Hi! I'm a total FreeNAS noob, and I need help please.

[choochilla]

I have just re-commissioned an old computer as a server, basically so that we can store all our docs, pics and vids in one place. A friend said FreeNAS would be ideal but there is something wrong - it doesn't 'see' the HDDs. Unfortunately he works away and won't be back for seven weeks, so can anyone out there help me please?

The motherboard is an ASUS M3A78 Pro, the CPU is an Athlon 7750 dual core 2.7GHz, the 8GB of RAM is 4 x 2GB sticks of Kingston DDR2 memory (KHX8500D2K2). This worked fine as a PC. My new HDDs are 2x Seagate ST3000VN000 3TB SATA NAS drives and FreeNAS (x64) is installed on a 16GB Cruzer Fit USB drive.

I have tried both the 9.1.1 and the 8.3.2 versions of FreeNAS but it doesn't make any difference, neither can 'see' the HDDs. I connected to SATA 1 - 2, then 3 - 4, just in case the connectors were faulty. Someone suggested a SATA3 internal card might be better for the HDDs, but I though SATA was backward compatible (even though the transfer speed suffers)?

I'm sorry but I have no previous Linux or Unix experience so I do not know how to progress. Can anyone shed any light on this problem please. I followed the instructions on installing FreeNAS to a USB drive and it seems to boot up OK into the OS, so maybe it's as simple as something wrong in the BIOS (which DOES show the drives). The BIOS version is the latest one on the ASUS website.

As you can probably tell I'm not very computer literate (old age) but I can follow good clear instructions if anyone wants to take pity on me and help me get this beastie running! I'd be grateful of any help as I don't have a clue!!!

Thanks for taking the time to read this, but if you need more info you'll have to ask and I'll do my best to answer. I've done what I can (which is not much) so I'm now at your mercy. Anyone feel like helping an old fool?

 

[Whattteva]

I doubt a SATA3 card would help if your current SATA ports are unable to see them. SATA3 is mostly marketing gimmick anyway when it comes to mechanical HDD, since they're nowhere near fast enough to saturate SATA 3 bus speed or even SATA2.

First thing I would verify is to see if your hard drives are even recognized when the computer first does its POST check (the first screen your monitor displays when you turn the computer on). Typically, it does a memory check, HDD scan, etc...

 

[choochilla]

I doubt a SATA3 card would help if your current SATA ports are unable to see them. SATA3 is mostly marketing gimmick anyway when it comes to mechanical HDD, since they're nowhere near fast enough to saturate SATA 3 bus speed or even SATA2.

First thing I would verify is to see if your hard drives are even recognized when the computer first does its POST check (the first screen your monitor displays when you turn the computer on). Typically, it does a memory check, HDD scan, etc...

Hi - thanks for the suggestion, I appreciate the help.
I fired the server up again and it shows both HDDs clearly in the on screen messages. It says they are connected to SATA1 and SATA2, their model numbers, SMART capable and status OK.

 

[Whattteva]

Ok, so it seems like the computer at least recognizes it.
In FreeNAS console, type in as root user:

Code:

camcontrol devlist

It should list all of your HDD + your USB drive.

 

[choochilla]

Hi - sorry to take so long to reply. Today the OS isn't loading.
It has worked fine for the last two days (when I first got the drives installed and fired it up for the first time).
It has stopped at a point where it says:
"stopped at acpi_install_wakeup_handler+0xd9: movq %r15,0x88(%r12)db>"

There's also some stuff above that which mentions
"fatal trap 12: page fault while in kernel mode"
Plus there is some hex stuff under that.

And even further above, there is some stuff about
"ACPI exception: AE_ALREADY_EXISTS, Unable to install System Control Interrupt haacpi0: Could not enable ACPI: AE ALREADY EXISTS"

Very odd - it hasn't done this before and I must have fired it up more than 20 times previously!
Shall I try to restart it? Or do you need the hex codes / messages from the screen?

 

[Whattteva]

Sounds like it has a problem with the ACPI controller.
What version of FreeNAS are you using? I would try upgrading to the latest version (9.1.1) if possible.

 

[choochilla]

I just checked which USB drive is plugged in and it's the 9.1.1 version that is actually plugged in (I have the two versions I have tried (8.3.2 and 9.1.1) on two different USB drives).

 

[Whattteva]

Both drives come up with that error?

 

[choochilla]

Do you mean both USB drives? I haven't tried the other one, I didn't know if you needed any other info so I left it as it was.
Do you want me to try the other memory stick (8.3.2)?

 

[Whattteva]

Yeah, go ahead and try the other one.

 

[choochilla]

Ok, so I tried the other USB stick and it did the same - stopped at the same place. Which is odd because it has never done that before.
So anyway, I powered the server down completely, plugged version 9.1.1 back into the server, powered back up again and voila! It boots to FreeNAS!!!
I typed the command in at the shell prompt (option 9) and it only shows me "Sandisk Cruzer Fit 1.26" - the HDDs are not listed at that command...

 

[Whattteva]

That's puzzling. Unfortunately, I don't think I can offer you further help. At this point, I think you probably need help from someone else with deeper kernel knowledge.

 

[choochilla]

OK - thank you for your input and for taking the time to assist me, I appreciate it.
I even know a command to show what's plugged in now...
Thank you!

 

[Whattteva]

Sorry I can't help you further, but I'm pretty sure someone else with more knowledge will jump on the thread soon, so stay tuned!

 

[jgreco]

Go into the BIOS and set the SATA ports to AHCI mode.

 

[choochilla]

Hi - thanks for helping out!
OK - it was set to IDE so I changed it to AHCI - the server is rebooting now...
It didn't look any different as far as I could see, but it passes by on the screen pretty quick!
I typed the command "camcontrol devlist" in, to see what was connected, but it still only shows the cruzer USB drive...

 

[jgreco]

Did you power cycle it? (not just soft or hard reset)

The usual trouble is that modern BIOS offerings include various other modes, sometimes including software based RAID modes or other fun.

 

[choochilla]

No, but at your good suggestion I have now.
I powered down for 30 seconds, rebooted server.
It seemed to go into FreeNAS OK although I did notice a couple of errors as the text scrolled past.
I typed devlist again into the shell, but it's still just showing the cruzer USB drive.

Is it possible to pause the booting into FreeNAS - so I have enough time to read the messages in more detail and pass the info on to you if you need it?

 

[jgreco]

From the command line, you can try "dmesg" to review the boot messages. "dmesg | more" to see them not blow by.

 

[choochilla]

the first 'failed' is
acpi0: reservation of fee00000, 1000 (3) failed
there are 5 lines altogether that are similar (different addresses), all acpi0, all showing failed...

then there are some 'Error 5, Retry was blocked' lines further down...

any of this any help at all?

Should I be looking for something in particular?

Is there any way to cut/paste or send you this start-up info?