Help building a NAS

[Fergy007]

Hey Everyone

I am looking to build a cheap NAS and I have a old system laying around not doing anything so it seemed like a perfect choice, as from what I have read it doesn't need to be good specs just loads of storage :).

The specs are as follows:

Intel Celeron 2.4Ghz

MSI 865PE Neo2-PS

1.5GB DDR

Nvidia FX 5600XT

Win XP Pro 32 Bit

So as you can tell its a very old PC, I am having trouble getting it to run FreeNAS 8, it loads the disc and installs onto a 4GB memory stick but when it comes to boot from the stick it freezes in the BIOS.

Is my PC too old to run FreeNAS or is something going wrong with the install?

If it is too old could I have some advise on specing one out.

Sorry for being a bit vague.

Thanks :)

[Krogoth]

I can think a couple of possibilites to check but I'm not really an expert so if it's not then I'm stumped.

Check that the BIOS can see the USB stick as a bootable drive. The board may not support it at all or it may only be available from a specific USB port so check all of them. If it never sees it then it may not be supported by the board or just the usuall thing of making sure the drivers are up to date and try again.

If it can see it there may be a "press button to boot from USB" prompt that comes up when loading that you have to press to get it to boot from the stick rather than it just doing it automatically regardless of the lack of other bootable devices.

[Fergy007]

Hey, I have managed to get it running after installing FreeNAS to a HDD, not optimal but works :). It must be something to do with booting from a USB, it is in the boot options so it must be possible but weather my aging PC wants to is another question. I can't even open the boot menu, it freezes before I have chance =/.