Suddenly cannot connect to the network and it's driving me crazy

[Tom Cronan]

This morning I was able to connect to my FreeNAS no problem. When I got home from work I went to look at a file I had in a CIFS share on it and I realized I couldn't connect to it at all. I tried connecting to the FreeNAS web GUI and no luck. I used the keyboard I have connected to it to reboot it (I was being lazy and I hoped it would be a quick fix) but when it came back up it says that I can connect to it at http://0.0.0.0 and nothing I have tried will get it to connect to the network. Every other computer I have is working fine and has no trouble getting an IP on my network. I made no changes to the network or the FreeNAS (i was at work) and no one else was home so (unless the cat learned how to use the computer) it is not from any config changes. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[9C1 Newbee]

I am having a hard time following you. It seems like you didn't set up the FreeNAS box outside of the DHCP range of your router on a static address. But that is just me taking a WAG at it. (read wild assed guess)

Please post up your hardware specs. Might be able to help a bit more. Maybe instead of a WAG, we could take a full blown stab at it.

 

[Tom Cronan]

I am having a hard time following you. It seems like you didn't set up the FreeNAS box outside of the DHCP range of your router on a static address. But that is just me taking a WAG at it. (read wild assed guess)

Please post up your hardware specs. Might be able to help a bit more. Maybe instead of a WAG, we could take a full blown stab at it.

I've been using it for 6 months without any issues. It just started having the issue yesterday while I was at work. I am about to go to work now so I will post more info on the hardware later. Thanks

 

[DrKK]

Sounds networking related. Perhaps the router is at fault. Power down the FreeNAS, then power down your router. Then put the router back on. Then reboot the FreeNAS.

 

[gpsguy]

Or a bad cable. Perhaps the cat chased a mouse and tripped over the cable. [emoji57]

Try reseating both ends of the cable. If that does't fix it, replace the cable.


Sent from my phone

 

[nightshade00013]

Yeah, start with the standard networking troubleshoot here. Power everything down that could be a part of the issue. Gateway/router, any switches and the FreeNAS. Check all cables and if you have spares swap them out. At the very least unplug and then plug back in after checking for corrosion.

If still no Joy, Check to see if the lights are coming on for the NIC in the FreeNAS. If they are check the router/gateway to see if it is showing the MAC address as trying to connect. Try deleting the Network interface at the console and set it back up again. If it will not get DHCP then set a static IP in the range you need it to be on.

Most of the time it's a cable loose or with a bad end. Worse case scenario the NIC is dead or half dead(either sending or receiving but not both.) Also if you have cabling ran in the walls things can happen that you would never even think about so you may try and use a short cable and plug directly into the router/gateway as well just to make sure. It's actually a really simple way to check things, no internet is required so even an old one that is set to give an IP via DHCP will work as a troubleshoot tool. Could even get a live cd of linux to take the OS out of the equation just disconnect the FreeNAS os drives and all your storage drives and then boot it up.

 

[Ericloewe]

Or a bad cable. Perhaps the cat chased a mouse and tripped over the cable. [emoji57]

Cats seem to have a fondness for playing with singlemode fiber patch cables...

/Random networking thought of the day

 

[Arwen]

I agree with nigthtshaded00013's suggestions.

But also, physically inspect the 8p8c recepticals, (aka RJ-45 sockets). I once had a Sun workstation
with a bent pin. Solaris could receive, so snooping on it worked, but would not transmit. (Or was it
the other way around?)

Simply bending the pin back, restored service in the short term. (We had a support contract from Sun.
So the system board was replaced later.)

Using TCPDump may also give you a clue.

Another thing that has bit me, flaky cables. Seems to work fine for one use, then fails. Now I have a
8p8c, (and 6p6c), cable tester. Not the fancy impedence type, just continuity. Cost about $50 US.

 

[anodos]

Cats seem to have a fondness for playing with singlemode fiber patch cables...

/Random networking thought of the day

I once had cox blame a network issue on 'squirrel chew'. The network was literally 'squirrelly'.