Noob question about installing to HDD

[Mr.Gagarin]

Hi all…
I have 2 probably silly questions:

1)We are trying to use PFSense as our captive portal, but it's not possible to use it only from CD (It won't save anything properly and I thing it's not long-term solution). So I tried to install it by option 99 to HDD...But..
After instalation and reboot the system won't boot and only "/" mark is in there. DHCP doesn't work (I thought I'd set it via web configuration).

2)So I tried to install it to USB pendrive (By option 99 too). The system is booting properly now, but it hangs after a while saying

"(sa0:umass-sim0:0:0:0): Synchronize cache failed, status == 0x10, scsi status ==0x0"

I have no idea what that means (as I said, noob)... Can you, please, give me some advises how to solve this. PfSense seems to be the best solution for us and I really want it to work...

[wallabybob]

What version of pfSense are you using?

How old (or new) is the hardware?

[stephenw10]

From the Boot Troubleshooting Guide:

If after installation, you get a "cannot load kernel" error or it hangs at the spinner (/):

Make sure BIOS is up to date
    Reinstall but do not check the packet mode option during boot block installation process
    Set your HDD mode in BIOS to LBA (don't use "auto", the detected geometry is different if it is set to auto and it fails)
    Set your HDD mode in BIOS to CHS if the above fails
        Set AHCI mode in the BIOS

Steve