Freenas MINI - boot from SSD

Kurt

Cadet
Joined
Jun 8, 2019
Messages
7
I am in the process of replacing a failed SATA DOM (SSD) device (after about 1.5 years of use). This did not leave a real positive impression of that technology so I decided to just replace it with a more conventional SSD drive.

After following the instructions on https://www.ixsystems.com/documentation/freenas/11.2/install.html , I was able to install a fresh copy of OS to a new inexpensive 120GB PNY SSD drive. This all worked as expected.

Where I am stuck, the ASRrock C2750D4I motherboard refuses to recognize the new SSD device as a boot option. When trying to set the boot device in UEFI/BIOS settings I am presented with one of the disks in the (4 disk) data array and the UEFI option, no PNY disk (see attached Boot Opitons.jpg). Oh, it does recognize a USB device as well, but refuses to present a SATA3 disk as a boot option.

I have tried a number of different storage settings, aka changing the Marvell settings, installing the OS with the BIOS option rather then UEFI and in all cases, end up in the same place .. OS installs without issue, can not select volume to boot from.

As things stand I have a clean (aka formatted) install using UEFI option in the Freenas installer and selecting the new PNY device.

At of writing this, the following UEFI settings seemed correct (in so far as not working and correct go: ( ):
Marvell 9230 - Enabled, Yes Boot to SATAIII_Mo^M3(UEFI Driver)
Marvell 9172 - AHCI Mode, Yes Boot to SATAIII_Mo^M3(UEFI Driver)

So, suspect I am missing something..

Heading out to buy a new SATA6 cable (real doubtful that will help) and a new SATADOM disk in case this SSD endeavor fails (yea can pay 2x for less reliability .. but, its small)
 

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blanchet

Guru
Joined
Apr 17, 2018
Messages
511
On your screenshot Storage1.jpg, your PNY SSD drive seems to be connected to SATA3_M0,
but your motherboard manual recommends on page 31:
We recommend to use Intel® SATA ports (SATA_0 to SATA_ 5 ports) for your bootable
devices. This will minimum your boot time and get the best performance. But if you still
want to boot from Marvell SATA3 controller, you can still enable this in UEFI.

You should try to plug your PNY SSD boot device on SATA_0 instead of SATA3_M0.
 

Kurt

Cadet
Joined
Jun 8, 2019
Messages
7
Thanks for the thought .. I will give that a try.

FYI, the main reason I was using the SATA3 port is that was where the original STATADOM device was installed (aside from the fact the SSD device is a GEN3 SATA3 device). My initial thought, just pull out the failed SATADOM and replace with SSD. That is exactly what I attempted initially, but started tinkering after that failed.
 

Stux

MVP
Joined
Jun 2, 2016
Messages
4,358
Yes, it should’ve worked but you’re dealing with the vagaries of a Marvell controller.

Intel controllers are much more reliable
 

Kurt

Cadet
Joined
Jun 8, 2019
Messages
7
blanchet, thanks for the suggestion. That did help me get a bit further. I was able to boot the Freenas os .. yea. However, the only way I can get it to boot is using F11 during the post process, where my new SSD disk is an option!!. That said, the UEFI/BIOS still refuses to recognize the device as a bootable device, so anything that requires a system reboot, aka load the backup config, requires intervention.

So, will give that a marginal partial, as I am back. That said, now one of my 4 data volumes is now missing, and rebooting is a not ideal.

I have to suspect that using one of the SATA2 ports for a boot volume somehow caused the loss of one of the data drives.

Becoming less and less enamored with Freenas, given this is a Freenas "device".

Going to shut it down again, in an attempt to not make things worse.
 

blanchet

Guru
Joined
Apr 17, 2018
Messages
511
It was a good idea to plug the SSD in the same port than the original SATADOM, but if it does not work you have to try something else.
The advice from @Stux is appropriate: Intel controllers are much more reliable than Marvell one.

You should fix the boot issue first:
Then
  • Plug the data disks in the other INTEL SATA ports. If a SATA port has issue, try another one. If you run out of Intel SATA ports, you can use a Marvell SATA port.
The UEFI/BIOS of your mainboard seems to be very complex, because other users are encountering similar booting issues:

https://www.ixsystems.com/community/threads/freenas-11-won't-boot-from-usb-in-uefi-bios.56107/
https://www.ixsystems.com/community...iguration-settings-for-asrock-c2750d4i.55063/

Fortunately, your mainboard is popular so I think that you will finally find a solution on the forums.
You may also try to contact iXsystems support, . They are very friendly, even if your hardware warranty is expired, they may give you some advice to setup the BIOS of your FreeNAS Mini.
 
Last edited:

Chris Moore

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Michael Wenyon

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Jan 3, 2016
Messages
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I had the same problem as #Kurt after installing a second SATA drive to make a boot mirror: at first, the options I saw during boot were one of the main four storage drives or the UEFI option (or nothing). Like Kurt, I tried other things in vain, but this worked:
  1. Follow the boot process on an attached monitor or IPMI. If you need function keys, show the virtual keyboard.
  2. Press F2 for the Aptio Setup Utility at the second ASRock splash screen.
  3. In the Boot tab (a panel), you'll see a single line called Hard Drive BBS Priorities (it is visible in the first of Kurt's pics above 'Boot Options'). Initially, I mistook this text to be a dumb information heading, but it is actually a 'button' to enter a different drive selection menu, with the list within it.
  4. To show the list, arrow down to select Hard Drive BBS Priorities (shows in white type on my setup), then press Enter/Return to access the full list.
  5. Using instructions offered with the list, re-order your drives and set your boot drive(s) above the storage disks.
  6. Then, in the same 'Boot' panel, go back up and now you can set Boot Priority #1 to Built-in EFi, and Boot Priority #2 to the SATA DOM, or whatever you want.
Once fixed, F11 at the ASRock splash screen (second showing) gives a drive selection list.

Edit 1: I thought this problem looked familiar to me. It seems I have posted this problem/solution, slightly differently, before

Edit 2: I admit to not knowing what Built-in EFI or UEFI are. But if I set up my machine to only boot from UEFI and do not nominate a specific disk, it won't boot. So for me, it does not work.

So I am doing things a bit different to above now. Once I am in Aptio Setup Utility (F2 on boot):
  1. Enter F9: Load UEFI defaults to reset. This did not cause any radical or hidden change for me.
  2. The Boot Options #1 and #2 in the main Aptio panel may now look wrong, but first go to the next step
  3. Enter, and set, Hard Drive BBS Priorities. To set, go down the list with the arrow key, pressing return on each drive and either set that drive's boot priority (for the boot drive or drives), or Disable for all the data drives.
  4. Exit and return to the main Boot tab/panel of Aptio Utility. Now
    1. for Boot Option #1 set the drive you prioritize (presumably the same one as in the full list you just sorted)
    2. under Boot Option #2 set to Disabled
I'm not sure what happens now if boot drive #1 fails, but I would like to think that the hidden list would bring boot drive #2 into play for successful boot.

Just to be clear, the Aptio Utility appears to offer you two different places to set Boot Option priority and they are not the same and I do not understand how they are related to each other.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Sep 26, 2018
Messages
8
Thanks for the thought .. I will give that a try.

FYI, the main reason I was using the SATA3 port is that was where the original STATADOM device was installed (aside from the fact the SSD device is a GEN3 SATA3 device). My initial thought, just pull out the failed SATADOM and replace with SSD. That is exactly what I attempted initially, but started tinkering after that failed.
LOL! I just did the same thing. Thankfully I found this thread! This will give me a better place to start in the morning!
 
Joined
Sep 26, 2018
Messages
8
I had the same problem as #Kurt after installing a second SATA drive to make a boot mirror: at first, the options I saw during boot were one of the main four storage drives or the UEFI option (or nothing). Like Kurt, I tried other things in vain, but this worked:
  1. Follow the boot process on an attached monitor or IPMI. If you need function keys, show the virtual keyboard.
  2. Press F2 for the Aptio Setup Utility at the second ASRock splash screen.
  3. In the Boot tab (a panel), you'll see a single line called Hard Drive BBS Priorities (it is visible in the first of Kurt's pics above 'Boot Options'). Initially, I mistook this text to be a dumb information heading, but it is actually a 'button' to enter a different drive selection menu, with the list within it.
  4. To show the list, arrow down to select Hard Drive BBS Priorities (shows in white type on my setup), then press Enter/Return to access the full list.
  5. Using instructions offered with the list, re-order your drives and set your boot drive(s) above the storage disks.
  6. Then, in the same 'Boot' panel, go back up and now you can set Boot Priority #1 to Built-in EFi, and Boot Priority #2 to the SATA DOM, or whatever you want.
Once fixed, F11 at the ASRock splash screen (second showing) gives a drive selection list.

Edit 1: I thought this problem looked familiar to me. It seems I have posted this problem/solution, slightly differently, before

Edit 2: I admit to not knowing what Built-in EFI or UEFI are. But if I set up my machine to only boot from UEFI and do not nominate a specific disk, it won't boot. So for me, it does not work.

So I am doing things a bit different to above now. Once I am in Aptio Setup Utility (F2 on boot):
  1. Enter F9: Load UEFI defaults to reset. This did not cause any radical or hidden change for me.
  2. The Boot Options #1 and #2 in the main Aptio panel may now look wrong, but first go to the next step
  3. Enter, and set, Hard Drive BBS Priorities. To set, go down the list with the arrow key, pressing return on each drive and either set that drive's boot priority (for the boot drive or drives), or Disable for all the data drives.
  4. Exit and return to the main Boot tab/panel of Aptio Utility. Now
    1. for Boot Option #1 set the drive you prioritize (presumably the same one as in the full list you just sorted)
    2. under Boot Option #2 set to Disabled
I'm not sure what happens now if boot drive #1 fails, but I would like to think that the hidden list would bring boot drive #2 into play for successful boot.

Just to be clear, the Aptio Utility appears to offer you two different places to set Boot Option priority and they are not the same and I do not understand how they are related to each other.
Michael - Thank you for taking the time to document! Recovered my FreeNAS mini, now booting from a new SSD thanks to you and all on this thread.
 

steelrides

Cadet
Joined
Apr 6, 2021
Messages
3
Thanks @Michael Wenyon for the detailed procedure. I had to replace the MB battery and didn't think to look through the BIOS configuration which was wiped when I booted back up (rather didn't boot back up). Couldn't find the SATADOM Flash to boot from. I'd been through the BIOS several times and hadn't delved into the Hard Drive BBS Priorities yet. Nice.
 
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