff off the top of the screen>
GEOM: da0: the primary GPT table is corrupt or invalid.
GEOM: da0 using the secondary instead -- recovery strongly adviced.
Trying to mount root from ufs:/dev/ufs/FreeNASs1a
ROOT MOUNT ERROR:
If you have invalid mount options, reboot, and first try the following from the loader prompt:

set vfs.root.mountfrom.options=rw

and then remove invalid mount options from /etc/fstab.

Loader variables:
vfs.root.mountfrom=ufs:/dev/ufs/FreeNASs1a
vfs/root.mountfrom.options=ro

Manual root filesystem specification:

<fstype>:<device> Mount <device> using filesystem ,fstype>
eg. ufs :/dev/da0s1a
eg. cd9660:/devacd0
This is equivalent to : mount -t cd9660 /dev/acdo /
? List valid disk boot devices
<empty line> Abort manual input

mountroot>


Given I've not made any changes to the usb stick image after creating it, but to me screams that something's blatantly wrong, more so than just needing to change the mount options to rw, I suspect a hardware incompatibility maybe? I've not done much with BSD at all.

I am right in thinking that I should be presented with one of the blue installation screens when it's booted up?

Thanks again!

 

[gpsguy]

Try a 4Gb USB stick. A number of folks on the forum have found that not all 2Gb sticks are big enough, whereas a 4Gb stick is fine.

 

[Catch]

Thanks for the tip. I'm still curious as to why I can't boot from the cd.

 

[Catch]

Ok, so. I'm now able to get things going with the larger USB stick. However I'm not sure what I'm meant to do next or where I'm meant to take this.

I've been expecting an install screen similar to the one at: http://www.freenas.org/images/resou...s8.3.1_guide.html#__RefHeading__424_145473606
but instead getting the screen shown in
http://www.freenas.org/images/resou...s8.3.1_guide.html#__RefHeading__428_145473606

could someone help explain what I'm missing please? Or what I should be doing to do a full install to my local hard disk.

Cheers

 

[gpsguy]

Congratulations, you now have a full install of the OS installed, on the recomended media (USB flash drive).

Assuming it was able to grab an IP address via DHCP and it's listed at the bottom of the screen, you can put that IP address into a web browser and configure the system.

Before you go any further, spend some time reading the manual and Cyberjock's guide.

could someone help explain what I'm missing please?

How much RAM do you have in your N40L? If you don't have 8Gb, consider upgrading to either 8 or 16Gb.

 

[nanda]

I have the same issue with FreeNAS-9.1.0-BETA-a9c3cf1-x86.img on a 8 GB stick.

The hardware is a modest netbook, however it worked fine with FreeNAS-9.1.0-ALPHA-331120a-x86.img.

I used Active@ KillDisk to wipe the memory stick before burning the image.

Edit: Just tested FreeNAS-9.1.0-BETA-9bea76d-x86.img. Same issue.