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    Installation wont detect HDD

    Problems Installing or Upgrading pfSense Software
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    • D
      danesco
      last edited by

      Im trying to install pfsense in a very standar and old pc (its a compaq pentium III 900), pfsense works in live-cd mode but when i try to install it says that no disk is detected.
      Looking around i see a few post with problems on the disk that have been solved changing the mode, (lba 1bit) i try that but does not work.

      By the way, im sure that the disk works, i have installed in it clarkconnect and boot well, the problem is that clarkconnect its too slow and i want to try something lighter.

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      • GruensFroeschliG
        GruensFroeschli
        last edited by

        What does the log say?
        Could you copy/paste this here?

        We do what we must, because we can.

        Asking questions the smart way: http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

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        • N
          nicorellius
          last edited by

          I have a hard drive detect problem as well.  I tried searching for my issue but found nothing.  I downloaded and burned to CD the pfSense 1.2.3 release.  I have the following hardware:

          Asus K7VTA3 board
          AMD Sempron 1800 MHz CPU
          756 MB DDR RAM
          Seagate 500 GB SATA HD
          IDE <> SATA adapter
          Asus IDE DVD drive

          When I boot, BIOS detects the HD.  I set the boot order to CD, and reboot.  So a couple of things were weird when I booted:

          After system boots and memory check completes, system stalls, with DVD and HD detected.  Boot from disc will not work.  After rebooting, same thing happens, except once it said HD failure.  THen gives option to continue by hitting F1, which I do…  Boot from disc starts.

          After getting pfSense welcome page, I start the process.  This is straight forward.  I get to the point where pfSense asks if I'm ready to format disk to install to disk.  I say yes, and pfSense tells me that there is not suitable IDE device to install to (ie, it's not seeing my hard drive) and if I want to install to unorthodox device, boot as live CD, etc....

          I searched around for IDE <> SATA adapter issues but found nothing.  Does anyone have any feedback?  I recently grabbed some tutorial info from this site that I would like to try, like disabling plug and play OS and ACPI/APM options.

          Thanks in advance!

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          • GruensFroeschliG
            GruensFroeschli
            last edited by

            Usually you can configure in the BIOS how the SATA drive should show up: normal IDE device, AHCI, RAID. (At least this is what my mainboard allows).
            Can you check what yours is set to?

            We do what we must, because we can.

            Asking questions the smart way: http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

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            • N
              nicorellius
              last edited by

              Yes, that seems like a good idea.  Will try that and get back to the forum - thanks GruensFroeschli !

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              • D
                danesco
                last edited by

                Well, its a similar problem i think, the only differ point is that my computer only have IDE, when i try to install always says: there is no IDE or SATA disk detected.

                I try this configs without success:

                -Swap the IDE wires.
                -Disk change
                -Wires change.
                -CDROM change.
                -Bios reset.
                -LBA, Bit, none.

                The worse thing is that i try another distro and it detects the disk, even a windows xp cd detect and install without problem, this problem its making me crazy.

                http://www.nooooooooooooooo.com/

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                • W
                  wallabybob
                  last edited by

                  @danesco:

                  Well, its a similar problem i think, the only differ point is that my computer only have IDE, when i try to install always says: there is no IDE or SATA disk detected.

                  If you can post the startup output it would give the readers a bit more information to work with.

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                  • N
                    nicorellius
                    last edited by

                    I searched through the entire BIOS and couldn't find any setting for choosing SATA (could the board be too old to support SATA even though the I'm using the IDE to SATA adapter?).  There are several IDE settings and I tried adjusting them all with no success.  Currently, my system boots, CD spins, system runs RAM test and detects primary and secondary drives, but will not go further.  System stalls.  I cannot even get the HD failure reading I got before, so I could go past this point and work pfSense from boot.  I am starting to think the IDE <-> SATA adapter I bought is not doing it's thing.  Anyone ever successfully install pfSense to HD using an IDE to SATA adapater?  Mine plugs directly into the board's IDE and then has power and SATA jacks on it.  Indicator lights work on this device, so I know it's getting power.

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                    • Z
                      ZaInT
                      last edited by

                      The adapter is completely transparent to the software, so if the HDD is detected in the BIOS it should not be the problem.

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