Install of x86 on Via EPIA - "Cpu doesn't support long mode

[6by9]

Hi All.

I'm upgrading a FreeNas 7 box running on a Via EPIA EN12000EG motherboard, but doing a fresh install hence this forum rather than upgrading.

I have the i386 image, but on booting the LiveCD it fails trying to boot the kernel with the error message "Cpu doesn't support long mode". Having done a search, that implies it is trying to load, or at least check for, a 64bit processor which the Via C7/Eden isn't. But I am using the x86 image, so it shouldn't matter!

As a test I even tried booting the same CD on an old Celeron equipped Dell GX100 that I had around, and that works and is a 32bit only processor, so I must have the right image. Even trying to boot an i386 FreeBSD image results in the same error.

Web searches for issues with Via EPIA boards and FreeBSD have yielded nothing, hence turning to the forums. Are there any known issues with these Via processors, and any workarounds? I don't know my way around the FreeBSD boot sequence and config to get any further at the moment.

Thanks.
Dave

[6by9]

OK, don't know what was going wrong before.
Seeing as it had been released, I tried FreeBSD 10 and that worked.
Then went back to FreeBSD 9.2 and that worked too.
As did Nas4Free 9.2.0.1.943, and I now have that installed happily.
Obviously I was having one of those days when I tried it last time.

[muzicman82]

Hi All.

I'm upgrading a FreeNas 7 box running on a Via EPIA EN12000EG motherboard, but doing a fresh install hence this forum rather than upgrading.

I have the i386 image, but on booting the LiveCD it fails trying to boot the kernel with the error message "Cpu doesn't support long mode". Having done a search, that implies it is trying to load, or at least check for, a 64bit processor which the Via C7/Eden isn't. But I am using the x86 image, so it shouldn't matter!

As a test I even tried booting the same CD on an old Celeron equipped Dell GX100 that I had around, and that works and is a 32bit only processor, so I must have the right image. Even trying to boot an i386 FreeBSD image results in the same error.

Web searches for issues with Via EPIA boards and FreeBSD have yielded nothing, hence turning to the forums. Are there any known issues with these Via processors, and any workarounds? I don't know my way around the FreeBSD boot sequence and config to get any further at the moment.

Thanks.
Dave

How is that board working out for you? I am trying to deploy NAS4Free on a similar board, EPIA-SN.

[6by9]

How is that board working out for you? I am trying to deploy NAS4Free on a similar board, EPIA-SN.

I've generally found the EPIA boards to work fine. That particular machine was for my in-laws just for backup and Owncloud.
I was running an EPIA 5000 (533MHz Samuel core) as my backup server until recently when I tried swapping it out for the 12000 I had lying around (1GHz Nehemiah core) and hit these problems with it. In the end I gave up and upgraded it to a Gigabyte GA-E350N WIN8, only returning to the 12000 for my in-laws.

If I were buying again, the difference in price between the EPIAs second hand and the E350 new mean I'd go E350 every time. I'm not stressing my servers as they are mainly there for backup and media streaming, so others will want more processing grunt. There may be a slight power saving with the EPIAs, but the E350 does scale back all the way to 100MHz when idle, and the power supply inefficiencies are likely to dwarf the processor power savings anyway. The E350 is also 64bit.

I never did fully get to the bottom of why the EPIA-12000 gave me issues. The only conclusion I could come to was that the boot order was getting screwed up and it had managed to get a duff 64 bit install onto the main boot drive (compact flash card via IDE adaptor). If it then wasn't booting the USB stick it would always see that 64bit image and complain. When it was released I tried to FreeBSD 10 off LiveCD and it booted fine, and then Nas4Free 9.2 also booted fine. PEBKAC.

[Bandit]

I've got this same problem trying to boot NAS4Free-x86-LiveCD-9.2.0.1.943.iso on an EPIA-PD

Get CPU doesn't support long mode...

If I boot NAS4Free-x86-LiveUSB-9.2.0.1.943.img from usb stick that works ok

[6by9]

It's possible that it was switching from LiveCD to USB that did it for me, but looking at the image files I've got lying around they would all appear to be ISOs.
I'll try to find time to do another quick test to see what happens.