Supermicro X7DWN+ and FN 10/11 not working (FN 9.10 and earlier OK)

[Got2GoLV]

Hello,

Are there any know issues with the X7DWN+ MB and FN 10/11 series?
I have searched but have not found anything conclusive.

It seems that whenever FN is booting on this MB, there are a lot of these:
pid 123 (python3.6), uid 0: exited signal 10 (core dumped).
(Different PID numbers and names, and some are signal 11)

Also, some tracebacks, 'bus error (core dumped)', and 'Segmentation fault (core dumped)' messages.

FN 9.10, for example, boots and runs normally.

Things I have tried:

1- Flash BIOS with latest available version.
2- Reset BIOS to default settings.
3- Different memory modules.
4- Several memtest86 runs on those modules.
5- Remove all add-in cards.
6- Different USB sticks for FN boot (same sticks work fine with FN 9.10)
7- Sata Hard drive for FN boot.
8- 2 different USB hard drives for FN boot.
9- Verify checksums on downloaded ISOs.
10- FN Corral-Release, 11.0-U4, 11.1-U1, 11.1-U4, 11.2-MASTER-201805230453-5130bd1 (all produce similar results)
11- Install from ISO to USB/USB HD, SATA HD on 2 different computers and then booting the X7DWN+ from those.
12- Install FN 9.10 and then using the Update menu to update it to higher version.
13- Boot one of the USB drives with Corral installed on another MB: Supermicro X7DBE (no issues with that one).
14- maybe other things I forget.

It seems something about this MB is tripping out FN 10/11, but 9.10 has no problems with it.
And hardware tests seem to come back normal.

Thoughts?

Thank you.

 

[Got2GoLV]

Also,

NAS4Free x64 11.1.0.4.5579 runs fine on that same motherboard setup.

:(

 

[Got2GoLV]

Here are some pics, in no specific order, of the issues booting FN 10/11.
(I think the pics are of 11)

 

[Chris Moore]

FreeNAS, not FN.

Here are some pics, in no specific order

The order of events matters, for example, this menu indicates that the system is booted and ready, it just needs an IP address:

FN Corral-Release

Don't use that. It is the, "release that shall not be named", and is totally unsupported.

FN 9.10, for example, boots and runs normally.

FreeNAS 9.10 release is based on FreeBSD 10.3, but for FreeNAS 11, the base operating system has been updated to the STABLE version of FreeBSD 11.1.
There may be changes in the underlying operating system between FreeBSD 10 and FreeBSD 11 that make it incompatible with that extremely old system board.
I would suggest moving to a newer platform.
Something like this for example:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Supermicro-X9SRL-F-E5-2609-LGA-2011/222984132591

This combo includes a 2.4GHz quad core Xeon E5 processor and for many normal NAS functions, that combo would be plenty to get the job done.
If you need more, it is easy to drop in a faster CPU with more cores. I have the same board with a 10 core Xeon running ESXi and the system board will very happily take 8 of these 16GB memory modules:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/SAMSUNG-16...red-1-35V-RDIMM-M393B2G70DB0-YK0/302110582298

Supermicro recommends installing them in pairs.

 

[Got2GoLV]

FreeNAS, not FN.

Ok, my bad.
FreeNAS

The order of events matters, for example, this menu indicates that the system is booted and ready, it just needs an IP address:

Sometimes it would boot with an IP, but the web UI would keep crashing/restarting.
Other times it would not pick up the IP address (But the interface did have an IP on it already and could be pinged from another device on the network)

Don't use that. It is the, "release that shall not be named", and is totally unsupported.

LOL
It was strictly as a test of something higher than 9.10, lower than 11.

FreeNAS 9.10 release is based on FreeBSD 10.3, but for FreeNAS 11, the base operating system has been updated to the STABLE version of FreeBSD 11.1.
There may be changes in the underlying operating system between FreeBSD 10 and FreeBSD 11 that make it incompatible with that extremely old system board.

It works on an even older X7DBE without any of these issues.
And, the latest Nas4free also works on the X7DWN+. Which, I believe, is also on FreeBSD 11.1.
This leads me to think it is something specific to the FreeNAS additions on top of the OS that are having some issues with the MB, and not FreeBSD 11 itself not being compatible with this MB.

I would suggest moving to a newer platform.

I'm sure that would work too.
But the point it so maximize existing hardware, if at all possible.
If FreeNAS 11.x will not work on this MB, then I can always just run it with 9.10, which seems to have no problems at all.
But, I would like to find out the cause, and ideal be able to run newer versions on it.
:/

Thank you for your help.

 

[Chris Moore]

It works on an even older X7DBE without any of these issues.

I didn't compare the integrated hardware on the two boards, but it may be something specific to one board that the other doesn't have.

This leads me to think it is something specific to the FreeNAS additions on top of the OS that are having some issues with the MB

It wouldn't shock me. FreeNAS (I have been told) sometimes picks the features they want from the base OS in such a way that where the base OS might work, FreeNAS might not. It is intended to be an appliance and it is only intended to work on a relatively narrow range of hardware. There are frequently users that have problems with using particular hardware, which is the reason we try to keep a list of hardware that is known to work.

But the point it so maximize existing hardware, if at all possible.

There are some good reasons to move to a newer platform. I got off my x7 generation systems a couple years ago. The power consumption and heat generated by those older boards was the big thing for me. I could heat my house in winter from the system I was using before, now the hard dives are the hot component.
If you want to run it with version 9.10, there are still a good number of people doing that, but you might want to try opening a case on the development site to see if they will try to fix it:
https://redmine.ixsystems.com/projects/freenas

It might be something the developers would like to know about, but most development is probably focused on compatibility with new hardware instead of maintaining compatibility with older hardware.

 

[Ericloewe]

Python just seems to be crashing all over the place. I don't know how that would be caused by functioning hardware, but it wouldn't surprise me if the hardware was, in fact, not working correctly.

 

[Got2GoLV]

Python just seems to be crashing all over the place. I don't know how that would be caused by functioning hardware, but it wouldn't surprise me if the hardware was, in fact, not working correctly.

Hardware issues was one of the first thoughts I had.
But, FreeNASs 9.10 and earlier run fine without any issues on that same motherboard setup.
And, NAS4Free based on FreeBSD 11.1 also runs without any issues.

I would expect a hardware fault to exhibit issues in other OSs as well.
I guess it's not impossible, although unlikely. Perhaps someone with that same motherboard might post if they too have issues, or if they are running 10/11.x without problems :/

 

[Chris Moore]

Hardware issues was one of the first thoughts I had.
But, FreeNASs 9.10 and earlier run fine without any issues on that same motherboard setup.
And, NAS4Free based on FreeBSD 11.1 also runs without any issues.

I would expect a hardware fault to exhibit issues in other OSs as well.
I guess it's not impossible, although unlikely. Perhaps someone with that same motherboard might post if they too have issues, or if they are running 10/11.x without problems :/

I still have a couple of my old systems, I will dig one out this weekend and see what model the board is.
It looks similar, if I recall correctly... I will look at the part number and see if it is a match.

 

[Ericloewe]

You can try filing a bug report, but it might be a while before it gets serious attention, with 11.2-U5, 11.2-U6 and 11.2-Beta happening.