GUI Upgrade from 8.2.0 to 9.1.1

[darrenbest]

I'm attempting an upgrade for my FreeNAS box, currently "FreeNAS-8.2.0-RELEASE-p1-x64 (r11950)". According to the documentation, I should use "GUI_upgrade.txz", as my current build is from version 8.2.0-BETA3 to 9.1.0. I downloaded "FreeNAS-9.1.1-RELEASE-x64.GUI_Upgrade.txz" from the download page, and confirmed that the SHA256 hash matched exactly.

I went to System -> Settings -> Advanced -> Firmware Update. After Step 2, the message "Error: the firmware is invalid" was displayed.

Any suggestions? I really don't want to go the CD-ROM method, as the box does not have a monitor or keyboard attached and getting underneath to plug in the monitor is a painful proposition. Thanks in advance.

 

[pirateghost]

you need to update to 8.3.x first before you can go to 9.x

 

[darrenbest]

So..... the official documentation is incorrect? Is this known and confirmed, and if so why has does the doc say what it says? (The documentation *specifically* says I can upgrade directly to 9.1.1 using "GUI_upgrade" as long as my current build is no older than 8.2.0-BETA3.)

Not that I don't trust you. I appreciate it that you replied and are trying to help. But now I'm confused as to how to proceed. The download page has another "GUI_upgrade" package for 8.3.1, so you're saying I should try that, then follow the same procedure for 9.1.1?

Are there any other known errors in the documentation I need to worry about? Thanks.

 

[darrenbest]

Ok, I downloaded "FreeNAS-8.3.2-RELEASE-x64.GUI_Upgrade.txz", again confirming that the SHA-256 hash matched exactly.

And again, I got the message "Error: the firmware is invalid".

So, am I doing something wrong, or does this happen regularly? Am I doomed to upgrading via the CD-ROM? Can I expect similar "invalid" firmware issues when I try to upgrade that way?

Thanks for any input.

 

[warri]

All I can say is that it never happened to me and we don't get a lot of reports in the forums either. If you don't want to go through the hassle of upgrading via CD, you can just use the burn IMG method and put it directly on the USB stick. Backup your configuration before upgrading and you can just restore it later.

 

[centex99]

Any updates to this issue? I'm having the same problem.

 

[cyberjock]

Honestly, every person I've dealt with that had an upgrade issue had one of these:

1. Bad USB stick or wrong size for FreeNAS
2. Didn't match the correct SHA-256 to the file they downloaded
3. Didn't download the right file for their situation
4. Didn't meet the system requirements in the manual and therefore the update processes crashed while installing
5. The file was corrupted and they didn't check the SHA-256 against their downloaded file before trying to upload it to their server
6. (and stupidly) downloaded the file(it was corrupted) and since the SHA-256 sum changed, they chose to upload the file to their server and use the new SHA-256 sum. /hangsheadindisgust

Notice how every one of those is user error except a bad USB stick?

That's kind of why these threads are ignored. It's not something I can fix for you a there's plenty of ways for you to get it wrong. If you don't understand what you are doing and just blindly clicking things then you could be doing things wrong that we wouldn't even conceive of you doing(like #6).

Or to use a car analogy, if you are putting oil in the gas tank while claiming to be doing an oil change, how would we ever guess that you were actually making that mistake? It's just unfathomable that you would be *that* incompetent.

If I were you I'd go back to the FreeNAS manual and check out the steps for GUI upgrades and see what you could be doing wrong.

 

[centex99]

I tried using the GUI update (with correct SHA values) to various versions... first 9.2 (which wasn't valid coming from 8.2.0 p1) which said invalid image, I then tried with a legacy image 9.1, then two versions of the 8.3 GUI updates... none of them worked, they all said the same thing... I gave up on that route, backed up my configuration, IMGBURN'd the 9.2 image onto the flash drive, rebooted, restored my configuration, and was back up and running (minus jail/plug-in items of course).

 

[cyberjock]

Well, at least you are on 9.2 now. :)

 

[Sunny Mok]

I got no luck to follow steps in "Using the GUI to Upgrade", and got the same result as darrenbest.

Thank you, warri. The "Burning an IMG File" method works like a charm.

Basically, what I did:

1. Backup the NAS config first as "Preparing for the Upgrade"
2. Backup the image from the USB thumb drive
3. Burn the new FreeNAS image into the USB thumb drive
4. Boot up the NAS server with this USB thumb drive
5. Type in the new root password, and then login
6. Restore the NAS config (System → Settings → General → Upload Config)
7. Reboot the NAS server and wait
8. Type in the new root password, and then login

My volume came back after I restored the NAS config.

Hope to leave a note here can help and give confidence to others as well.

 

[cyberjock]

Please don't resurrect threads from 9 months ago. It's considered poor form.

Thanks.