FreeNAS setup refusing to boot - help!!

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taiko

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Hello forum,

A friend's setup has just thrown this error and i'm going to attempt to repair it. Could you guys look at this page and tell me where to start?

I'm not at the location at the moment but will head there when I have an idea as to the next step.

Is this system trying to boot from a CD drive or a USB stick? Can you tell from the info at top of page? Verbatim makes me think CD? But I was hoping it may be simply a corrupt USB stick?

I'm computer savvy in general but new to FreeNAS and not hugely experienced in Linux.

Thank you for looking and I hope you can help!

T
 

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taiko

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I have just been informed it is booted from a flash drive. Maybe this is corrupted? Might I be able to recreate this flash drive and copy a config from the old?

Or might it be a deeper issue with the server drives themselves?
 

garm

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You need to provide more information. To know what to do, read the forum rules you agreed to when you signed up..

FreeNAS haven’t booted from ufs in quite a while so this system is old and there is no point giving random advice based on guesses.

FreeNAS isn’t Linux, if you try to fix this without knowing what to do by looking at random Linux guides you will loose your friends data..

FreeNAS is built on https://www.freebsd.org/
 

taiko

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ok thanks. Yes it is an old system and I have to keep it in this version for data compatability. As explained, I'm not at the location at present but will be Monday. Was trying to assess if anything could be gleaned from the limitied information provided thus far.
I don't intend to do or change anything until I can collect the required information for a repair.
 

garm

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A main feature of FreeNAS is effortless boot device replacement, given the right steps have been taken. Data and OS is separate and a boot device failure is not a major issue in itself if you prepare for it. If you can get your friend to supply version number, hardware spec and as much detail as possible from the rules you might be able to hit the ground running when you actually get on-site.

But remember the support from the forum is limited, you will have to do all the work and take all the risks. You need to prepare yourself by studying the relevant documentation, especially to know what OS you will be working on..
 

taiko

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thanks that's good to hear. I will provide more info as soon as I can. All I'm basically asking is if there is a chance it is simply a flash drive failure from that screenshot I was sent.
 

taiko

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I'm stilll not at site.

You say to get all this information from the NAS box. What do I ask them to type to retrieve this info, from the command line, on a server box that will not fully boot. Does this not make the box inaccessible from web browsers on other PCs?

I have read lots of forum rules and other posts irrelevant to my issue but they don't seem to be helping me move this problem along.

Sorry if I sound annoyed but following your advice for several hours has led nowhere useful.

Anyone fancy chipping in with some salient advice or direct me to a webpage with Command Line examples for how to glean this basic information you require? I can't get to the box today and anyway, there must be a better way of finding out the specifications than having to physically open it up to see the hardware.

There's nothing in forum rules about how to get this info or any useful leads at all for a beginner.
 

taiko

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Something I do know now - the server box is

HP Proliant N40L MicroServer 658553-42
  • 1 x AMD Turion II Neo N40L / 1.5 GHz Dual-Core
  • 2GB RAM
  • 250GB HDD
  • Shared Video Memory (UMA)
One of PCs used for access is on Windows 7, apparently.
Can't be sure about the internals without seeing it but my guess would be it's fairly standard. Except for the HDDs. Again, not sure how to find this info out from command line. Anyone?
 

taiko

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How do I get the version number of FreeNAS from command line? This would be a big help for finding other commands/install guides.
 

garm

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Unless you can boot you won’t get access to the command line. The boot loader should name the version of FreeNAS.
 

taiko

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It won't boot though. Catch 22.

So how do I start to resolve then? I will ask them to video the bootstrap and see if they can get the version number.

How to get to command line in FreeNAS then? What's the equivalent to f8>Command Prompt?

Are there any troubleshooting guides?

What would be your next move Garm?
 

garm

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As I said, no point guessing unless we know the version. Just screen cap the boat loader. There is no “command prompt” but a shell and you can access the shell from the menu or through ssh after it boots.
 

danb35

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Well, it's definitely a pre-9.3 version of FreeNAS. Your (friend's) system has far too little RAM (the minimum is 8 GB), but the issue you're seeing is almost certainly a failed boot device (which is a USB stick--that's what a Verbatim STORE N GO is). Try downloading FreeNAS 9.2.1.8 from download.freenas.org, install it to a new USB stick following the manual's instructions, and see if you're able to see the storage volume from the web GUI. If you're able to get that far, we can see about trying to recover the config file from the old stick (or, ideally, from a backup that's already on your storage pool).
 

taiko

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Thanks for the replies. I've seen the boot process now and can't see a version number. It gets to an options screen with FreeNAS in ASCII graphics with safe mode options amongst others. This times out to default load method which is followed by a warning about virtualized network stacks being experimental, multiple ACPI reservation failures, lots of successful boot events/reservations and finally something about [GIANT-LOCKED] [ITHREAD] and a failed to restore keyboard controller command byte message. After that it looks for usb hub/ports status and trips up on the Verbatim media connected port.

So, still not sure which version from the boot. Any thoughts? I checked the boot a few times, don't think I'm missing anything. Mentions BSD bootstrap version 1.1. Pic below is the intermediate boot stage options screen.

System has a 1.5GHz CPU with 1MB Cache with 4GB system memory.
 

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danb35

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I don't know the exact version, but that's old. Very old. I still think my advice above is valid (try installing an old version to a clean USB stick), but rather than 9.2.1.8, I'd try something much older--maybe 8.0.4. Documentation is in the 8.0.3 manual, and the downloads are still at download.freenas.org.
 

taiko

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The only reference I could find, was an image of what I already posted previously but on someone else's build page.

Clicking through he describes using FreeNAS 8.0 for his build.

Will I run into problems using a slightly later version than 8.0 or is it safe to install 8.0.3 on a new drive in order to bring up the browser GUI? Will installing 8.0.3 make any changes at all to the data on the 2 internal drives? I don't want to make any changes at all at this stage!

Should I try to locate the exact version 8.0?

Finally, when (if?) the data array setup is restored, should I be thinking about getting them updated to the most recent version? How tricky could that get?

Do I need to get two new drives and clone the old drives before I start?

I realise I have a lot of reading to do!
 

danb35

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Will I run into problems using a slightly later version than 8.0
No.
Will installing 8.0.3 make any changes at all to the data on the 2 internal drives?
No.
should I be thinking about getting them updated to the most recent version?
I'd recommend it, but you really would need to upgrade your hardware.
8.2.0 seems to be the earliest available at downloads section.
That should be fine.
 

taiko

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I'm using new usb install of 8.2.

Can get to shell.

Attempted to insert old usb to grab config but results in Synchronize cache errors . Is there a copy of the config anywhere else on the system? I'm guessing not.

Can i take the old boot and access it from another OS? Is the config lost? They have no backup.


Thanks!
 
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