SOLVED FreeNAS/TrueNAS locking up a couple times a day

[darthmongo]

I'm relatively new to Linux, but I've been running FreeNAS for a few years now, mainly as a Plex server. Recently, I've started running into a problem where my system will lockup/freeze at least once per day with no response from the keyboard and no response to pings. Here's my hardware setup:

ASUS motherboard
Ryzen 7 1700 processor
32GB RAM (non-ECC)
GLOTRENDS PCIe 2.0 X4 to SATA III 8 Ports Adapter Card (documentation says it is Linux compatible and has been working fine up until recently)
Six 4TB Seagate Ironwolf drives in a RAID ZPOOL-2 config
OS installed to a Samsung EVO M.2 SSD

I was running 11.3-U4.1. I decided to try reinstalling the OS and reconfiguring from scratch in case the backup brought something "bad" from the old system, but I was still getting lockups. I tried reinstalling again with the 12.0 beta (not an upgrade - fresh install), but I came home last night to find it frozen again, rebooted, and it's locked up again this morning. I don't have any plugins installed yet, not even Plex.

I looked at the output of the /var/log/messages file from the last two crashes, and the last line both times before the restart says "<system name> Security policy loaded: MAC/ntpd (mac_ntpd)". I'm attaching screenshots.

I've done some research and found some articles (such as the one I'm noting below) about some issues with Ryzen processors. Is this still an issue? Looking for any ideas here. Thanks in advance!

--darthmongo

 

[pschatz100]

Welcome to the forum.

In the first case, there is something you need to understand... FreeNAS is built on FreeBSD. FreeBSD is not Linux. Just because a device runs on Linux does not mean that it will run well on FreeBSD. Now that the disclaimer is out of the way...

To be clear, your problems started when you built a new system, correct? I would double check all your cables and make certain they are seated properly. Some folks have had issues with sata cables and add-in sata cards.

What is your motherboard? Do you have the latest bios installed? If yes, you might try disabling advanced power management: C-states. If you can control them, try setting the max C-state to C3. I have seen posts about users having stability issues with Ryzen processors when they enter C6 (Deep power down).

Was the Glotrends adapter working OK in your previous build? If these other ideas do not help, I would remove the hard drives and Glotrends adapter card to see if that makes any difference. If it does, then you know there is an issue

Good luck.

 

[darthmongo]

Welcome to the forum.

In the first case, there is something you need to understand... FreeNAS is built on FreeBSD. FreeBSD is not Linux. Just because a device runs on Linux does not mean that it will run well on FreeBSD. Now that the disclaimer is out of the way...

To be clear, your problems started when you built a new system, correct? I would double check all your cables and make certain they are seated properly. Some folks have had issues with sata cables and add-in sata cards.

What is your motherboard? Do you have the latest bios installed? If yes, you might try disabling advanced power management: C-states. If you can control them, try setting the max C-state to C3. I have seen posts about users having stability issues with Ryzen processors when they enter C6 (Deep power down).

Was the Glotrends adapter working OK in your previous build? If these other ideas do not help, I would remove the hard drives and Glotrends adapter card to see if that makes any difference. If it does, then you know there is an issue

Good luck.

Hi, pschatz100. Thanks for the warm welcome. To clarify, no, the problems didn't start when I built a new system. I had been running FreeNAS for a while on this box, since the release of version 11.2, I think. It was rock solid for about a year or so, but at some point, it just started freezing on a regular basis. I reinstalled the OS to rule out anything corrupted in there, and then did a fresh install of the 12.0 beta. I did try reseating cables and all that (first thing I did), and even replaced a few that looked like they were "aging".

I found my mobo is specifically an ASUS ROG STRIX B450-E. The BIOS is fully up to date, and yes, the Glotrends adapter was always working fine, and no problems have been reported in FreeNAS with the pool. I did try booting from a couple of different Linux Live distros (Kubuntu, CentOS, for example), and not all of the drives were detected, whereas Windows (server and client) picked them all up in setup. I thought that was interesting, since, as I said earlier, this card is "supposed" to have Linux support (and yes, I do understand that FreeBSD is a different beast than Linux). So, a new card may be next on my upgrade list for this thing.

Took me a while, but I did find the C-state setting in the mobo's BIOS. The only options are "Auto", "Enabled", and "Disabled" - no other configurations are available, so I've completely disabled that setting. I'll see what kind of effect that has over the next few days.

Thanks for the suggestion! I'll keep you posted.

--Aaron

 

[pschatz100]

As that motherboard is a gaming motherboard, it is going to have a number of features that are not useful for a NAS. I would disable them in the bios: Audio, USB 3.1 support, WiFi, and any acceleration - run everything at stock speeds. This will help minimize potential problems.

 

[darthmongo]

The memory/CPU is running at stock speed (I'm not a fan of overclocking). Good idea to disable the extras (audio, USB 3.1, etc.). I'll do that next, but I want to leave this thing running for a few more days to test how its doing after disabling the c-state setting. So far, it made it through the night without a lockup. **fingers crossed**

 

[darthmongo]

Been a couple of weeks now and no lockups, so thanks, everyone! I think this is resolved.

 

[pschatz100]

That's great. Please mark the thread "Solved".