Struggling with Installation

[Matthew Hinchliffe]

Hi

I am having a problem running FreeNAS once I have completed the installation to a USB stick.


I have created the installer USB from the FreeNAS-9.10-STABLE-201605021851.iso using Rufus and selecting ISO mode.

I am able to boot into the FreeNAS installer and I am able to select my 2nd USB drive as my target for the installation. The installation completes OK and then asks me to remove the installation media and reboot. Upon reboot I get the following error message :

Reboot and Select proper Boot device
or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key

I have checked the target USB and it has a GPT partition and the installer USB has and MBR partition.

My USB sticks are:
Installation USB: SanDisk Ultra USB 3.0 16 GB
Target (OS) USB: HP v285 w 16 GB

I have tried swapping the drives so the installer is on the HP and Target is the Sandisk but still get the same error.

When I put the Target OS USB into my laptop, which is currently running Windows 10, it brings up the grub menu with the option for FreeNAS.

Finally, I did once get the OS to load on my intended machine, and was able to set up a Jail etc. But then when I rebooted I was presented with the Reboot and Select proper Boot device error.

My intended machine for FreeNAS was an work machine in the past running Windows 8 I think.

The FreeNAS box is intended for small scale file sharing on a non-critical home network.

My set up is as follows :

PC: Acer Aspire X3990
Processor: Intel Core i3-2120 3.3GHz
RAM: 8GB non-ecc - I am not sure the exact specs.
System BIOS: P01-B0L ( I flashed the original BIOS to this version)
2x Western Digital SATA hard drives.

I am wondered whether my hardware will support FreeNAS ? Hopefully, someone can help as I am running out of ideas.

 

[FritVetBE]

Well, Is there any option in your BIOS so you can specify the recognised USB device?

I know in some cases you have to select 'USB HDD' for the machine to boot from USB, but in some cases the BIOS list all recognised USB devices. If this second situation applies to your machine, then you should change that as well during the reboot.
Though i've read FreeNAS 9.10 should have USB 3.0 support, you might want to put your 'Target USB' inside an USB 2.0

 

[Matthew Hinchliffe]

Thanks FritVetBE,

I've done a bit more digging, there is an option in the BIOS to set the 1st boot device as Removable Device, Hard Disk, CD&DVD, LAN or EFI device. When I plug the USB containing the installation in, the BIOS doesn't appear to recognise it at all.

There is an option in the Advanced Tab for Legacy USB Support. I have set this to both Enabled and Disabled, both times I have been unable to boot into the FreeNAS option.

There is also an option for USB Storage Emulation, which is defaulted to Auto. I have changed this to Hard Disk but still unable to boot.

I am wondering if the BIOS has been restricted in some way by the manufacturer as I don't seem to have the option to enable Legacy BIOS. I have tried flashing with different versions of the BIOS from the Acer website, but this didn't seem to make any difference.

I am starting to think I may need a new Mobo ??

Any help would be really appreciated as I'm really stumped.

Thanks
Matthew

 

[Matthew Hinchliffe]

I have done some further testing on this, I'm really keen to get FreeNAS working to use as my Plex media server.

I have replaced the original hard disks and I have been able to install Windows 8.1 from another USB drive image. After I did that I was able to boot into the FreeNAS installation, however when I selected 13 to reboot, the PC would only boot into Windows 8.1.

I really can't see where I am going wrong, I cannot see an option in the BIOS to switch between legacy and UEFI, which I believe I need to be able to do to boot a GPT partition ??

I am guessing that the Mobo can support this as it has booted up on a couple of occasions, but it doesnt appear to be holding the settings.

Please could someone help or offer some advice. I am really tearing my hair out !!

Thanks
Matthew

 

[depasseg]

I think your issue is unrelated to Freenas. It sounds like an issue with your machine booting from a GPT disk. A quick search came up with a couple suggestions, but they vary on how old your machine is and what version BIOS is on it.

 

[clarknova]

I am wondered whether my hardware will support FreeNAS ? Hopefully, someone can help as I am running out of ideas.

Sounds like this garbage:

https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/bios-gpt-puke.41631/

I cannot see an option in the BIOS to switch between legacy and UEFI, which I believe I need to be able to do to boot a GPT partition ??'

Legacy is sometimes referred to as CSM. You need to enable CSM, which may require that you first disable secure boot before you even see the CSM option. Cross your fingers and try this, but many firmware implementations won't boot from GPT in legacy mode, in which case you're out of luck. If that is your lot then you can run 9.2.x on your hardware, but not newer until somebody in development realises what a bad idea it is to expect people to boot a GPT disk from a BIOS.