Upgrade to freenas 11 - boot hangs at syncing disks

[trueNASjaws]

I'm running FreeNAS-11.3-U5 on (I think) a FreeBSD USB (Boot pool 30GB USB) and my system is:

Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 870 @ 2.93GHz
8GB ram
WD Red 4TB

I'll admit I'm pretty much a n00b that flailed around blindly for a few days getting FreeNAS up and running a couple years ago. That said, I have been having biweekly unscheduled reboots when i was running the older version of FreeNAS ?10? and I decided to pull the trigger and use the cooked in 'update FreeNAS' option. I saved a RAR file it prompted me to (I can't recall, something about encryption key?) and allowed the system to reboot and update.

 

[trueNASjaws]

I'm running FreeNAS-11.3-U5 on (I think) a FreeBSD USB (Boot pool 30GB USB) and my system is:



I'll admit I'm pretty much a n00b that flailed around blindly for a few days getting FreeNAS up and running a couple years ago. That said, I have been having biweekly unscheduled reboots when i was running the older version of FreeNAS ?10? and I decided to pull the trigger and use the cooked in 'update FreeNAS' option. I saved a RAR file it prompted me to (I can't recall, something about encryption key?) and allowed the system to reboot and update.

Rats - hit control+Enter to drop a line in the quoted section and it posted the reply. I suspect I'll have to wait for it to be mod'd before I can edit the original post.

 

[Patrick M. Hausen]

What do you mean by "syncing discs"? If you mean what I guess you do, that's typically performed on shutdown, not on boot, so I'm a bit puzzled. Can you take a picture of the console screen?

Also FreeNAS 11 is outdated for years, not to mention 10. The current and only supported version is 13. And your hardware lacks the minimum requirements for stable operation. USB boot is not recommended, 8 GB memory is too little, how many disk drives are you using?

And were you really running FreeNAS 10 also named "Corral"? Or 9.10 rather?

We definitely need way more detailled information to give useful advice.

 

[trueNASjaws]

No edit feature on the original post. Excellent, I look like a bigger idiot.

To satisfy the posting requirements in my OP was going to say (in the quoted area: the board is an intel DH55TC)

My issue is that when system reboots off the USB drive (i vaguely remember that that's where FreeNas is written to and it only uses the 4TB Red for storage) it hits the loader screen that allows me to choose either boot FreeNas normally or via console, and then it runs through a pile of lines of launching scripts, but it hangs each time at a line that says "syncing disks". I've let it run overnight and it sticks at that line.

I can get past that by hitting enter a few times, and for all appearances FreeNas appears to be running and I can get into the GUI etc.. but that doesn't leave me with a warm/fuzzy.

Also, coincidentally or not, none of the submenu items are clickable on the GUI for the system. The only access I have to submenu items in the GUI is where it lists Storage

Any help on freeing up the launch so it gets past Synching Drives would be greatly appreciated (and the gui as well, but I wonder if they're not tied together and I'm missing some scripts launching properly after that line)

 

[trueNASjaws]

What do you mean by "syncing discs"? I you mean what I guess you do, that's typically performed on shutdown, not on boot, so I'm a bit puzzled. Can you take a picture of the console screen?

Also FreeNAS 11 is outdated for years, not to mention 10. The current and only supported version is 13. And your hardware lacks the minimum requirements for stable operation. USB boot is not recommended, 8 GB memory is too little, how many disk drives are you using?

Thanks for the reply. the line that says syncing disks is a line item that appears maybe 3 dozen lines after the initial auto-boot ASCII Freenas menu has left the screen on launch. I'll get a SS of it.

That's bad news about 13 :/ I looked to 10 a few years back for a simple NAS system and financially am not able to upgrade hardware to run it.

 

[trueNASjaws]

That 2nd SS (syncing disks) is the part where it hangs.

If you think FreeNas11 isn't going to be stable on the system, I would be best probably using another NAS solution I wager?

 

[Patrick M. Hausen]

How old is this hardware? How old is the USB drive? Can you upgrade the memory to 16G?

 

[trueNASjaws]

Thank you once again for your help. Here's the age of the system components:
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 870 = 2009
intel DH55TC = 2010
I think it takes DDR3 and only has 2 slots. It looks like the board supports up to 32GB though so that's an option if you think it's a game-changer and it's "only"~ $45 on amazon it would appear. (16GB KIT(2x8GB) DDR3L)

The usb stick is about as old as the system I put together so I'd guess 3y? I THINK I was running freenas10, but it could well have been 9.

Before my original post I was going to attempt to make a new USB boot device (I have another usb stick at work i was going to grab tomorrow ). Based on reading though I think I could screw that up badly and lose years of photos/videos etc.. if I can't get the new USB stick to be recognized as the boot device (given I can't seem to click on many menu settings on the GUI). I've already begun copying everything off the NAS while it's up and running. It's backup anyhow - but I'm doing it just to make sure I don't lose something I missed....

Would it be best blowing away the RED drive and starting fresh on a new USB and formatted HDD for FreeNAS you think? Or should I scrap it altogether and put on a slim version of Ubuntu or something?

 

[Patrick M. Hausen]

FreeNAS/TrueNAS is a perfectly capable and solid storage solution. It's just that FreeNAS 11 was released in May 2017 so three years ago you could not possibly have done a fresh download and install of either FreeNAS 9 or FreeNAS 10 "Corral".

You can always do a fresh install on a different USB drive and import your data pool. FreeNAS/TrueNAS has always used ZFS for the file storage.

And again: do you really have just a single HDD in there?

 

[trueNASjaws]

It definitely wasn't earlier than 2017, so I must have just upgraded from an older version of 11 to 11.3

Just the single HDD. I'll try a different USB stick and import the pool if I could just get the dang gui to respond to my clicking.

The only menu option I can click on and have launch successfully are the Storage submenu items. I'm a bit concerned about getting the new USB stick to import the pool properly because iirc from my reading that's under System and while I can SEE the submenu items there, I can't click on any

 

[Patrick M. Hausen]

This is the fresh installation that does not respond to your clicks?

 

[trueNASjaws]

This is after the upgrade from some days ago. I'm about to sit down and hopefully create a new usb boot device if I can click on the submenu items once NAS is up and running.

 

[Patrick M. Hausen]

Do a fresh installation, you will probably be able to click on all the menu items. Try TrueNAS CORE 13, even if 8 GB is a bit tight. Just do not upgrade your data pool!

 

[trueNASjaws]

I used Rufus to write the NAS13 ISO to a new stick. I'm just copying the last of the data from the NAS drive as backup in case things go sideways. I'll update with more info in about 4h when the last of the folders finishes copying. ty once more for the advice/help

 

[Patrick M. Hausen]

Then you need another new stick to install to. The written ISO just boots the installer, it is not a runnable TrueNAS installation!

 

[trueNASjaws]

d'oh. I thought I read that it was all pared down to a single USB and didn't need 2 anymore, but that could have been talking about the need for redundant NAS USB's running conjointly. Thks for the head's up before I tried it. I still have 2h left on the last copy, it's a tomorrow problem. ty again.