Yet another "blind mode" thread

[lg.lindstrom]

Hi

I am trying to install TrueNAS Scale RC2 on a HP ProDesk 600 G1 SFF. Before this attempt I have tried out unraid and Proxmox.

I downloaded the iso, and burned it to a USB stick.

When booting from USB stick I get the choice to select different installations and I go for the first one.

Then I get a message somethink like :
> unable to find video mode
> continuing in blind mode

Then nothing ..... (please not, no message "press any key to continue")

When installing Proxmox I got a similar message but the screen still continued to function so I could proceed with the installation.

Secure boot mode is disabled in BIOS.
None of the other threads I found have helped me?

So, what not?
Can anyone help?

 

[Kris Moore]

Are you booting with UEFI enabled? What settings for UEFI / CSM do you have set in the bios?

 

[lg.lindstrom]

I've tried both UEFI and BIOS
UEFI => gives result as in original question
BIOS => gives a screen full of black/white blocks. Probably install information but I am unable to read it, so I cant use it.

Can you please clarify on UEFI/CMS ?

 

[lg.lindstrom]

Is there another way to install TrueNas Scale ???

I've tried everything I can think of.

 

[jgreco]

Is there another way to install TrueNas Scale ???

Yes, you can install it on another machine and move the boot media to your intended target. Just as an example.

HP ProDesk 600 G1 SFF.

This is basically not going to be particularly well-supported, though it is not anywhere near as awful as some of the things people end up with here wanting help with. I'm sure iXsystems would like this to work. Unfortunately, many of these sorts of things end up being device-specific, even though they shouldn't be.

CSM

is Compatibility Support Module (or Mode), which is a thing some UEFI systems have to make them more "compatible" with legacy OS BIOS boot.

 

[lg.lindstrom]

Yes, you can install it on another machine and move the boot media

I will try to install it on another computer and move it.

This is basically not going to be particularly well-supported

I have installed different versions of windows, linux and proxmox. No problems.
What makes TrueNAS Scale so special ?

 

[lg.lindstrom]

What is going on here?

I tried to install on a Lenovo laptop.

When from Grub starting the TrueNas installation I get the error message:

error: /vmlinux has invalid signature
error: you need to load the kernel first.

 

[ChrisRJ]

Maybe your installation medium is corrupt?

 

[jgreco]

I have installed different versions of windows, linux and proxmox. No problems.
What makes TrueNAS Scale so special ?

Windows is an operating system that is intended to be installed on a vast array of end user computing devices. It is developed by several thousand developers at one of the world's largest corporations, tested extensively for compatibility by hardware manufacturers, and has a beta testing userbase in the hundreds of thousands of users.

Linux is an operating system that actually tries to run on ANYTHING, and is developed by tens of thousands of developers at MANY of the world's largest corporations. While not tested extensively for compatibility by hardware manufacturers, it has a userbase of millions, many of whom are using it in a professional setting, others of whom are using it in a hobbyist setting, and all are invited to improve upon it, and many do.

TrueNAS is an operating system specifically designed to run on TrueNAS hardware sold by iXsystems. It's developed by a team I believe to number around a dozen, perhaps two. It is tested extensively on its intended hardware platform, and somewhat less extensively on other server platforms. iXsystems has graciously made the core system available to the community for use, which probably eats at their potential paid customer base, but they do it anyways. Personally, I think THAT is what makes them special. I don't blame them for not trying to be everything to everyone. It's a Herculean task to do that, and it would ultimately kill iXsystems if they were dumb enough to try, I think. What reason would they have to go out of their way to make it work on an HP SFF desktop? What exactly do you want, here? They're probably not deliberately making it not-work for you.
There's all sorts of buglets and boggles with the PC platform and specific PC's, and to resolve them really requires someone to HAVE that troublesome piece of hardware and to put in the effort to track down and fix the problem. I don't think iXsystems is going to put a lot of effort into that. They don't seem to be resistant to patches or fixes being submitted though.

It used to be that we appreciated the generosity of free software developers. I read some nasty undertones into "What makes TrueNAS Scale so special" that I find offensive. I hope I am misreading this. Please try to be mindful that they are giving you the work product of a talented development team. For free.

 

[lg.lindstrom]

I read some nasty undertones into "What makes TrueNAS Scale so special" that I find offensive.

Please, take no offence. Sometimes it is dangerous to communicate on other than your native language. It is really easy to get misunderstood. My native language is Swedish.

I was tying to express is that, from my limited view of "things" the boot process is "standard" and something that is reused of many developers. Apparently realty is not so simplistic.


Finally I have TrueNAS Scala to run on my PC. Don't ask me how. A lot of fiddling with boot images, bios configuration and .......... finally.

Thanks for your effort to help out. I appreciate it.

 

[jgreco]

Please, take no offence. Sometimes it is dangerous to communicate on other than your native language. It is really easy to get misunderstood. My native language is Swedish.

No worries. I am happy to be wrong. No offense will be taken where none was meant.

I was tying to express is that, from my limited view of "things" the boot process is "standard" and something that is reused of many developers. Apparently realty is not so simplistic.

"something that is reused of many developers" is probably the beginning of a fundamental misunderstanding of the realities.

The requirements for an appliance bootstrap are different than a generic Linux host. I haven't looked closely at recent TrueNAS, but speaking as someone who has ALSO developed installer and boot systems for both BSD and Solaris, I can tell you that there are a lot of bumps. I am GUESSING that TrueNAS does not duplicate typical bootloaders simply because there is a need for high reliability boot via ZFS, and they wanted to be able to support things like serial consoles correctly.

Even for generic BSD/Linux, there are perhaps only two dozen different common boot workflows, and I'm guessing most of these do NOT support ZFS. I wouldn't be shocked if there's been some rejiggering that went on, and the UEFI stuff is sort of a nightmare of various weird issues... it is unlikely that iXsystems was able to just take an existing workflow and use it as-is.

The downside here is that as you get farther away from the thing that TrueNAS is meant to work on, i.e. real servers, and towards other random gear, i.e. desktops, sometimes things break. This doesn't hit most of us on the forum particularly hard, since we tend to buy compatible hardware, but it is certainly frustrating for people who just want to play around and have some weird bit of hardware they want to use.

Finally I have TrueNAS Scala to run on my PC. Don't ask me how. A lot of fiddling with boot images, bios configuration and .......... finally.

I won't ask how. But congratulations on persevering.

 

[lg.lindstrom]

Thanks..... :)

When updating to RC3,, or release version,, do you think I will have the same problem again ?

 

[jgreco]

I imagine it depends highly on just what you figured out to solve it the last time. My impression is that an already installed and booting system is much more likely to remain in a similar configuration and therefore likely to continue working, but that assumes things that could potentially not be true.

 

[lg.lindstrom]

I guessed so much. My old hw can get mi into trouble in the future.

I need to think about this.