Noob: GRUB "unknown filesystem" error on new install

[the_jest]

Hi. I'm trying to get my first NAS build up and running, and am getting stuck on the install stage. I have an ASROCK C236 WSI mobo, an i3 6100 CPU, 32GB memory. There are two SanDisk UltraFit 32GB USB flash drives that I planned to install onto, mirrored.

I downloaded the FreeNAS 9.10.2-U3 image, and verified the checksums. I copied this using "dd" on a Debian system to two different USB drives (different brands).

With either one, when I set the BIOS to boot from this drive (something like "USB Whatever Drive, Partition 1" in the BIOS), I get right to "Welcome to GRUB! error: unknown filesystem. Entering rescue mode...". The discussions of this that I've found here, all seem to discuss upgrades rather than fresh installs, and there was no obvious solution.

If there's information that I should be providing, please let me know--I wasn't sure what was relevant. Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[sef]

The options are that you're using dd incorrectly, or that you are booting incorrectly. Without having your specific system in front of me, I don't know how I could really determine the latter. Note that I have several ASRock systems (that's what the FreeNAS Mini uses), and haven't had that problem.

So, just to be clear: what image are you downloading, and what command are you using to put it on the thumb drive? And after that, are there any other boot options from the boot menu that you can select?

 

[the_jest]

I downloaded the main image on the download page, FreeNAS-9.10-2-U3.iso, and copied it, after verifying the checksum, using the suggested command:

$ sudo dd if=FreeNAS-9.10.2-U3.iso of=/dev/sdc1 bs=64k

However, I just dowloaded this onto an OS X machine and copied it to a third USB drive using the OS X version (
dd if=FreeNAS-9.10.2-U3.iso of=/dev/rdisk1 bs=64k
), and this time it worked fine. I don't know what the problem was with the original; I'm sure I was otherwise doing the same thing. But I seem to be on my way! Thanks.