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PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 8:23 am 
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Hello all. I got a used EX487 off eBay sometime ago and started playing with it recently. I built myself a VGA cable, patched the BIOS and upgraded the CPU to an E5300. All good so far.
My goal for this server would be to make it a NAS with Debian and four 5TB drives in a RAID 5 array.
Since the drives I intend to use are bigger than 2TB they would need to be set up with GPT partition tables and I doubt the MSS can boot from them.
So the question is whether it would be possible to install and boot the OS from either a USB drive or an eSata drive. Cables, adapters and other hardware would not be a problem. I just don't know if it's possible to convince the BIOS to boot from it.
Another question is about getting into the BIOS settings. I can't seem to manage to get into the settings using a USB keyboard, with or without the J jumper shorted. The keyboard is functional after the POST, so it's not an issue with the hardware. Do I need to use a PS/2 keyboard ? The connector I used for my self made VGA cable was too short so I wired only the VGA pins.
Can the AMIBCP tool be used to change the default boot order ?


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PostPosted: Mon Jun 15, 2015 8:52 am 
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too many questions but one of the rear usb port should be a bootable port.

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PostPosted: Wed Aug 12, 2015 6:32 pm 
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I have recently booted my ailing EX485 with and external USB BartPE hard drive for diagnosing purposes. I used a KVM PS/2 connector which I bought from cakalapati aka Charles see the following link, viewtopic.php?f=6&t=14074
The KVM I bought worked like a charm with the jumper on JP2 (I think). I was able to use a VGA connector and a USB mouse and keyboard. Had the external drive on the lowest rear USB port the keyboard above that and out of habit the USB mouse on the front USB port. I am hoping to boot with Windows 8 TOGO in the next few days. The I am dealing with now is bubbled capacitors in the PSU. A new PSU is on order.

Hope this helps.


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PostPosted: Wed Aug 12, 2015 7:04 pm 
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I've kind of abandoned this due to lack of time, but from what I've been able to get through some quick and limited experiments, if the drives plugged into the enclosure are formatted using GPT partition table, the BIOS will skip them and boot from USB.
So when I have time to revisit this again, this will probably be the solution for me.


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PostPosted: Sat Oct 10, 2015 7:26 pm 
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i have the same model computer. you should be able to boot from any of the rear usb ports. i've tested booting from the top and middle rear usb ports, both booted successfully. i'm assuming the same could be done with the bottom one. currently, i'm running windows from a usb stick plugged into the rear top port. works rather well.


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