FreeNAS 11 boot disk system halted this is a data disk

[dirkme]

FreeNAS 11 boot disk system halted this is a data disk

I tried to install FreeNAS 11 on a older HP machine with 5 GB RAM and and a "No UEFI" BIOS.

I got stuck at this message, re-imaged another USB stick to boot from with the same result.

Any idea how to fix it?

Thanks a lot

 

[dlavigne]

Any idea how to fix it?

Install on a system that meets the minimum RAM requirements.

 

[dirkme]

Dang, can't get more than 5 GB in this old machine and I wanted to use FreeNAS on my MacMini with 4GB RAM, got to keep Centos on it then. And I so started to like FreeNAS and it runs happy now with my quad-core 16 GB machine. I wanted to make all my little servers FreeNAS ;-)

 

[dirkme]

Don't get me wrong, on all new Servers will be come NAS FreeNAS 11 :)

Great support here at the forum, always friendly and all my problems are solved so far.

 

[Stux]

FreeNAS should boot fine with 5GB. But if you get that message it means you're trying to boot off a data disk (typically an HD).

Maybe because the USB boot isn't working or isn't configured right.

 

[dirkme]

This FreeNAS setup "Tardis" would just be a share and backup NAS.

I will write another usb stick and see how that goes and update the post.

 

[dirkme]

Downloaded the latest ISO (U2) with the same result, tried omv to see if it boots from my USB stick and works fine.

Maybe it is because of that very old PC?

 

[dominator99]

Have you selected the USB disk as first boot device in BIOS?

 

[John Fitzpatrick]

I think there's a bug in the V11 installer that can flag a boot USB as a data disk. My V11 NAS was working fine until I installed an update: the reboot halted with the same error message.
First thoughts were that somehow the BIOS boot order got scrambled and the system was trying to boot from the storage array, but I get the same error message with the array removed.
I'm starting to think the FreeNAS equivalent of the boot partition on the USB stick got altered, and it identifies itself to the BIOS as a data disc. I wonder if there"s a low-level conflict with the memory controller on some USB flash drives. Which brand were you using?

 

[dirkme]

I think there's a bug in the V11 installer that can flag a boot USB as a data disk. My V11 NAS was working fine until I installed an update: the reboot halted with the same error message.
First thoughts were that somehow the BIOS boot order got scrambled and the system was trying to boot from the storage array, but I get the same error message with the array removed.
I'm starting to think the FreeNAS equivalent of the boot partition on the USB stick got altered, and it identifies itself to the BIOS as a data disc. I wonder if there"s a low-level conflict with the memory controller on some USB flash drives. Which brand were you using?

16 GB SanDisk, tried it later with OMV for testing and it booted just fine. Your theory about the FreeNAS image might be right.

 

[Ericloewe]

I think there's a bug in the V11 installer that can flag a boot USB as a data disk.

That's a rather weird conclusion. What leads you to it?

 

[Nicaba]

I got that very same problem when doing a fresh install using the latest V11.
Got the iso on an USB key, fresh installed choosing my SSD (which had an older version on it so I chose to install on an new boot sector).
Installation OK. Was asked to reboot and remove the USB. Did it.
After reboot, I got that message:" This is a FreeNAS data disk and can not boot system. System halted."
I check in the BIOS and it indeed boots from my SSD which is not supposed to be a data disk at all (I have 2 others).

"I think there's a bug in the V11 installer that can flag a boot USB as a data disk. " ... how did you solve this?

 

[Ericloewe]

Look, the installer doesn't magically stamp your boot devices with the wrong bootloader.

I don't care what your BIOS claims, because BIOSes lie all the time. Remove everything except your boot device from the boot list. Then we can see if there's a problem.

 

[Nicaba]

Re did a fresh install ... overwriting the old boot sector to see if it helped ... but it didn't
Let's use your diagnostic strategy ...

 

[Nicaba]

In addition to the SSD, there is only the option to use the Built-in EFI Shell ...

 

[Nicaba]

disabled it ... same message!!

 

[Ericloewe]

Disable CSM and boot the installer in UEFI mode.

 

[Nicaba]

and? Now it just come back infinitely to the UEFI bios!?! What are we after?

 

[Ericloewe]

Are you telling it to boot the installer? At the slightest hint of trouble, always remove everything except the device you wish to boot from from the list.

 

[Nicaba]

yes, but if we limit to UEFI mode it only comes back to the bios, it doesn't start the installer?!