HP Gen8 Microserver Boot Issues

[Headless Horus]

So I have a silly question. Are you installing TrueNAS CORE or TrueNAS SCALE? When I did a quick search I ran across this post in the forums (https://www.truenas.com/community/t...roserver-gen8-cant_find_sda3_or_sdap3.110714/) that seemed to describe what you're seeing. In that case the person was installing TrueNAS CORE when they saw that error message, hence why I'm asking what version of TrueNAS you're attempting to install. :)

In that post, the person seemed to say that things started working for him when he installed TrueNAS SCALE and chose the UEFI boot loader. I never had any success with the UEFI boot loader on my HP Microserver Gen8, but I was not using the ODD SATA5 port (I was using an SSD in the USB port). So if you're error was during a TrueNAS CORE installation, perhaps give TrueNAS SCALE a try and select the UEFI boot loader option when prompted. Maybe that will do the trick.

Hi, yes I am trying to install TN Scale. I've literally just started playing after work and while I've not solved all my problems, I have made some progress. I took the SSD drive out and examined it on a PC and found it was still not formatted as Legacy boot. Looks like the installer struggled to swap it, even though it warns that is what it's about to do. I cleaned it off and tried again and the error didn't appear, though after completing the next steps, the installation failed with an error saying Scale couldn't find the partition it was looking for (sorry, can't remember the exact msg). I rebooted and tried again and it found everything and sailed through to completion.
At that point, I removed the install USB and it booted fine, though wouldn't boot, once I installed a drive in bay 1. This is the same issue I had with Ubuntu and has been previously mentioned, which I fixed with grub on an SD card. For Ubuntu, I had no problem leeching a working script, though I'm still looking around for one for TruNAS. I've seen one or two mentioned for FreeNAS but need to look into them in more detail. Thank you for your advice :)

 

[WarnesJ]

Hi, yes I am trying to install TN Scale. I've literally just started playing after work and while I've not solved all my problems, I have made some progress. I took the SSD drive out and examined it on a PC and found it was still not formatted as Legacy boot. Looks like the installer struggled to swap it, even though it warns that is what it's about to do. I cleaned it off and tried again and the error didn't appear, though after completing the next steps, the installation failed with an error saying Scale couldn't find the partition it was looking for (sorry, can't remember the exact msg). I rebooted and tried again and it found everything and sailed through to completion.
At that point, I removed the install USB and it booted fine, though wouldn't boot, once I installed a drive in bay 1. This is the same issue I had with Ubuntu and has been previously mentioned, which I fixed with grub on an SD card. For Ubuntu, I had no problem leeching a working script, though I'm still looking around for one for TruNAS. I've seen one or two mentioned for FreeNAS but need to look into them in more detail. Thank you for your advice :)

That is strange that it's not able to deal with the partitions properly.

Instead of using the ODD SATA5 port, the approach I took was to use a M.2 2242 SSD in a USB enclosure. And then I inserted it into the internal USB port. It seems to work pretty well for me. I opted to use an SSD in a USB enclosure in the hope that it be more reliable than either using a regular USB thumb drive or micro SD card. I purchased a 128GB SSD and USB enclosure from Amazon and it wasn't overly expensive.

 

[Headless Horus]

Thanks for the advice, it did cross my mind to go the same way, but I'd already got a spare 250GB Lexar ssd so thought I'd put it to use. It's working ok now I've got the grub script chaining it correctly, though it doesn't look for the last drive, only a specific number, so I'll just have to edit it when I add more drives. This testing is mainly for assessing if TruNAS is the way forward that suits my household. I've a Synology NAS that has served me well, it just lacks umph for some things. TruNAS came as a recommendation from two friends who use it, though they do have much bigger pools and numbers of servers, so I need to do a lot more reading up now though

 

[WarnesJ]

Sounds good!

Yeah I migrated from an older QNAP NAS for the same reason. I can get a lot more performance for less cost. And I've been impressed with response by iX Systems to the issue I raised about the HP Microserver Gen8, especially considering I'm using their free product.

I hope you enjoy your TrueNAS experience!

 

[Headless Horus]

Sounds good!

Yeah I migrated from an older QNAP NAS for the same reason. I can get a lot more performance for less cost. And I've been impressed with response by iX Systems to the issue I raised about the HP Microserver Gen8, especially considering I'm using their free product.

I hope you enjoy your TrueNAS experience!

The usb enclosure you used for you boot m.2, was it straight in or via a connecting lead? Just had a quick look on Amazon for one, as I thought I could keep my sata5 SSD as the apps pool, freeing all four backplane drives for media and general pools.

 

[WarnesJ]

The usb enclosure you used for you boot m.2, was it straight in or via a connecting lead? Just had a quick look on Amazon for one, as I thought I could keep my sata5 SSD as the apps pool, freeing all four backplane drives for media and general pools.

The one I got was something I could plug straight in. Here's a picture of what it looks like.

I'd send you the links to the pieces I bought, but I believe the forum has rules about advertising products from other sites. So to avoid running afoul of that rule I'll avoid doing that. But PM me if you'd like to know what specifically I bought.

 

[Headless Horus]

No that's fine thanks, I've seen that one or similar. I wasn't sure there was enough clearance but your photo shows there's plenty. Also seen a low power 64gb m.2 for £15 so much less wasted storage.