Unable to boot - system halted

[stevetuk]

I've been running FreeNAS 8 without any issues for about a year or so. Today I noticed the NAS was unreachable. Plugged in a monitor, rebooted, and the following error was displayed:

This is a freenas data disk and can not boot system. System halted.


I checked the boot sequence in the BIOS and the USB drive (on which FN is installed) is set to first position. I manually selected the USB drive on boot from the boot device menu to double check and I got this error:

Selected boot device not available - strike F1 to retry boot, F2 for setup utility


Has my USB drive died a painful death?
If so, can anyone give me any advice on installing FreeNAS 9 on a new USB pen in a way which will allow me to keep the pools I set up in the old installation so that I don't lose data on the HDDs?

 

[warri]

Just install FreeNAS 9 on a new stick, plug it in and restore your configuration from the GUI. You should be all good to go then.
If you didn't backup your configuration, the pool should auto-import nonetheless, but you have to redo your network configuration etc.

In both cases you don't lose any data.

 

[cyberjock]

It sounds like your USB drive did die.

If you have a backup of your config file from the other USB stick then you simply install FreeNAS to the new USB stick and then upload the config file in accordance with the manual. Your server will reboot once or twice and will mount the pool automatically and setup the shares exactly as before.

If you don't have a backup of your config file then you need simply install FreeNAS to the new USB stick, import the pool in accordance with the manual, and then re-setup all of your FreeNAS settings however you'd like.

If you don't have a backup of your config file you could try burning a FreeNAS CD from the ISO file and then install to the USB stick again. It will allow you to "upgrade" your old config. It might work or might not. In any case though, even if it does work I'd just save your config file and then use a new USB stick regardless. They are cheap and its really not worth your time to deal with a potentially bad USB stick that might give you problems in the future when a 4GB stick is so cheap.

Your data is completely safe and should reimport(manually or automatically depending on which option you use). Just don't install FreeNAS to one if your zpool hard drives. Naturally this would be "bad" for your zpool.

 

[stevetuk]

Thanks, that's done the trick - I appreciate the quick and helpful responses!
I hadn't saved the config recently enough for it to be any use so I auto-imported the volumes and will set aside some time to re-do the CIFS etc. At least I didn't lose data... :)

 

[ric]

I know this thread is old, but I just got this exact same problem today when rebooting my freenas system, "This is a nas data disk and can not boot system. System halted."

However, I do have the configuration file backed up in my freenas dataset >> tank/mymedia, not sure how can I recover the config file and be able to put back into a usb flash drive.

Your help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[chris crude]

I know this thread is old, but I just got this exact same problem today when rebooting my freenas system, "This is a nas data disk and can not boot system. System halted."

However, I do have the configuration file backed up in my freenas dataset >> tank/mymedia, not sure how can I recover the config file and be able to put back into a usb flash drive.

Your help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

You will need to make your new USB, boot into FreeNas and then point it to the location of your saved config. The config doesnt have to be on the USB when you first boot it can be in your dataset or a client PC.

 

[Peekay]

If I may reopen this problem,because I also have it now.
I have burned the installation on a CD and installed it from there. Is it necessary to make a USB disk and to always boot from that?
Thanks
PK

 

[danb35]

You can burn the ISO to a CD, image it to a USB stick, or mount it remotely via IPMI if your motherboard supports it; either will work. Once you boot from that, you will need to install FreeNAS to a USB stick, small SSD, small hard drive, or whatever you're going to boot from.

 

[Peekay]

Thanks so much. I will try that.

 

[Nicaba]

I seem to have the same problem.
After struggling with version 11.0.U2 (web GUI would not be visible from any browser anymore), I decided to do a fresh install of the latest version ... 11.1.U1 in my case.
I installed the iso on an USB drive, to install freenas on an SSD.
The install went fine (first fresh install on a new boot environment, then overwriting it = gave same challenges as explained below).
I was asked to reboot and remove the USB, but after reboot I got the message: "This is a FreeNAS datadisk and can not boot system. System halted."
Checked in the Bios and it does indeed boot from the SSD ... what happened? How to solve this?