SOLVED Intel Boot agent error-satadom

[Lazarus]

Hello,

I am building my first FREENAS system and wanted to do it right to avoid buy more parts later. So I have gone overboard and it is now biting me

I am getting boot errors and am hoping for some help.

System:
MotherBoad: X9DRi-LN4F+
Processors:: 2x Intel® Xeon® E5-2680
RAM: 192 GB ECC
Controller:: 3x LSI 9210-8i ARRAY CONTROLLER (IT Mode)
Case: SC846BA-R920B 24 X3.5" drive Bays
Boot drive: SUPERMICRO 32GB SATA SMC SATADOM Mfg. Part#: SSD-DM032-SMCMVN1
Secondary drive: Samsung 850 Pro 512GB (intended for Jails/vms)
Storage array: 11x WD Red 4TB NAS Hard Disk Drive - 5400

I am able to boot to a USB and from there install to the Satadom.

However when I reboot and try to boot form the satadom I get an error from the Intel boot agent

PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
PXE-M0F Exiting intel Boot Agent

Finally
Reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected boot device

If I use the bios boot mentu to force the sata drive I just get the:

reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected boot device

I am confident the satadom is good and has a good connection since the freenas instal usb saw it and was able to install to it.

any ideas?

I appreciate the help.

 

[joeschmuck]

Do not take anything I'm going to say offensively. I treat everyone as if they know nothing and this helps me not make assumptions that cause delays.

1) What version of FreeNAS are you using? If you say Corral then I will advice you to use FreeNAS 11.
2) Have you run the burn-in tests on your system yet, especially the RAM and CPU? While I don't suspect these as the issue, this testing is prudent to conduct.

Now I'll try to provide you some advice...

However when I reboot and try to boot form the satadom I get an error from the Intel boot agent

You need to go into your BIOS and tell it the boot device. Purchasing such an expensive system would lead me to assume you would already know this but as I indicated before, I should not assume anything.

reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected boot device

I suspect you did not select the location where you installed FreeNAS.

So lets say you are at a loss to figure out which drives are what, the easiest solution is to:
1) Power down the system.
2) Disconnect the SATA plugs from each of the hard drives, leaving the SATA DOM only.
3) Power up and in the BIOS select the DOM as the boot device.
4) If the system boots properly to FreeNAS goto step 9.
5) If the system fails to boot properly to FreeNAS then perform the software installation again and reboot.
6) If the system fails again, when you performed the installation, did you select UEFI or BIOS ? You should have selected BIOS and if you did that then try UEFI even though BIOS is still your best option.
7) If the system still fails to boot properly then you are either installing FreeNAS wrong or the SATA Dom fails to work.
8) Assuming the DOM is failing, do you have it properly installed and connected to power if required?

It Boot!
9) So it boots into FreeNAS, this is great. Reboot it and ensure it works fine without any user help.
10) Power down.
11) Reconnect all your hard drives.
12) Power up. See if it boots into FreeNAS but after adding all the hard drives again it likely will not.
13) If needed enter the BIOS and select the DOM as the boot device and reboot. All should be good at this point.


Also, if you think your DOM is dead, try to use your SSD as your boot device for testing purposes. This will tell you if the DOM was bad or if you could be doing something wrong.

If this doesn't work, please be very descriptive with the results and do not assume I understand everything, I know better, I don't. If the machine was in front of me I could likely solve the issue in a few minutes btu over the internet, it's not the same.

Good Luck.

P.S. Ensure you read the User Manual, lots of great information in there. And ensure you do the burn-in checks if you haven't yet. The RAM check is bound to take 5 days. The CPU check is only about an hour since you have two CPUs (other opinions vary).

 

[Lazarus]

That did it I must have set it to UEFI on install.

Thank you for the help