Hi All. Password forgotten!

[JRD]

Hello,

I have been reading up on NAS and FreeNAS for over 18 months before finally taking the plunge and buying hardware:

Supermicro X11SSM-F-O
Intel Pentium (G4560) 3.5GHz
Seasonic M12-II EVO 520W 80+ Bronze
2x 8GB DDR4 PC4-19200 2400MHz 288-pin UDIMM ECC Unbuffered Samsung
3 Seagate Iron Wolf 3TB
2 WD Red 3TB
2 SanDisk Ultra Fit 32 GB USB Flash Drive for boot
Fractal Design Node 804
FreeNAS 11.1 U4

At first it would not boot. SM and Mr Memory were very helpful. After a lot of tests the RAM was swapped to the above and all seemed good.

I updated the BIOS to 2.1a and ran stress tests for memory, cpu and other using Memtest, Breakin and Ultimate Boot CD, all good.

Installed FreeNAS, created user, group, Raid Z2 and a Windows dataset which I have configured as a Network Drive on a Windows 7 pc.

Before moving on to learning about SSH and scripts to tame my fans and fix the SMART reporting I decided to make the Passwords more secure using a password manager. AND THAT IS THE PROBLEM!
I cannot access the FreeNAS GUI, IPMI GUI or IPMI profile via Viewer on my pc. I connected a monitor direct to the server VGA port but only get a black screen. I checked the jumpers and VGA is enabled. SM previously said VGA is always enabled by default. Other people have reported problems with the VGA port.

Thus I cannot change the password/s! I doubt I can even start again as I need IPMI viewer to see the server booting up or to access the console. I hadn't quite round to enabling SSH in the GUI.

Can anyone help, please?

Thanks

J

 

[kdragon75]

Sounds like you get to reinstall from scratch. You data should all be safe unless you encrypted your pools and lost the key/password...

Without the local console you kinda stuck.

 

[JRD]

I was coming round to that.

I assume I will have to format the two boot usb sticks as otherwise IPMI viewer won't give me access.

Thanks

 

[kdragon75]

IPMI is part of your motherboard, not FreeNAS. You will have to reset the IPMI user from FreeNAS console once you get that working again.

 

[JRD]

I have had to use IPMI viewer in windows to see the server booting up and make the installation as I cannot access the VGA port.

Does viewer identify a system merely because it is at an iP address or does it identify the board?

 

[kdragon75]

IPMI is a program that runs on a small computer embedded in the motherboard. It has it own memory and storage for settings like network and users. The IPMIView program you run on your computer connects to the IPMI software on the motherboard over the network. to reset the IPMI you NEED physical access or access to a root shell from the OS (FreeNAS in this case). This is a security feature. This can all be reset and fixed but you need a root shell or physical access to the server (and working VGA). If you have physical access to the server, you can try resetting the BIOS via the reset jumper.

EDIT: to reset the IPMI outside of FreeNAS you will need to make a USB boot drive with the Supermicro IPMI utility. This is all available from the Supermicro website just search.

 

[JRD]

I downloaded the Supermicro IPMI utility.

How will I see what it is doing or select a function?

EDIT I think one of the functions resets the password

 

[kdragon75]

Read the directions. You need VGA working as I said.

 

[JRD]

I transferred a graphics card from my pc to the server and connected to the monitor. These are both tested and well used.
Blank screen
Reset BIOS, blank screen

The monitor was changed from dvi mode to vga and the physical connection made by an adaptor to the rear port.
Blank screen

I can only see the server output by IPMI Viewer on my Windows pc but I am locked out. I have forgotten the password.

I considered whether I could change the IPMI ip address, which is static to a new address via my router in case I could fool the setup. The ip address does not show up. The mb has a separate port for IPMI and 2 LAN ports. I don't think this would work anyway as I believe the configuration, including password is stored on the BMC chip on the mb.

With nothing to lose I removed both boot usb sticks and tried starting up with another bootable usb stick containing the IPMICFG utility. By this time the BIOS had been reset so the boot order was lost. I hoped the stick would be found and would boot. I waited until the fans started to surge before tapping:
Enter
cd IPMICFG
ipmicfg -fd
Enter

All Blind!
It didn't work.

 

[kdragon75]

You need a new motherboard...

 

[joeschmuck]

You need to find out if there is a speaker on your motherboard, tell us if it's beeping any after you power it on (BIOS Beep Codes are on page 112 of the user manual). If there is no speaker then you need to connect one up. You could have a power or memory error, or it could be your motherboard. Is the BMC LED (Heartbeat) flashing?

You need to read the user manual and verify all the jumpers are correct, clear the CMOS setup maybe, could try the BIOS recovery.

Disconnect/remove everything except the CPU, RAM, & Power Supply. Connect a VGA monitor directly to the VGA connector on the motherboard. Power it on. Does it work? If it fails and you do not have a speaker connected up then you are not going to move forward much from here. You could have a RAM issue, 2133MHz is the fastest my board runs with, you are running 2400MHz RAM. You may need to underclock this RAM if it is the issue.

Read the manual for your motherboard, cover to cover. It will tell you how to do some things.

 

[JRD]

RAM
According to Supermicro Key Features the X11SSM F motherboard supports memory up to 2400MHz
https://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon/C236_C232/X11SSM-F.cfm

There is also a BIOS update 2.1a which raises that to 2667MHz (SM recommended me to update, which I did.)
ftp://ftp.supermicro.com/Bios/softfiles/4896/X11SSM-F_BIOS_2.1a_release_notes.pdf

When I first assembled the system it would not start, let alone Boot. SM technical support were very helpful. We went through a lot of tests including with the mb out of the case and pretty much nothing attached. SM concluded the fault lay either with the mb or memory and came down against RAM. My supplier could not provide memory on the approved/tested list. I gave the precise part number/code which they could obtain to SM and they said it should be fine.

The system with new memory booted. I ran Memtest for 3 passes with no errors.
Stressed the cpu for over an hour, also fine and didn't get too hot.

I did connect a monitor to the vga port at that early stage with the mb out of the case. No signal. I didn't expect to be relying on a direct video output so this was overlooked at the time, particularly with the apparent success of being able to boot up and see output via IPMI Viewer on my pc. Pity I didn't pursue this with SM at the time while I had a ticket open.

FreeNAS
I then installed the os with a view to testing the hard drives. As I said above I got as far as creating a user, group, Raid z2 and a Windows dataset accessible as a network drive.

BIOS Beeps
The manual for the X11SSM F is a little short on detail. There are differing results when I searched. However, Supermicro have a users guide at
https://www.supermicro.com/manuals/other/AMI_BIOS_POST_Codes_for_Grantley_Motherboards.pdf

I hope I extracted the most relevant details here:

After I reset the BIOS above the system would not boot into FreeNAS partly I assume because the boot priority was lost. I got 4 beeps at that stage, yesterday.

Today, before making any changes I got 2 beeps, followed by 1.
Removed all RAM: 5 short beeps followed by 1 long. SM said the memory controller is on the cpu so is fine.

I put one then the other stick back in a slot and changed these around: just using the blue slots, A2 B2.
2 beeps, 1 beep for each combination.

I then disabled BMC via the jumper: 1 beep
Enabled 2 beeps, 1 beep

The ip address and password for IPMI was retained unfortunately, a reset would have been convenient.

I then disabled vga: 2 beeps, 1 beep
Enabled 3 beeps, 1 beep
No signal via my monitor connected direct to the port.

What does this all mean?
I am wary of doing more brain surgery to the BIOS

 

[joeschmuck]

I saw the RAM Speed increase for the new BIOS's however that doesn't mean it will run stable with your RAM, it must be tested to ensure stability.

The system with new memory booted. I ran Memtest for 3 passes with no errors.
Stressed the cpu for over an hour, also fine and didn't get too hot.

I did connect a monitor to the vga port at that early stage with the mb out of the case. No signal.

Is this what you get today? You can run Memtest without issue?

As for the VGA Video, how old is your video monitor? Is it possible that the monitor cannot display the resolution the motherboard is trying to use?

When you power onthe computer do you get the Supermico branding screen at all?

When you reflashed the IPMI did you follow the instructions to wipe (I can't recall the exact term) the stored NV memory?

Which RJ-45 port are you using for IPMI? the dedicated port or do yo have failover setup?

Maybe you could take a good photo of the motherboard showing all the jumpers. Maybe we could see something that you may be overlooking (wishfull maybe).

Also, did you try to clear the CMOS? Follow the instructions in the manual, or power down, remove all add-on cards (SAS controller), unplug the power cord, move the CMOS jumper, wait 30 minutes. It may be much quicker but 30 minutes is a fair time to ensure the CMOS clears. Then move the jumper back, connect the power cord, power it on, it should beep basically telling you the time is not set and you need to setup the BIOS settings. Hopefully you will have a display.

Again, maybe a photo would help of the motherboard, or a few of say the four sections of the motherboard. Pull it out of the case if you must.

And you can open up a ticket with Supermicro, they may just have you ship back your motherboard and then ship you a refurb/new unit back that works.

 

[Jailer]

Enabled 3 beeps, 1 beep
No signal via my monitor connected direct to the port.

My motherboard does this as it cycles through the boot process, three rapid beeps followed by a single beep. It sounds like it's booting fine you just need to figure out your video issue.

 

[JRD]

OK this is embarrassing.

I had been connecting my monitor by DVI cable and an adaptor to the VGA port. It showed no signal.

Found a proper cable, male vga at each end and...... it works.

[Installing a graphics card did not work, above]

I booted up, reset boot priority to usb key and entered /bin/sh
Clearly didn't know what I was doing as it would not accept the key entries I made. I found this on a search which probably relates to free bsd.
It was difficult to exit.

Rebooted into Freenas and found the console. Tap 7 and Enter to change password for the GUI. That worked.
In GUI access IPMI and change password. That worked.

Sooo, is that it, can the nightmare be over?!

@joeschmuck thanks again for all the suggestions. Have I missed anything?
There are 3 RJ-45 ports: one dedicated to IPMI and 2 for LAN.
To reset BIOS, I powered down, removed the battery and shorted the solder pads, there is no jumper to move.
I flashed the BIOS not IPMI.
Would you recommend more testing of RAM?

(Off point but should I have installed drivers or is this all covered by Freenas.)

 

[joeschmuck]

I'm glad you figured it out. It's okay to be embarrassed, it happens.

My advice for the future, do not update the BIOS nor IPMI unless you are having some issue with your machine or you are exposing your machine to the internet directly and there is a security related update in the BIOS (not an often occurrence of this type of thing).

Good Luck!