TrueNAS Core 13.0 won't pick up IP address

rodrigoelp

Dabbler
Joined
Sep 27, 2022
Messages
10
Hey guys,

Recently I set up my personal NAS (and family).
Configuring the NAS went without hiccups. I fished out the mac address to fix the IP address in my DHCP.
Turned the machine off to remove the graphics card (the case doesn't really have space for it and I don't want to use it in it), booted the NAS, connected to it and it all worked.

About a month later (today) I came back to the NAS to continue transferring all my data from my existing NAS, boot up the machine but it doesn't show in my network. I logged in my to router and I can't see the nas in there. I checked all cables and everything, nothing.
The motherboard indicates there is activity, but the machine doesn't seem to be resolving its ip from the controller.

How can I troubleshoot this without having to pull the machine apart to plug the video card?


  • AMD Ryzen 5 5600x
  • G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32 GB DDR4 3200
  • B550 Aorus Motherboard
  • Intel 670p Series M.2 2280 512GB SSD
  • 3 WD Red Plus 4TB NAS Hard Drives Sata 3
  • 2 Seagate BarraCuda ST40000D 4TB Sata 3
  • 1 Apple SSD 256GB Sata 3
  • 5 Sata port to m.2 card
  • NVidia Quadro M4000 (only used during set up)
 

c77dk

Patron
Joined
Nov 27, 2019
Messages
467
A guess would be that the realtek NIC has cr*pped itself
 

Davvo

MVP
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Jul 12, 2022
Messages
3,151
You can try to ping it in order to confim the death of the NIC.
Also try to set a static IP, see if that helps.
Besides, almost your entire config is against the forum's common sense.
 

rodrigoelp

Dabbler
Joined
Sep 27, 2022
Messages
10
A guess would be that the realtek NIC has cr*pped itself

It appears I will have to open up the computer and plug that graphics card to check if the nic has failed then :(

You can try to ping it in order to confim the death of the NIC.
Also try to set a static IP, see if that helps.
Besides, almost your entire config is against the forum's common sense.
It has a static IP address. The router informs me the network is attached and initialised to a base of 100 (the card supports 2500).

Why is it against the forum's common sense?
I don't use the NAS just for storage, it will be doing a lot of processing and virtualisation at the same time. I am not meant to post in the forum in my NAS isn't a salvo from the streets?
 

Davvo

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Why is it against the forum's common sense?
I don't use the NAS just for storage, it will be doing a lot of processing and virtualisation at the same time. I am not meant to post in the forum in my NAS isn't a salvo from the streets?
Because you are not following the safe path tested again and again by professionals and instead you use hardware that is known to be prone to issues.
You are totally allowed to post here, just know that lots of people won't probably have the time, patience and/or motivation to try help you since you are in unexplored/dangerous waters (probably because you didn't research enough).
As a side note my words wanted to be informative. i.e.:


I wish you luck troubleshooting this.
 
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rodrigoelp

Dabbler
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Sep 27, 2022
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10
Because you are not following the safe path tested again and again by professionals and instead you use hardware that is known to be prone to issues.
You are totally allowed to post here, just know that lots of people won't probably have the time, patience and/or motivation to try help you since you are in unexplored/dangerous waters (probably because you didn't research enough).
As a side note my words wanted to be informative. i.e.:


I wish you luck troubleshooting this.

Ah, this is good information. Thanks for pointing this out. I will give it a test without that card in case that's at fault.

When I read the comment "almost your entire config doesn't follow common sense" I felt somewhat judged.
 

Davvo

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When I read the comment "almost your entire config doesn't follow common sense" I felt somewhat judged.
It wasn't my intention.

Anyway, the current problem might not be related to that multiplier card but that will surely give you more headhaches in the future.
Since you have quite a few SATA ports as well as NVME slots on that mobo, why do you use that?

Regarding your current issue, if it's the NIC and you don't want to change the mobo (understandable) you will just need to use one of those expansion slots with the right Intel NIC (possibily even a BroadCom One is good, I am not really an expert here).
 
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rodrigoelp

Dabbler
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Sep 27, 2022
Messages
10
Hi Davvo,

The mobo has 4 sata ports and two m.2 ports.

3 of the sata ports are populated with hard drives, leaving the final port for the boot drive (the rescued ssd is installed there with the OS... I don't think I will be, or can use it for anything else).

That leaves the other two drives without ports I can plug them to. I did read online the port multiplier could give me problems if it didn't have a raid controller, so I made sure to get one with the controller, but I am not sure the quality of it... it was quite cheap. Based on the link you sent, I might buy aa lsi raid controller on ebay, I found a few which are in my range and are recognisable brands, but for now I will try to get it up and running with just 3 drives.

One one of the ports I installed the nvme intended to be used as the zfs cache (I haven't configured it).

As you guys point out, it is possible the NIC is dead, but in my experience when these die you don't get base set on the cable and the router doesn't even see it.
This Saturday I will be pulling it apart and checking that everything posts outside (with its graphics card in place and without the port multiplier. It is possible the OS is just dying when it finds the multiplier and that's why it doesn't even post.
I will give more details once I have done those tests.

If the problem is the motherboard, I will send it back as it should still be under warranty. It is a pain, but I would prefer to start with something that didn't day after a month.
 

Davvo

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Can you please specify your exact mobo model? There are four or five aourus B550 mb out there.

Before RMA I would check any possibile network config errors, and reinstall the OS if everything seems fine.
 

rodrigoelp

Dabbler
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Sep 27, 2022
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10
Can you please specify your exact mobo model? There are four or five aourus B550 mb out there.

Before RMA I would check any possibile network config errors, and reinstall the OS if everything seems fine.
Hi Davvo, I updated my signature with all the details. The motherboard is "Gigabyte Aorus B550I Pro AX"

I pulled the computer apart to install the network card and start over, to see what may have been at fault. When truenas boots it goes into the terminal configurator, but it didn't list the nic.

I decided to give it a try to a live version of popOS (because it was the last thing I had on the flashdrive) and the network works flawlessly. I ran a series of stress tests on the nic, it all went fine.

My assumption is, when I installed patches I imagine something went south and stopped working :|
I am reinstalling now.
 

rodrigoelp

Dabbler
Joined
Sep 27, 2022
Messages
10
Ah! I have found something interesting... when I upgrade to 13.0 U2 (or install directly) it seems bsd is unable to load drivers for the system and fails to initialise the network interface.

Right now I am downloading 13.0 U1 and 13.1 (master) to give it a try and see if there is an incompatibility with my configuration.

Will report more updates to anybody interested to debug similar issues.
 

LarsR

Guru
Joined
Oct 23, 2020
Messages
716
you propably have to load the driver for that realtek nic. If i remember corrrectly it is not enabled by default in core 13
 

rodrigoelp

Dabbler
Joined
Sep 27, 2022
Messages
10
Hi LarsR,

You are right, I just needed to added to the loader.config to get it up and running. The driver is compiled and distributed, but as you mention, it just needs to be enabled.

Thanks for that.
 
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jgreco

Resident Grinch
Joined
May 29, 2011
Messages
18,681
Hello,

not sure whether this is related. I ran into a similar issue when I upgraded from TrueNAS 9 to TrueNAS 12. Since then DHCP is no longer working. The system has two Broadcom BCM5720 NICs. In the meantime I installed an additional Intel(R) Gigabit CT 82574L NIC.
One of the Broadcom adapters is now assigned a static IP while the Intel adapter is configured for DHCP. The second Broadcom is not used.
The Intel adapter does not pickup an IP address automatically on system start while running dhclient em0 from the shell works and gets an IP address from the DHCP server.

Well, that's just broken, don't do that. Either configure the system with static IP addresses or use DHCP on one interface. This is why the DHCP help bubble says: "Only one interface can be configured for DHCP." But it should probably be a bit more specific in that multiple interfaces on a system should be statically configured. Other combinations result in various problems. Also, Broadcom ethernets are probably a bad idea.
 

mgh

Cadet
Joined
May 20, 2023
Messages
5
Many thanks for your fast response.

To be on the safe side: Do you think it should work, if the two Broadcoms are left unconnected and the Intel adapter is configured to DHCP? Or is the pure existence of multiple network adapters an issue? I might as well try to disable the Broadcom adapters in the system BIOS (they are intergrated with the HP Proliant I'm using).
 

jgreco

Resident Grinch
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May 29, 2011
Messages
18,681
if the two Broadcoms are left unconnected and the Intel adapter is configured to DHCP?

Yes, that will work. The usual problem is that some people "notice" that they can trick the system into doing DHCP on multiple interfaces on a factory default config. All hell breaks loose in many cases. It's meant to let you bring up DHCP on one interface so that you can access the web GUI.

Or is the pure existence of multiple network adapters an issue?

Should not be an issue. The issue is when you get multiple default routes, multiple DNS servers, etc., all trying to trample each other, when multiple interfaces get DHCP results. See the previous paragraph. Meant for one active interface to get DHCP results.

I might as well try to disable the Broadcom adapters in the system BIOS (they are intergrated with the HP Proliant I'm using).

The thing you need to be aware of is that some of the Broadcoms act wonky. It boils down to "either it works 100% or it doesn't" and there is no harm trying them if you are using built-in ports. You already have them. Take a chance on them working 100%. Worst case is they might not, in which case you still have to remediate it. What I do NOT recommend is buying a PCIe card with Broadcom parts on it. Significant risk of wasted money. The Intel 1G desktop cards have worked flawlessly for years and are the go-to recommendation of virtually everyone who has tried 'em.
 
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