SOLVED FreeNAS Mini Upgraded to 11.3 No web GUI loading.

[33.812 -117.919]

Hello. I own a FreeNAS Mini 4 Bay Compact NAS Storage, used with Mac computers at home only.
I recently upgraded from the freenas software from 9.3 to 11.3 (stable) and now my NasMini will no longer boot and I can't login.
The NasMini will power on and it shows the hardware is connected to my router, but I cannot get the dashboard to load on any browser, I assume the freenas system isn't loading at all?

I do not know how to lookup the hardware information, I am a very basic user when it comes to these Nas devices, I mostly use it to store photos and videos.
The only hardware information that is included from my receipt is ZFS. 8-Core 2.4GHz Processor, 16GB RAM.
Previously we have replaced the motherboard twice because it was defective.
Right now one of my hard drives is degraded so I ordered a replacement that arrives tomorrow.
Is there a simple way repair or restore the software so it can boot and connect again?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Samuel Tai]

Try connecting a monitor and keyboard to the Mini, so you can see the boot messages. This will give us an idea where the boot is failing.

 

[33.812 -117.919]

ZFS: i/o error - all block copies unavailable
ZFS: can't find root dsl_dir
ZFS: can't find root filesystem
gptzfsboot: failed to mount default pool tank

 

[Samuel Tai]

How many drives were in your Mini? Right now, it appears you may have suffered a 2nd drive failure.

 

[33.812 -117.919]

How many drives were in your Mini? Right now, it appears you may have suffered a 2nd drive failure.

We have 4 drives, one is degraded. We have the replacement hard drive that arrived today. Will replacing that hard drive solve the boot issue?

 

[Samuel Tai]

In the console, does the system at least reach the console setup menu? It should look like this:

 

[33.812 -117.919]

In the console, does the system at least reach the console setup menu? It should look like this:

No it does not

 

[Samuel Tai]

Yes, your boot drive has also failed. This pool is named freenas-boot or boot-pool, not tank. Replacing the degraded pool drive won't restore the boot drive. I believe the early Minis used a SATA DOM to boot, which was a very small SSD that plugged into one of the SATA ports on the motherboard. This can be fixed, but will require a USB thumb drive loaded with the TrueNAS installer, and a replacement SATA DOM, which you can purchase from Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Supermicro-SSD-DM032-SMCMVN1-Replaces-Model-SSD-DM032-PHI/dp/B01MQYQ0IZ

Follow the directions from the TrueNAS Guide on how to install. https://www.truenas.com/docs/core/gettingstarted/install/
This should get your system booted again. If you've saved your configuration, you can reload it after installation to recover all your settings (https://www.truenas.com/docs/core/coretutorials/systemconfiguration/usingconfigurationbackups/). Otherwise, you're stuck with typing in your settings by hand all over again.

In addition, you probably have a 2nd failed drive in your degraded pool, which is causing the

ZFS: i/o error - all block copies unavailable
ZFS: can't find root dsl_dir
ZFS: can't find root filesystem
gptzfsboot: failed to mount default pool tank

error messages. I don't know how the tank pools were shipped on the early Minis, but if they're constructed as a 2-way stripe of 2-way mirrors, then if the remaining member of the mirror on the same stripe as your degraded disk failed, your pool is toast, and this would account for the error message you're seeing. Unfortunately, the only way to recover your data from this is to use expensive specialty recovery software, like Klennet ZFS Recovery, or if you have backups, to rebuild your pool using replacement drives for the failed drives, recreating your pool as a RAIDZ2 pool, and then reloading from backup.

 

[33.812 -117.919]

Yes, your boot drive has also failed. This pool is named freenas-boot or boot-pool, not tank. Replacing the degraded pool drive won't restore the boot drive. I believe the early Minis used a SATA DOM to boot, which was a very small SSD that plugged into one of the SATA ports on the motherboard. This can be fixed, but will require a USB thumb drive loaded with the TrueNAS installer, and a replacement SATA DOM, which you can purchase from Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Supermicro-SSD-DM032-SMCMVN1-Replaces-Model-SSD-DM032-PHI/dp/B01MQYQ0IZ

Follow the directions from the TrueNAS Guide on how to install. https://www.truenas.com/docs/core/gettingstarted/install/
This should get your system booted again. If you've saved your configuration, you can reload it after installation to recover all your settings (https://www.truenas.com/docs/core/coretutorials/systemconfiguration/usingconfigurationbackups/). Otherwise, you're stuck with typing in your settings by hand all over again.

In addition, you probably have a 2nd failed drive in your degraded pool, which is causing the

error messages. I don't know how the tank pools were shipped on the early Minis, but if they're constructed as a 2-way stripe of 2-way mirrors, then if the remaining member of the mirror on the same stripe as your degraded disk failed, your pool is toast, and this would account for the error message you're seeing. Unfortunately, the only way to recover your data from this is to use expensive specialty recovery software, like Klennet ZFS Recovery, or if you have backups, to rebuild your pool using replacement drives for the failed drives, recreating your pool as a RAIDZ2 pool, and then reloading from backup.

Hello, thank you for this rather cryptic information. I am a very novice user when it comes to these Nas systems. Additionally I don’t know what a “pool” means or what you are referring too. I also don’t know what SATA means, how to save a configuration, or install anything on these devices. I use a Mac, I drag and drop applications and they just work. I’ve never worked with these types of MSDos looking systems systems before. The only thing I was able to do was to get the boot menu to load by pressing F2. Aside from that, the whole menu is Greek to me. Sorry I really don’t know what to do here.

 

[Samuel Tai]

Are you at the console setup menu now?

 

[33.812 -117.919]

Are you at the console setup menu now?

Yes

 

[Samuel Tai]

OK, please press 9 to start a root shell. Afterwards, enter zpool import, and hit Enter. Please report back the output of that command.

 

[33.812 -117.919]

 

[Samuel Tai]

OK, that's NOT the TrueNAS console setup menu. That's the BIOS screen. Hit the Escape key to continue the boot.

 

[33.812 -117.919]

The system doesn’t boot if I exit that Bios screen

 

[Samuel Tai]

Yes, because it's trying to boot from your 4 data drives, and not the boot drive. You'll have to open the Mini up or have a computer repair shop do it for you.

Basically, your boot drive looks something like this:

It'll be plugged into a motherboard port that looks like this

This is what's failed on your Mini.

 

[33.812 -117.919]

Yes, because it's trying to boot from your 4 data drives, and not the boot drive. You'll have to open the Mini up or have a computer repair shop do it for you.

Basically, your boot drive looks something like this:

View attachment 57309

It'll be plugged into a motherboard port that looks like this
View attachment 57308

This is what's failed on your Mini.

So all we did was switch the system from FreeNas 9 to 11.3, and you’re telling me that caused the boot drive to fail?

Also We can open the unit, but what exactly are you asking us to do with the boot drive? We’re very confused as to how this happened?

 

[Samuel Tai]

Did you read the notes before upgrading? FreeNAS 9 used the GRUB boot loader. FreeNAS 11 changed that to the FreeBSD BTX boot loader. So yes, potentially you corrupted the boot sector on your boot DOM, and the BIOS then tried to find a boot block on your remaining 4 drives.

 

[33.812 -117.919]

Did you read the notes before upgrading? FreeNAS 9 used the GRUB boot loader. FreeNAS 11 changed that to the FreeBSD BTX boot loader. So yes, potentially you corrupted the boot sector on your boot DOM, and the BIOS then tried to find a boot block on your remaining 4 drives.

Sorry, I have no idea what any of that means. The system never mentioned there were notes to read when we wanted to upgrade. The upgrade option was available so we told it to upgrade. It never had any other instructions and I’m a big disappointed this system broke so easily.

 

[Samuel Tai]

OK, let's try to salvage the situation. Do you have a 16GB USB thumb drive you can sacrifice to use as an install drive for TrueNAS?