Recovering Configuration After Hard Drive Swap

[joeschmuck]

No problems, those are frequently asked questions.

The ECC Mode is how aggressive the MB will validate all the RAM over a period of time. From what I have discovered through research the Good setting will ensure all your RAM is checked at least once in a 24 hour period. I made an assumption that was based on the maximum allowed RAM for the system and since I only have 16GB, I figure my RAM is checked several times a day. If you set this to Max, there is a possibility your system will slow down since it will be spending it's time checking the RAM constantly. So, the Good setting is what I recommend.

The issue about your drives and you trying to create a pool with them and one not showing up. Please specify the drive sizes and also how you wanted to configure them for use. Also, it's been a while so I may need to go play on a virtual machine but I thought the GUI handled different sized drives properly.

So you MB didn't come with a speaker? Well some companies are getting cheap. I would do the following...

Please list all parts you purchased (use actual part numbers on the boxes/packaging), including the case if you purchased one of those.

If you have your MB mounted in a case, remove it from the case. Ensure there are no issues with mounting and no standoffs not being used. Sometimes a standoff doesn't line up with a mounting hole on the MB and it will short things out. There are a lot of tings which can go wrong when building a computer, most of them are by people not being sensitive to how easy it is to damage a component. I'm not saying that is your situation but I don't know you so I have to assume the worse.

Other things you can do...
1) Disconnect everything from the MB except the following:
a) Video Monitor
b) Keyboard (How is this connected, USB or PS2)
c) 24 Pin power cable
d) 4 Pin CPU power cable
e) CPU Fan (you can remove this one, just don't leave the system running without it on for any period of time)

2) Remove all but 1 RAM DIMM chip, it doesn't matter which slot it is in, and actually ensure it's installed well.

3) Using a paperclip or other conducting instrument, briefly short together the PANEL Header pins PWRSW (PWR & Ground on page 1-25). This should turn the power supply on and the "SB_PWR" LED on the MB should light up and hopefully some video action occurs. If this works, install the MB back into the case and try again. Take things one step at a time and connect the drives last.

4) If you see nothing happen, verify the power supply came on, you can use a multimeter or just plug a hard drive into the SATA power connector to see if it spins up.

5) If it's still dead and you believe your PS is good, well it's time to check the CPU, the last thing anyone should do. Pull that thing off and verify with some good eyes tht there are no bent pins. Also make sure you installed it in the correct orientation. They are not tricky but when I install one, I use virtually zero force to put them into the socket. If you find a bent pin, take your time correcting the error. I mean move it very slowly so it does not break off. If it takes you 2 minutes to straighten 1 pin, that is fine. The wire isn't really that fragle except if there was a sharp bend, then it's an issue that needs to be corrected slowly. Yes, I've been down this path a very long long time ago. I just hope it's not your CPU. If you find nothing wrong, then the problem is likely your CPU or MB, or both. I don't thing the MB will respond if there is no CPU installed.

Once you get a speaker connected (it can be any speaker or headphones), post the beep sequence if there is one. Here is the beep codes for ASUS.

-Mark

 

[William Bryan]

Hi Mark,

Thanks for you response.

I took all the drives back out, wrote down the serial number and put them back in, keeping track of where they are in the bay. I reconnected the cables and fired it up with the old MB. This time all my drives were taken into the volume, so the only thing I can assume is it was a cabling problem. Who knows, may have been a human induced problem. Not sure why it would recognize them initially, but not use the one, other than there was a connection, but it was faulty.

I used a manual configuration on the drives. I clicked on the storage tab at the top, selected Volume Manager, and then clicked on Manual setup. I named the volume, highlighted all the drives, selected RAIDz2, and clicked on Add Volume. Same process this time.

I tried powering up the MB as you suggested. Nothing. I checked the CPU and the pins look good. I have decided to replace the MB. I'm gambling this is the problem. Either it was bad to begin with, or the PSU fried it. Years ago I was careless and destroyed a brand new graphics card with a static charge. I make sure all my work is done on a non-static surface.

Once the new one comes in I'll be sure and configure it the ECC to "Good".

The new MB should be in the first part of next week, so we'll see what happens.

Bill

 

[William Bryan]

Seems I spoke too soon about the hard drive. One of the new drives is now having error counts. I bet this is the one that would show up initially, but not be selected for the volume. It must have squeaked past this time.

 

[gpsguy]

What do you mean by "manually"? You should be able to use the "manual setup" option in the volume manager. You shouldn't do it manually from the CLI. Some people try to take a shortcut here and find they don't do it the way FreeNAS expects it to be done.

I had to manually create a new volume, because not all my drives are the same size.

I also have the same motherboard in my primary Windows desktop. For it, I reused an older case and power supply. As I recall, I had some problems with it running for a few minutes and then shutting down. I put a nice Seasonic power supply in it and haven't had any problems since.

 

[William Bryan]

I should have written "manual setup".

I tried the new motherboard with the original power supply and the replacement for the new power supply. Nothing on either case. I'm using the replacement power supply to power the old MB for now while I try to configure things. It seems to be working fine. Not to say the new MB just doesn't like this PSU.

 

[joeschmuck]

I guess you could have got a lemon MB, it does happen, same with the hard drive so if you can return the hard drive to where you purchased it from for an exchange then that would solve that problem.

As for connecting the hard drives up to the SATA ports, you do not need to maintain a specific arrangement, FreeNAS doesn't care.

Once you do get a system which is operational ensure that you run Memtest on it for at least one full day (24 hours). You can also run a CPU burn in test but only run something like that for 2 hours (personal recommendation). There is no situation where your CPU will ever use 50% of it's capacity if it's the same hardware I have. I rarely hit 20%. I almost feel that I could get away with just a large passive heat sink on the CPU, but I'm not going to risk it. The CPU fan is so quiet that I can't hear it.

As for configuring things... You could completely configure your system using the old MB, meaning that you setup FreeNAS, your hard drives, all your software configuration. Save the configuration file (not a required step but a smart one). When your new system finally becomes operational hardware (after burn-in testing) then you just move over the USB flash boot device and the hard drives, configure the BIOS to boot from the USB Flash Drive (for this MB it must be done after all the drives and USB flash device are attached) and then FreeNAS will boot. The last step is to configure the USB port for your UPS to ensure the UPS can signal the system to shutdown when needed. Of course you will have to get that hard drive replaced first.

 

[William Bryan]

For Memtest and the CPU burn in test are you attaching it to a drive loaded with Windows?

 

[joeschmuck]

Nope, these are self booting programs. Do a google search fro Memtest 86.

 

[William Bryan]

Duh!!! I knew that. I've used Memtest86 before. If I am remembering correctly now, it only tests one stick at a time..

 

[danb35]

No, it tests all system memory.

 

[joeschmuck]

yup, it will display if the RAM is ECC and test it all out. Run it at least 3 full test passes or 24 hours, whichever is longer.

 

[William Bryan]

I must have used an older version. I had some bad memory awhile back and ran it several times on my machine. It didn't detect a problem. At the recommendation of the IT guy where I worked, I pulled the RAM out and ran each one individually. It then identified the bad stick.

 

[William Bryan]

I switched to a 2.0 USB port and it starts. For someone who doesn't know what I'm doing, I think I'm better off leaving well enough alone! LOL

So I have the hardware running. I'm using the same USB drive I used with the old motherboard. Now I when I try to boot up I get a "mountroot" error. Is there an easy way to fix this? When I enter "?" I get a line of GEOM managed disk devices.

I'm starting a new post so hopefully others will see.

 

[joeschmuck]

Good idea to start another posting because I have no idea what the issue could be. I would recommend that you use a new USB flash and install the current FreeNAS to it, then restore your backup config file.