11.2 upgrade / fresh install fail

[242spot]

Hi there,

I recently tried to update from 11.0 U4 to 11.2, however, encountered issues along the way. Basically my Freenas just stopped booting and I lost all option to boot back into the old version. As such, I made the decision to do a complete fresh install to 11.2-U6, however, that too has proved rather frustrating.

I've downloaded and made the install drive and the setup console works fine, however, when I try and install onto a fresh (brand spanking new) drive I get:
...
...
...
gmirror: invalid class name.
da0 destroyed
da0p1 added
da0p2 added
active set on da0
cannot create freenas-boot': pool already exists
the freenas installation on da0 ha failed. please press enter to continue....

I've read some articles about others having this issue and putting it down to either old USB sticks or the installed drives somehow confusing things. To this end I went out and brought two new USB sticks (Scan Disk Ultra Flair 32GB), but that didn't work. Same message. I also reformatted all the old USB drives and tried again with them, same message. I also tried unplugging all the hard drives so ONLY the USB drive showed in the install page, still the same message.

Honestly frustrated and stuck at this point.

Any suggestions or advise here would be appreciated.

PS, machine specs:

Fractal Design Node 304
Board: AsRock E3C226D2I E3C226D2I
CPU E3-1271V3 3.6GHz quad core
RAM Kingston ECC Server 16GB CT2KIT102472BD160B
16TB storage:

1. Western Digital Red 3TB Western Digital Red 3TB 4
2. 2x 2TB hard drives

Sea Sonic G Series 450 Power supply G450

 

[ThreeDee]

have you tried installing onto an SSD? ..if you are out of SATA ports, I use a USB to SATA cable for my cheap 128GB SSD boot drive.. the USB port is enough to power the drive without an external power source

 

[242spot]

Hi ThreeDee,

No, would an SSD make a difference? I don't have one so would have to buy.

 

[ThreeDee]

it's what is recommended over USB sticks anymore. I've also had issues creating installation media on a USB stick and just burned the ISO image to a CD and installed without issue that way onto an SSD. Mac or Linux users seem to not have issues creating installation media onto USB sticks.

If you don't have a CD/DVD drive in your FreeNAS box, just use any old computer with one and plug your SSD into it (maybe unplug your other drives to to make sure you don't install onto them) ..install FreeNAS .. power down and then put the SSD into your FreeNAS box and set you BIOS to boot off of the SSD and BAM! .. you should be golden.

 

[242spot]

Hi ThreeDee,

Thanks for your advisecouple of questions if that’s okay,

1) I’m 100% apple in the house, so am creating the image file from terminal in OSX. In this respect, should the image on a UBS work?

2) If I go down the ‘old computer with a cd/dvd drive’ route, can I use my iMac? That and my MacBook are all I have to play with.

3) when you say SSD, can it be an external drive SSD via USB?

finally, if I’m snookered due to my apple bias.... any other advise... and not buy a PC... lol

thanks again

 

[ThreeDee]

I'm a PC guy .. so to answer #1 .. you shouldn't have any issues with making install media ..ie .. USB installer.
#2 Mac's can be difficult to use for what I suggested .. but I'm a PC guy so maybe experienced Mac users can chime in here .. and maybe your install media is fine and will install just fine onto an SSD (I picked up 2 128gb'rs for $20 used, so you can find them fairly cheap)
#3 Internal SSD with an SSD to USB cable plugged into your internal USB port.. so everything is neat and tidy inside your case if you can make room for another small 2.5" size drive

 

[242spot]

Okay, brought a Crucial 120gb SSD and a USB adaptor cable....... better luck tomorrow once amazon does it’s bit.

 

[1kokies]

i have both PC and Mac, for installations for lab environment i have always used PC, therefore i can only relate to PC terms ya.

As i understand it, the installer can boot but cannot install on a USB

Never had this problem before, i mean why would the installer not install on a new USB ? (after installed cannot boot due to UEFI/Bios maybe)

The 'PC' process

1. Install the ISO with Rufus. At this point need to be careful if mobo is Bios or UEFI, but if you can boot the installer then this is not the problem.
2. Did you get past the screen of installing where the installer will ask for Bios or UEFI ? And which one did you choose ?
3. Changing the USB to GPT helps for UEFI mobo.

It is something to do with how the installer was installed on the USB, mobo Bios or UEFI, & installer partition of MBR or GPT.

This is especially true for 11.2 U6 or you can try 11.1 U7, they work well with Bios mobo.

i would not use SSD ya, USB will suffice and save the config regularly.

 

[1kokies]

i see now your mobo have UEFI bios

 

[242spot]

The installer boots fine and takes me right through / beyond the BIOS selection. It fails immediately after that when it tries to write to the USB.

However, when installing in the past and on this occasion, I've always chosen 'BIOS' in the setup. Perhaps my error as I didn't realise the mother board was UEFI.

I'll try that now and will report back.....

PS, bad screenshot of the failure. I haven't tried to figure out the TV overscan issue yet.

 

[242spot]

Resolved, but no idea how...

Started afresh this morning. A new download of 11.2-U6 and a new disk created. Loaded and installed in UEFI on the USB stick first time! However, the new install would not boot. Return and installed in BIOS successfully and it loaded perfect. Old DB config updated, working perfect.

The only difference in the process was the computer I used. I used my iMac to create the USB .iso image rather than my MacBook. The only significant difference between the two is the OS. The iMac is on 10.13: High Sierra, whereas the MacBook is on 10.14.6 Mojave. Otherwise no difference in the process, so maybe the OSX mattered?

Anyhow, working now.

 

[1kokies]

11.2 U6 ISO has improved and is different. UEFI and Bios, that's how users have to alternate. No need to get frustrated and glad to see it working but i suggest you try to see why it did, so that the next installer USB made will have no problems.