SOLVED Install on X9SCM-F

[russoj88]

Hi, I just put together some hardware to complete a build I wanted to install FreeNAS on. This would be something to run at home and play with before building a more complete unit for a work environment.
Below is a hardware list and a recap of what I've done concluding with the problem I'm running into. Any help/suggestions are appreciated.

Hardware:
Motherboard: Supermicro X9SCM-F
RAM: 16GB (4x4) Kingston ECC 1333
CPU: Xeon E3-1230 V2
Controller Card: HighPoint RocketRAID 2720SGL
HDD: 6 x 2.5" 500GB WD Blue (plan is raidZ2)

The plan was to install to a Mushkin 8GB USB 3.0 stick.

First, I had to upgrade the motherboard BIOS to v2.10 from 1.X to get the CPU to work, so the BIOS is the latest available. Luckily I had a E3-1230 V1 in another machine.

Second, I downloaded the 9.2.1.7-RELEASE img file, decompressed and dd'd to a 16 GB Muskin USB (3.0) stick.

Code:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sde bs=1k count=1
dd if=/media/FreeNAS/FreeNAS-9.2.1.7-RELEASE-x64.img of=/dev/sde bs=1M conv=sync && sync

Problem
This would get hung at a screen with the following:

Code:

F1: FreeBSD
F2: FreeBSD
F6: PXE
...

I spent a few hours or so searching for an answer. From some posts on here, I've seen some people having success using USB 2.0 ports vs 3.0. I saw a lot of problems with Dell hardware and the fix being setting the BIOS to view the USB as an HDD. I could not find a similar setting in the Supermicro BIOS. I've tried 2 Mushkin USBs (3.0) and 2 Patriot USBs (2.0), but no luck.

I zeroed a USB and that got me to a screen which says

Code:

FreeBSD/x86 boot
Default: 0:ad{0,a}/boot/kernel/kernel
boot:
No /boot/kernel/kernel
...

I'm not sure where to go from here. Did I miss a step in the writing to a USB process? I know FreeBSD-10.0 and PCBSD-10.0.2 both install on the same system.

Thanks in advance.

 

[cyberjock]

So I wouldn't do the dd command you did. sync isn't necessary for this application. Also a block size may or may not go well. If you reach the EOF and don't land on a 1M boundary I don't think the last partial MB is written, so some data is "lost".

I'd just do a flat:

dd if=/whatever.img of=/dev/sde and let it go.

 

[russoj88]

cyberjock,

Thanks for the suggestion. I tried that, after zeroing both a Patriot 2.0 and Mushkin 3.0 USB stick, but am still getting the same error.

That dd command is the only one I should need to run in order to make the USB bootable, correct? The manual says to use bs=64k.

 

[gpsguy]

Rather than dd'ing it, download the ISO, boot from it and install it on your flash drive. If you can't do it on your server, do it on another computer.


Sent from my phone

 

[russoj88]

gpsguy,

The machine doesn't have a CD/DVD drive, so I downloaded the ISO and put it on a USB using UNetbootin (Running LinuxMint on my workstation currently).
Booting from there gives me a corrupt kernel error.

I then tried

Code:

xzcat IMG | dd USB bs=64k

This gets me a working OS (connected through web client). I must have been doing something wrong before, because this time it transferred 2 gB to the USB instead of 200 mB.

Is it normal to wait about 8 minutes after "Waiting up to 5 seconds for ixdiagnose to finish"?

Is there an advantage to using the IMG vs installing from the ISO or visa versa?

 

[gpsguy]

Does the machine raining Mint have a CDROM? Create a CD from the ISO, boot it on that machine and install It on the flash drive.

Installing it from the ISO works best for most people.





Sent from my phone

 

[russoj88]

Unfortunately no.

The mint machine has a E3-1230 V1 while the server has a E3-1230 V2. If I can get it working, would it make sense or be better to install to the USB on the mint machine and then run on the server? This is somewhat a repeat of my question of IMG vs ISO.

 

[survive]

Hi russoj88,

All the install cd does is write a boot image out to the USB key. There's no configuration done when you install, it all happens when you boot.

This means you can "install" FreeNAS via the cd on any PC that has a cd drive & just move the USB key over to the FreeNAS box.

Using the ISO to install almost always works so give it a shot....much better than spending your first couple of hours with FreeNAS fighting to simply get it to boot.

That said, doesn't the X9SCM-F have IPMI? If so just hook up the management NIC, web in & use the virtual media CD-ROM to install!

-Will

 

[cyberjock]

survive is BACK!

 

[russoj88]

survive,

Thanks for the info. That clears up some of my misunderstandings about installing with img vs iso. I posted here because I figured I was doing something wrong trying to install this for more than a few hours and definitely put me in a better direction.

You are correct about IPMI. This is a board I haven't used in 3 years as it was bought for a project that fell through. I never used that functionality of the board, but after a quick google search, it looks very good. I am away from the machine, but will run the install this way and conclude the thread.

 

[russoj88]

Installing from IPMI to the Mushkin 8GB USB 3.0 (running in a 2.0 port) worked very well for me. That's another great tool to have in the toolbox.

I appreciate the support and answers in getting me going with FreeNAS. I'm sure I'll have more as I get into the configuration. Thanks!