Old Dell computer won't boot. "No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key"

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1

Been using FreeBSD for decades. Just recently stumbled upon NomadBSD and
am very impressed. Quickly installs and turns an old windows computer into
a usable BSD computer within half an hour.

Have converted several of these old clunkers using my NomadBSD USB thumb
drive. Very handy.

I found one old Dell computer that is not behaving. I install the usual way but get
this error message: “No bootable device – insert boot disk and press any key”

It’s odd since I can boot from the NomadBSD USB drive and install it on to the
inexpensive SSD drive, but it will not boot from the SSD.

Yes, I’ve diddled around in the BIOS setup to check that the hardware sees the
SSD drive and that it’s first in the boot order.

What are some tips and tricks to get this old clunker to boot from NomadBSD
just like all these other old computers that I’ve converted to BSD?

Thanks so much for your help!

2

What is your graphics card:

pciconf -lv | grep -B3 display

?

3

I have a cheap external USB-SSD which does not boot on every PC I own. On one older laptop it does not work. I think it it the same like with some usb-flash-drives. Not every drive will boot with any system. Nevertheless my USB-SSD with higher quality (and price) works on all of my machines. Perhaps you could try another SSD.

1 Like
4

pciconf -lv | grep -B3 display =>

vgapci0@pci0:0:2:0: class=0x030000 rev=0x02 Hdr=0x00 vendor=0x8086 device=0x2772 subvendor=0x08086 subdevice=0xd606
vendor = ‘Intel Corporation’
device = ‘82945G/GZ Integrated Graphics Controller’
class = display

5

Thanks for the advice. I’ve found that Samsung have been the most reliable.

I have one that I can use to test temporarily. Eventually, that Samsung is going into
a different high-end computer.

6

Yes, it is just as @mameko says.

It is also very well explained in the NomadBSD manual:

7

Hi All,

No success.

I built another USB drive from downloaded “image” of NomadBSD. This is the
error message that I got when booting from it:

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
FreeBSD/x86 bootstrap loader, Revision 1.1
ERROR: cannot open /boot/lua/loader .lua; no such file or directory.

Type ‘?’ for a list of commands. ‘help’ for more detailed help.
OK
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Any more ideas on how to load NomadBSD on a recalcitrant PC?