BIOS - No way of changing from Auto to LBA hence sata wont work
-
Hi there. I am trying to install pfsense but my bios does not offer the option to change SATA to LBA instead of Auto. What I did was I swapped the drive to another PC and did the install. When I swapped the drive back, the system wouldnt boot because of what I think is the same problem, bios set to Auto. Is there another workaround? Or, am I pretty much out of options? After lots of research, pfsense is the one that best fits our needs. I have no other hardware I can count with.
Thanks
-
I think we're going to need a lot more info.
Such as:
What kind of hardware are you going to run pfSense on?
- Computer or re-purposed "appliance"?
- SSD?
- Compact Flash card?
- Some other SATA based storage?
What platform version of pfSense, full, embedded/nano?
What kind of hardware is the other computer that you're doing the "install" with?
Or, we can short all that and if you're installing to a regular computer with a regular hard drive or SSD, just install in place off a CD or a USB flash drive.
-
I think we're going to need a lot more info.
Such as:
What kind of hardware are you going to run pfSense on?
- Computer or re-purposed "appliance"?
- SSD?
- Compact Flash card?
- Some other SATA based storage?
What platform version of pfSense, full, embedded/nano?
What kind of hardware is the other computer that you're doing the "install" with?
Or, we can short all that and if you're installing to a regular computer with a regular hard drive or SSD, just install in place off a CD or a USB flash drive.
Hi, thanks for the reply. The goal is to have a PC dedicated solely to PFsense. It has one SATA hard drive. I tried a CD installation and it just couldnt find the SATA drive. I checked online and found out that I needed to make some changes in the bios. The bios has no way of changing it to LBA. It is either Auto or disabled, those are the two options I get.. So, what I did was, I took the hard drive out and put it in a different computer. I boot it with a usb and it installed all good. I then switched the hard drive to the PC where I want pfsense running at but it cant find the mountpoint. Right now, I only have the PC where the pfsense should go into. . That is as much information I can provide. Is a very simple setup. One pc with three network cards and a Sata drive.
thanks, greatly appreciated
-
Can you tell us more about the computer that you're installing to, brand, model, etc? Pictures are good too.
It's possible that it's on a controller that BSD/pfSense can't detect properly. Otherwise, setting to LBA mode is a "maybe" fix, for hardware that seems to not detect cleanly in AHCI mode for some reason, otherwise setting to LBA mode isn't a requirement, it should work in AHCI mode.
If you can tell us more about the computer itself, we may be able to help you figure out what the root problem is, or possibly help you find where in the BIOS LBA mode might be hidden (if it's an available setting at all, a lot of OEM machines severely limit user settings.)
If you don't need any advanced features, such as Snort, Squid caching, etc, you might be fine with running an embedded version from a USB stick?
-
Can you tell us more about the computer that you're installing to, brand, model, etc? Pictures are good too.
It's possible that it's on a controller that BSD/pfSense can't detect properly. Otherwise, setting to LBA mode is a "maybe" fix, for hardware that seems to not detect cleanly in AHCI mode for some reason, otherwise setting to LBA mode isn't a requirement, it should work in AHCI mode.
If you can tell us more about the computer itself, we may be able to help you figure out what the root problem is, or possibly help you find where in the BIOS LBA mode might be hidden (if it's an available setting at all, a lot of OEM machines severely limit user settings.)
If you don't need any advanced features, such as Snort, Squid caching, etc, you might be fine with running an embedded version from a USB stick?
It is a generic build. Motherboard Minix 890GX-usb3. Sata a seagate barracuda 500gb 3.5 inch hard drive. its a mini-itx (uses laptop memory). American Megatrends BIOS. I dont see anywehre AHCI option and like I said, no option for setting it as LBA. Really strange because although it is restricted in that aspect, it has an overclock option. What pics can I take? of the Bios?
Thanks again
-
Ok, found something new. In the bios I got an option to set SATA to legacy IDE, AHCI, combined?? which one? it was under IDE.
-
Ok, found something new. In the bios I got an option to set SATA to legacy IDE, AHCI, combined?? which one? it was under IDE.
Try 'em all.
At this point you're looking for compatibility, and I can't tell if that motherboard chipset is supported, officially, so try IDE mode, it might be more compatible than AHCI.
-
I then switched the hard drive to the PC where I want pfsense running at but it cant find the mountpoint.
Quite likely the drive has a different name (e.g. /dev/ad2) than the name it has in the PC in which you installed it (e.g. /dev/ad4).
What response do you get when you type "?" at the mountroot> prompt?
-
Ok, found something new. In the bios I got an option to set SATA to legacy IDE, AHCI, combined?? which one? it was under IDE.
Try 'em all.
At this point you're looking for compatibility, and I can't tell if that motherboard chipset is supported, officially, so try IDE mode, it might be more compatible than AHCI.
tried them all with no luck..will try other things thanks
-
I then switched the hard drive to the PC where I want pfsense running at but it cant find the mountpoint.
Quite likely the drive has a different name (e.g. /dev/ad2) than the name it has in the PC in which you installed it (e.g. /dev/ad4).
What response do you get when you type "?" at the mountroot> prompt?
Sorry, my post was misleading. I have not been able to install. It cant find a drive. It all points out to the fact that is Sata and I have no options in my Bios that will make it compatible…or so I think. Thanks!
-
Try a pfSense 2.1 snapshot build. It includes much more up to date device drivers than any of the pfSense 2.0.x builds.
-
Try a pfSense 2.1 snapshot build. It includes much more up to date device drivers than any of the pfSense 2.0.x builds.
Will do!! thanks
-
Try a pfSense 2.1 snapshot build. It includes much more up to date device drivers than any of the pfSense 2.0.x builds.
That did it!! Thanks!! I hope I dont miss any of the features of the stable release. This beta is going to a production environment…thanks again!