GA-880GM-USB3 will not boot from USB Flash

[cortical]

Hi


FreeNAS 0.7.1 installed from CD ok onto a SD card   in a usb compact flash card reader , on the GA-880GM-USB3

I can not get the new GB to then reboot from the USB  SD flash drive .

I tried different BIOS settings without success.

I tried a flash update of the bios using Q-Flash from a usb thumbdrive, as a revision:
bios 2010/05/27 version F6 Fix On/Off Charge & USB compatibility
may be of some use; but Q-Flash Utility lists floppy A, but no files found (i recognise when QF states  floppy it probably means usb, as per the 'help/ guide her somewhere)


I have a Supermicro X&SLM mobo that runs this setup without issue; same install from cd, same USB CF reader and sane SD card.


Any ideaa?

[absic]

Hi and welcome to the forum,
reading through your post the first thing that springs to mind is have you tried the USB 2 ports rather than the USB3?

[cortical]

>>
reading through your post the first thing that springs to mind is have you tried the USB 2 ports rather than the USB3?
<<

Which ports would they be?
The 3 usb headers on the board are the same.

The BIOS Integrated Peripherals has
...
Onboard USB 3.0 controller   enabled
USB controllers                   enabled
USB Legacy function            disabled
USB storage function           enabled

The printed user's manual which came with the board is slightly different:
...
Onboard USB 3.0 controller
Onchip USB controllers
USB EHCI controller
USB keyboard support
USB mouse support
USB storage detect


Booting into safe mode has achieved a boot, but that is a temporary solution. 

thanks for responding

regards
Chris

[Dark Mantis]

Have you followed the instructions in our FAQ section here: http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php/topic,2441.0.html ?
The USB drive must be inserted in the computer before booting otherwise the option to boot from it won't appear in the BIOS boot sequence. You can then set the BIOS to boot from USB.
Set the USB Legacy function to enabled.

[cortical]

2 issues:
1/ Q flash recognises the USB thumb drive but does not recognize the files on the thumb drive, so will not update the BIOS
I get to similar this screen http://img14.imageshack.us/i/img0285cd.jpg/
0 files found
floppy A total size: 0
Free size 0

clicking enter raises after 10 seconds or so 'Disk access error press any key to continue

2. the system will bot in FreeNAS in safe mode only at this  point
tried legacy usb support enabled and disabled,
FreeNAS bootstrap loader goes through its boot sequence, o the point where it reports cannot dump, no dump device fond. and auto reboots, so will just keep cycling


ie boot from the CF >> welcome to FreeNAS
…
>> panic ohci_add_done   address (     0xafd15f0    )     not found
cannoy dump no dump device defined

[Dark Mantis]

Usually this is either because you haven't unzipped the file after downloading it or the USB drive has been formatted in NTFS or something other than FAT32

[absic]

Hi,
now that the USB Drive is being recognised in BIOS I have to ask:
When you downloaded the drivers from the Gigabyte Website did you extract them from the 7Zip folder that they come in?
If you have unwrapped the BIOS files there should be 3 of them that you put onto the USB drive (Check this image: http://img842.imageshack.us/i/img0282r.jpg/)

If you didn't do this and just copied the 7Zip file to your USB Drive that is why you can't update BIOS.

[cortical]

the USB thumbdrive is formatted fat32; I specifically reformatted it prior to adding the files

The files are unzipped, these are my unzipped download:

880GMB3.F7
autoexec.bat
FLASHSPI.EXE

[absic]

Yes,

I have just download the BIOS for your PC to double check for you and those seem to be the correct files. If you copy only these 3 files onto your USB Drive then you should be able to update BIOS using the Qflash utility. In QFlash you should only see 1 file, this is normal and nothing to worry about and this is the file you need to update BIOS.

[cortical]

Q-Flash Utility lists floppy A (aka usb) , but no files found

[Dark Mantis]

I always find it better to put the files onto the boot of the drive, not in a folder, although either way will work
Did you try opening the floppy drive(A:\)?

[cortical]

I assume you mean root of the drive, and yes they are at root level, not buried in a subfolder

the 'floppy...' is highlighted yellow
clicking enter returns Disk access error

[Dark Mantis]

Yes you were quite correct I did mean root. The USB drive is inserted before you boot up yes?

[cortical]

yes, the USB thumbdrive is inserted prior to boot

[Dark Mantis]

Sorry to labour the point but is the USB drive inserted into the USB port directly not via a hub or some other device?