Issues with installing / upgrading a previous install of 8.3.0 Beta1

[Tyrith]

Hello,

I was previously running 8.3.0 for a few months as my first installation of FreeNAS, and for the actual usage of the 5 drives, was extremely impressed with it. I ran into a boatload of problems with my Plug-in's, ranging from not turning on, missing bits and pieces of the installations, and what seemed like the inability to install new programs due to the drive being read-only. I am unsure if this was due to an issue of installation, a bug with 8.3.0-Beta1, or something I did along the lines of running it. I decided to try and put this all behind me and upgrade to a copy of 8.3.0 full release (p1?)

Groan. Bad idea :(

Upon upgrading, it kept all the same issues, except on top of that, the GUI seems inoperable. Controlling the device via remote login through the http server seems impossible, as telling it to do anything just "hangs" and twirls the little revolving circle all day long. Additionally, none of the plug-in's would work, or uninstall/delete. So, I figured a fresh install may be in order, as it could get rid of what seemed like user permission gremlins in the first installation.

After a completely fresh installation, GUI's still useless. It allows login (with the same password, glad the factory reset worked lol), but no longer sees my drives. I've tried to restore my database, to which I get the twirlie circle for the last 6 hours, and I'm going to bed now, so I assume when I wake up it'll still be twirling and be 14+ hours. As far as qualifying as "useless", a better description would be "missing things." The left hand expand all/collapse all window is completely empty. System/network/storage/sharing/services & account/help/logout/alert are still there, as well as the main 3 tabs Reporting/Settings/System Info, but the collapsible menu on the left hand side is no longer there.

I'm pretty stumped on what to do now, would formatting the USB key that FreeNAS is installed on before a brand new installation serve any use? That's really the only thing I can come up with now to try and get a decent, running copy of it. :( I'm assuming if I get some sort of functioning copy again, I should be able to import my database & partition data to save my data.

 

[ben]

The FreeNAS USB key is read only by design. If you were trying to install something and encountered that problem, you should have been trying to install it in the plugin jail. Anything that you DID manage to install in the USB key, with what little space it had, would both reduce the stability of the system and be lost on upgrade anyway.

I'm surprised that a fresh install wouldn't resolve that. it might indeed be worth wiping the whole key or trying another one. Hopefully you backed up your config database, with that and your pool you can get up and running again.

 

[cyberjock]

It looks like he did a fresh install and then imported his config.

If your config is bad your only option is to start over. I think you'll need to do that here.

Keep in mind that FreeNAS is an overlay and executes FreeBSD commands based on your GUI settings. If you start doing stuff from the command line that conflicts with anything FreeNAS thinks it knows bad things can happen. Pretty much you shouldn't be trying to add stuff that may conflict with anything FreeNAS does. For example, someone was manually adding entries to the file(/etc/rc.d I believe) that are modified by adding sysctls in the GUI. Doing that manually when the GUI is designed to do something is a bad idea. There were issue trying to get the GUI back in sync with the manual entries and errors because FreeNAS was really confused.

I'm not sure what exactly you were doing but you really should stick with the release versions unless you are testing new features on a test platform. There is never any guarantee that from one beta to the next and even beta to final that the database will be usable. I know a lot of people jumped on the 8.3 beta because they wanted ZFS v28 and couldn't wait and didn't want to do an upgrade later(not sure why an upgrade would be bad...).

 

[Tyrith]

Thanks for the idea's guys, not really digging them though. Here's the situation continued with a little more information incase anything jumps out as being incredibly ... bad.

JetWay JNF99FL-525-LF Intel Atom D525
4gb Ram
5x 3TB Seagates
16GB Sandisk USB (tiniest one I could find sizewise)

While it would really be a stab to the heart to lose roughly 6-7TB of data, I can do it. Prior to me doing anything however, it really looks like somethings buggered in my system, or in FreeNAS itself. After doing a completely fresh install, I tried getting it working last night, and was greeted by the little twirlie circle just twirling and twirling. This may suggest my config is broken :(

If that's the case though, why is my FreeNAS stalling, and being retarded on an configured set on a formatted USB / brand new install from a different computer even before I import the configuration?

This seems to be all my FreeNAS is good for :(

Spinning to lose :(

If there's anything I can take pics of to assist on this please let me know. As previously stated, even on a brand new fresh install, the accessable window on the left hand side is retarded :( Additionally, after formatting my drive and reinstalling the .img file on to the thumb drive ... It still keeps my 192.168.0.15 address? Was that the default on FreeNAS, did I set it up in the BIOS, or is my thumb drive haunted and is keeping information on it after I format / reinstall it (a little bit nutso, but that's the only explanation I can come up with at the moment, unless I set it in BIOS on my last install, which I don't remember doing)

 

[cyberjock]

Your data is safe. All you'd have to do if you did a fresh install is to import your zpool :) This is one of the reasons why FreeNAS is awesome! Just click the "Auto-Import" button and in seconds your data will automagically appear!

Since the swirly thing doesn't seem to work I'd try doing an upgrade via CDROM. Just download the ISO and give it a go. It'll ask if you want to upgrade.. just say yes. If that hangs I think you're only option is a fresh install.

 

[paleoN]

If that's the case though, why is my FreeNAS stalling, and being retarded on an configured set on a formatted USB / brand new install from a different computer even before I import the configuration?

This sounds like a broken/failing USB key. Try installing to a different USB key as in not the same one.

 

[Tyrith]

:( Tried an extra USB key with the same result. I'm stumped at this point. Can't use the install, can't access my data.

Should I look in to alternative OS's? I saw a rescue disk somewhere for getting information from busted setups that looked rather promising.

 

[cyberjock]

Are your USB keys name brand and at least 4GB? And you are having these issues before you import your config file? This just doesn't make sense. Something is terribly wrong. Either user error, incompatibility between hardware or bad hardware.

Any alternative you choose will have to support ZFS v28, so you're pretty much limited to FreeBSD and Solaris. I've never heard of a rescue disk for ZFS.

 

[Tyrith]

Are your USB keys name brand and at least 4GB? And you are having these issues before you import your config file? This just doesn't make sense. Something is terribly wrong. Either user error, incompatibility between hardware or bad hardware.

Sandisk Cruzer 16gb. The secondary test drive was a StarCraft II Collectors Edition 2GB.

I re-installed FreeNAS 8.3.0 Beta1 to see what I could get done with it, and to verify if the config file was bust or not.

......... And it works perfectly. (perfectly implies that I'll probably still have all the plugin issues I had before, but for the time being, I can access my data)

So I'm stuck with a revolving issue on the 8.3.0-p1 release. I guess I'll try the one before that and leave this information here so that there's a log of the fact this hardware has severe issues on upgrading to the full release.

-- 8.3.0 RELEASE is the same :(

 

[Tyrith]

So far on the does-not-work list:

8.3.0 p1
8.3.0 Release
8.3.0 RC

I've been working backwards from p1 to current working version (8.3.0 BETA1) and having the same issue. I'm assuming on the BETA3 or BETA2 that the GUI clogging up and freezing that it should be similar to beta1 and actually work.

Thinking on this point however:

I'm not sure what exactly you were doing but you really should stick with the release versions unless you are testing new features on a test platform. There is never any guarantee that from one beta to the next and even beta to final that the database will be usable. I know a lot of people jumped on the 8.3 beta because they wanted ZFS v28 and couldn't wait and didn't want to do an upgrade later(not sure why an upgrade would be bad...).

As the whole premise of this was to get a semi-decent working copy of plugins (which I had problems with in Beta1), my options are to upgrade to another beta, or learn how to chuck the whole GUI in the trash and get the command lines that the GUI is trying to execute and boil down why they aren't working. As the left hand side of the GUI in my examples is not working entirely, I'm assuming this is something merely GUI based, and not OS based. Does anyone have the command lines for upgrading a database, or perhaps even downgrading the GUI to a previous version? I've had people ask "why would you want to do that" because you shouldn't have to. The bottom line is however, if this stuff worked ... I wouldn't have to either :P

TLDR: Any badsides on upgrading to the 8.3.1 beta's? Any ideas on how to fix my current one via command lines?

 

[cyberjock]

I don't think there is any way to downgrade the GUI to a previous version. It's like asking how to install XP and "upgrade" from Vista to XP. I just don't think anyone really tried.


Downsides to 8.3.1 betas would be about the same as betas for 8.3.0 :P. Honestly, though. I'm really wondering what is going on with your setup. I'd expect the 8.3.1 betas wouldn't work since they're from 8.3.

So just to make sure I'm understanding you.. if you take a blank USB key and install 8.3.0-RELEASE and don't import your config file it still won't work?

 

[Tyrith]

Downsides to 8.3.1 betas would be about the same as betas for 8.3.0 :P. Honestly, though. I'm really wondering what is going on with your setup. I'd expect the 8.3.1 betas wouldn't work since they're from 8.3.

So just to make sure I'm understanding you.. if you take a blank USB key and install 8.3.0-RELEASE and don't import your config file it still won't work?

Yes, FreeNAS gives the wonderful blank GUI as in my first set of pictures on any fresh install of 8.3.0. This includes p1, RC or RELEASE. I can try a 3rd USB key if necessary but I don't think that's going to fix it as it didn't for the 2nd one.

 

[cyberjock]

Are you using Internet Explorer? Some people have had your same issue using Internet Explorer. Maybe try a different browser? I use Firefox...

Edit: Another thing is ZFS is a RAM hog. The manual says to use 6GB + 1GB for each TB of hard drive space. It also says if you have less than this you should use UFS until you can afford better hardware. Alot of people have had random and what appears to be unrelated problems until they actually use the RAM recommended. Suddenly their problems go away.

If its neither of those I'm out of good ideas.

 

[Tyrith]

Are you using Internet Explorer? Some people have had your same issue using Internet Explorer. Maybe try a different browser? I use Firefox...

Edit: Another thing is ZFS is a RAM hog. The manual says to use 6GB + 1GB for each TB of hard drive space. It also says if you have less than this you should use UFS until you can afford better hardware. Alot of people have had random and what appears to be unrelated problems until they actually use the RAM recommended. Suddenly their problems go away.

I've got FireFox and IE installed -- neither resolves the blank GUI situation. As far as the ZFS issues, I may have been mistaken on my hardware, since I built it at least 5-6 months ago.


FreeNAS-8.3.0-RC1-x64 (r12617)
Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU D525 @ 1.80GHz
Memory: 8166MB

Haven't bothered with BETA3 or anything from 8.3.1 yet, but that's next on my plate, I may give that a whirl later on tonight/tomorrow.

 

[crook038]

I am having the same problem with my installation of FreeNas 8.3.1-Beta2 as far as the blank GUI. The funny thing I can get to the complete GUI from a Windows7X64 machine with IE9 on the network but none of my Windows8ProX64 machines with IE10 can pull up the full GUI and I also have the hang when I try to make changes. I can access the CIFS shares without issue but can't do things like View Disk thru the GUI. I am thinking it is something being blocked by IE10 or Win8. I hope this can be resolved because I really like using FreeNas.
Sean

 

[crook038]

Looks like this is a problem that is known with IE10
http://forums.freenas.org/showthrea...somehow-missed&highlight=windows+media+center
I tried turning on debug mode and it worked for that session. I then downloaded google chrome and it works without issue.
Sean

 

[paleoN]

I can try a 3rd USB key if necessary but I don't think that's going to fix it as it didn't for the 2nd one.

2[sup]nd[/sup] one doesn't count as it was a 2GB key which can cause all kinds of weird issues. I would try a third key of at least 4GB in size though I'm no longer confident this is your problem.


At this point I would be curious to see what the CLI thinks on e.g. FreeNAS 8.3.0-RELEASE-p1 64-bit:

Code:

zpool status -v

zpool import

camcontrol devlist

glabel status

gpart show

@crook038
Go start a new thread for your completely unrelated problem that's only vaguely superficial similar.

 

[William Grzybowski]

/var/log/messages should spit an error of why the menu failed to show, if it doesn't enable debug in /etc/syslog.conf and check /var/log/debug.log

 

[crook038]

@paleon... I am sorry to bother you with my, "completely unrelated problem that's only vaguely superficial similar." It appeared to me that, "I am having the same problem with my installation of FreeNas 8.3.1-Beta2 as far as the blank GUI." I found the help I needed on another thread in this forum. @Tyrith, I ended up using Google Chrome and that took care of the hang and blank GUI, it turns out there are issues with dojo in IE10. Just trying to help you out and hope this can fix at least some of your issues.
Sean

 

[Tyrith]

@paleon... I am sorry to bother you with my, "completely unrelated problem that's only vaguely superficial similar." It appeared to me that, "I am having the same problem with my installation of FreeNas 8.3.1-Beta2 as far as the blank GUI." I found the help I needed on another thread in this forum. @Tyrith, I ended up using Google Chrome and that took care of the hang and blank GUI, it turns out there are issues with dojo in IE10. Just trying to help you out and hope this can fix at least some of your issues.

I apologize for this bamboozlement folks. Microsoft is to blame for messing up FreeNAS. Go figure.

Much appreciated for all the help that you guys threw my way, I appreciate it very much and can rest easier now on a "stable" version. /kicks IE to the curb.