SOLVED Trouble Installing TrueNas CORE 12.0-U6 with older server via USB

[Curgen]

Hello Everyone,

Let me start with saying that i am a noob at this but i am trying to read the documentation and looking up if people have similar issues in order to help with my situation but i've had no luck so far. I am currently having issues Installing TrueNAS CORE 12.0-U6 onto my HP Proliant DL380P Gen8 via USB. This system's BIOS does not use UEFI but Legacy. Also this system does not have an OS currently installed. When i try to use a USB stick that i flashed FreeNAS on it using balenaEtcher the system does not seem to recognize it. I've also tested the latest UbuntuServer OS and the system can recognize it right away and install it with no issues. I read in the documentation that it works with both UEFI and Legacy BIOS but could it be that TrueNAS is only working with UEFI or just giving me issues with Legacy BIOS?

 

[elvisimprsntr]

To clarify you:
1. Download 12.0-U6 ISO
2. Used balenaEtcher to write to USB flash drive
3. Tried to boot flash drive in legacy mode
4. System will not recognize drive

Have you tried SCALE RC.1 or CORE 12.0-U5.1?

 

[Samuel Tai]

Older HPs appear to be sensitive to the specific brand of USB thumb drive. See https://www.truenas.com/community/threads/usb-boot-on-microserver-gen8.95492/. Try one of the working brands from that thread.

 

[Curgen]

To clarify you:
1. Download 12.0-U6 ISO
2. Used balenaEtcher to write to USB flash drive
3. Tried to boot flash drive in legacy mode
4. System will not recognize drive

Have you tried SCALE RC.1 or CORE 12.0-U5.1?

Hi elvisimprsntr,

Yes I did all those 4 steps and yes i also tried SCALE 22.02-RC.1 and still the system will not recognize the drive with the TrueNAS ISO flashed on it. I have not tried CORE 12.0-U5.1 as i could not find where to download older versions of TrueNAS. Can you give me the link on where i can download an older version? Also thank you for the response.

 

[Samuel Tai]

All the versions are available at https://download.freenas.org/. It may be your old hardware isn't compatible with the BTX bootloader used from 11.2 and up. Try first installing 11.1, which uses GRUB to boot, and then upgrading in place.

 

[Curgen]

All the versions are available at https://download.freenas.org/. It may be your old hardware isn't compatible with the BTX bootloader used from 11.2 and up. Try first installing 11.1, which uses GRUB to boot, and then upgrading in place.

Hi Samuel Tai,

Thank you for the quick reply and for the USB suggestion. I'm going to try and install version 11.1 and see if that will work and work my way up to the more recent updates and see if that will work. Also thank you for the link to the USB thread, i'm purchasing a few different types of usb flash drives to see if those will work with TrueNAS since i was using a SanDisk Cruzer just like in the thread. Once i try all of that i'll give you and elvisimprsntr and update.

 

[Curgen]

Hi Samuel Tai and elvisimprsntr,

I finally solved the issue. The problem was the type of USB, although strangely version 11.1 of the ISO ended up working with the first and original USB(SanDisk 64gb Cruzer Glide USB 2.0 Flash Drive) i was using. I ended up buying a PNY 64gb Turbo Attache USB 3.0 Flash Drive and my HP Proliant DL380p Gen8 was able to detect my new USB with both TrueNAS CORE 12.0-U6 and SCALE RC.1 with no problem. I never expected it to be the USB since my HP Proliant DL380p Gen8 recognized the SanDisk with the latest Ubuntu Server ISO. I also noticed that my HP Proliant DL380p Gen8 was having issues recognizing certain types of keyboards and mice so i had to try a couple different peripherals in order to finish the TrueNAS CORE 12.0-U6 installation.

Thank you both for the assistance and taking time out of your day to reply.

 

[Samuel Tai]

Glad you found a working USB drive. This is one of those vendor quirks that arise from time to time with no rhyme nor reason.