Installation problem

[Sasquatch]

First, this is not a problem with the software. But I'm hoping somebody here can help me figure out what's going wrong. I wrote the image to a USB stick as per the instructions in the documentation. The USB stick functions perfectly on this laptop. But when I try to install OPNsense to the box I'm building for it the system will not boot from the USB. This is confusing because the distro on the box now is one I just installed from the same USB stick earlier today. So I know the BIOS can boot from USB. And, like I said above, OPNsense boots up just fine when I plug the stick into this computer.

And now the OS I installed earlier won't boot cleanly either.

When I type "usb" at the GRUB prompt it returns a blank line indicating there are no USB devices connected. I don't know how to fix this at this level. It's also odd that it doesn't show any USB devices but it accepts input from the USB keyboard.

So how do I get the box to recognize the USB stick?

[Sasquatch]

Well I think I've diagnosed the problem. OPNsense comes with an EFI bootloader and the box has a BIOS motherboard. Now I'm trying to find a way to resolve this.

[franco]

How would you describe the particular problem you're facing, the exact hardware you have and what particular image did you use?

Quick thoughts: Try to update the hardware's BIOS. Try to use the i386 image, it does not have UEFI.

[Sasquatch]

The exact problem is that the box, an old HP DC5750, does not boot from the USB stick with the x86-64 VGA image. Other relevant facts;

1) The computer will boot from USB. I have installed three different Linux distros with the same USB stick in the same port.

2) BIOS knows the stick is there. It show up in the BIOS screen with the correct manufacturer and other details.

3) The image is correct. I can boot from the stick on my laptop.

4) The CPU is an Athlon 64 X2 running at 3.0 Ghz and I have 4 Gb of RAM installed.

5) The USB is before the HD in the boot order. But even when I manually select the USB it boots from the HD.

6) According to the HP site I have the latest BIOS installed. Since the computer is no longer supported there is no chance of further upgrades.

I bought this box specifically for this purpose. So I hope I can get it to work. But if not, I'll put it to other uses and get something different for the router. Mainly, I'd just like to solve the puzzle so I understand what's going wrong.

[franco]

Ok, thanks, that's something to go on.

The hardware is ten years old, that likely means the BIOS isn't that much newer, right?

Try the i386 image, there isn't any loss on the hardware that we know of.

If that one still doesn't work, it's a GPT issue.

The serial image is also non-GTP at that. It should dual boot, but you cannot get to the installer without doing the following during boot:

=== snip ===

escape to loader (3) on splash screen, type:

set console="vidconsole"
boot

if install ok, remove serial, do splash dance again, then from the GUI disable serial under System: Settings: Administration

=== snip ===


I don't know how to deliver GPT/UEFI without removing an otherwise working support for it, which would be going back in time for the whole project. :/


Cheers,
Franco

[Sasquatch]

The installed BIOS was released in 2011, so it isn't all that old. But I understand that it doesn't take much of a difference to cause total incompatibility. I'll try the fix you posted and report back with an update.  But that will be quite a few hours from now, after I get off work and get my nap. Definitely need a nap before trying to sort out a computer problem.

At least I do already have an alternate use for the computer if I can't get OPNsense to install. But then I'll have to wait until I can get another box before trying again to install OPNsense.

[mrclever80]

So I was curious if this got resolved for anyone?

So I have a Gigabyte GA-J1900N-D3V motherboard that sees the USB device when I put it in but does not boot for me to install.

On my Mac, After unmounting my USB device, i am running

Code: [Select]

sudo dd if=OPNsense-16.7-OpenSSL-cdrom-i386.iso of=/dev/disk1 bs=64k in Terminal.  Everything runs successfully (takes about 5 mins to complete)

Once I plug it in and boot, I get either the default EFI Shell because the motherboard doesn't recognize the USB in the 2.0 ports or I get a Windows Boot Manager error talking about the device being inaccessible.

So I have tried formatting the USB drive as FAT32, Ex-FAT, GUID Partition, and MBR and I get the same errors (sometimes I will just get the blinking cursor of death).  I have used all the standard commands like diskutil umount /dev/disk1s1 or diskutil umountDisk /dev/disk1 and ran the command...all with the exact same results.

I have even tried the UNetBootin program (which took almost 5 hours for it to do my drive) and I get the same result.  Any ideas on how the hell I can get this thing running?

[franco]

Hi mrclever,

i386 does hot have UEFI support in FreeBSD. Does the same problem persist in amd64?


Cheers,
Franco

[mrclever80]

Yes it does.  the 64 architecture was the first one I attempted.  i get the same result each time.  My thoughts are that trying to create the bootable USB stick from my Mac is what might be the issue but unfortunately I do not have any other type of system to try and create a bootable drive off of.

[chemlud]

Had problem with this mobo in the past and read in several forums. In the end the only solution was to plug in a sata DVD-drive for the installation process and remove on first boot after installation.... :-)

[mrclever80]

That really sucks.  i certainly am not going to go out and purchase a dvd drive and disks just to install OPNSense

I even unplugged my internal hard drive to isolate any issues and I did get something different.  Now with my internal hard drive unplugged and the amd64 installed on the thumb drive i get the 'select proper boot device and reboot' status so for whatever reason it does not like the image on the thumb drive.

What would anyone recommend to format the USB thumb drive as?  Should In set it as FAT32, Ex-FAT, GUID, MBR? Just didn't know if its a format setting or something that I am missing.

[chemlud]

Problem is the lousy /BIOS/firmware of the board, has problems with detecting USB sticks. Try USB 2 sticks (various). You have a DVD drive in your notebook? You could take this out (e.g. with Dell no problem...)  if you have the right cable to connect to sata port on the board ;-)

[mrclever80]

Yeah the BIOS is very rudimentary.  I will try a different USB stick thats 2.0 only and see if I can get that to work.

unfortunately no DVD drive in my home.  I only have a Mac Mini server which doesn't have a DVD drive.  Haven't actually needed one in so many years...lololol.

I appreciate the ideas and tips good sir!  I will let you know what I come up with to get it going...

**EDIT** - I attempted an old USB 2.0 thumb drive as well and I get the same result.  Damn thing is going to be the death of me.

[mrclever80]

It is 100% the image...I even re downloaded and there is definitely something in the image that does not play well.

I borrowed a friends Windows Laptop, put in the amd64 USB thumb drive and told the laptop to boot from USB and rebooted and it skipped clean over it like its not even there.

Even if I set the BIOS to 'Boot List Options - UEFI', it reboots and tells me no boot device found

Doesn't matter if its a USB 3.0 drive or 2.0, in a 3.0 or 2.0 slot - nothing works at all

Yet once his Windows machine is up and running, the drive shows just fine and I am able to access, read and write to it without issues...
I also plug the drive into my Mac and i can see it, read it and write it without problems.

its almost like the sudo dd command isn't making the drive bootable or something..

[franco]

Alright, you mention the CD-ROM image previously which is not a Hybrid-Image that works on a USB stick using a plain dd flash sequence. Did you try the VGA image?


Cheers,
Franco