Fatal hardware failure: n4f just does not care..
Posted: 20 Nov 2013 10:00
Hello all!
I would like to share a recent experience of mine with a fatal hardware failure.
I have been using freenas 0.7 and n4f for several years now. In the past I had the OS installed on old 3,5" HDDs, then on old 2,5" HDDs using 2,5" to 3,5" adaptors.
A few months back, I decided to buy an Industrial IDE Flash module and get rid of the HDDs (pros: no noise, less power consumption)
I did so, installed n4f full, restored my configuration and all was fine. My NAS is not up 24/7 anymore, like it used to be in the past, however I wake it up using WOL when I need it.
A few days ago, however, when i tried to wake it up, it just would not boot. I connected a monitor and a K/B to see what was going on and noticed that the boot process was hanging at one point and the machice was freezing there.
Didn't bother much, I always have a recent configuration file and a live usb with the latest n4f version. I thought that maybe the OS got somehow corrupted.
First of all I opened the case to see if everything was connected OK and then reinstalled n4f in the flash module. All OK. Rebooted, restored configuration and at the next reboot the system was hanging at "Loading configuration file"
Shut it down completely, removed cables, reconnected them, powered it on and .... puffffff smoke from the IDE Flash module...
Immediately pulled the power cord and removed the flash module. This was not very easy, one pin from the module was fried and was stuck on one of the motherboard's IDE controller pins.
Once I dealt with the problem I plugged the power cord again and crossed fingers that the "explosion" did not fry the whole mainboard before powering up the NAS.
Post began successfully, but hanged when scanning for IDE drives. Great, the motherboard is almost OK, the IDE controller is fried, however...
Continued not to bother much... I wanted to convert to embedded anyways, just now I can't use the flash module. I will simply use a usb stick..(I have a pci usb controller which also provides internal usb ports but decided to use a simple external usb stick instead). Disabled IDE controller from the BIOs so that the boot proccess won't hang anymore scanning for IDE drives.
So went ahead, used a stick with the embedded version, restored configuration, used button to clear config and import disks due to the wrong ID I had due to different OS device, set again standby time and enabled S.M.A.R.T for the disks.
That was it...
System is up and running again. The only problem is that it takes about 5 minutes to complete the boot proccess ( it must be that the usb stick is too slow, but not a big deal anyway, perhaps in the future I will get a faster one, really don't care much..)
BOTTOM LINE: thank you n4f....
Not once it crossed my mind that I might lose any data. Not even when I wasn't even sure if the motherboard was fried. I was always confident that the data would be there - even with a new machine I could always import my pools, no problem.
It has proven to me once again that n4f for NAS OS is the best choice for my needs.
Keep up the great work guys!!!! I always continue to deal with Greek translation - the least I can do to give something back myself..!
Best regards,
Chris
I would like to share a recent experience of mine with a fatal hardware failure.
I have been using freenas 0.7 and n4f for several years now. In the past I had the OS installed on old 3,5" HDDs, then on old 2,5" HDDs using 2,5" to 3,5" adaptors.
A few months back, I decided to buy an Industrial IDE Flash module and get rid of the HDDs (pros: no noise, less power consumption)
I did so, installed n4f full, restored my configuration and all was fine. My NAS is not up 24/7 anymore, like it used to be in the past, however I wake it up using WOL when I need it.
A few days ago, however, when i tried to wake it up, it just would not boot. I connected a monitor and a K/B to see what was going on and noticed that the boot process was hanging at one point and the machice was freezing there.
Didn't bother much, I always have a recent configuration file and a live usb with the latest n4f version. I thought that maybe the OS got somehow corrupted.
First of all I opened the case to see if everything was connected OK and then reinstalled n4f in the flash module. All OK. Rebooted, restored configuration and at the next reboot the system was hanging at "Loading configuration file"
Shut it down completely, removed cables, reconnected them, powered it on and .... puffffff smoke from the IDE Flash module...
Immediately pulled the power cord and removed the flash module. This was not very easy, one pin from the module was fried and was stuck on one of the motherboard's IDE controller pins.
Once I dealt with the problem I plugged the power cord again and crossed fingers that the "explosion" did not fry the whole mainboard before powering up the NAS.
Post began successfully, but hanged when scanning for IDE drives. Great, the motherboard is almost OK, the IDE controller is fried, however...
Continued not to bother much... I wanted to convert to embedded anyways, just now I can't use the flash module. I will simply use a usb stick..(I have a pci usb controller which also provides internal usb ports but decided to use a simple external usb stick instead). Disabled IDE controller from the BIOs so that the boot proccess won't hang anymore scanning for IDE drives.
So went ahead, used a stick with the embedded version, restored configuration, used button to clear config and import disks due to the wrong ID I had due to different OS device, set again standby time and enabled S.M.A.R.T for the disks.
That was it...
System is up and running again. The only problem is that it takes about 5 minutes to complete the boot proccess ( it must be that the usb stick is too slow, but not a big deal anyway, perhaps in the future I will get a faster one, really don't care much..)
BOTTOM LINE: thank you n4f....
Not once it crossed my mind that I might lose any data. Not even when I wasn't even sure if the motherboard was fried. I was always confident that the data would be there - even with a new machine I could always import my pools, no problem.
It has proven to me once again that n4f for NAS OS is the best choice for my needs.
Keep up the great work guys!!!! I always continue to deal with Greek translation - the least I can do to give something back myself..!
Best regards,
Chris