Wake On Lan with Compaq 7800

[jjq]

Dear all, I do have a similar problem which is related somehow with wake-on-lan and HP machines;

Machine: old HP- Compaq 7800 sff computer;
Core 2 Duo, Intel, 2300 Mhz
RAM: 4 Gb, DDR2

So I've had this old machine running FreeNAS 9.2 ( from what I recall ); as the drives there were full, I did not used the machine for about half an year or so; OS was installed on an USB stick of 4 GB in size; yesterday, when trying to start the machine, the system was reporting to boot from F1 ##### (followed by a lot the # signs); at some point I figure it out the USB OS must be damaged; so, downloaded the 9.2.1.9 version from website, made a new bootable USB of 4 GB, restarted with the new install, configuring the network and being able to browse to http://localIP to access the web configuration.
Now, every time I shut down the system from the web interface or start the system from the power button, the FreeNAS boots with no problem.

However, if the machine is started via wake-on-lan, after the quick boot, the following message is shown:
PXE-M0F: Exiting Intel boot agent.
This is a freeNAS data disk and can not boot system. System halted.

Following actions I took:
a. Changed different settings on the machine BIOS; nothing worked; machine is responding to wake-on-lan (starting) but the boot process from USB is not performed;
Boot sequence was changed to have USB as first boot option; all other possible options were deactivated; still one more option is active besides USB.
b. I've created another USB boot stick of 16 Gb in size; behavior is the same, machine will not boot from USB when started via wake-on-lan;
c. Created an Ubuntu boot stick and started the machine again via wake-on-lan; strange behavior: I received the same message . . "This is a FreeNAS data disk and can not boot system. System halted." - even if the new OS was linux/ubuntu . . . . ;
- shut down the system, and restarted ( from the power button, not from LAN ); the boot sequence was completed just fine and Ubuntu started;
- shut down the system and restarted ( via wake-on-lan , not power button ) and Ubuntu system booted just fine . . . ; didn't received the ".. FreeNAS data disk error ";
Conclusion1: wake-on-lan is activated and working on the HP machine;

What else can I try / do you recommend ?
One thing I can think of is removing also the HDD and only try booting from USB - via wake-on-lan, to check the behavior again.
Could this be an issue of FreeNAS in conjunction with wol? It could be fixed?
I could try version 11 or so, but the minimum hardware requirements for the NAS are way too high compared with this old machine;
What other versions? could I try 9.3? but if I recall correctly the HDD was formatted via UFS and 9.2 is the last version to support this file format?

 

[dlavigne]

That system does not meet the minimum requirements for FreeNAS.

 

[jjq]

That system does not meet the minimum requirements for FreeNAS.

Well, thanks for pointing that out; however, FreeNAS 9.2 was previously working on that old machine so fine for a home network of 2-3 PC's;
and, again - as far as the start of the machine is made via power button, FreeNAS 9.2 is booting with no problem.
so if anyone else could point me into the right direction or already found a solution for this case . . . .I am still checking the forum 2-3 times per day :D

 

[wblock]

I don't know what type of boot 9.2 installs. If it has a selector for UEFI or BIOS, select BIOS.

For that matter, it's worth trying a BIOS update, if one exists. But that machine is a decade old. It is likely at the end of its useful life, if not already past it.

 

[Nick2253]

Your problem seems like a mobo/BIOS problem, not a FreeNAS problem. It appears that it is trying to boot from one of the data drives after it WoL. Like @wblock, I would suggest a BIOS update.

However, let's step back from this problem. The design purpose for FreeNAS has focused considerably, and it's no accident that a system like yours is no longer supported hardware. That doesn't mean your hardware can't be useful for you, but you should reconsider using FreeNAS. I mean, with FreeNAS, in order to get everything to work, you have handicapped yourself to an old version, one that is no longer maintained. Instead, I would suggest you look at a project like Nas4Free - it's also a FreeBSD-based project, with a very similar feature set that is targeted more to the home user/hardware reuse crowd, versus FreeNAS's focus on prosumer/SOHO/enterprise.

Other projects that would be: OpenMediaVault or OpenFiler (if you want something Linux based).

 

[jjq]

For that matter, it's worth trying a BIOS update, if one exists.

Thanks for suggestion, I was thinking about that but I guess is a little bit risky and the machine is old; more, the update method indicated is from windows os - which I have to install prior to the BIOS update; but I do consider that advice;

Your problem seems like a mobo/BIOS problem, not a FreeNAS problem. It appears that it is trying to boot from one of the data drives after it WoL.
Instead, I would suggest you look at a project like Nas4Free - it's also a FreeBSD-based project, with a very similar feature set that is targeted more to the home user/hardware reuse crowd, versus FreeNAS's focus on prosumer/SOHO/enterprise.
Other projects that would be: OpenMediaVault or OpenFiler (if you want something Linux based).

It was my impression also that even if the boot from Ubuntu USB is going OK, when using the FreeNAS USB somehow it conflicts with another version or files already installed on the local HDD; it is true that the mobo BIOS has an option "Remote wake up boot source" which unlucky has only 2 options:
- Local drive ( if set to that I think it conflicts with the USB boot )
- Remote server ( doesn't help since there is no boot from remote server but from USB . . . )
Anyway tested both ways and it didn't worked out.

Thank you for suggesting similar software I will sure look into the subject. OpenMediaVault looks so closed to FreeNAS and I think I will migrate at some point more closed to Linux distros.

 

[jjq]

Just for the information.
When removing the HDD drive which was ufs formatted ( not that the format was important ), the machine is booting fine from USB - no matter if started via power button or via wake-on-lan.

 

[Nick2253]

That tells me that there is probably an issue with the WoL functionality, and it's not following the boot device list order from the BIOS.