Freenas throwing up errors

[Uwillparish]

(i should probably post this on the freenas forums, but i trust yall more)

So anyways, I am trying to install freenas on a old system to test out how it works for a upcoming nas, and i have 2 ide hard drives, 1 160gb WD, and 1 60gb seagate, But when i try and install freenas it throws up a ton of errors, Them being something alone the lines of

 

Cam Status: ATA status error

ata status: 51 (drdy serv err) error 84 (icrc abrt) 

 

anyone know a solution?

[rustikles]

With some quick google-fu it looks to be a cable issue. Make sure all your cable connection are fully seated. If that doesn't work, try using some different ribbon or sata cables for your drives (one at a time to find the problem cable). 

 

Link1

Link2

[Uwillparish]

With some quick google-fu it looks to be a cable issue. Make sure all your cable connection are fully seated. If that doesn't work, try using some different ribbon or sata cables for your drives (one at a time to find the problem cable). 

 

Link1

Link2

i have 2 ide 2 drive cables, made sure they were seated properly, and both failed

[rustikles]

i have 2 ide 2 drive cables, made sure they were seated properly, and both failed

Have you tried it with just one of the drives plugged in? 

[Uwillparish]

Have you tried it with just one of the drives plugged in? 

both work perfectly on the same cable while not plugged into each other, but when they are together, freenas doesn't like it

[rustikles]

both work perfectly on the same cable while not plugged into each other, but when they are together, freenas doesn't like it

Well that's odd, but at least it's an answer. You could try updating the firmware on your mobo, but other than that it's probably just a general compatibility issue. I believe the reference posts I linked mentioned that things would function even with the errors, but it's up to you if you want to take that risk. Alternatively, just run the machine with one drive for your testing.

[Uwillparish]

Well that's odd, but at least it's an answer. You could try updating the firmware on your mobo, but other than that it's probably just a general compatibility issue. I believe the reference posts I linked mentioned that things would function even with the errors, but it's up to you if you want to take that risk. Alternatively, just run the machine with one drive for your testing.

i cant run it with 1 drive, as it installs the os and uses the whole drive, so it would be pointless to have a nas without s

[rustikles]

i cant run it with 1 drive, as it installs the os and uses the whole drive, so it would be pointless to have a nas without s

OH. I'm not sure what installation medium you're using, but a "typical" freenas box is run off of a flash drive or in some cases an SSD. Because the root directory isn't actually written to that much, there's no need to waste an entire drive's worth of space on an image that takes <6GB. An 8GB flash drive is actually what I run my server from. 

 

See #3 of the FAQ. It's just an image file that gets put on the flash drive. Since you're just testing FreeNAS, feel free to ask me any general questions. I've had my 12TB FreeNAS server running for almost 2 years now.

[Uwillparish]

OH. I'm not sure what installation medium you're using, but a "typical" freenas box is run off of a flash drive or in some cases an SSD. Because the root directory isn't actually written to that much, there's no need to waste an entire drive's worth of space on an image that takes <6GB. An 8GB flash drive is actually what I run my server from. 

 

See #3 of the FAQ. It's just an image file that gets put on the flash drive. Since you're just testing FreeNAS, feel free to ask me any general questions. I've had my 12TB FreeNAS server running for almost 2 years now.

ive tryed it, seems to not let me computer boot when its plugged in and installed

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/306640-cant-boot-from-usb/

[rustikles]

ive tryed it, seems to not let me computer boot when its plugged in and installed

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/306640-cant-boot-from-usb/

I'm going to assume you followed the instructions here on placing the .img file on your usb device and got said .img from this site.

 

First step is to make sure you're actually booting to USB. You'll want to change the default boot device to your USB and remove all other boot options in the BIOS. 

 

If things still don't work, try other USB ports. Occasionally USB 2.0 ports will work when certain 3.0 have issues.

[Uwillparish]

1.I'm going to assume you followed the instructions here on placing the .img file on your usb device and got said .img from this site.

 

2.First step is to make sure you're actually booting to USB. You'll want to change the default boot device to your USB and remove all other boot options in the BIOS. 

 

3.If things still don't work, try other USB ports. Occasionally USB 2.0 ports will work when certain 3.0 have issues.

1. Yes i did

2. I cant open my boot menu to boot to usb once its installed

3. No such usb 3 on this board

[rustikles]

1. Yes i did

2. I cant open my boot menu to boot to usb once its installed

3. No such usb 3 on this board

The only "install" you should need to do is dropping the image on your USB. After that, plugging it in and booting to said USB should take you to this screen: 

[Uwillparish]

The only "install" you should need to do is dropping the image on your USB. After that, plugging it in and booting to said USB should take you to this screen: 

i get something more like this, except those options are replaced with "FreeNAS installer"

[rustikles]

That seems to be the wrong image file. You could always burn the .iso to a disc and go through that installation, selecting your USB as the target device. It might be easier that way.

[Uwillparish]

That seems to be the wrong image file. You could always burn the .iso to a disc and go through that installation, selecting your USB as the target device. It might be easier that way.

you know what, i think i know what i did

when i installed the file to the flash drive, i think i used the iso instead of the img, im going to reburn and see what happens 

[rustikles]

you know what, i think i know what i did

when i installed the file to the flash drive, i think i used the iso instead of the img, im going to reburn and see what happens 

I figured it might be something like that  . Look back at the post where I linked the instructions and correct download if you need.

[Uwillparish]

I figured it might be something like that  . Look back at the post where I linked the instructions and correct download if you need.

IT LIVES! now to try and find another spot for the endless Ethernet cables in my office, Thanks for the help btw

EDIT: now trying to format the HDD gives me this error Error: Unable to GPT format the disk "ada0" More hoops i guess

EDIT 2: Got it, Had to swap a cable

[Uwillparish]

ok, so new problem, I have freenas setup but when i try and access it from my network, nothing shows up, ive tried doing CIFS shares but it still doesn't show

[rustikles]

ok, so new problem, I have freenas setup but when i try and access it from my network, nothing shows up, ive tried doing CIFS shares but it still doesn't show

OK, so you're able to get to get to the web configuration page, right? You've also created your pool and datasets to your satisfaction? This is a pretty straightforward guide for the CIFS parameters. Make sure the box for "Browsable to network clients" is checked in the CIFS advanced settings. Also, make sure you actually enabled the CIFS service (in the services menu). Remember, whatever user account you're accessing the share with needs to have permissions for the directory.

 

After that, it should show up as a network device named 'FreeNAS" or whatever you changed it to. Just map that like a normal network drive and use your correct credentials (make an actual user for yourself, not "root").

[Uwillparish]

OK, so you're able to get to get to the web configuration page, right? You've also created your pool and datasets to your satisfaction? This is a pretty straightforward guide for the CIFS parameters. Make sure the box for "Browsable to network clients" is checked in the CIFS advanced settings. Also, make sure you actually enabled the CIFS service (in the services menu). Remember, whatever user account you're accessing the share with needs to have permissions for the directory.

 

After that, it should show up as a network device named 'FreeNAS" or whatever you changed it to. Just map that like a normal network drive and use your correct credentials (make an actual user for yourself, not "root").

sorry i didnt update, i was trying to use root, lol, But i do have a question about freenas, ive seen people saying you need to have ECC memory, Which i dont think my computer even supports, What do you think about it?

Anyways, On to apple shares now, lol

[Uwillparish]

I also just looked at the console and its throwing up "freenas smartd[2433]: Device: /dev/ada0, 1 currently unreadable (pending) sectors 

[rustikles]

sorry i didnt update, i was trying to use root, lol, But i do have a question about freenas, ive seen people saying you need to have ECC memory, Which i dont think my computer even supports, What do you think about it?

Anyways, On to apple shares now, lol

The best answer I've seen was basically "if you can, you should use ECC." I kind of relate it to people who go day to day without a backup of their computer. Would a lot of people be completely fine? Probably. Would it be catastrophic for those people who didn't have a backup and lost all their data? Of course.

 

Is ECC RAM required to use FreeNAS? No. 

Should you use it? 100% Yes.

 

Without the ability to error correct there's a possibility of file corruption that would be undetectable to your FreeNAS box. The whole point of FreeNAS and ZFS is to have an enterprise-grade OS that can dynamically resolve file issues and less-than-desirable quality HDDs. It's constantly "questioning" the accuracy of every piece of transferred information via tiered hashing. Using non-ECC RAM introduces a single point of failure that can't be resolved by all the fancy methods I mentioned before.

[rustikles]

I also just looked at the console and its throwing up "freenas smartd[2433]: Device: /dev/ada0, 1 currently unreadable (pending) sectors 

Aptly enough, this is one of the features I was referencing in that previous post. The SMART data for that drive is saying it has an issue with one of the sectors. This error is a sign of an aging drive that might decide to die in the next hour or the next 3 years. There's really no way to know. If the drive was still in warranty, a dead sector is call for an RMA, so you know.

[Uwillparish]

Aptly enough, this is one of the features I was referencing in that previous post. The SMART data for that drive is saying it has an issue with one of the sectors. This error is a sign of an aging drive that might decide to die in the next hour or the next 3 years. There's really no way to know. If the drive was still in warranty, a dead sector is call for an RMA, so you know.

well this is just my test drive, so meh on it, But how much ECC ram can i get and be fine, currently I'm running 4gb on the machine now

[rustikles]

well this is just my test drive, so meh on it, But how much ECC ram can i get and be fine, currently I'm running 4gb on the machine now

As you seem to know, the mobo has to specifically say it supports ECC RAM. The rule of thumb for FreeNAS is 8GB + 1GB for every TB of storage space. That's obviously heavily dependent on what you're doing with the server (plex video transcoding for example). In my experience, 8GB of RAM is a starting minimum and will be fine until you go over about 4TB of storage space, after which you need to think about another few sticks.