Keeps booting off hard disk

[doglover]

Hi. Searched but can't find the answer to:
I have FreeNAS booting off a single hard disk. Decided to go with the recommendation to use USB boot. So, exported ZFS volume, saved config to my local computer, and used CD to create two boot USB sticks, one 2 GB and one 8 GB. Thought I would do both since I saw the note about 2 GB maybe being too small and wanted to see. During creation, both give a geometry doesn't match label message, which I used to get from NAS4Free also. Don't know what to make of that, always happens to me no matter what stick I use.
Anyhow, when I boot from the stick (both are the same problem), it seems to boot from the stick until around half way through, then it changes and I think it finishes the boot from the HD. It has the old conf still there, and it sounds like a HD boot. I do get a message again about the geometry not matching the label, and then saying trying to boot from FreeNASs1a. Also won't let me add the boot HD as a volume, but will allow me to add the stick. So it must be booting of the HD, right?
Do I need to physically disconnect the old boot HD? Maybe I should try the stick on another machine and see if it works.....
Thanks,
IMF

 

[cyberjock]

It sounds to me like you are just booting from the old HD and not from the USB. THere's no reason why FreeNAS would start from the USB stick then switch to the USB hard drive.

Check your BIOS settings and make sure the stick is the first boot device.

 

[doglover]

I wondered about that, but tried both using the pop boot menu and also changing the boot order in the bios, same result. Tried to use the stick on a different computer but can't since the stick is for 64 bit and only the server is 64, all my others are 32 bit.

 

[cyberjock]

Have you tried unplugging the hard drive?

 

[doglover]

So, I have confirmed the behavior described in #1. In sum, with both a boot hd and a boot usb, even if I initiate the boot from the usb, the boot actually runs off the hard drive. It happens like this:
1) Do a full install to hd from CD
2) Change mind, reboot, do install to USB from CD
3) Reboot, boot from USB, it starts on USB but actually boots from the HD and has all the settings from the HD. You can tell by listening, watching, and seeing the speed of things
Someone can try to confirm, but I doubt that is the way it is supposed to work
The only way I could stop it was to use a Knoppix CD and delete the FreeBSD partitions from the HD
Then, the boot runs from USB start to finish, no problem other than being slower than HD

 

[JaimieV]

It's not supposed to work like that. The choice of what to boot from is entirely under BIOS control, nothing to do with FreeNAS. Your motherboard BIOS must be doing the wrong thing, going to the HDD before USB even when told to boot from the USB.

 

[doglover]

Hi. That isn't what I believe is happening. I believe it is actually going to the USB first, starting on the USB, and then changing and going to the HD. And there isn't anything wrong with the USB, because it is running fine off the USB now after I wiped the HD.

 

[Dudleydogg]

I know this is an Old Post but I was able to duplicate this exact behavior, I wanted doglover to know he is not nutballs and YES it boots from the USB then finds a Database Config on the Other Disk and Loads that Database. ITS not booting from the hard disk but is loading the configuration from it. While this seems to be a annoying circumstance if you were recovering from a crashed state it (USB took a dump) would seem like a miracle that a fresh install just booted your config back.
So does not switch 1/2 way but does load database from hard disk. So in lieu of this silly Rant from myself in Freenas I do not have a solution other than a partition wipe of the offending Drive.
Yes Cyber Jock if you remove the Hard disk it will load the fresh install from the USB.