TrueNas server shutting down

[sqmonw]

Hi everyone,

I recently set up a TrueNAS server on my old desktop hardware, but I’m running into a strange issue and would like to hear your thoughts on whether this is caused by TrueNAS itself or failing hardware.

System specs:

• PSU: Corsair VS550
• Motherboard: ASUS H110M-A
• CPU: Intel i5-6400
• RAM: 8GB DDR4
• Boot drive: A few‑years‑old SSD
• PC age: Originally built in 2015 (CMOS battery replaced recently)

The problem:
After the server has been running for about two weeks, I suddenly lose access to it on the network. The machine is still powered on — fans spinning, lights on — but I get no video output when plugging in a monitor. It looks like it’s powered, but stuck in some kind of idle or frozen state.

The only way I can bring it back is by doing a full power reset:

1. Shut the system down completely
2. Remove the CMOS battery
3. Disconnect the power supply
4. Hold the power button for ~20 seconds
5. Reinstall battery, reconnect power, and boot again

After doing this, the system works fine — until the same issue happens again after a week or two of uptime.

My question:
Could this be caused by TrueNAS (software issue, kernel hang, power management bug),
or is it more likely that this is hardware-related due to the age of the system?

 

Has anyone seen similar behavior with older hardware running TrueNAS?

Any input or troubleshooting tips would be greatly appreciated!

[Ha-Satan]

I actually have been having similar problems with my TrueNAS server recently (see sig for specs) so I'm also interested in hearing what people have to say. I don't have to remove the CMOS battery to fix it though, just power cycle.

 

The fact that the CMOS battery needs to be reset on your system suggests to me that it's probably on the hardware side of things.

[Dutch_Master]

The fact your system freezes up after a set period of time indicates a memory issue IMO. See if you can double your RAM as I believe this could well be some log file filling up your RAM. (remember: ZFS uses your RAM to store meta-data!)

[Ha-Satan]

4 minutes ago, Dutch_Master said:

The fact your system freezes up after a set period of time indicates a memory issue IMO. See if you can double your RAM as I believe this could well be some log file filling up your RAM. (remember: ZFS uses your RAM to store meta-data!)

Question - could this be triggered particularly during very large file transfers? I have an rsync job that runs every night from my TrueNAS server to my backup server, and I notice that it has a tendency to get hung up if there are large amounts of files that needed to get transferred, like tens of gigabytes or more, such as if I've ripped multiple seasons of a show and put them on my TrueNAS system.

[Dutch_Master]

That's a realistic scenario, but as I can't see what's happening on your system I can't tell definitively. More RAM certainly doesn't hurt given your current 8GB limit.

[Ha-Satan]

55 minutes ago, Dutch_Master said:

That's a realistic scenario, but as I can't see what's happening on your system I can't tell definitively. More RAM certainly doesn't hurt given your current 8GB limit.

I actually have 16GB as opposed to OP's 8, but when we're talking about nearly 100 gigabytes I can see it potentially happening.

 

Since I have the rsync job set up as a pull from the backup server, I'm not sure how possible this would be, but maybe I can have it somehow log RAM usage on the TrueNAS box as the job progresses.