FreeNAS won't boot after NIC failed

[MLDisAnoob]

First post - please be gentle!

I recently had the onboard NIC fail on an HP Microserver N54L which had been running FreeNAS 9.10-STABLE. After the NIC failed, the server would not reboot (into FreeNAS). I get the same error every time I try to boot to FreeNAS. A screenshot is attached with all I can see on the screen. Everything earlier passes by too quickly to see any other output. I have successfully installed the full version of FreeBSD and it is running fine now. However, I would really like to get FreeNAS up and running again, as it was much easier to work with.

I have tried:
-Turning off onboard NIC in the BIOS. This does nothing (it seems) and the lights stay on solid on the failed NIC as well as the network connection light on the server (even with no cable plugged in).
-Resetting all BIOS settings to default
-Installing new NIC (works fine with FreeBSD)
-Booting with old USB stick install of FreeNAS - error screen
-Booting with new USB stick install (different USB drive) of FreeNAS created on another machine - error screen
-Booting to USB install image to try to create a new FreeNAS installation - error screen

Hardware:
HP Microserver N54L
16GB ECC RAM
5x1TB HDD
3 different known-good USB sticks (8GB, 16GB, and 32GB)

FWIW, the dmesg output on the FreeBSD installation has the same lines as the top part of the screenshot output, but does not get the "fatal trap". Also I don't understand how both FreeBSD and FreeNAS even see the NIC when it is disabled in the BIOS...

Anyone have any ideas that might help me?

TIA,
MLD

 

[joeschmuck]

Interesting problem, sorry you are having it. So you have disabled the onboard NIC completely in the BIOS. If I had your system then I'm sure I'd have some specified recommendation but right now you should try to disable all your extra unused motherboard hardware in BIOS. Also, does your motherboard have jumpers to enable/disable the onboard NIC controller?

Have you run Memtest86 yet? You may have more problems than you think. The good thing is your data should be fine.

 

[MLDisAnoob]

Thanks for the reply, and sorry for the delay in getting back. To answer your questions:
- Motherboard does not have jumpers to disable onboard NIC
- Memtest86 runs all the way through with no errors

I was able to get all of my data off by importing the zpool into a full FreeBSD installation, and SCPing the data to another server. I tried installing NAS4Free, which also failed. Currently running NexentaStor CE, but am having really bad transfer speeds and frankly just don't like it as well as FreeNAS. I'd really like to get it reinstalled. Thinking about installing ESXi and trying FreeNAS in a VM, but am concerned about transfer speeds with that as well. Maybe the 10-Beta will work... Anyone have any other suggestions?