Booting into FreeNAS-11.2-U3 fails after fresh install.

[Jost Wittmann]

Hello there,
I would appreciate if somebody could help me troubleshooting my FreeNAS installation:
I have been running FreeNAS on 2 USB-sticks (each 8GB in size) for some years now. Some weeks ago, I wanted to replace the USB-sticks with larger ones, so I don't have to delete earlier versions of FreeNAS everytime I update, due to the lack of space. Ever since I am struggling to get my server up and running again.

The first new pair of USB-sticks (Kingston Datatraveler, 32GB) caused only troubles: The boot sequence was delayed by several minutes, and the server did recognize neither the USB-ports nor the Ethernet-port, when attempting to boot into the new the installation.

The next pair of USB-sticks seems to work fine: I use Rufus to create the bootable usb-stick, and after some time: "installation successful". But trying to boot the FreeNAS-11.2-U3, it gets stuck:

1. Trying to mount root from zfs:freenas-boot/ROOT/default
2. freenas collectd[2529]: AttributeError: 'DiskTemp'

Please see the messages attached for more details. There are certainly screenshots missing in between those two, but progress was really slow, so I got tired of sitting and waiting in front of the screen... So the second screenshot is taken "the day after".

Google-ing the first error, I find an indication that the motherboard might be incompatible. Since my hardware is old and has been working fine with FreeNAS so far, I doubt that buying new hardware is the right way to go (?).

I also tried to install earlier versions of FreeNAS (e.g. FreeNAS-11.1-U7). At least some of them seem to work. But they won't accept my saved config-files: After the obligatory restart, the web-interface becomes faulty. Asking the internet, I believe it has something to do with the FreeNAS-version being older than the config-file. I do backups of my config-file quite frequently - how can I tell which one will work with a certain FreeNAS-version?

Thanks so much for helping!

 

[Jost Wittmann]

Has nobody any hints on how to troubleshoot this? Did I fail to provide relevant information?
My hardware is listed in the signature.

 

[Redcoat]

I do backups of my config-file quite frequently - how can I tell which one will work with a certain FreeNAS-version?

All my saved config files have the FreeNAS version in the filename - file extensions were .db until 11.0-RELEASE when they changed to .tar :

Don't yours?

Maybe you didn't provide enough info on your N54L - Intel or AMD. I have no experience with them but I think I recall lots of traffic here about upgrade issues and the processor family.

Rufus has been reported to be problematical, especially recent versions.

I have successfully used Etcher after seeing +ve reports here.

USB2 sticks rather than USB3 have been reported to provide success in some cases, too.

 

[Jost Wittmann]

Hi Redcoat,

• yes, my stored config-files have similar names. So this means, that any config-file should work with the latest freeNAS version?
• I am currently installing the latest version using a USB3-stick, flashed by Etcher. If it fails again, I will get myself a USB2-stick. But this would be my third pair of USB-sticks. Unfortunate, that FreeNAS is that picky. Will keep you posted how things go...
• I updated my signature. Good point

 

[Jost Wittmann]

I get the same troubles using Etcher. So - let's go an buy the third pair of USB-sticks. Will go fo usb2.

 

[Redcoat]

yes, my stored config-files have similar names. So this means, that any config-file should work with the latest freeNAS version?

Choose the latest known good version as a starting point.

USB quality seems to be very variable - this is the reason that many people here have abandoned them in favor of SSD's or "old" laptop hdd's for boot devices (me included). -ve is the "loss" of a SATA port to a boot device.

 

[Jost Wittmann]

I attached an external SSD by USB-cable. Installation and uploading the latest config went smooth. Thank you so much for the hints. This solved my problem!