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Forum Discussion
PCIe x4 expansion issues
So I have been working on replacing the ReadyNAS os with FreeNAS and have gotten stuck on one thing... the PCIe x4 slot.
The process to install FreeNAS on my ReadyNAS Pro (6 drive) is fairly simple though requires removing the PCIe x4 expansion card since I didn't want to try to find drivers for the proprietary card. Removing this is not problem, the problem is getting my PCIe x1 NIC to work on the port.
I have an x1 NIC that I know works with FreeNAS but for some reason the unit will not even power on with a PCIe x1 card in the slot. By PCIe spec the x4 slot should allow x1 cards but the BIOS or MoBo may not handle this.
I got a x1 riser cable off ebay from China and thought this could be the issue so tried directly plugging in the NIC. To directly plug in the NIC I had to cut off some tabs off the bottom (I know not a good idea)... but that didn't work. Plugging in the old extension adapter (without the card attached) allows the unit to turn on. As a last resort I even cut the extension so the part after the x1 can slide in next to my riser but the unit still doesn't turn on.
The OS installed fine and boots up but without a NIC its not much of a NAS. The next thing to try is a PCIe x4 NIC to see if that is the issue.
Any ideas out there? Anyone familiar with FreeNAS knows that it is a great OS with lots of nice features... not the least of which being zfs.
Oh and my BIOS is v08.00.14 (MoBo FLAME v1.6) and I kind of wiped the OS off the expansion card chip (oops) so not sure if there is a normal way to update the BIOS (if that is a solution to the problem).
Thanks
The process to install FreeNAS on my ReadyNAS Pro (6 drive) is fairly simple though requires removing the PCIe x4 expansion card since I didn't want to try to find drivers for the proprietary card. Removing this is not problem, the problem is getting my PCIe x1 NIC to work on the port.
I have an x1 NIC that I know works with FreeNAS but for some reason the unit will not even power on with a PCIe x1 card in the slot. By PCIe spec the x4 slot should allow x1 cards but the BIOS or MoBo may not handle this.
I got a x1 riser cable off ebay from China and thought this could be the issue so tried directly plugging in the NIC. To directly plug in the NIC I had to cut off some tabs off the bottom (I know not a good idea)... but that didn't work. Plugging in the old extension adapter (without the card attached) allows the unit to turn on. As a last resort I even cut the extension so the part after the x1 can slide in next to my riser but the unit still doesn't turn on.
The OS installed fine and boots up but without a NIC its not much of a NAS. The next thing to try is a PCIe x4 NIC to see if that is the issue.
Any ideas out there? Anyone familiar with FreeNAS knows that it is a great OS with lots of nice features... not the least of which being zfs.
Oh and my BIOS is v08.00.14 (MoBo FLAME v1.6) and I kind of wiped the OS off the expansion card chip (oops) so not sure if there is a normal way to update the BIOS (if that is a solution to the problem).
Thanks
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- Seeing as this is a custom board setup, I wouldn't be surprised if that slot didn't follow specs, and was more custom pin layout for the expansion card that was used with it.
- So does that mean even a PCIe x4 card may not work? I read that some motherboards don't support lower order cards in slots so no big surprise there but hopefully they at least followed x4 spec.
I'll eventually get a PCIe x4 riser and try that (gotta wait till it shows up from China).
Well - Its all going to be in the 'not supported' department. Best bet is for comments from the hardware engineers, but NTGR doesn't visit here much anymore, so we're kinda on our own.
- Yeah I kinda doubted the OEM would want to help someone use a different OS.
If I get it to work I'll make sure to post a simple HOW TO in case anyone else interested.
Thanks for the heads up,
Mike - So after the long wait the x4 PCIe riser cable has shown up (from China). Trying both x1 and x4 cards the system will not boot up. Even the cable alone in the slot prevents the system from powering on. Now I am pretty convinced they connected some pins in a special way so only their cards work.
Since I am not interested in searching around for driver(s) for their proprietary card (and since I cut their connector card) my last option is ethernet over USB...
For anyone else who wants to try this I would make sure to update the BIOS first to see if that makes a difference.
There are plenty of USB connections on the MoBo so I don't doubt this will work but with USB 2.0 having a max speed of 480 Mbit/s I don't expect very good speed even with two adapters... - The onboard NIC is Marvell sky2 based, no support at all in FreeNAS? Maybe a driver could be compiled. I know the NIC works in ESXi and NexentaStor (Solaris).
USB2 NIC may be okay for management access, but I wouldn't trust it for my sole data transmission pipe. I've also seen the USB bus reset on the Pro when there is too much power draw. If you connect a USB HDD that demands 1000mA versus the typical 500mA device, things can drop. The Pro seems to satisfy 900mA, but 1000mA goes flakey. - So my latest idea is to try a new Motherboard in the box. The existing MoBo is MicroATX (170x170), the CPU socket is LGA 775 and FSB is 1066 so to be able to re-use the CPU and ram I'll get a compatible board. This one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168131573372 ought to work and $50 isn't too bad.
The only challenge now is the PCIe x1 backplane card which attaches to the bottom of the MoBo. Hopefully I can use my PCIe x1 riser cable and bend it around :? I removed the metal brace that held the old PCIe expansion card so there should be room to attach the Ethernet cable and such. Also the big PSU cable can be moved around once the plastic conduit is removed.
Any concerns? I know this is a bit drastic but since I went and cut the little PCIe extension this is my last resort... - Warranty Voided ;)
- Thanks chirpa I think I did that a while back...:)
- This is interesting Mike. I have sort of dabbled with a similar idea.
Maybe you should try NAS4FREE, it is the original freenas codebase,
and is based off FreeBSD 9.1 so it should have the latest driver support.
Is the PCIe expansion on the Pro series totally proprietary?
Have you tried windows?
Got a Ultra 6 who has a different MB: FLAME6-2 V 1.0
It is Atom based and the NIC's are on the MB and Marell youkon based.
Should have broad OS support. It has two PCIe slots, where one goes to the drive cage
and the other is just unused. My idea was to hack one to use a passive GFX card and get HDMI out.
(why on earth did Netgear not make such a model?)
I only tried one card, but my experience was similar to yours.
Sad if it is custom pin out. Will it be possible to hack it with a custom PCIe extention cable?
The lack of updates from Netgear is starting to show. Maybe it is time to start an open source project and make a custom Readynas OS?
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