Installation of FreeNAS unto HP 6005 Pro (AMD)

[richardheng]

Dear All,

I'm a completely newbie to FreeNAS. I'm trying to install FreeNAS into my old HP Desktop PC (Model HP6005 Pro) for own use. However, I am stuck at the 'boot-up to USB' stage.

1. I have downloaded the latest FreeNAS ISO 'FreeNAS-11.3-U2.1.iso'.
2. I used RUFUS 3.10 to write the ISO to my 8GB thumb-drive (by default partition scheme : MBR)
3. In BIOS, i go to Storage > Boot Order = set to USB Device (1st), Hard-Drive (2nd) & ATAPI CD-ROM Drive (3rd) then save and restart.
4. When restart I'm getting error "Non-System disk or disk error, replace and strike any key when ready".

I've tried multiple times and even try disabled HDD in Bios just to test if the PC can boot from the USB somehow, I'm still getting same error "Non-System disk or disk error, replace and strike any key when ready".

My PC is running on AMD Athlon II. Is this compatible with FreeNAS? Attached is my PC configurations, is it that my PC (HP 6005 Pro) is not compatible with FreeNAS?

Hope to get some advise from this community. Thanks in advance.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[Elliot Dierksen]

2G of memory? That will never work. 8G is the bare minimum, and 16G is recommended.

 

[richardheng]

Got it. Thanks Elliot.

Does this insufficient RAM linked to my unable to boot from USB error too? Look like I have more than a RAM issue?

 

[Elliot Dierksen]

That may very well be a different issue, but it kind of academic if you wouldn't be able to run FreeNAS even if the USB stick would boot. The "non-system disk" message is almost certainly from your BIOS, so I would say that is probably a separate issue.

 

[richardheng]

Okay. Thanks Elliot. I'll get additional ram and retry.

 

[ThreeDee]

I did a clean install of 11.2 awhile ago and was not able to make a bootable USB drive out of the .iso image using a couple different tools in windows and resorted to burning the image to a blank disc and then it installed without a hitch

 

[richardheng]

Thanks ThreeDee for your sharing. I think I'll try to burn into a blank disc and retry.

 

[richardheng]

Hi, I've managed to find some old ram to add-up a total of 8GB ram and managed to burn FreeNAS 11.3 ISO to a disc. Things were right in the beginning, however it hangs at the 'BTX loader 1.00' screen.

I've read somewhere in this forum and found the other member had almost similar issue with HP PC compatibility with FreeNAS. Just want to re-confirm if this is really the case? I'm using HP 6005 Pro (Desktop PC).

Thanks

~~~~Error Message~~~~~~~~~~
CD Loader 1.2

Building the boot loader arguments
Looking up /BOOT/LOADER... Found
Relocating the loader and the BTX
Starting the BTX loader

BTX loader 1.00 BTX version is 1.02
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[no_connection]

Correct me if I'm wrong but that CPU is 10+ years old at this point, and AMD have not done anything decent until recently. So it's going to be incredibly slow.
FreeNAS is probably not the right OS if you want to turn, uh, things into a NAS.
If you still do for science don't expect FreeNAS to run like it would on modern hardware, and keep in mind that with no ECC you could very well end up loosing all data you put on it so have backups.

 

[richardheng]

Thanks 'no_connection' yes, it make sense that HP 6005 Pro hardware are too obsolete.

Just to share that my earlier issue with USB boot up installation was resolved, after changing to a newer board that runs on Intel Core i5 with 8GB ram. The USB boot installation run smoothly.