OmniOS, Nexenta, OpenIndiana, ETC... on AMD Hardware installer boot loop

[sachem87184]

So I apparently have a unique problem when I attempt to install any of the
above OSes on my server. My google-fu has failed me and I seem to be stuck.

All of the OSes exhibit the same problem. The problem is, I load up any of
the install disks and it gets to the "Grub Stage 2" screen then shows
".........." . After this the screen goes blank/offline and the server
reboots.

Note: I can install ESXi, FreeNAS, Windows on this hardware fine.

Hardware:
2x AMD Opteron 4332HE CPUs
ASUS KCMA-D8 Motherboard
8x 8GB ECC UDIMM DDR3

Other troubleshooting steps:
1. I run a IBM M1015 flashed to a 9211-8I card. I cannot get the system to
boot off my USB CD-ROM if the Card BIOS is installed. I resorted to
installing FreeNAS on a USB Stick. I can though install FreeNAS onto a HDD
without the Card BIOS, then flash the card with the NIOS and successfully
boot off the disk.
2. I have reset the BIOS on the motherboard with no Success.
3. I have disabled the On-Board SATA with no success.
4. The BIOS on the motherboard is the latest available.
5. I have tried the "-v" switch in the grub loader, but the machine
reboots/goes blank too fast.

Main questions:
1. Is there a way to prevent the reboot and be able to see the verbose
output?
2. Can I log the installer cd somewhere? IE modify it to output to a Syslog
server maybe or log to a local device?

I appreciate any input as this is bothering me and I'd like to use Solaris
instead of FreeNAS.

 

[sachem87184]

Also I found the Chipset (SR5670/SP5100) in the Solaris HCL. But it looked like it was Solaris 10 update 9 and 10. Isn't openindiana built on 10 update 4?

 

[gea]

- Does it boot when you remove the 1015?
(you do not need the bios if you do not want to boot from the IBM)

- can you boot the OmniOS USB installer?
- you may als install OmniOS to a good USB stick (16 GB or better 32 BG)

Illumos (NexentaStor, OmniOS, Openindiana) is forked from OpenSolaris built 148

 

[sachem87184]

I'll try pulling the 1015 tonight and see if it does boot without it. If it does, is there a work around to making it work?
Note: currently I'm running the 1015 without the BIOS and booting from USB to FreeNAS.

I tried the USB installer with the same result. Which is quite frustrating.

 

[sachem87184]

Update:

So I pulled the 1015 and was able to boot from USB CD-ROM just fine.

I added 2 64GB SSD and rand HDAT2 to create a 32GB HPA partition on each drive. I got OmniOS on and was quite happy with the setup.

Side question: Does the power management inside Solris actually reduce consumption?