SOLVED NAS stuck on Booting... after a power failure

[marcelhc]

Hi,
I have been using my Freenas system (my own build) for years without any issues, unfortunately, since today my system is stuck on the boot screen not doing anything. We had a short power failure, so I presume that is when the issue occurred, even though we had power cuts many times before without any consequences.
At the moment, I can select boot environments - my current is 11.3 U2 which does not work. The second is 11.3 U1, and the third 11.2 U7 - those don't work either.
The first one I am able to boot to is 11.1-U7 - this one boots entirely and I can access the NAS via web interface - of course there is no functioning disk pool.
My question is, what is the best course of action to get my NAS working again with the current drives and the data on it. I am not a Freenas expert by any means, but I do have some IT background. Attached is a screenshot of the boot screen where my system is currently

stuck.

 

[Samuel Tai]

Are you using a thumb drive as the boot media? Those are terribly unreliable with later releases of FreeNAS, and quickly burn out. You may need to have a fresh install on a new boot disk, and then try to import your disk pool. Did you have your config backed up?

 

[marcelhc]

Hi,
no, the boot drive is an SSD. Is a fresh install and disk pool import my only option? Can it all be done via the web interface, or is command line knowledge necessary?

 

[marcelhc]

Not sure what went wrong, but I cannot get the machine to boot to Freenas at all. First I tried downloading the most recent ISO and UPGRADE freenas on the original SSD drive, then I tried a fresh install, then a fresh install on another SSD. I tried both the BOIS and UEFI options - none of them work. When I select Boot via BIOS boot during install, I get stuck on the screen shown in my original post, when I select Boot via UEFI during install, I get "Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media" :( Any ideas? Could it be that my motherboard is failing or is it just a setting I am missing? I tried loading UEFI defaults, even disconnected all other drives, still no luck - SATA drives are in AHCI mode.

 

[marcelhc]

Are you using a thumb drive as the boot media? Those are terribly unreliable with later releases of FreeNAS, and quickly burn out. You may need to have a fresh install on a new boot disk, and then try to import your disk pool. Did you have your config backed up?

I found one saved config file that is over a year old from FreeNAS v. 11.1.-U7 - don't suppose that's going to help :(

 

[Samuel Tai]

Having an old config is better than not having a saved config at all.

 

[Spearfoot]

Hi,
I have been using my Freenas system (my own build) for years without any issues, unfortunately, since today my system is stuck on the boot screen not doing anything. We had a short power failure, so I presume that is when the issue occurred, even though we had power cuts many times before without any consequences.
At the moment, I can select boot environments - my current is 11.3 U2 which does not work. The second is 11.3 U1, and the third 11.2 U7 - those don't work either.
The first one I am able to boot to is 11.1-U7 - this one boots entirely and I can access the NAS via web interface - of course there is no functioning disk pool.
My question is, what is the best course of action to get my NAS working again with the current drives and the data on it. I am not a Freenas expert by any means, but I do have some IT background. Attached is a screenshot of the boot screen where my system is currently View attachment 40134 stuck.

Since this is an older system, there's a chance the CMOS battery needs to be replaced. These are usually CR2032 3V batteries; they're cheap and (usually) easy to replace.

Have you checked the BIOS settings on this system? Sometimes a power outage or a worn-out CMOS battery will cause BIOS settings to change and this can definitely cause problems. Try reloading the system's Default or Optimized Default BIOS settings, then reconfigure the settings to the values you used before.

 

[marcelhc]

Since this is an older system, there's a chance the CMOS battery needs to be replaced. These are usually CR2032 3V batteries; they're cheap and (usually) easy to replace.

Have you checked the BIOS settings on this system? Sometimes a power outage or a worn-out CMOS battery will cause BIOS settings to change and this can definitely cause problems. Try reloading the system's Default or Optimized Default BIOS settings, then reconfigure the settings to the values you used before.

Tried loading defaults and changing all relevant settings - to no avail. Also measured the battery voltage - it's perfectly fine and the BIOS remembers all the settings I adjust. Any other suggestions?

 

[marcelhc]

I'm lost completely - the same machine where FreeNAS used to work for years - at the moment I cannot even boot a fresh install - stuck on Booting... Tried all the different options in BIOS and during install.
Tried to update to the latest BIOS - nothing helps.

 

[Samuel Tai]

Does another OS boot? At this point, it's looking like HW damage from the power bump.

 

[marcelhc]

Does another OS boot? At this point, it's looking like HW damage from the power bump.

Tried installing Windows 10 - everything works without the slightest issue. PC boots and restarts without any issues, I even run some stress tests, everything works just fine. I am at a loss here.
I read somewhere, that someone with the same issue actually had the "Booting..." text displayed, but the NAS did boot in the background and the web interface was accessible. Not my case though. I checked my router - it does not register the machine on the network.

I was able to install and successfully boot version 11.1-U7, however, my pool has been updated in the meantime, so it is not compatible with this version anymore.
What I don't understand - why everything worked for several months with multiple updates to 11.2 and 11.3 and now, after the power failure, it suddenly doesn't.
I also tried "set hint.wbwd.0.disabled=1 " in verbose mode, which someone suggested - does not work for me.
I have noticed other people with the Asrock Q1900-ITX mobo also had this issue, but don't see any solution.

 

[marcelhc]

Btw. this is what I get when I try to import the pool in 11.1

So I cannot boot a version higher than 11.1 and I cannot import the pool in 11.1 due to unsupported features. Is there a way to access the data in the pool other than putting the drives in another machine where FreeNAS 11.3 can be booted?

 

[Spearfoot]

Tried installing Windows 10 - everything works without the slightest issue. PC boots and restarts without any issues, I even run some stress tests, everything works just fine. I am at a loss here.
I read somewhere, that someone with the same issue actually had the "Booting..." text displayed, but the NAS did boot in the background and the web interface was accessible. Not my case though. I checked my router - it does not register the machine on the network.

Odd! Please post your system specifications -- perhaps another forum member with experience on your hardware will be able to help.

 

[marcelhc]

Good news at last!
After some thinking, I was able to resolve the problem by myself. Running out of options, instead of booting from my SATA connected SSD drive, I figured I will try connecting the SSD via USB in an external enclosure. So I installed the latest FreeNAS 11.3-U2 on my SSD connected to an USB port (UEFI mode) and it booted!!! Imported my pool and everything is as it was before. Thank god for that. Another plus - I now have room for one more data drive in my NAS :)

 

[Yorick]

Awesome. Also, for reference, FreeNAS keeps a config backup for you on the pool, in /var/db/system/, look for a directory called configs-BUNCHOFHEX/FreeNAS-VERSION/ , and there'll be dot db files in there, named YearMonthDay.db