Upgrading problem - Writes # ( hashtag ) on screen at boot

[peterpkcg]

So here I am again with another problem!
Just went for the upgrade to 8.2.0, tried upgrading through the web-gui. It uploaded just fine and the server rebooted.
I waited and waited...

When it didn't come back online i went and plugged in a monitor to the FreeNas computer.

Normaly when it starts it shows 3 alternatives

F1 FreeNas
F2 FreeNas
F3 Drive (i think...)

And then it automaticly selects F1 and it boots.

Well now it just selects F1 and then it starts printing #
I'll attach a photo for you here.

What do I do now? I've saved the freenas db before the update.
If I have to reinstall FreeNas, will that db-file be able to recover all the shares and the software raid and so on?
So that my files still is in good condition?



Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks //P

 

[Stephens]

So far you're in good shape. Don't experiment too much or you may take a minor situation and turn it into a major one.

1) Selecting the F2 partition should allow you to boot if the USB key is still OK.
2) Boot from the CD and create a new USB key (don't overwrite the one you're using now), load config, and maybe import pool. You should be back up.

 

[peterpkcg]

Thanks Stephens!
I actually didn't follow your instructions all the way. But it gave me some courage.
I opened up the server and installed a cd-drive. Put in another usbdrive and booted up from the installation cd. But then I changed my mind and put my old usb-stick in again. Choose to try the upgrade again, but from the CD. It worked like a charm!

Just had to Auto Import the ZFS-raid and import my config-file and now its up and running again!

Thanks a bunch!

/Peter

 

[bando]

Hi,
first I excuse for my no perfect english.
I have the same problem, but I installed the OS in Hard Disk and that problem occours after the screeshot "remove CD and reboot the system".
What is needed to solve the problem?
Thanks

 

[tjramsey]

This happened to me as well. Upgrading using web GUI from 8.04 to 8.20. For me the problem turned out to be that I misread the doc, and tried the upgrade using the .txz file instead of the correct .xz file (in this case the correct file was FreeNAS-8.2.0-RELEASE-p1-x64.GUI_Upgrade.xz)
(The txz file is for versions 8.2.0-BETA3 and higher; I somehow misread that as 8.03.... DOH!)

My steps to resolve were
1) Boot up
2) When I saw the hash tags (#) printing to the screen I pressed F2 to boot into 8.04
3) Ran the GUI upgrade install using the .xz file instead of the .txz file.

All that said, if I had had an extra USB key, I would have followed Stephens' advice above, but I figured with a backup config, if all had still gone wrong, chances were I could still have followed that advice if my steps didn't work. (also importantly, if worse came to worse, I had my important files elsewhere, as this NAS is mainly for backup.)

Just sharing in case anyone else runs into this.

 

[technoholic]

So far you're in good shape. Don't experiment too much or you may take a minor situation and turn it into a major one.

1) Selecting the F2 partition should allow you to boot if the USB key is still OK.
2) Boot from the CD and create a new USB key (don't overwrite the one you're using now), load config, and maybe import pool. You should be back up.

I have a similar problem after a 8.2 to 8.3 GUI upgrade and was thinking to try rerunning the upgrade procedure from a CD and if that didn't work do a pristine 8.3 install on the original USB stick. I am puzzled by your comment not to overwrite the original USB stick. Why would I want to preserve it if it does not work?

 

[cyberjock]

2 reasons come to mind, but are smart reasons too:

1. If your USB stick is going bad, then using a different one will make the problem go away.
2. You may want some file on your old USB stick. If you overwrite it you definitely won't be able to get any files back.

 

[technoholic]

2 reasons come to mind, but are smart reasons too:

1. If your USB stick is going bad, then using a different one will make the problem go away.
2. You may want some file on your old USB stick. If you overwrite it you definitely won't be able to get any files back.

Good points and well noted. The stick I am using is fairly new, maybe 3 months old, so it should be good. The GUI upgrade ran to partial completion. I say partial because when the system rebooted, it was still at 8.2 and the stick had two partitions with the F1, F2 and F5 boot options but none would boot up again, posting the endless string of #####s. Reasoning that one partition would remain intact if needed and I did have the 8.2 system backed up, I re-ran the upgrade from CD this time as a previous poster did and got the same results. It worked like a charm, this time migrating the database file to the new version and performing the second reboot. Everything came up intact.

I built this system to replace a Windows server and am very happy with it. It outperforms Windows and is more reliable. What could be better? FreeNAS rocks!

I did download and view your FreeNAS guide. Good job and thanks for that. I agree with your comments in the presentation about RTFM. The FreeNAS doc is some of the best I have seen anywhere. Kudos to the entire FreeNAS organization.