# FreeBSD 9.0-R install won't boot from USB HDD on netclient



## Thomash (Jul 6, 2014)

I am trying to make a HP t5545 netclient boot off an external USB hard disk with a fresh install of 9.0-R x86.

The installation was done as follows:
- Boot installation CD off Plextor external DVD writer drive - boots fine, all necessary hardware is recognized, including the external harddisk.
- External hard disk was partitioned manually during install, using MBR. No other operating systems are present on the disk.
- Installation works fine, no problems.

However, upon rebooting the netclient gets stuck in a reboot loop at the BIOS screen. I can see the BIOS screen for a moment, then the netclient reboots, and so on.
Disconnecting the DVD writer makes no difference. Trying to boot from the DVD writer with the USB hard disk connected causes the same behaviour (this was absent prior to partitioning the harddisk). If I connect the USB hard disk after booting from the DVD writer has started, it works fine.

The external USB harddisk is a Western Digital 60Gb Deskstar 180GXP in a Conrad (German electronics etc. retailer) external enclosure with an Initio chipset. According to what I can find on the web, this chipset should make the external HDD bootable. One thing of note is that the hard disk itself was previously part of an Apple iMac, but was since then reformatted (obviously). Unfortunately I have no other computers that can boot off USB to check whether the install on the external hard disk works on another computer.

I suspect the netclient BIOS either can't boot off external hard disks, or gets confused when it tries to do so. There appears to be no BIOS update available. Booting from external hard disks is not mentioned in the netclient's documentation, only CD-ROM, USB stick (with a specially prepared image), netboot, or booting off the internal Flash module.

Any ideas? Any workarounds (basic install of FreeBSD on internal flash, rest of programs on external drive?)?


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## wblock@ (Jul 6, 2014)

*Re: FreeBSD 9.0-R install won't boot from USB HDD on netclie*

It might be touchy about partition layout, or have limits to the maximum size of a partition.  There are HP utilities which will create a boot image for USB drives, and one of those could show the correct partition layout.

Could also be an incompatibility with the FreeBSD bootcode.  For fun, it's probably worth installing boot0 with boot0cfg() to see if that shows the disk menu or not.

I did some searching, but did not find anything about problems booting that unit from a hard drive.  Did find these hardware notes: http://www.parkytowers.me.uk/thin/hp/t5540/index.shtml.


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## SirDice (Jul 7, 2014)

*Re: FreeBSD 9.0-R install won't boot from USB HDD on netclie*

Please note that FreeBSD 9.0-RELEASE is end-of-life and not supported anymore. Please use 9.1, 9.2 or the upcoming 9.3.

Topics about unsupported FreeBSD versions


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## Thomash (Jul 7, 2014)

*Re: FreeBSD 9.0-R install won't boot from USB HDD on netclie*



			
				wblock@ said:
			
		

> It might be touchy about partition layout, or have limits to the maximum size of a partition.  There are HP utilities which will create a boot image for USB drives, and one of those could show the correct partition layout.



I have the Linux boot image utility on my Windows machine. Once I get in the parts to attach a Compact Flash card to the netclient's internal ATA connector I'll get that set up and have a look at what the partition layout looks like. In the worst case I end up with HP's rather limited Linux version instead of FreeBSD...   



> Could also be an incompatibility with the FreeBSD bootcode.  For fun, it's probably worth installing boot0 with boot0cfg() to see if that shows the disk menu or not.



I'll look into that - have to figure out how to do that when not being able to boot from the drive.



> I did some searching, but did not find anything about problems booting that unit from a hard drive.  Did find these hardware notes: http://www.parkytowers.me.uk/thin/hp/t5540/index.shtml.



That's the site that made me consider this project. However, most people use the internal 44-pin ATA connector (or hack together a SATA connector on the motherboard). Since my objective for this project is "spend as little money as possible" buying a laptop hard disk was not an option.


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