installer getting stuck at "ata3: <ATA channel> at channel 1 on atapci0"

[Michael Schultz]

This very well may be a hardware issue / compatibility issue, but I figured I would ask here. I have an old HP workstation z420 that I wanted to install freenas on. Xeon 6 core cpu 16 gigs of ECC ram. No matter what method of installation I choose, no matter what version I use, I the installer gets stuck at the same spot:

ata3: <ATA channel> at channel 1 on atapci0

This happens no matter what sata port I plug my HD into. I don't even need to use the onboard sata ports as I purchased a HBA from LSI, but for whatever reason there is no way to turn off sata/sas on this hp bios. It happens even if I plug no hard drives in.

Anything you guys think I should try? If my screenshot is not enough to go off let me know and I'll get the dump or whatever you guys call it.

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

At first glance it looks like a machine that should be fine with FreeNAS, but the SATA controller specs are vague. Of course, that might not be the cause of the boot failure.

Did you checksum the installer download?

Do you have another machine you can use for installation, just as a sanity check?

 

[Mirfster]

Weird, looks like this system has a CD/DVD and Floppy? How about if you disconnected them as well so there is nothing else but the Hard Drive(s)?

 

[Michael Schultz]

Thanks for the replies!

@Robert Trevellyan I actually downloaded the current stable version 3 times from 2 different computers. I also tried an 8.* version and a 10.* version, same problem. I have also tried several thumb drives AND tried connecting the optical drive and actually burning a copy, still gets stuck at the same spot. I will try on another machine shortly, to verify both our sanity's.

@Mirfster Which part makes it look like I have a optical/floppy connected? I may have had an optical drive in during this screen shot, or maybe not, I don't remember. The majority of my attempts were without the optical drive connected. I even tried disconnected all the hard drives and installing thumbdrive to thumbdrive, still gets stuck.

 

[Mirfster]

Which part makes it look like I have a optical/floppy connected?

I was going off of actual pictures at HP of the Model from HP's site... Upon closer inspection it looks like a multi card reader. If that is the case, try disconnecting that too.. ;)

Worst case, you may have to install to a hard drive from another machine. Then shutdown and transplant the drive to this machine.

 

[Michael Schultz]

Worst case, you may have to install to a hard drive from another machine. Then shutdown and transplant the drive to this machine.

This is why I should post on forums more often. I had no idea that was an option! I am trying that now. I am already past the part I was stuck on before.

 

[Michael Schultz]

Dang, so I installed it successfully on the alternate machine, but after I moved the HD to the nas, I get stuck at the same spot. I am beginning to think this computer is was not meant for freenas.


Edit: Oh yeah, I moved the internals of the z420 into my nas chassis, so no card reader either :(

 

[Mirfster]

Weird, specs of the machine looks like it is a pretty good candidate. So there is no way to turn off/disable on-board SATA Ports? What about if they have an "IDE" or another option? Perhaps even "RAID" (Just don't use the SATA Ports; especially with RAID)? You stated that you have a LSI HBA, so according to the Spec Sheet it only has 2 ports that are 6Gb/s anyways. Just need to get around this one issue; I think...

Drive Controllers
Integrated 6-channel SATA controller: 2 ports 6 Gb/s + 4 ports 3 Gb/s, RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 capable; Optional SAS controller: LSI 9212-4i 4-port SAS/SATA 6 Gb/s, RAID 0, 1, 10 capable

 

[Michael Schultz]

It has AHCI, RAID + AHCI, and IDE. I tried each one, with and without HD's hooked up, and I get the exact same results.

What about installing some sort of virtual machine / hypervisor / vsphere type software that runs freenas. I feel like I have read about that while researching my issue.

https://b3n.org/freenas-9-3-on-vmware-esxi-6-0-guide/

Looks do-able, however the disclaimer clearly states the dudes on this forum won't approve :)

It looks like I would definitely be able to get freenas to ignore the onboard sata ports and just give the entire HBA to the hypervisor.

virtualbox has one too:

http://olddoc.freenas.org/index.php/FreeNAS®_in_a_Virtual_Environment

This looks like an easy workaround. It may not end up being permanent, but a machine with 16 gigs of ram was never going to be permanent anyway!

 

[Mirfster]

Yeah, you won't get too much love for doing so. But, is it possible? Yes and can be done. There a quite a few threads in these forums as well of contributors/moderators who have done so or are doing so. However, they are much more versed that you or I in FreeNas and are more than likely doing so knowing all the inherited risks.

I personally do have a virtual instance of FreeNas (on ESXi/vSphere 5.5 Update 3); which is for quickly testing things and overall dev stuff. I do not keep any valuable data on it.

In the end, preserving data is really our goal so actually advising you to do something that could/would put your data at risk is counter-productive IMHO (and I don't need to hear you coming back and saying "But Mirfster said it would be all fine..")

Before fully going that route, maybe you could check to see if:

1. There is a BIOS update for your system that may fix this
   • Example: Advisory: HP Z420 and Z620 Workstations - BIOS 2.55 Released to Address Stability Issues
2. Perhaps trying FreeNas 10 (in alpha right now) to see if that works
   • If so, you may have a decent case to file a bug and see if a dev addresses it
3. See if any of the other contributors have an idea
   • Maybe change the post title to "Free Candy" to get their attention.. j/k :)

 

[alexhaj]

did you ever get the hp z420 working with freenas?