How did I break my CORE install? UI/Networking failure

[LegitBeard]

I attempted to try out SCALE this past weekend and am working to online my previous CORE install, but it's failing to successfully get the reserved IP (x.x.x.251) it had before, and manually setting it doesn't change the behavior. This installation has been working for 3+ years so I'm not sure what the issue may be

1. I exported my pool from my CORE server, which was reachable on x.x.x.251, then I shutdown the server. I removed the two USB thumbdrives that house my boot environment
2. Attempted to install SCALE to a new set of USB thumbdrives but then found out it only plays nice with SSDs. Decided to abort the attempt while I source some SSDs. Remove the new thumbdrives without any attempt at installation
3. Reinsert CORE thumbdrives, boot process moves along as expected until I reach the CLI menu, and it says my UI is accessible on 0.0.0.0, which is obviously not the case.
4. Attempt to set default interface to pull from DHCP, no connectivity. Reboot - no change
5. Set the interface to x.x.x.251, /24 subnet manually - the UI string on the menu reflects the IP I set, but am similarly unable to access the UI/ping the host. Reboot - no change
6. In TrueNAS CLI menu, I've set the default route to my router (x.x.x.1) and set DNS according to what my router has + 8.8.8.8 as a backup - no change
7. Unable to resolve a URL. Trying to ping google.com from the host results in failure
8. In my router status page, I am able to see the reserved IP entry shows as "connected", MAC address matches the interface `ifconfig` output. So I *should* be connected/reachable
9. In a last ditch effort, I attempted to reset configuration to defaults and reboot, but still same behavior

What gives?

Changed my DHCP pool scope to x.x.x.200 - manually assigning x.x.x.213 in the CLI results in intermittent responses from the NAS to my workstation

Code:

Request timed out.
Reply from 10.0.0.213: bytes=32 time=1751ms TTL=64

but still unable to resolve anything from the host

 

[BarefootWoodworker]

I would turn it off and attempt to reseat the NIC (if possible). Make sure the cable is fully seated as well, or even replace it if possible.

There's also the possibility that your NIC just finally bit the dust for whatever reason. You might try swapping that out.