No boot after UFS Format

[d1ck]

So I had this problem with the older versions of Freenas when i tried to install it but just gave up on a solution. However, I'm back for round two. Firstly, my system:

DFI LanParty NF4 Ultra SLi
Althlon 64 X2 3800+
1GB Kingston Hyper-X PC3500
NSpire 600W PSU
1x Seagate 1.5TB
1x Seagate 500GB
1x Western 80GB
LG DVD-R/W
Random video card I don't remember
Generic Card Reader

Next, the problem:

Every time I format a hard drive in my system with the UFS file system, on the next reboot the system will just hang on the post screen after displaying the hard drives connected to the system. The only way to correct this is by disconnecting the hard drive(s) in question. Once I've done that the system will boot fine. In order to have the system boot with those hard drives connected I've got to do a long format (write zeros to entire drive). I had this exact same issue in the past with different hard drives and PSU.

Just to be clear, the system hangs seeminly while doing the hard drive detection part of the post process, I never get to see the second post screen where you see boot devices and such.

Also worth noting that I've had WHS installed on this system for a long time but after recently switching to WHS 2011 I discovered the system is not powerful enough for this OS. I decided I'd give FreeNAS a try again before going back to WHS v1.

Can someone please tell me what the hell is going on here? I worked in a computer sales and service shop for a bit so I'm pretty familar with common issues. I've never seen a filesystem/software issue stop a system from posting properly in this manner.

 

[samfarkus]

So I had this problem with the older versions of Freenas when i tried to install it but just gave up on a solution. However, I'm back for round two. Firstly, my system:

DFI LanParty NF4 Ultra SLi
Althlon 64 X2 3800+
1GB Kingston Hyper-X PC3500
NSpire 600W PSU
1x Seagate 1.5TB
1x Seagate 500GB
1x Western 80GB
LG DVD-R/W
Random video card I don't remember
Generic Card Reader

Next, the problem:

Every time I format a hard drive in my system with the UFS file system, on the next reboot the system will just hang on the post screen after displaying the hard drives connected to the system. The only way to correct this is by disconnecting the hard drive(s) in question. Once I've done that the system will boot fine. In order to have the system boot with those hard drives connected I've got to do a long format (write zeros to entire drive). I had this exact same issue in the past with different hard drives and PSU.

Just to be clear, the system hangs seeminly while doing the hard drive detection part of the post process, I never get to see the second post screen where you see boot devices and such.

Also worth noting that I've had WHS installed on this system for a long time but after recently switching to WHS 2011 I discovered the system is not powerful enough for this OS. I decided I'd give FreeNAS a try again before going back to WHS v1.

Can someone please tell me what the hell is going on here? I worked in a computer sales and service shop for a bit so I'm pretty familar with common issues. I've never seen a filesystem/software issue stop a system from posting properly in this manner.

I had this happen too, for some reason the drive order gets changed and you might have to go into your bios and re-set your drive priority.. dont know why - but look to make sure your boot drive didnt mysteriously change,

 

[d1ck]

So I've tried doing wha you suggested, however the boot order is not changing. I am booting off an 8GB flash drive and this setting remains. However, in order to reach the bios menu I have to disconnect the hard drives, so I suppose it is possible that the boot order is changing while the drive is plugged in, and then it switches back when unplugged. This would be highly unusual behaviour though.
One more thing to add as well:

I thought a long format was necessary to make the drives boot again, however I was wrong. I was able to successfully boot the system into FreeNAS with one of the two drives connected by doing the following:

1. Unplug both drives
2. Boot machine and wait until the post screen identifies the hard drives connected to the systems SATA ports
3. Immediately after I see "SATA 4: None" I plug in one of the drives.
4. The system will continue to boot into FreeNAS off my flash drive as per usual.

When FreeNAS finishes booting I can log in on the web interface and see that the drive which I connected is working fine.

If I use the export volume function with erase all data selected, the system will boot normally with the drive connected.

This is a very strange issue and I hope someone can offer some advice or insight here.

 

[d1ck]

I've just tried the ZFS file system type with the same results.

 

[d1ck]

There has to be someone here who knows what the problem is here....