Hanging at "Verifying Pool Data" when drives plugged into M1015?

[the_freenas_noob]

Hi All,

I have recently completed a new build for my FreeNAS system, with the following specs:

Gigabyte 78LMT-USB3 motherboard
8GB DDR3
M1015 Raid card (flashed to IT mode)
AMD FX6100 6-core CPU
6x 1TB HDDs (configured for RAIDZ1)

The problem is this: if I have any drives plugged into the M1015 card at boot, the system hangs at "verifying DMI pool data...". If I remove the drives from the bays, boot the system with the 4 drives connected to the MoBo's SATA ports, then plug the drives into the M1015 bays, it works as expected.

My thinking is that the DMI pool is set based on me not having any drives plugged into the SAS port, but I can't find any way of forcing a reset of the DMI pool in the BIOS. I'm trying to avoid a manual workaround (like plugging the drives in/out like I am now) as this will prevent me from adding additional drives in the future.

I'm somewhat at a loss, as I've tried ust about every BIOS setting I can think of to get around this, but just can't seem to get it working. I've also re-imaged my FreeNAS USB several times incase that was causing the issue, but to no avail.

Any help on where to go to resolve this would be greatly appreciated!

 

[cyberjock]

Is your M1015 flashed to the same firmware version as the driver FreeNAS is using? FreeNAS 9.2.1.x uses v16.

Have you checked for BIOS updates?

Have you tried a RAM test? Not too likely to be the problem, but with non-ECC RAM you never know.

Not to bust your balls, but your motherboard doesn't have the attributes we look for in good FreeNAS hardware. Read our stickies in the hardware section of the forums and you'll see what I mean. You may encounter problems with that build in the future, and you definitely won't be using ECC RAM.

AMD based boards have their own special kind of "fail". Not sure what the problem is, but AMDs just don't seen to work as often as Intel boards.

Gigabyte makes great desktop boards(I use them in every desktop I own). But I'd never ever build a server out of them. Desktop boards are great for desktops. If you want a server you should use server parts. It's all about the right tool for the job.

 

[Starpulkka]

If you can you should return that gigabyte board to store and change motherboard brand what can use in ecc memorys (gigabyte is crap). Even better sell those parts and save more money on summer and buy intel xeon ecc machine.. As for supermicro boards im not permitted to say anything info at time being.

As for m1015 heres more info on where get updates http://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/ibm-m1015-boot-problem.17686/

 

[the_freenas_noob]

Cyberjock - Thanks for the info. Cost was a big contributing factor here (bang for the buck made me go for AMD & the Gigabyte board), so I'm trying to work with what I have at this point. I was originally planning to use some much older hardware, but ran into issues, so I upgraded to this, hence I didn't have much budget.

In terms of the problem, it's an odd one - I've tried resetting the CMOS (removed the battery for a couple of minutes, and confirmed it was reset), which didn't help the situation (I thought it would have). I have also confirmed that I am using the p16 firmware for my M1015.

Trading in the board isn't a great option for me (not least because it will take several days to get one), so if anyone can shed any light on this, it would be hugely appreciated!

 

[the_freenas_noob]

I managed to get this resolved - it appears it was independent of the motherboard, and was a problem with the M1015 setup.

When I flashed to the p16 firmware, it appears that the default is to have no removable media support, and to attempt to boot from the connected HDDs (which obviously aren't bootable in this setup).

When I changed these settings, it moved past the problem. Thanks for your help!

 

[Butter]

I know im reviving a 5 year old thread but this helped me a lot after running into this issue on a gigabyte mobo I was using as a platform to flash an LSI HBA I had. I wanted to make sure the_freenas_noob's solution is clear for anyone who found this thread via a google search like I did. After entering the HBA pre boot config utility and selecting your HBA there is an option for boot support. For my purposes I selected Enabled by OS only, see below screen shot;

After setting this option I was able to get past the hang at "Verifying DMI pool data". I also did not run into any issues after transfering the card to my IBM x3550 M3. Also as a side note dont be alarmed if the LSI card does not see disks on boot I belive this is normal as OS only prevents the BIOS from managing/detecting the disks. After Freenas booted It was able to use the disk inserted into my Dell MD1220.