SOLVED FreeNAS reboots on startup

[kryten]

Hi,

We have been using FreeNAS successfully on a test rig with a Core 2 Duo and ASUS P5K based motherboard and we recently moved on to what is going to be a permanent installation - an ASUS Z9PE-D8 WS motherboard and dual Xeon 2600 series CPUs. After migrating the old system to a new boot SSD, the system reboots itself on startup with the last logged item being

Code:

acpi_button 0: <Power Button> on acpi0

No error messages whatsoever are logged.
We have eliminated the boot disk as the source of the problem as boot CDs behave exactly the same. FreeNAS versions 9.10.2, 11u4 and 11.1 were all tested. We also tried FreeBSD 11.1 and that boots up fine.

Can anyone give any suggestions on what the issue might be due to and what bios settings, kernel parameters etc. we may try?

 

[Nick2253]

It looks like there's some kind of power button interrupt. My guess is that there is some kind of defective in the buttons or the wiring. I would disconnect the power and reset buttons from the front panel header, and power on the device using what appears to be the onboard power/reset buttons for testing (based on what I can see in the pictures). If those are not actually buttons, you can bridge the power button pins with a screwdriver or paperclip to start the machine.

I know you said that FreeBSD boots up, so I'm not really 100% on board with this being the problem, but that would be my obvious conclusion based on that log line.

 

[wblock]

That message is just a normal ACPI detection message shown on boot. ASUS motherboards can sometimes be a problem. Updating to the latest BIOS is worth a try. It's also not clear what "migrating" means in this case. If the old boot media was binary-copied, don't do that. Instead, back up the configuration, install FreeNAS on the new boot media, and restore the config.

 

[kryten]

Thanks for all your replies. It is a new installation with plans to load in the configuration. The BIOS is the latest version. Unfortunately disconnecting the power/reset buttons didn't work. Disabling ACPI in the bootloader also does not work as it results in a kernel panic. As for the console logs, it appears that the acpi line isn't the last (it also logs a message about the Nuvoton chip, it didn't show up on the video we recorded because the text goes by in a flash). What we are aiming to do is get a full boot dump through the serial port but haven't quite managed to get it fully working so I shall post the log in the coming days.

 

[kryten]

Just to follow up.
It appears that the culprit is the wbwd module (winbond watchdog). The last logged message before it reboots is loading this module. FreeBSD apparently does not load it automatically but when you do manually from the console, the machine reboots instantly. We have found a way to stop it from loading on booting FreeNAS and it starts up ok.
Will the lack of this module cause any issues with FreeNAS? The only thing I can think of is some diagnostic data such as temperature and fan speed would be unavailable.

 

[Joop Worst]

Unbelievable! I have the exact same issue. I put together the system today, and it just shuts down and cycles power. This didn't happen with older versions of FreeNAS, version 9 or below. The same setup, also with a Asus Z9PE-D8 WS, using version 9.3.1, booted up just fine. My question is: How did you manage to stop winbond watchdog from starting and therefore not crashing the machine? Your help would be much appreciated.

 

[kryten]

What we did to fix the issue is edit the file /boot/device.hints and add the following line:

Code:

hint.wbwd.0.disabled="1"

 

[Joop Worst]

Hi! thanks for your help! I made the iso bootable using Rufus and after that I added the line above to the hints file. Now it does not crash but it hangs trying gain access to the base image file on the USB stick. Did you have the same issue or did you use a different method of adding the line to hints file of the FreeNAS ISO.

 

[kryten]

I passed the mentioned command as a kernel parameter to the boot media, I only edited the device.hints file on the installed system. If I am not mistaken you press '2' on the boot menu screen and then type 'set' and the parameter and then 'boot'. I had no further issues installing or running the system.

 

[Joop Worst]

I am going to try the same. I have an SSD with a FreeNAS version 9.3 installed. The one that came out of the system I am trying to migrate to the Asus motherboard. How do manage to pass your command as a kernel parameter? Do I edit the device.hints file on the old system that worked?, so start it up on the old system, make the filesystem writeable, change device.hints, and then plug it into the Asus system? And if you what commands do I perform exactly. Or did you do it using another method. I have been struggling with this for days now :)

How did you edit the device.hints file on the installed system?

 

[kryten]

As I explained in my last post, I installed FreeNAS from an installation media, once on the boot menu it gives, I added the kernel parameter in order to perform the installation and once done, booted the newly installed system again with the kernel parameter in order to edit the devices.hints file. I did not modify the ISO file in any way.

 

[Joop Worst]

Sorry for me being very unfamiliar with kernel parameters etc. This is the first time I have to deal with this. I understand that you did not alter the iso file in any way. So let me break it down into small steps. You downloaded the latest FreeNAS ISO file from the website, put it on a USB drive unmodified. You set off installing FreeNAS on the SSD of the Asus system.

Now I see the Grub menu where it lets you choose between normal FreeNAS installer or the one with serial enabled.
In order to edit the commands I press 'e'. I add: set kFreeBSD.hint.wbwd.0.disabled="1" I have added this line to the bottom of the screen.
I press F10 to boot. The system still power cycles. What did I do wrong..

*** EDIT*** succes, I have put the line higher up and now it works using a CD. This is just fantastic!

And if I get this done and am able to install the system and boot back into it using the same kernel parameter, how do I edit the hints.device file. I have no clue... Sorry all these very new be questions.

 

[kryten]

I'm glad it works. I seem to have omitted a closing quotation mark in the parameter line.
As for editing the file, you can use the included ee text editor:

Code:

ee /boot/device.hints

Have in mind that the text editor is a bit tricky to use but you'll have to read up on using it yourself (keyboard shortcuts etc.)
Also bear in mind that the device.hints file gets overwritten sometimes, often when you install OS updates. You will have to then boot with the parameter again and edit the file again.

 

[lunajrq]

Hi, sorry for digging up this thread. I have the exact same set up and similiar problem. But it seems the fix didn’t work in my situation.
Configuration:
Asus Z9PE-D16
2 * E5-2630v4
2 * 16g Kingston ddr3 ecc ram
Corsair TX850
Kingston A400 120G
FreeNAS 11.1 which is the latest stable version
I disabled the OS Watchdog Timer in Bios.
I also tried to add the line in device.hints which didn’t fix the problem.

FreeNAS boots and after around 4-5 minutes, it restarts. ( the machine just go black screen and reboot)
The event log on bios have an entry says watchdog 2, hard reset, interrupt type: None, timer use at exception: SMS/OS, record type: 0x02, Assertion event, channel number 0x00.
And sometimes it’s
Hard reset, record type 0x02, assertion event, channel number 0x00.

It seems the problem is a motherboard related issue. I did some research for the last two day and didn’t find much on this motherboard. I’m hoping I could get some help here.

By the way, the system used to be on windows 7, which works just fine. I have some experience with server board ( I have a 2 * E5-2696v4 server myself). Could you give me some hint about what the problem might be or how to diagnose this issue. Thanks.

 

[Glen01]

Hey lunajrq, I am having the sames issues as well. I was able to get the installer to run with the updated device hint on the installer. But now I cannot get it to boot. I have gone into the grub and made the temporary boot option change to have the code right before the kFreeBSD.hint.achiem.0.disabled="1".

Code:

	SET kFreeBSD.hint.wbwd.0.disabled="1"
	SET kFreeBSD.hint.achiem.0.disabled="1"	(Already there)

This actually booted into the FreeNas, but the issue I don't know how to permanently save that into the boot parameters. So each reboot I have to manually add that back in.

 

[Joop Worst]

Hey lunajrq, I am having the sames issues as well. I was able to get the installer to run with the updated device hint on the installer. But now I cannot get it to boot. I have gone into the grub and made the temporary boot option change to have the code right before the kFreeBSD.hint.achiem.0.disabled="1".

Code:

	SET kFreeBSD.hint.wbwd.0.disabled="1"
	SET kFreeBSD.hint.achiem.0.disabled="1"	(Already there)

This actually booted into the FreeNas, but the issue I don't know how to permanently save that into the boot parameters. So each reboot I have to manually add that back in.

This will permanently add the kernel parameter. So after these steps you don't have to add the line you have stated above.

- When booted into Freenas open shell or log into freenas using SSH.
- in CLI type: ee /boot/device.hints (ee is a primitive text editor program)
- in ee type: hint.wbwd.0.disabled="1" (and save)
- Now reboot and your system will startup and not crash when trying to load watchdog.

 

[Glen01]

You are awesome Joop Thanks!

 

[Joop Worst]

You are awesome Joop Thanks!

Don't thank me! Thank the topic starter. He's the one who figured it all out. But its nice to see someone using this strange MB.

 

[Chris Moore]

nano should be available also

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Tapatalk

 

[xeonzen]

I have a similar issue on my Dell R710. The installer gets to the boot menu but after I press option 1 to install it starts loading the installer and then the server reboots. There is a bunch of text that it scrolls through before the reboot but it is too fast to make out.

I tried the fix in this thread but it doesn't seem like the hint file is the same in FreeNAS 11.2-release ISO.

is there a way to disable reboot on failure? so i can see the message? I am open to suggestions.....FreeNAS 11.1-U6 installs and works find.