I'm New and have a Problem - Loading /boot/defaults/loader.conf

[StewLayzell]

Hi All,

Im new to the forum and also new to FreeNas.

A friend was kind enough to help build me a HP Micro Server which has FreeNas installed on.

Everything has been working fine until i unplugged the unit for an evening. When i re-plugged the machine in i noticed that my WDTV did not pick up the Server details.

I have plugged the server into the TV to see whats happening and it looks like its stopped working.

The last message is:
FreeBSD/x86 bootstrap loader, revision 1.1
(root@build.ixsystems.com, Wed Apr 3 15:39:05 PDT 2013)
Loading /boot/defaults/loader.conf

Now as mentioned i am completely new to all this and my friend is unsure how to resolve this issue.

I have quite a few pictures on the server which have not been backed up so I'm really hoping that i will be able to get these off.

Any help with this would be AMAZING.

Many Thanks
Stewart

 

[Ericloewe]

What's the hardware, specifically?

Sounds like a FUBARed install. Just reinstall FreeNAS, upload the config and it should hopefully be fixed.

 

[StewLayzell]

Hi Eirc,

Many thanks for your reply.

Its a HP ProLiant MicroServer
4 x 2000gb Hard Drive
2 x 4gb Ram

Sorry for probably sounding dumb now.
But do you mean i just need to reload the FreeNas software onto a USB drive, plug into the Server and then just re configure the server?
I'm not sure what you mean by upload the config file ? does this come with the installation.

Like i mentioned before i have never used or have any knowledge of FreeNas or Servers. Im very much as dumb as they get :)

I have tried turning the machine on this morning and I'm now prompted with :
This is a FreeNas data disk and can not boot system. System halted

Again any help would be amazing.

Thanks
Stewart

 

[Ericloewe]

But do you mean i just need to reload the FreeNas software onto a USB drive, plug into the Server and then just re configure the server?

That's pretty much it. Careful not to install FreeNAS on a data drive.

For future reference, you're supposed to keep a backup of the config file so that you don't have to set everything up from scratch.

 

[StewLayzell]

Eric, Cheers for all your help with this.

When i re-install the software i need to recover the data on the 4 drives. Is that possible ?

Your not the first person to mention the backup process. If i can get the server back to working order that will be the first thing i do.

 

[gpsguy]

Yes, after you reinstall FreeNAS on a flash drive, you'll be able to "import" your existing volume. In v9.3 it's import - in previous versions the feature is called auto import. Check the volumes section of the documentation.


Sent from my phone

 

[teddysim]

Hi Stew,

Eric has pretty well covered what you need to do. One Other thing I can think of is the possibility of your usb drive losing its priority as a boot device. If you (or your friend) can confirm that the usb drive is your primary boot device that would eliminate that factor.

 

[StewLayzell]

Hi All,

Many thanks for all the replies.
Having checked the boot sequence it is showing the USB as number one.

Just double checking before i go ahead and start doing the reinstall, does it matter that i won't be installing the same version of FreeNas.
i have just downloaded the latest version FreeNas 9.3 onto a new USB stick and was going to use that. Is that ok.

Thanks
Stewart

 

[Ericloewe]

Depends on what the old version was. Ideally, you'll want to fix the problem before updating to 9.3. If it was 9.2.1.6 or later, it should be unproblematic.

 

[_CJ_]

Hi All,

I'm the guy who built installed and configured Freenas for Stew a longggg time ago!
The original build was a 8.0.X version (If I remember correctly)... I think it was the first version to have the Terminal window built into the web GUI!

It was installed with a basic ZFS volume over the 4x internal drives and I'd like to attempt to recover the data/volume.
Is it likely that a 9.X.X version will find/identify the ZFS volume from 8.0.X on importing? Or would I be better off trying to recover with the oldest version I can find (currently 8.2.0 on this site)

The key objective for me is getting his volume/data back in the first instance, I'm not concerned with the system config/permissions/shares etc etc
If I can get the volume with the data intact I will just create a root volume share and chmod 777 the whole volume to access and recover the data.

Sadly this is a hard lesson learned and some of the data cannot be replaced so any advice would be very much appreciated.
Thanks
CJ

 

[Ericloewe]

Ok, that should work, assuming the data is intact and assuming the system meets the minimum requirements (particularly, 8GB of RAM). If we're talking about 6GB, an older, 8.something version is probably safer. Anything less and I strongly urge you to have at least the 8GB of RAM before proceeding.

Once the system is up again, try to autoimport the pool.

 

[_CJ_]

The hardware hasn't changed but for some strange reason it just suddenly will not boot following the last power down.

The original spec is a HP microserver with 8Gb RAM and Freenas 8.0.x installed on a USB Key the Data volume is 4x 2TB Hdds in a single ZFS volume.
I plan to just change out the USB key and perform a new clean install of Freenas. I'm then hopeful it will find/detect the original ZFS volume on the physical HDD's? I think that's the only hope I have of recovering the Data on that volume.

 

[Ericloewe]

Sounds like a plan.