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New Terramaster F2-221 Locked Bios


Num3

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Hi all,

 

I just received a new F2-221 (with Hdmi), but the installation of XPEnology fails to complete, because the bios boot order is locked, the HDD is always the 1st priority, so after the initial setup it will boot into HDD ignoring the bootloader on the usb drive.

 

It is possible to boot from Usb, but is always necessary to go into the bios and select the one time boot option.


Wonder if anyone had this problem and if there is a way to unlock the boot order options on the Bios or install the bootloader to HDD (overcoming this problem).

I took some pictures from the bios.
 

I hope i am doing some noob stuff here, because if this situation does not have a fix, the newer Terramaster units cannot be hacked anymore!

 

20201021_182639.jpg

20201021_182717.jpg

20201021_182733.jpg

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6 hours ago, IG-88 said:

does not seem to be a general problem

https://forum.terra-master.com/en/viewtopic.php?t=393

 

maybe try to rest bios to default settings

 

Thanks for your reply. 

I already did a bios reset multiple times (tried every option to reenable the boot order menu), but it remains locked. 

 

On a side note, the bios date is posterior to that post you mentioned, so the bios is different from those units for sure.

 

My unit is a newer model without any doubt. I will post some hardware pictures tomorrow, maybe someone who has a later model can compare, because I think there are some hardware changes too. I only have 1 internal USB port and the internal memory is running at 1600....

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8 hours ago, Num3 said:

I only have 1 internal USB port and the internal memory is running at 1600....

 

in default mode the unit would need to be booted from that internal usb port, i guess i tried to use that port already when its the only one

a option would be to use exactly that usb flash drive/pcb that the manufacturer delivered, maybe they locked the usb boot to that vid/pid (synology seems to do that with its internal usb)

you could make a copy of the usb with Win32Diskimager (or a similar tool) and then write jun's loader to it (and match usb vid/pid in grub.cfg)

 

a more complicated alternative is to find the rigth usb flash drive and matching oem software to manipulate the usb like done in the factory, you could freely choose the usb vid/pid, i did this 2 years ago to make a usb with synology's vid/pid

you can use the forum search to find that - but be warned that can easily fry a flash drive and some of the sources for such tools have questionable reputations and might contain malware in worst case, also it can be difficult to find the right usb flash drive because when buying the controller used is usually not mentioned, it might set you back ~30 bugs to find the right one and get it working (not mentioning the time)

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I have taken pictures of the guts of the F2-221 unit I got.

My board says it's a BOO-J3355-S1_V2.0, can anyone confirm with an older unit if the board is the same?

 

Btw, this board seems to be generic for the F2 and F4 models, the other 2Gb of onboard ram are just unpopulated :P

The SATA riser board is probably the same for the 4xx and 5xx models but with more sata ports on it.

 

20201023_070520.jpg

Edited by Num3
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On 10/22/2020 at 12:33 PM, IG-88 said:

 

in default mode the unit would need to be booted from that internal usb port, i guess i tried to use that port already when its the only one

a option would be to use exactly that usb flash drive/pcb that the manufacturer delivered, maybe they locked the usb boot to that vid/pid (synology seems to do that with its internal usb)

you could make a copy of the usb with Win32Diskimager (or a similar tool) and then write jun's loader to it (and match usb vid/pid in grub.cfg)

 

a more complicated alternative is to find the rigth usb flash drive and matching oem software to manipulate the usb like done in the factory, you could freely choose the usb vid/pid, i did this 2 years ago to make a usb with synology's vid/pid

you can use the forum search to find that - but be warned that can easily fry a flash drive and some of the sources for such tools have questionable reputations and might contain malware in worst case, also it can be difficult to find the right usb flash drive because when buying the controller used is usually not mentioned, it might set you back ~30 bugs to find the right one and get it working (not mentioning the time)

 

Yeah, i tried the original USB with XPEnology on it, no cigar :(
I believe the Terramaster bootloader installs to HDD after the initial setup and probably checks if the USB pen is installed when running (or not)...

Fact is, my Bios has the boot order menu locked, so i cannot change it.

I already installed other OS's, but they all boot from HDD. XPEnology requires the pen to boot from and then launch the OS, so it does not work on this version of the hardware...

 

The only option i can see, is if XPEnology bootloader copies it self to a dedicated partition of the HDD to be able to boot and then load the OS from another partition. Leaving the original boot pen inside, so the security checks can be made.

Edited by Num3
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1 hour ago, Num3 said:

Yeah, i tried the original USB with XPEnology on it, no cigar :(
I believe the Terramaster bootloader installs to HDD after the initial setup

 

yes but how does a system boot and is seen in network with blank disks

its either PXE from the nic or the usb, at least there must be a way to force the usb boot when nothing its installed on disk

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Came across this when trying to fix the same issue I was having with installing TrueNas.

After several changes the one that worked for me was to make the following change in BIOS:

Advanced>CSM Config>

Boot option Filter (UEFI & Legacy) <this is the default>

Storage = UEFI

Other PCI devices = UEFI

 

I then put my os drive in P0 then had the rest of my drives after that, but did did test this with TrueNas installed on a USB and had it in the internal header and it worked as well. 

 

I should  note that I have the F5-221, but BIOs version matches yours.

 

I hope this helps a little. 

 

 

  • Thanks 1
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  • 8 months later...

I have the Terramaster F4-422 and a F2-221

 

The F2-221 I managed to get working using 1.03 and by setting the CSM to EUFFI

 

The F4-422 has a different bios and even though the boot can be set on EUFFI as well 

it does not boot from the USB after installing the DSM. I have gone all the way back to 

Xpenology 5.2 and it has same issue. Once DSM is installed it will not now boot from the 

USB. So no drivers are loaded and it just hangs on bootup.

 

Here is the only options to set in Bios for boot up

IMG_4531.JPG.77fea720e3b0ac0c5f2086f484fcc327.JPG

 

 

Any pointers would b greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks

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1 hour ago, nurpur10 said:

I have the Terramaster F4-422 and a F2-221

 

The F2-221 I managed to get working using 1.03 and by setting the CSM to EUFFI

 

The F4-422 has a different bios and even though the boot can be set on EUFFI as well 

it does not boot from the USB after installing the DSM. I have gone all the way back to 

Xpenology 5.2 and it has same issue. Once DSM is installed it will not now boot from the 

USB. So no drivers are loaded and it just hangs on bootup.

 

Here is the only options to set in Bios for boot up

IMG_4531.JPG.77fea720e3b0ac0c5f2086f484fcc327.JPG

 

 

Any pointers would b greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks

 

Try using UEFI mode only:

 

Boot Mode = UEFI Only

Storage = UEFI

Other PCI devices = UEFI



 

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Hi,

 

Thanks for the reply.

 

These are the only options for the Boot Mode. Legacy, uefi & combo. 

There is no separate settings for the storage or the PCI. Once the hard drive is 

in the system it defaults as the 1st bootable device. Have gone through all the 

other settings and there is nothing else that affects the boot order.

 

There is no CSM option in the bios in the F4-422 as there is with the F2-221

 

There must be some other way??

Edited by nurpur10
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21 minutes ago, nurpur10 said:

Hi,

 

Thanks for the reply.

 

These are the only options for the Boot Mode. Legacy, uefi & combo. 

There is no separate settings for the storage or the PCI. Once the hard drive is 

in the system it defaults as the 1st bootable device. Have gone through all the 

other settings and there is nothing else that affects the boot order.

 

There is no CSM option in the bios in the F4-422 as there is with the F2-221

 

There must be some other way??

These UEFI options are in the Advanced tab -> CMS Config (at least in the F2-221).

 

No need to change anything in the boot tab. 

Edited by Num3
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13 hours ago, Num3 said:

These UEFI options are in the Advanced tab -> CMS Config (at least in the F2-221).

 

No need to change anything in the boot tab. 

Thats where the issue is. They have changed the Bios in the F4-422 There is no CSM in the Advanced tab.

Not much of anything really. See attached. Thanks

 

IMG_4533.JPG.14464d0a117a0f42a5f3464372bbfe99.JPGIMG_4534.JPG.4d7ff0672fd474b2f8e8048c346e09e8.JPG

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Will it boot to the USB if you have no hard drives installed? Normally XPE has no boot partition on hard drives so it can't boot from them. If you have an existing OS on the hard drives it may detect and run that. If it will boot XPE with no hard drives installed, try wiping the drive you want to use and then reinstall it and boot. According to the screen shot in your first post, the USB is detected as a boot device so it "should" move on to the next boot device till a boot is successful. 

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42 minutes ago, rok1 said:

Will it boot to the USB if you have no hard drives installed? Normally XPE has no boot partition on hard drives so it can't boot from them. If you have an existing OS on the hard drives it may detect and run that. If it will boot XPE with no hard drives installed, try wiping the drive you want to use and then reinstall it and boot. According to the screen shot in your first post, the USB is detected as a boot device so it "should" move on to the next boot device till a boot is successful. 

 

1] Yes, if no hard drives are installed it will boot to Terramaster  OS - if that original os is installed on the USB. 

If the XPE is installed it will boot. You get the success screen in the Linux boot display. 

2] Depending on the version of XPE - you either can or cannot get Find Synology to recognise the NAS , More 

success with 5.2, 6 and 6.1. It goes through the motions of installing the DSM. However on the last section when it 

needs to reboot and load DSM, it just stops. 

3] What appears to be happening is that when the OS is now on the HDD it is trying to boot straight off that. 

In the BIOS it shows the boot order is now HDD, then USB. There is no way to change the boot order. 

4] I have gone through and tried changing the UEFI/Legacy to all options and nothing works. 

5] I also have the F2-221 and that has an additional setting in the BIOS - CSM. By altering those settings and 

switching to UEFI only the F2-221 booted and works great. I wanted to have the extra ram and 4/5 disk capability 

of the F4-422 - it also hacks to a become a 5 disk system. I did not think that Terramaster would change the 

BIOS and nobble the hacking. :(

6] If there is any boot OS on the HDD it will not switch to the USB. Take the HDD out and it starts up the procedure. 

And you are back to where you started.

7] The terramaster OS obviously works different to the DSM. It must not need the USB after installation. 

 

Thanks again for any help offered - let me know if you need any additional info from my side.

 

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On 7/17/2021 at 9:24 PM, nurpur10 said:

Resolved thanks to VORTEX

Everything works great after he supplied a BIOS mod:

 

 

What bootloader did you use in the end?  I was doing tests and only 1.03b (+extra) worked but there are certain things that did not work correctly with DSM.

- disk hibernation does not work.

- When using that bootloader, the transcoding doesn't work.

- Fan speed does not change automatically

- Network speed using different protocols is low (I have tried FTP, WebDAV, and SMB).  According to my tests, with TOS I reach the maximum that the ethernet cable can give (approximately 115Mb / s).  With DSM, it reaches about 30-40 Mb / s, or even less depending on the protocol you use.

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8 hours ago, dranivil said:

What bootloader did you use in the end?  I was doing tests and only 1.03b (+extra) worked but there are certain things that did not work correctly with DSM.

- disk hibernation does not work.

- When using that bootloader, the transcoding doesn't work.

- Fan speed does not change automatically

- Network speed using different protocols is low (I have tried FTP, WebDAV, and SMB).  According to my tests, with TOS I reach the maximum that the ethernet cable can give (approximately 115Mb / s).  With DSM, it reaches about 30-40 Mb / s, or even less depending on the protocol you use.

 

As I mentioned in the other discussion, I was able to get the system up and running by using the CMS switched on in the BIOS

The only successful install has been 1.02b on DS-3165xwith DSM-6.1-15047. 

Every function runs as it should.

 

I have not been able to successfully run 1.03 or 1.04. Full details on the other discussion. 

 

 

 

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I appreciate that this maybe a basic question  but could someone confirm the procedure 

to load the extra.lzma & extra2.lzma. I know you have to mount the larger 30mb partition. 

Do you then just copy past and over right the two existing files? or do I need to do anything else? 

Do this makes no difference and I cannot load 1.04 as it appears some drives are missing.

 

Thank you!

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11 hours ago, nurpur10 said:

I appreciate that this maybe a basic question  but could someone confirm the procedure 

to load the extra.lzma & extra2.lzma. I know you have to mount the larger 30mb partition. 

Do you then just copy past and over right the two existing files? or do I need to do anything else? 

Do this makes no difference and I cannot load 1.04 as it appears some drives are missing.

 

Thank you!

I did manage to load DSM with 1.03b, but I had to use the extra files.  And yes, to put them it is necessary to mount the unit and copy / replace the files.  Make sure to try the 3 network connectors, you may have tried one that is not functional.

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19 minutes ago, dranivil said:

I did manage to load DSM with 1.03b, but I had to use the extra files.  And yes, to put them it is necessary to mount the unit and copy / replace the files.  Make sure to try the 3 network connectors, you may have tried one that is not functional.

Thanks for reply. I use the first LAN. It works on the 1.02. Is it possible to let me have snapshot of your BIOS settings for the CSM and Boot menu as 

I just cannot get 1.03 to be scanned in Find Synology. The Linux boot says that it is successful.

 

Thank you

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1 minute ago, nurpur10 said:

Thanks for reply. I use the first LAN. It works on the 1.02. Is it possible to let me have snapshot of your BIOS settings for the CSM and Boot menu as 

I just cannot get 1.03 to be scanned in Find Synology. The Linux boot says that it is successful.

 

Thank you

I haven't installed the bios mod yet.  But all I had to do is change the boot mode to legacy (but it should work on uefy + legacy).  Then I suppose that you have to change the options in CSM Options so that the usb starts automatically.  But I don't know yet, I have to do the tests yet.  I have to say that in the multiple tests I did, it has sometimes started me with the 1.04 bootloader, but the system was unstable.

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