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I bought a mini PC that had no ram or ssd and obviously no OS. I added my own 8gb ddr4 2400mhz and ssd connected by SATA. I can boot into the bios and it recognizes the ram.

I created a bootable pfsense usb using Rufus, and I am 100% sure it is bootable and functioning because I tested it on my gaming desktop. It boots into the installer just fine.

When plugged into the mini pc, the bios sees the usb drive. It lists the drive name and the 2 partitions in the boot options.

Based on googling, I have tried to prioritize the boot orders, boot directly into the usb, made sure csm is on, tried toggling off Uefi and only do legacy boot, changed USB ports etc. No matter what, the mobo gives me 1 long beep and gets stuck on the manufacturer splash screen. Also replaced the ram once just to see if it helped.

Any help? Does anyone have an exact list of what to do for this bios? I can give any info needed.

Specs:

  • Intel J4125
  • 8gb PNY ddr4 2400mhz
  • Mobo unknown from China
  • Bios American Megatrends 2.19.1268 dated 1/6/2022
  • Says core version 5.13
  • 2x USB ports

EDIT: Removed CMOS battery, did a clean Etcher install on the usb drive, took pictures of all of the default mobo settings, and attempted to boot into the usb drive with those settings. Imgur screenshots here

EDIT2: It turns out, the ram I was using wasn't supported by the mobo. The stick I was using, and the stick I replaced it with, are both 8gb ddr4 2400mhz, but the PNY stick wasn't working. I actually took a Micron stick from my laptop and tried that, and it worked. The PNY also works, in my laptop. Crazy how the manufacturer incompatibility could cause all this headache.

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  • I feel comfortable in an assumption that pfsense supports UEFI mode, so why are you enabling CSM, on newer hardware? Since I know nothing about the hardware you tested the installation media on, and it's not working on the hardware you are trying to use, I would need to know the settings you used within Rufus. My suggestion is just use Etcher instead. Screenshots of the drive listed, with a notation, indicating if Legacy Mode is enabled or disabled would also be helpful.
    – Ramhound
    Commented Jun 3, 2022 at 16:31
  • @Ramhound I edited the post above with more info and screenshots. Did a wipe of the bios settings, did a fresh etcher install, plugged in the usb on first boot, and took pictures of it all.
    – jklaz
    Commented Jun 3, 2022 at 17:15
  • I don’t see where you have UEFI mode enabled or Legacy Mode disabled (no screenshot explicitly indicates which mode you are in).
    – Ramhound
    Commented Jun 3, 2022 at 17:44
  • The default settings have a 'Boot Option Filter' of UEFI and Legacy, which is what I was changing, but now that I think about it, probably doesn't do anything except filter the list. I am not sure if there are any other options I've looked at basically every option
    – jklaz
    Commented Jun 3, 2022 at 17:53
  • ^ Under CSM configuration, there is a 'Storage' option to change UEFI to Legacy. Would that do it? Also there is 1 option for secure boot, and that is enabled
    – jklaz
    Commented Jun 3, 2022 at 17:59

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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Disable Secure Boot & Enable CSM

  1. Go into your BIOS

  2. Disable Secure Boot, Save, Reboot

  3. Go into your BIOS

  4. Enable CSM, Save, Reboot

  5. Boot from USB

Also, try a different USB key and manufacturer

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1
  • I actually went and bought a new flash drive and made a new installer. Different brand. I unplugged cmos battery for 5 minutes. Back in the bios, by default, Secure Boot is enabled, and CSM support is enabled. I disabled secure boot, saved changes, and exited. Upon reboot into bios, I chose the USB, and it still got stuck at the American Megatrends splash screen instead of booting into the installer
    – jklaz
    Commented Jun 6, 2022 at 2:22

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