Doesn't connect to network, can't connect monitor

[matthewp]

My FreeNAS was working fine, but now when I start it, it never shows up in the network and if I connect a monitor the monitor doesn't show anything, doesn't recognize that it is connected. What could be the problem?

 

[gpsguy]

bad/broken cable, bad NIC, ... I'd start by replacing the cable.

Does FreeNAS boot to the Console Setup Menu? If not, perhaps your boot device is bad. If so, reinstall FreeNAS and restore your configuration file.

 

[matthewp]

I don't know what it does, connecting a monitor doesn't work. All the lights appear to be on and the fan is running. It appears to be "fine" from the outside, but like I said without being able to connect a monitor what can I even do?

 

[matthewp]

Is there some special trigger to turn on VGA? I have no idea why the monitor isn't working, it's very frustrating.

 

[Ericloewe]

Start by telling us your hardware, so that we don't have to blindly guess.

 

[matthewp]

Oh, right, sorry. I have a FreeNAS Mini. Like a month and a half old. I really doubt there's hardware failure, probably just user failure.

 

[Ericloewe]

Let's do this in parts then:

IIRC, there may be a VGA enable jumper. I'd expect iX to set it to ON, but you never know. For now, let's assume it's off:

• Connect one of the main LAN ports with a known-good cable to a known-good port and see if you can access FreeNAS.
  
• If that doesn't work, connect the IPMI LAN port with a known-good cable to a known-good port. It should acquire an address via DHCP. Try to access the IPMI GUI via your browser. If that works and you can get video, we'll work from there.

 

[cyberjock]

You should be able to plug in a monitor and it "just work".

If you plug the monitor in, power on the Mini, and nothing ever shows up on the Mini, something is broken with the hardware.

As a backup to the monitor you can try IPMI like what ericloewe said above.

 

[matthewp]

The problem is we are dealing with things that there are only 1 of. It's 2015 and like everyone else I moved past monitors and network cables 10 years ago. So I have 1 monitor, 1 computer that takes a monitor (the Mini), 1 vga cable. So it's hard to verify that something like a network cable to be known-good.

I did try a second network cable and no-go. I only have the one vga so I can't try swapping that out (and I purchased it a month and a half ago just for this. Could possibly be the monitor, I guess, it's old but I'd rather not spend $150 on something I'm going to use a total of 1 time.

This whole situation really bums me out. It's frustrating to work with headless computers that you can't diagnose easily.

 

[matthewp]

What is a "IPMI LAN port"? This is new to me.

 

[danb35]

If this is a FreeNAS Mini, shouldn't he be contacting IXSystems directly for support?

 

[Ericloewe]

What is a "IPMI LAN port"? This is new to me.

You have three LAN ports. One is for IPMI only, one can be shared and one is only for the "real" system.

http://www.asrockrack.com/general/productdetail.asp?Model=C2750D4I#Specifications

The IPMI LAN port is the one above the USB ports.

 

[pirateghost]

If this is a FreeNAS Mini, shouldn't he be contacting IXSystems directly for support?

This.

There are reasons one buys a prebuilt appliance. This situation is exactly one of those reasons

 

[matthewp]

Thanks everyone, I will call IXSystems then.

 

[cyberjock]

Thanks everyone, I will call IXSystems then.

Put in a ticket a support.freenas.org. Mention this thread and I'll see if I can help you. ;)

 

[matthewp]

@cyberjock Thanks, I did put in a support ticket but did not see this post until just now.

Unfortunately I've confirmed that the monitor is not broken, I've plugged it into another computer and it works. So something is either wrong with the Mini's video card or worse. :(

 

[jrk]

@matthewp Did you ever get this issue resolved? I am experiencing the same thing with a FreeNAS mini. I have tried different cables, monitors, and nothing works. The FreeNAS mini starts with the lights for the drives and the fan on, but I cannot connect via monitor, or network.

 

[Ericloewe]

Maybe you should direct your research towards newer threads: https://www.ixsystems.com/community...erboard-clock-signal-issue.50582/#post-349195

C2000 boards, including the one used in the FreeNAS Mini, have insane failure rates after a few years of use (thanks, Intel!). You should be able to get yours replaced by iXsystems.