BootLoader not found, please install an OS

opticalc

I have an old laptop, an HP Probook 640G1, with a CoreI5 that im retasking to use as a pfsense router. It has been working with an old version of Win10.

After the installer did its thing, which seemed to indicate everything went flawlessly, it rebooted and now upon boot, the PC is giving me the error BootDevice not found and telling me to load an OS on the drive.

Now, I've gone into the BIOS and have no idea what the password is, Im not even sure if the BIOS boot is set for UEFI or BIOS or whatever. So Im stuck there.. Im guessing this error I have is giving some kind of a clue as to which the BIOS may be set for (uefi/bios) based on how the installer normally tries to do things?

So - is there any way to go through the installer again, and this time tell it to do things in a way that we think the BIOS may be set for?

If not, then can I just make some kind of tiny ISO to just keep in the CDROM drive that lets the machine boot to the CD, and from there have the CD boot up whatever the PFsenseCE loaded onto the disk?

Or is there anything else that can be done here?

Edit to add:
I redid the installer, and this time specifically picked MBR during the reinstall, where the default is GPT but it also there says that GPT is compatable with MBR. But I did pick the one that was just MBR

Now after a reboot the screen says:
F1 ?
F2 FreeBSD

F6 PXE
Boot: F2

but anytime I type anything, even the enter key just a # character shows up

opticalc

Also,
And I got this from ChatGPT so not sure if its doing aything, but from a CD boot, going to a rescue shell it told me to go to the rescue shell and did:
[ -d /sys/firmware/efi ] && echo UEFI || echo BIOS
and it told me BIOS, so I think the PC isnt set for UEFI?

But if I go to the BIOS diags for the HD it does say UEFI on there somewhere during the diags process.

Gertjan

@opticalc said in BootLoader not found, please install an OS:

I have an old laptop, an HP Probook 640G1, with a CoreI5 that im retasking to use as a pfsense router. It has been working with an old version of Win10.
......

So - is there any way to go through the installer again, and this time tell it to do things in a way that we think the BIOS may be set for?

If EUFI is used, and the BIOS was also using a TPM, then you can't just 'change the OS' (change, modify, anything' as a secured boot means : it's secured.
This can be overridden of course. That's why the BIOS access == the password is so essential. It's the key to your entire system.
Be assured : Internet is out there for you, so how to reset the BIOS password is documented.

Btw : there is a change that your portable has a wifi network card.
Changes are that FreeBSD, that is the OS used by pfSense, doesn't support that Wifi NIC. Like the sound card, touch pad, de-activate the wifi first.
Don't forget to add another wired NIC, as pfSense is a router so it needs at least two network interfaces (it can work with one, sure, and you will have to have a VLAN capable switch - there is a good Youtube video that explains how to do so).

opticalc

I was able to get it working by interrupting things when the DVD was booting by going to the loader and doing this:

OK set currdev=disk0s2a:
OK set rootdev=disk0s2a:
OK set hint.iwm.0.disabled="1"
OK boot

OK Thanks, it may have been the TPM... I was playing around being all secure with my windows with TPM and bitlocker. I may just not even waste time with trying to fix that since I hope to never have to reboot this thing anyways.

But even if that WAS the case, shouldnt the PCs bootup process tell me something about a failed boot due to secureboot settings and a detected change?

opticalc

although, i just popped in a Linux Mint installer CD and did a custom install with everything on a single partition.

the installer did warn me that if i didnt set up an EFI partition that I was headed for disaster, but I ignored all that.

When I rebooted the PC went to Linux Mint with no problems at all.

So I do truly believe the PC is all MBR now, no TPM or secure boot.

So not sure why the PFSense installer was giving me any issues

Gertjan

@opticalc

Well, the (cut short) TPM story is : if something changes the boot files on the boot partition, then the user should be warned when the system boots. That's the IMHO, whole idea behind TPM protection.

On the other had, end user devices do have a TPM so they can install Windows 11. If its actually used to protect the system, only your BIOS can tell you that.

opticalc

@Gertjan said in BootLoader not found, please install an OS:

@opticalc

Well, the (cut short) TPM story is : if something changes the boot files on the boot partition, then the user should be warned when the system boots. That's the IMHO, whole idea behind TPM protection.

On the other had, end user devices do have a TPM so they can install Windows 11. If its actually used to protect the system, only your BIOS can tell you that.

OK, thanks - all that makes sense.
But theres still got to be something weird going on with the pfsense installer, given linuxmint worked fine on a single partition, and pfsense gave so many problems?