SOLVED TrueNAS wont restart if console monitor is turned OFF

[tbvink]

I did this twice with the same result. I know it should be repeated a few more times to establish repeatability, but before I do that I am asking here...

I have a Monitor, kbd, and mouse directly connected to my NAS. The monitor is connected via Displayport on the motherboard. I am using the CPU graphics controller. Motherboard is MSI PRO Z690-A and CPU is a 12th gen I5. The monitor is turned OFF.

From my upstairs workstation I am using the GUI interface and have told TrueNAS to restart ( power icon at top right of the screen )
After a long wait I am unable to connect to the NAS so I go downstairs to see what is happening. Power is ON, fans are running. I turn on the Monitor and it says "no signal". Blindly I type "10 enter Y enter" to reboot the NAS. It is totally unresponsive. I press the reset button and it boots up and starts TrueNAS.

From the console I type "10 enter (turn the Monitor OFF) Y enter) After a long wait the NAS is unresponsive as before. So I reset and it boots and runs OK.

So I leave the monitor ON and return upstairs to my workstation. I again told TrueNAS to restart as before. It restarted OK. But my monitor downstairs is ON sucking up electricity.

Is this a bug? Should I need to leave the monitor ON for restart to work?

Thanks,
Tony

 

[tbvink]

Neeeeevvver mind!

Wont boot to Linux installer on USB either when the monitor is OFF. So I guess it is the BIOS.

Tony

 

[Whattteva]

Lol, my system doesn't even have any keyboard or monitor plugged in.... ever. It has been headless since day 1.

 

[tbvink]

Hi,

I have set this aside for a while due to the frying of some larger fish. However this fish is getting to be my largest one!


I am still unable to reboot TrueNAS if my monitor is turned OFF or disconnected. I was wrong earlier when I thought my USB boot disk would not boot either. I have a bootable thumbdrive with some generic tools on it which I am using to test if the PC boots with the monitor attached or not. It does.

With TrueNAS if I reboot from the GUI the NAS never comes back up until I reset it physically.
The same happens if I reboot from the attached console with the "11" command.

I have noticed that the Pool disks are active for several seconds after a failed boot. It sounds pretty similar to the activity during a good boot.

I have attached some log files. I issued the reboot command at time 11:09:08. The successful boot (after I pressed the reset button) occurred at time 11:19:29. The Console, Daemon, and Messages show no entries for the failed boot.

However the Middleware does contain messages during the time 11:09:50 thru 11:14:34. I am unable to get any solid clues from these messages but it does indicate that the NAS did actually try to start with the monitor OFF.

My motherboard is pretty new and contains the latest generation of onboard Intel graphics hardware. So it seems a little possible that there is a bug in the middleware.

How do I go about getting this looked at by someone familiar with the inner workings of the startup process?

Any help would be appreciated.

Merry Christmas,
Tony



I am running TrueNAS-13.0-U3.1
Motherboard is MSI Pro ZZ690-A
CPU is Intel Core i5 i5-12600 3.30 GHz
BIOS is 7D25vA3

 

[Whattteva]

To be honest with you, I don't think this has anything to do with TrueNAS, especially not the middleware. The whole thing doesn't even need a display to operate, so why would it even care whether or not there is a monitor plugged in. My server only has three cables plugged in (power and 2x ethernet) and it has never ever had any problems booting/rebooting.

 

[tbvink]

Hi,

"Whattteva" the problem is, it is going to end up being something that seems improbable. Other possible causes also seem improbable. I am not a Linux, Free BSD, or TrueNAS expert but what I have done so far looks to me that TrueNAS is starting with the monitor OFF but not fully booting. I can state confidently that it only fails when the monitor is OFF or disconnected.

So I am still hoping to have someone take a serious look at the logs or suggest something that would help narrow down the source of the problem.

Thanks,
Tony

 

[tbvink]

I disconnected my pool HDDs so avoid a one way trip to Scale.

I installed TrueNAS Scale. It boots with the monitor turned OFF, with it disconnected, with keyboard and mouse removed.

Tomorrow I am going to return to TrueNAS Core but with a low end graphics card installed. That should remove the Intel UHD Graphics 770 on the I5 CPU from the equation. Maybe.

Still looking like a bug in TrueNAS Core to me. No one out there with experience with this configuration?

Tony

 

[Whattteva]

Tomorrow I am going to return to TrueNAS Core but with a low end graphics card installed. That should remove the Intel UHD Graphics 770 on the I5 CPU from the equation. Maybe.

Still looking like a bug in TrueNAS Core to me. No one out there with experience with this configuration?

I think the lack of responses you're getting is telling. I'd imagine the overwhelming majority probably never encountered this problem.

I myself have put TrueNAS CORE on 3 different systems, one of which is somewhat close to your setup (i5 with iGPU but 4th-gen) and have never encountered this problem.

Anyways, good luck and I hope you get someone else that have experienced your exact issue.

 

[ChrisRJ]

This is likely a hardware or firmware issue. There are various systems out there (incl. IIRC older MacMinis) that require a running monitor to boot. To overcome this, there are "dongles" that simulate a turned on monitor. Just plug one of those in and the system should boot up fine.

 

[tbvink]

Thanks to both of you guys!

ChrisRJ, I had no idea such a device existed. Looked and found a Displayport and an HDMI dummy on Amazon for under $7. Worth a try! I'll report back when I receive one.

Tony

 

[emk2203]

Yes, this is a thing. These dummies are also helpful if you have a ChromeCast attached to audio equipment and want to have the monitor turned off while streaming. Doesn't hurt to have one in your toolchest.

 

[blanchet]

If it may help:

I had a similar issue on the Shuttle DS10u, the computer did not boot with a monitor.
But if I disable the serial port in the BIOS then the computer can boot without monitor.
It is strange but it works.

SOLVED - TrueNAS-12 on Shuttle DS77u

I have encountered some pitfalls when installing TrueNAS-12 on a Shuttle DS77u, so I post the solutions here. Presentation Shuttle DS77u is a mini-pc with an Intel Kaby Lake processor, 2 Intel NICs and two harddisk slots (M2 + SATA). This mini-pc lacks of IPMI and ECC memory but it is fan-less...

www.truenas.com

 

[tbvink]

I had a similar issue on the Shuttle DS10u, the computer did not boot with a monitor.
But if I disable the serial port in the BIOS then the computer can boot without monitor.
It is strange but it works.

I have a serial port on one of my two new motherboards. If it the NAS one, I'll give it a try.
Thanks

 

[tbvink]

Yes, this is a thing. These dummies are also helpful if you have a ChromeCast attached to audio equipment and want to have the monitor turned off while streaming. Doesn't hurt to have one in your toolchest.

Thanks,

I see there are various dummy plugs that support different display resolutions. Would that affect how Plex uses the I5 GPU for transcoding? Doesn't seem like it should.

Tony

 

[emk2203]

No, this doesn't affect Plex. Since Plex transcodes and serves for different devices with different resolutions, the display resolution can't play a role here.

 

[tbvink]

No, this doesn't affect Plex. Since Plex transcodes and serves for different devices with different resolutions, the display resolution can't play a role here.

Makes sense, thanks

 

[tbvink]

My HDMI dongle arrived today and it allows me to run and reboot headless!

Thanks all,
Merry Christmas

 

[Whattteva]

Glad to know it worked out. I guess it's early Christmas for you there!