Boot hangs in EFI console

[blablabla32]

Dear experts! :)

I was running a freenas server for maybe half a year when suddenly in December 2019 it stoped booting. It hangs during boot always at the same position. The thing is, it was not installed by me, and I am not sure it has something to do with an update. For sure I was not updating anything myself, but maybe it had some autoupdate... So this is what it shows after BIOS :

Code:

>> FreeBSO EFI boot block Loader path: /boot/loader.efi 

Initializing modules: 2FS UFS
Load Path: \EFI\BOOT\BOOTX64.EFI
Load Device: PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0)02,0x0)/Sata(0x020xFFFF,Ox0)/HD(1.,GPLEF3C697 "7-A915-11E9-BOC1-7085C281265A20x2020x82000)
BootCurrent: 0004
BootOrder: 0004 ()lc) 0001 0002 0003
Probing 21 block devices.....+...*.÷.....+.+.+.÷ done
ZFS found the following pools: dataset freenas-boot Poo122Tb
UFS found no partitions
Consoles: EFI console 

At this position the booting hangs for some minutes. Then it showes this for some minutes.

Code:

efipart_readwrite: rw=1, b1k=4245728 size=264 status=7 

And then it just reboot again.


The thing is, it is booting from some USB Stick what is inside the machine. :) There is no backup of this booting device, so I can not just restore to old version.


For the 1st step : is there a way I can analyse more deeply? If necessary I can also make a new booting device to check what is wrong or open up the machine to get the usb stick. I worked with Linux a litte bit but more than 20 years ago... so maybe with some advice I can do something. My other laptop / PCs are all windows machines.


Thank you very much in advance!

Andre

 

[sretalla]

FreeNAS is FreeBSD Unix, not Linux.

You can try booting from an install stick if you can get the BIOS to cooperate with that.

You may then need to have a replacement stick to install to as it seems your current stick inside is toast.

 

[blablabla32]

Thank you Sretalla!

Is there some system you would recommend to install on the new booting stick? I am kinda new to it and happy about any advice.

The old stick seems to start - it just hangs at always the same point. Is there some possibility to look at the logs, what is wrong there? Any advice where to look?

Or is there some key I can press during boot to see more detailed logs during booting, like the "safe starting dialig" in windows when you press the key (F8 afair) during boot?


PS : I feel totaly noob to this freenas topic. :-/ My Linux knowledge is ver low, like I know how to use editor or what su means...

 

[sretalla]

You should be able to follow the instructions here: https://www.ixsystems.com/documentation/freenas/11.3-U1/install.html#preparing-the-media

 

[sretalla]

su = switch user (sometimes also super user). Allows you to change the user you are acting as at the console/CLI. you will also see sudo (run one command only as super user)

Editors can be many different options... vi or vim is almost always there, but is a very difficult program to get a handle on... great once you do though.

in linux, you will typically find nano as the "preferred" additional option.

In FreeNAS, ee is the nice option to use... just use the escape key to get out once you're done editing and you'll be asked if you want to save or not.

 

[blablabla32]

Sorry, some misunderstanding. I meant I know some basics from the unix world, like Su, console, etc. But still I need some hints what exactly to do. Thank you!


So I started with the USB stcik 11.3-U1 and it hangs at the exact same position. Just there is now only

Code:

Consoles: EFI console 

without the stuff before. Then after some minutes it shows :

Code:

efipart_readwrite: rw=1, b1k=4245728 size=264 status=7 

After showing this for some minutes the server restarts.

Are this messages by the OS already, or are they done by BIOS? What can I do next? Should I try some older versions/images, maybe this one is not working with my hardware? I asked for very low usage mainboard and this one was installed : Supermicro A2SAV 10W TDP, 6x SATA, 1x M.2


Thank you!

Andre

 

[sretalla]

Looks like you may have selected a board that's not well suited to FreeNAS:

SATA	Marvel 88SE9230 controller for 4 SATA3 (6 Gbps) ports; RAID 0,1,10 SoC controller for 2 SATA3 (6 Gbps) ports;

Marvell disk controllers are well known to die after some time under ZFS IO loads.

The messages you're quoting look like they are from the EFI bios, so maybe not the OS at that point (I would expect at least a small difference with the new boot stick if it is the OS).

 

[blablabla32]

Humm... If I boot from the new usb stick there is the whole part "FreeBSD EFI boot block" missing. Is it a sign that it is already the OS? Should I try another image? And if yes, which one?

How can I find out if its about the controller? What else can I do find out the exact problem?

Thank you!

 

[blablabla32]

I tried this image : https://download.freenas.org/11/11.0-RELEASE/x64/

After starting the installation it runs for about 10 seconds with a lots of messages... and it restarts then the machine again. The last massage (I had to recored with my phone as it shows only super short) seems to be :

Code:

Root mount waiting for: usbus0

Is there maybe something I should deactivate in BIOS to try out?

 

[blablabla32]

Anyone? :)

 

[blablabla32]

Would it help to buy a new sata controller for the server? Any rocommendation what is reliable (for freenas), fast and not expensive ? And most important : if I connect the drives to the new controller, will I be able to keep the data...

Thank you all for all hints! <3

 

[blablabla32]

I tried out different things and at the end what helps was just removing the old USB stick and replace it with a new one with a fresh iso from freenas. All the drives and logins were still there. Just some addons were missing.

 

[Gcon]

Same thing happened to me when I booted off two M.2 SATA and did some maintenence and then plugged the drives back in in the reverse way I had before. I wouldn't have thought that would matter but it looks like it does.