9.2.0.1 usb img install config.xml not found/loaded

[fuchls]

ill make this very simple

my setup :
i5 haswell
gigabyte b85 chipset
8gb ddr3
4tb wd red
apacer 8gb usb stick

what i did
1. wrote 9.2.0.1 img on usbstick
2. booted up fine with ip 192.168.1.250
3. in webgui made very basic changes in the General tab, rebooted
4. system boot halted with complaints that config.xml on usbdrive cant be loaded/found
5. imaged again with another software and proceed to reboot back system
6. steps #2-#4 got repeated
7 inserted usbstick in different usb slots, repeatedly got number #4

how i fixed it
1. wrote 9.1.0.1 img on usbstick
2. booted up fine with ip 192.168.1.250
3. in webgui made very basic changes in the General tab, rebooted
5. rebooted several times with various setting change with no problem
6. success

out of my above hardware list i suspect ver 9.2.0.1 doesnt like b85 chipset
can anyone with b85 verify?
sorry, too lazy to capitalize...

update: 25th sept 2014
did another installation of the 9.2.0.1.972 on different hardware and usb drive
chipset H81 (has usb 3.0), ran into same problem

after reading everything posted here, im leaning torwards software problem

[raulfg3]

out of my above hardware list i suspect ver 9.2.0.1 doesnt like b85 chipset
can anyone with b85 verify?
sorry, too lazy to capitalize.

good to know , because i never seen this problem.

I notice some problems with certain USBkey cheap brands. but never with BSD version involved.

PD: Sorry no b85 chipset to verify.

[fuchls]

yup.. apacer 8gb are not that good compared to the more expensive corsairs and lexars...
i have experienced cheap and bad usbdrives too..

going down a n4f version definately solved the problem, using the same usbdrive... i also tested every usb2 and usb3 slot available on the mobo.. 9.1.0.1 just works.. 9.2.0.1 doesnt

i guess ill have to wait for a while until some else runs into this...

[munger]

I have got the same problem but I use an Intel H87 board. I will try out 9.1

[raulfg3]

I have got the same problem but I use an Intel H87 board. I will try out 9.1

first revise that you don't use a live version ( on a live version changes doing in the webGUI are lost on reboot), you need embeded or full install to maintain changes.

more info:

http://wiki.nas4free.org/doku.php?id=faq:0075

[munger]

Yes. Versio 9.1 works very well but my Network controller is not yet supported with this version. Intel i217.
What shall we do? I cannot imagine that nobody else has this problem.

[raulfg3]

Yes. Versio 9.1 works very well but my Network controller is not yet supported with this version. Intel i217.
What shall we do? I cannot imagine that nobody else has this problem.

same problem:

viewtopic.php?f=58&t=4910&p=31524

viewtopic.php?f=58&t=6052&p=33627

Solved using 9.2.0.1.943 , only WOL do not work: viewtopic.php?f=58&t=6052&p=33627

try to do a new embeded install from liveUSB to your boot USB key (option 9 in menu), to discard a problem in the .img version of N4F.


clarification:
I say that you download and write to a new USB key the liveUSB version of NAS4Free, and boot from this liveUSB , once sucessfully botted, you must see a menu in your monitor , select option 9 to do a fresh full or embeded install, choose the apropiate install ( embeded i suppose in your case), and select your actual USBKey as destination, once install are completed, reboot and disconect new USB ( LiveUSB), so your system booted from new fresh install, and revise if this time works.

[dgkim6200]

to raulfg3
----------------------------

i already did try to do what you said, but it stucks with error said that it cant find cd/usb(actually i dont remember clearly about this error). do you have any solution?

[raulfg3]

i already did try to do what you said, but it stucks with error said that it cant find cd/usb(actually i dont remember clearly about this error). do you have any solution?

use liveCD instead liveUSB.

and if all fails: install can be done in any computer, not only in the NAS.

You can use a laptop or yout desktop PC, only need a bit of precaution, disconect all disk except USBKey or CD that you use to do the install to avoid possible confusion of destination disk and erase of your boot disk.

[STAMSTER]

Hello ppl!

After hardware upgrade I run into the same issue with booting an embedded USB install.

Using the latest 9.2.x Shigawire edition.

Now, what I can tell you for sure - boot process works only for the first time (after installation)! If you reboot machine, most likely you won't be able to boot with fatal error - config.xml not found!
I've noticed that shortly after the first boot process, USB drive completely loses power, and that's the crucial reson why it can't continiue to boot (i.e. cannot find config.xml).
On my old machine I've never expirienced such issue.
Considering this is brand new Supermicro X10 series system, I was clearly pissed off. But now I see the issue is with FreeBSD 9.2 not SuperMicro...

Also I've noticed the odd thing - if I completely power of / shutdown machine, there's a big chance it will boot without this problem! So the solomon solution would be - if you need to reboot, do not! Instead power off the system, and then power it on again (simulate reboot process )

I don't wont to downgrade! Until next version I'll try this way..


EDIT: I just saw there's an fresh release: 9.2.0.1.972 !!! Going to give it a try to see if it helps with this issue!

[alraz]

Hi

i'm new to the forums. I was having this same issue and just wanted to share how I was able to install Nas4Free 9.2 on a system that was having this same "missing config.xml" error

First of all, be advise that this is a destructive method, for which you MUST have a backup of your configuration (which you can restore later and everything will be fine).

What you need:
1-A backup of your current configuration.
2-Two USB sticks (this is how I did it, probably you don't really need 2)
3-The following NAS4Free images:
-NAS4Free-x64-LiveUSB-9.1.0.1.798.img
-NAS4Free-x64-embedded-9.1.0.1.847.img
-NAS4Free-x64-embedded-9.2.0.1.972.img
4-A lot of patience.

How to install:
1 - Make a back up of your current configuration!! You will destroy your current system and restore this backup at the end.
2 - Use one of your USB sticks to create a LiveUSB from NAS4Free-x64-LiveUSB-9.1.0.1.798.img (this is the only image that has booted for me from USB and can use option 9 to install)
3 - Boot from the USB stick created above and select option 9 to install embedded system to your OTHER USB stick (be sure to install "embeddes system" to this other usb stick).
4 - Once your second USB stick is installed, boot from it (from this point, you don't need USB stick one)
5 - Change the IP address of your new embedded system if needed, but NOTHING ELSE.
6 - From the web gui, go to System > Firmware and install the last release for version 9.1: NAS4Free-x64-embedded-9.1.0.1.847.img.
7 - System will reboot and, at least for me, it was still working.
8 - Go to System > firmware again and now upgrade to version 9.2: NAS4Free-x64-embedded-9.2.0.1.972.img
9 - System will restart again.
10 - Once system restarts, go to System > backup / restore and restore the backup you created in step 1. Your system will restart again.
11- At this point your system has restarted and is working with version 9.2
12 - Enjoy (optional)

I hope this helps for everybody else.
It took me hours of trial and error and lots of USB image flashes to get to this point where I can finally install 9.2 (Even most of 9.1 version available right now will not work for me for some reason or another).

The reason why I recommend to destroy your system is because I have tried upgrading from 9.1 to 9.2 on a system that was already configured and ran into the same issue where the "missing config.xml" error would pop up.

[wayover13]

I'm struggling with this issue as well and trying to figure out why it occurs. I've created a new bootable syslinux USB drive and loaded a few NAS4Free emdedded images onto it. All boot fine using memdisk, but each finally craps out when config.xml can't be found. I think the salient ingredient might be the type of USB drive. I say this because another USB drive that I have (Sandisk Cruzer 512 MB) and onto which I loaded NAS4Free 9.1.0.1.847 some time ago, also booting via syslinux/memdisk, boots fine on this same machine: it does not finally exit with the error message about not finding config.xml. So, are we pretty much agreed that this is a flaky USB hardware issue?

[STAMSTER]

It is not an USB hw issue.
You need to change specific settings in BIOS. I'm on a vacation so I cannot post any more details on this, but since that configuration changes my Supermicro server AND the same old USB Transcend drive works like a charm!
Only newer MoBo's/BIOS setups which have these settings are affected I guess. Older chipsets/BIOSes are working out of the box without such issues.
Follow this topic in a next few days, I will bring more details on the table.
Tip: disable xHCI in BIOS (cannot remember the other few options, will check after vacation).

[wayover13]

I may be having a different issue, though if so, it's one that is quite similar. Here are a few further details.

I have 2 older, single core machines I'm testing. One is old enough that it only has the options to boot floppy or Zip USB drives. The other is a P4 that boots USB drives more normally. On the first machine, I've had to resort to using the Plop boot manager to get the machine booting sanely from USB. The second machine doesn't require this. Furthermore, I've been experimenting with 4 different USB drives: Kingston traveler 16GB, no-name 1GB thumb drive, Sandisk Cruzer U3 512 MB, and an old laptop hard drive hooked to a USB cable (6 GB IDE drive).

I've tried booting the following embedded images: 9.2.0.1.972, 9.1.0.1.847, and 9.1.0.1.798. In my tests, whether or not I get the error indicating config.xml was not found depends almost solely on which USB drive I'm using. The Sandisk Cruzer works every time on both machines; it always results in a running and operational NAS4Free. The Kingston also boots into a sane state every time, but only on the P4: I get the config.xml not found when I try to boot it on the other computer. The no-name 1 GB drive always errors out on both machines with the config.xml not found. Finally, the laptop hard drive was tested only on the machine that boots using the Plop boot manager, but every time I tried it I got the config.xml error.

Thus, according to my tests, the type of USB drive does play a role in whether the error occurs or not. By the way, I did some experimentation some years ago using GNU/Linux with USB booting and found that it was sometimes necessary to introduce a delay in the boot process (a sleep 5 or so) to give the USB drive time to initialize. Could this be what's going on here?

Again, these drives were all made bootable by using syslinux. I've set up a menu system for selecting the desired embedded image, which gets loaded into RAM using syslinux's memdisk, before booting the image itself. So I did not use dd to write those embedded images to my drives--I prefer using the syslinux boot method, since it is more flexible.

[wayover13]

In case the experience I previously had under Linux, of USB devices needing some extra time to initialize, is relevant to what's at issue in this thread, here are a couple of links at which the matter is discussed: http://lwn.net/Articles/330378/ and http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/s ... users/4670. I was fooling around with RUNT Linux back in the day, and I appropriated its start-up script, with the sleep 5 argument, in order to get DamnSmallLinux booting from a USB drive. Anyway, it seems relevant insofar as there was a problem with the OS finding the root file system or enumerating connected USB devices during its boot process--thus the need for introducing a slight delay. Anyone think this might be relavent to the issue being discussed in this thread?

[Loki]

Got the same issue, using 9.2.0.1.972 embedded on a Supermicro X10SLL-F (For details see viewtopic.php?f=15&t=7111&p=41223&hilit ... xml#p41223).
I can confirm STAMSTER's observation: warm starts will stop the boot process, but cold starts will work!

Other free Nas software, also based on FreeBSD, does not have that issue. So I support the theory that it is a software issue of the current version of NAS4free.

[STAMSTER]

Loki, have you tried to disable XHCI setting in BIOS?
I solved this issue 100% by disabling XHCI. That was the thing that was giving N4F a hard time during bootup, and it's pretty obvious to conclude that current Ñ4F loader needs upgrade for some things under the hood.

[Loki]

Loki, have you tried to disable XHCI setting in BIOS?
I solved this issue 100% by disabling XHCI. That was the thing that was giving N4F a hard time during bootup, and it's pretty obvious to conclude that current Ñ4F loader needs upgrade for some things under the hood.

Thanks, STAMSTER, that did the trick!

Anyway, it should be just a workaround until that issue is fixed.

[STAMSTER]

Glad you made it! Perhaps newer kernel or N4F firmware would take advantage of xHCI...
I'm quite happy with this setup thou

[jrawls]

We are seeing this issue on old and new systems (no BIOS option to disable xHCI)
9.2.0.1.972

[macpip]

Hi all, I'm new here. My system:

Nas4Free 9.2.0.1.972 x64 embedded on USB
Lenovo ThinkServer TS140 mod. 70A4001KIT
12MB RAM ECC
(further details below)

Everything working fine, booting fine form USB either connected to one of the USB3 ports or connected to one of the USB2 ports built-in ports.

But rebooting the system (without turning power off) the boot process goes on untill it tries to read the config file. At that point the usb-keyboard does not respond anymore, and the system gives me the "config not found" error, the OS shut-down starts and ends but the system does not shut the power off. To power the server off I've to press the power button for more than 4 seconds.

I also tried to boot from CD (Nas4Free x64 LiceCD 9.2.0.1.972). After rebooting at a certain point of the boot process the usb-keyboard stops working. (There an no AT or PS2 keyboard ports on this system).
If I shut-down (powering the system off) instead of rebooting everything works like a charm.

This behaviour mekes me suppose that after a reboot the USB ports are not driven in the right way.
I've also upgraded the bios firmware to the latest version: the BIOS does not allow to disable xhci. I can just disable the USB legacy support, making the system not seeing the USB pen-drive at boot time.
And I've also tried to use the spare USB port connector on the motherboard with the same results as the built in USB ports.

On other OS's or on older version of Nas4Free, trying to follow alraz » 18 mag 2014 20:02 (no success) I did non experience the "USB-on-reboot" issue.

MY SOLUTION

Finally I've found a work-around by installing in the system a PCI-E=>USB adapter (USB 3.0 -2 Port PCI Express by Atlantis cod. P001-USB30-PCX Rev. 5.0, about than 15 €)
Connecting the boot-able Nas4Free USB pen-drive and the keyboard on the USB ports of the Atlantis PCI-E adapter everything works fine also after rebooting the system.

After reboot, if i connect the keyboard to one of the built in USB ports, it stops working, but does work again when reconnected to one of the USB PCI-E ports, confirming that there is a bad behaviour of the buil-in USB ports after reboot.

I'd like to thank you everybody for leading me to find the workaround with the info provided.
I also hope that the Nas4Free developers will soon release a new version solving this issue (I've seen some patches available for FreeBSD)

---

Here are some details about the system HW

Code: Select all

mynas4free: ~ # pciconf -lv
hostb0@pci0:0:0:0:      class=0x060000 card=0x30a517aa chip=0x0c008086 rev=0x06 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = HOST-PCI
vgapci0@pci0:0:2:0:     class=0x030000 card=0x30a517aa chip=0x04028086 rev=0x06 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    class      = display
    subclass   = VGA
hdac0@pci0:0:3:0:       class=0x040300 card=0x30a517aa chip=0x0c0c8086 rev=0x06 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    class      = multimedia
    subclass   = HDA
xhci0@pci0:0:20:0:      class=0x0c0330 card=0x30a517aa chip=0x8c318086 rev=0x04 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    class      = serial bus
    subclass   = USB
none0@pci0:0:22:0:      class=0x078000 card=0x30a517aa chip=0x8c3a8086 rev=0x04 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    class      = simple comms
none1@pci0:0:22:3:      class=0x070002 card=0x30a517aa chip=0x8c3d8086 rev=0x04 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    class      = simple comms
    subclass   = UART
em0@pci0:0:25:0:        class=0x020000 card=0x30a517aa chip=0x153a8086 rev=0x04 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    class      = network
    subclass   = ethernet
ehci0@pci0:0:26:0:      class=0x0c0320 card=0x30a517aa chip=0x8c2d8086 rev=0x04 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    class      = serial bus
    subclass   = USB
hdac1@pci0:0:27:0:      class=0x040300 card=0x30a517aa chip=0x8c208086 rev=0x04 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    class      = multimedia
    subclass   = HDA
pcib1@pci0:0:28:0:      class=0x060400 card=0x30a517aa chip=0x8c108086 rev=0xd4 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib2@pci0:0:28:1:      class=0x060400 card=0x30a517aa chip=0x8c128086 rev=0xd4 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib3@pci0:0:28:3:      class=0x060400 card=0x30a517aa chip=0x8c168086 rev=0xd4 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
ehci1@pci0:0:29:0:      class=0x0c0320 card=0x30a517aa chip=0x8c268086 rev=0x04 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    class      = serial bus
    subclass   = USB
isab0@pci0:0:31:0:      class=0x060100 card=0x30a517aa chip=0x8c568086 rev=0x04 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-ISA
ahci0@pci0:0:31:2:      class=0x010601 card=0x30a517aa chip=0x8c028086 rev=0x04 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    class      = mass storage
    subclass   = SATA
none2@pci0:0:31:3:      class=0x0c0500 card=0x30a517aa chip=0x8c228086 rev=0x04 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    class      = serial bus
    subclass   = SMBus
xhci1@pci0:2:0:0:       class=0x0c0330 card=0xc0a5144d chip=0x01941033 rev=0x04 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'NEC Corporation'
    device     = 'uPD720200 USB 3.0 Host Controller'
    class      = serial bus
    subclass   = USB
pcib4@pci0:3:0:0:       class=0x060401 card=0x30a517aa chip=0x88931283 rev=0x41 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'Integrated Technology Express, Inc.'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI

[STAMSTER]

If you cannot disable XHCI in BIOS, then I don't see what would do the trick...
perhaps using USB 2.0 only (legacy)?

[macpip]

If you cannot disable XHCI in BIOS, then I don't see what would do the trick...
perhaps using USB 2.0 only (legacy)?

As I wrote in my previous post, just using a different USB3.0 controller solved the issue.

I had problems just when some USB (either USB2 and USB3) device is connected to one of the on-board Intel USB port.
If I connect USB2 or USB3 devices to the added PCI-e NEC USB controller and nothing to the on-board Intel USB port everything works fine.

[STAMSTER]

That's over-ride what you did, it works only since "external" PCI-e controller has no idea about xHCI like integrated chips do with BIOS.
At the end, great it works that way for you!

[macpip]

That's over-ride what you did, it works only since "external" PCI-e controller has no idea about xHCI like integrated chips do with BIOS.

From the output of the command

Code: Select all

mynas4free: ~ # pciconf -lv

already included in my first post "Work-aroud found" posted in this thread on sept. 02nd 2014 20:22 , I can assume that Kernel recognises the external USB controller as xHCI.

• Here I just copy and comment the interesting parts of the output:
• the on-board USB3 Intel controller is seen as xHCI

  Code: Select all

  xhci0@pci0:0:20:0:      class=0x0c0330 card=0x30a517aa chip=0x8c318086 rev=0x04 hdr=0x00
      vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
      class      = serial bus
      subclass   = USB

• the on-board USB2 Intel controllers are seen as eHCI

  Code: Select all

  ehci0@pci0:0:26:0:      class=0x0c0320 card=0x30a517aa chip=0x8c2d8086 rev=0x04 hdr=0x00
      vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
      class      = serial bus
      subclass   = USB

  Code: Select all

  ehci1@pci0:0:29:0:      class=0x0c0320 card=0x30a517aa chip=0x8c268086 rev=0x04 hdr=0x00
      vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
      class      = serial bus
      subclass   = USB

• the added PCI to USB3 NEC controller is seen as xHCI

  Code: Select all

  xhci1@pci0:2:0:0:       class=0x0c0330 card=0xc0a5144d chip=0x01941033 rev=0x04 hdr=0x00
      vendor     = 'NEC Corporation'
      device     = 'uPD720200 USB 3.0 Host Controller'
      class      = serial bus
      subclass   = USB

Just to verify, not to be polemic, am I wrong?

Anyway I hope that the issue would be solved as soon as possible at the FreeBSD or NAS4Free level.
I read somewhere that the same issue seems to be solved on FreeNAS and previous versions of NAS4Free were not affected.

[STAMSTER]

Well, it seems to me that BSD lists every USB3.0 controller as xHCI, and pushes it through xHCI 'interface'... the thing is with add-on controller even with xHCI interface everything is just fine when (re)booting... that's quite interesting, could it be better drivers or so, who knows...

For sure latest BSD kernel should include hot-fix for this issue (we all hope).

Cheers!

[alraz]

Hi

maybe I'm too late for this, but I found a solution that worked for me:
when installing on a USB stick, do not choose any of the options that add either data or swap partitions.
Only have the partition for NAS4Free on your USB stick; that fixed it for me.

[STAMSTER]

That's not quite a solution... I never had extra partitions (except now for a production!) and yet the boot failed every time after the initial power on. xHCI is the main issue here!

[macpip]

@alraz: I think that the issue does not depend on the partitions on the USB stick. Every USB device connected to the the on-board USB ports stop working at reboot, but work on a fresh boot. And everything works after boot and reboot if connected to the added PCI-USB adapter that also uses xHCI. The problem seems related to the some xHCI implementations.

[hastdotwhat]

use liveCD instead liveUSB.

+1. After endless fighting with USB installs (admittedly on 9.0/9.1 versions, I haven't tried since then) I gave up and always burn a CD for an install. USB installs seem to be cursed, something always breaks somewhere while CD installs just work. The downside is that neither my laptop nor my server has a CD drive, so it takes a bit of trickery to get things to work.