After watching RAM prices climb, then fall, I pulled the trigger and purchased a RAM upgrade for my TrueNAS Mini X+. A-Tech 128 GB kit, linked elsewhere in the forums, which matches the specs for this hardware.
I did the swap, plugged everything back in, and powered the unit back on. The unit powered up, but did nothing else - the drives have power (blue lights), the NICs and main power light come on and show activity, but the drive LED never shows anything. I checked the remote console, and I can log in and see the server is powered on, but the virtual console shows just a blank, black screen - no error messages, nothing to work with.
I opened it back up, and swapped the original RAM back in, in the event it was bad memory. The issue is persisting - still booting to a blank, black screen in the console, no errors, nothing to diagnose.
What’s my best course of action? I’ve removed the one add-on card I had (Intel ARC) to simplify, but I can’t find a starting point to troubleshoot without something from the console / no POST messages.
One of the differences between TrueNAS appliances and Community edition is that by purchasing appliance, the user gets hardware, software and (some level of) support.
HW and SW should be installed, tested and maintained by manufacturer, so all parts are compatible and the overall system is working.
Nevertheless, in any case, as a user who purchased the product, you certainly have higher level of support than users of community editions who rely only on this forum. Feel free to contact iX
Note the following detail: “Only systems with all hardware provided by TrueNAS are eligible for software support and warranty.”. So, they might not accept the cases where users replace parts on their own, but even though, it could be useful to inform them about the case as a feedback.
Make us happy by informing us that eventualy the system is working with your new memory!
Any unauthorized hardware modifications can void your iXsystems Hardware Warranty They must be the exact original parts if you need to file an RMA or a claim for hardware support. Under Ixsystems official terms, the warranty does not cover failures caused by unauthorized modifications. If an aftermarket part causes a failure, you bear the cost for fixing it.
Ram and Drives are a common items to upgrade in amount or in the case of drives increase capacity or replace a failed drive. Ram is especially sensitive Buffered unbuffered, speed, ECC non ECC. The requirements need to match exactly what came out. Just because it says it’s compatible, really nowadays means little.
This is pretty standard across the industry. Many server appliance systems sold have a warranty that requires the system to be put back to the as built state with original parts or parts from an approved list (which I don’t think IXsystems has) of components before service (that you paid for) will be rendered.
Good news - I did the upgrade, and after a very, very long POST time, the device booted, and I now have 128 GB RAM showing on my TrueNAS Dashboard.
During the boot process, I checked the IPMI console / dashboard, and noticed that the RAM hardware configuration was not current almost 60 seconds after I had powered it on. I gave it more time to be safe, and sure enough, it finally booted, and the config updated itself to the new RAM sticks.
I suspect the new RAM caused the system to do a self-check before booting, which took longer than normal. We’ll see if the issue persists for future (re)boots.
