Help with Proliant ML350 G6

[M4ketech]

Hello,

After long battle i did manage to install TrueNAS from upgrading FreeNAS, this because i have only 1GB USB 2.0 stick. Everything works fine if i only have 128GB SSD installed on motherboard SATA.

When i install HDD to second motherboard SATA, boot will fail, i get message no boot image found.

• CPU Intel® Xeon® Processor E5520
• 6 x 2GB ECC RAM
• 128GB SSD + 1TB HDD connected to motherboard SATA-connections.
• Bios 22.02.2018 (D22)

Onboard raid array is disabled and i did read tons of forum topics, bios settings and everything but still no luck. One big problem with all the topics and guides is that those are for G7 or G8 server and the BIOS menu is different.

 

[M4ketech]

Update after more testing:

-Installed with "Boot via BIOS"
ends up with not able to boot SSD + HDD combo, only if SSD is connected to motherboard TrueNAS will boot.

-Install with "Boot via UEFI"
ends up with not able to boot or "find boot image"

-Tested with Windows 2019 server
boots with SSD + HDD combo without issues.

 

[HoneyBadger]

I actually have an ML350 G6. Dual-socket and newer chips, but that shouldn't impact it. Let me see if I can try to rig something up to test this.

Have you checked the device boot order in the BIOS and ensured that the SSD is at the top of the list when both it and the HDD are connected, as well as making sure the SATA controller is in AHCI mode (I don't think it supports RAID, but you also want to avoid IDE emulation.)

 

[M4ketech]

I did finally get it to boot from SSD.

Some setting what maybe some new users want to check if you find same problems.

Standard boot order: (Dont ask, these works and someone did mention this order in old forum post)
IPL:1 CD-ROM
IPL:2 Floppy Drive (A:)
IPL:3 USB DriveKey (C:)
IPL:4 Hard Drive C:
IPL:5 HP NC326i Gigabit

Boot Controller Order:
Ctlr:1 PCI Embedded Interl(R) SATA Controller #2 --THIS IS MUST
Ctlr:2 PCI Embedded Interl(R) SATA Controller #1

PCI Device Enable/Disable
PCI Embedded HP NC326i PCIe Dual Port Gigabit Adapter Port 1&2 Enabled
PCI Embedded HP NC326i PCIe Dual Port Gigabit Adapter Port 2 Enabled
PCI Embedded Interl(R) SATA Controller #1 Enabled
PCI Embedded Interl(R) SATA Controller #1 Enabled
PCI Embedded HP Smart Array P410i Controller Disabled

Tip: balenaEtcher did work better for me, over the Rufus. Now the system is running fine and first external HDD is moved to TrueNAS and all files are in. Now i need just wait some hardware to arrive so i can install the big drives.