True NAS Core 13 installation on IBM X3100M4

[gaurang.patel]

Hi,

I have IBM X3100M4 Old Server with Xeon E3 Processor ( 4 Core ), 8GB RAM, 1 x 250GB, 1 x 1TB HDD ( for Testing Purpose Only ), I downloaded the latest True NAS Core 13 and start the installation but faced the below error and installation stopped.

"pcib3: acpi pci-pci bridge at device 28.0 on pci0"

"pcib3: failed to allocate initial prefetch windows: 0xc0000000-0xc0ffffff"

what could be the reason?

 

[sretalla]

Seems to be saying there's an issue with some device on the PCI bus 3...

Can you remove your PCI cards (the ones not necessary for the install disks) and try it again?

 

[gaurang.patel]

Hi,

No PCI / PCI-E card installed in the server.

tried below commands but did not succeed.

set hint.acpi.0.disabled=1
boot

set hw.pci.realloc_bars=1 and set hw.pci.realloc_bars=3
boot

 

[sretalla]

Can you install plain FreeBSD 13 on it?

 

[gaurang.patel]

Thank you, will install and update.

 

[gaurang.patel]

the same error with FreeBSD 13.X.

 

[sretalla]

Seems your system is somehow not compatible with FreeBSD then... maybe you need to look at BIOS settings that may be preventing the install.

Alternatively, you may find more success with TrueNAS scale as it's booted via GRUB, which supports a wider range of hardware.

 

[Ericloewe]

Might want to start disabling PCI devices in the system firmware until the error goes away, to identify the culprit.

 

[Netfreak]

I am trying to install TrueNAS on the same IBM PC/machine (System IBM X3100 M4)

My System has 4x2TB HDD and 32GB RAM and am having the same message and the system hangs:
"pcib3: failed to allocate initial prefetch windows: 0xc0000000-0xc0ffffff"

 

[Ericloewe]

The same advice as above still applies...

 

[Samuel Tai]

Most likely this is because that PCI bridge is in PCI-X and not PCI-E mode. It's not worth futzing with this very, very, old UEFI system; the hardware is probably too old for current FreeBSD to support. You might have better luck with Scale, which is Debian based.

 

[HoneyBadger]

Have you made sure the latest BIOS/firmware is installed on this machine? Some older systems may have challenges with UEFI booting.

 

[Netfreak]

The same advice as above still applies...

After trying various options and combination of options , unfortunately, the culprit is still not found after about 8 hrs of hair pulling. I have no clue why this wouldn't worked on it - supposed to be a piece a cake on a naked IBM server or any server for that matter (no pci stuff, no media stuff, no sound etc. etc. Is Truenas really ready for all the different servers out there? So far no out of luck here on this IBM server...

 

[Ericloewe]

Is Truenas really ready for all the different servers out there? So far no out of luck here on this IBM server...

Blame IBM/Lenovo. It's just about the only Xeon E3 system I've seen that fails so spectacularly as to not even boot TrueNAS.

 

[Netfreak]

Blame IBM/Lenovo. It's just about the only Xeon E3 system I've seen that fails so spectacularly as to not even boot TrueNAS.

Well, to be honest, I wouldn't be blaming anyone in this... it's just a little crazy (in my eyes) in this modern era that things that are supposed to be a piece a cake are getting more n more complicated. Guess I have to take em as it comes.
PS:
I have 2 of these IBMs at home and they are both running Freenas 11,3. One is still running Freenas so I decided to take one on a new ride the Truenas ride - no luck on this trip. I double check both BIOS settings and they are exactly the same.
I was tryinh to upgrat the4 seond one to Truenas but then I get an error there Error:base_os - whatever that means?

 

[Netfreak]

Have you made sure the latest BIOS/firmware is installed on this machine? Some older systems may have challenges with UEFI booting.

I have an old HP7700 P4 with only 3 sata connections and TrueNAS works just fine in a mirror setup.

 

[Samuel Tai]

FreeNAS 11 was the last to use Grub boot. TrueNAS 12 and higher use the new FreeBSD BTX boot loader, which obviously doesn't understand old hardware.

 

[Netfreak]

FreeNAS 11 was the last to use Grub boot. TrueNAS 12 and higher use the new FreeBSD BTX boot loader, which obviously doesn't understand old hardware.

Sorry for the late response... I have to double check which version of Freenas is running on my second ibm running. Even if it's the 12+ version then update would be impossible knowing that a fresh install of TrueNAS is impossible
So far no luck on my first IBM server to get TrueNAS installed on my first IBM - I've tried everything possible in the BIOS - unfortunately, no luck after 2 days trying. That's sad/bad news for me, meaning that I can't use both IBM servers for TrueNAS and I have to reinstall the previous FreeNAS.
Very strange that FreeNAS was on these 2x IBM's up and running BUT now would not accept TrueNAS. So the question is what has changed in TrueNAS compared to FreeNAS to avoid a successful installation on them.
I have an old Supermicro server XEON E3 and TrueNAS was successfully installed on it. I also have an old P4 small factor HP7700 desktop PC and TrueNAS was also successfully installed on it.

 

[Netfreak]

Hi,

I have IBM X3100M4 Old Server with Xeon E3 Processor ( 4 Core ), 8GB RAM, 1 x 250GB, 1 x 1TB HDD ( for Testing Purpose Only ), I downloaded the latest True NAS Core 13 and start the installation but faced the below error and installation stopped.

"pcib3: acpi pci-pci bridge at device 28.0 on pci0"

"pcib3: failed to allocate initial prefetch windows: 0xc0000000-0xc0ffffff"

what could be the reason?

Did you got yours up running? If yes, what was the culprit? Thanks

 

[Netfreak]

Sorry for the late response... I have to double check which version of Freenas is running on my second ibm running. Even if it's the 12+ version then update would be impossible knowing that a fresh install of TrueNAS is impossible
So far no luck on my first IBM server to get TrueNAS installed on my first IBM - I've tried everything possible in the BIOS - unfortunately, no luck after 2 days trying. That's sad/bad news for me, meaning that I can't use both IBM servers for TrueNAS and I have to reinstall the previous FreeNAS.
Very strange that FreeNAS was on these 2x IBM's up and running BUT now would not accept TrueNAS. So the question is what has changed in TrueNAS compared to FreeNAS to avoid a successful installation on them.
I have an old Supermicro server XEON E3 and TrueNAS was successfully installed on it. I also have an old P4 small factor HP7700 desktop PC and TrueNAS was also successfully installed on it.

Update on my System x3100 M4 issue...
I went backwards and reinstall FreeNAS 11.3 successfully with the exact same BIOS setup settings.
There is something in the new TrueNAS-13.0-U3.1 software that is preventing a successful install and hangs at:
"pcib3: failed to allocate initial prefetch windows: 0xc0000000-0xc0ffffff"

Update edited:
I decided to give the TrueNAS-SCALE-22.02.4 a shot and it was successfully installed.
Now I am banging my head - why the TrueNAS CORE-13.0-U3.1 won't