Crashing when transfering files

1. offizieller Beitrag

    Hi,

    after 3 days of struggle and research, I figured out at what point OMV crashes. Every time I move a file to or from the server, Wait - IO increases to 100% and then blocks everything, and the disk is unmounted, I have to restart everything because I can't mount that disk again (sometimes I don't even see it connected).


    I use a WD Purple 4TB disk, a Qoltec 50316 HDD docking station connected to USB 3.0

    Disk and Docking are 7 days old (new).


    I'm using a mini PC specs:

    CPU: Intel Celeron N3350, 2C/2T, 1.10GHz, 2MB cache, 6W TDP, Codename "Apollo Lake" (Goldmont, Intel 14nm)

    RAM: 4GB DDR3

    SSD: 64GB Flash (eMMC), M.2 SATA (2242) (slot is empty right now)

    HDD: not available

    Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 500 (iGPU), 12EU/96SP, 0.20-0.65GHz, Architecture "Gen 9" (Apollo Lake GT1)

    Connectors: 1x Micro HDMI, 1x USB-C 3.0 with DisplayPort 1.2, 2x USB-A 3.0, 1x jack

    Wireless: Wi-Fi 5 (WLAN 802.11a/b/g/n/ac), Bluetooth 4.2

    Unfortunately, there is no Ethernet RJ45 port. I have a gigabit Ethernet - USB 3.0 adapter --> Chipset: RTL8153 (Tplink UE300 adapter)


    I've gone through everything, I don't know where the problem is anymore.

    • Offizieller Beitrag

    This sounds like hardware. The first suspect is the drive dock. The second is the USB to Ethernet adapter.

    First, realize that you're using USB (with emphasis on Universal Serial Bus) to perform a dual transaction. Incoming / outgoing data must go over the USB bus as Ethernet data, AND THEN, the same bus is being used to spool the same data onto a hard drive VIA the USB drive dock. Bandwidth contention may be an issue which could unmount the disk. There's also the possibility that the Ethernet adapter and the drive dock won't play well together on USB.

    The first thing I would try is unplugging the Ethernet adapter and using the wireless interface. See if that works.

    Zitat von crashtest

    This sounds like hardware. The first suspect is the drive dock. The second is the USB to Ethernet adapter.

    First, realize that you're using USB (with emphasis on Universal Serial Bus) to perform a dual transaction. Incoming / outgoing data must go over the USB bus as Ethernet data, AND THEN, the same bus is being used to spool the same data onto a hard drive VIA the USB drive dock. Bandwidth contention may be an issue which could unmount the disk. There's also the possibility that the Ethernet adapter and the drive dock won't play well together on USB.

    The first thing I would try is unplugging the Ethernet adapter and using the wireless interface. See if that works.

    I connected to wifi. Of course everything works slower now because it is not a gigabit connection, but the IO is still high when transfering.

    I'll try that and see if there's a problem with the USB dock again.


    The usb dock is never unmounted when there is no traffic. But when traffic appears, sometimes it unmounts within 5 minutes, sometimes after 3 hours.

    Just after I wrote this comment, the USB Docking unmounted in the middle of the transfer. I am connected to wifi.


    IO has reached 90%-100% again


    I will try to install OMV on another system, use the same Docking connected to USB. If it's going to happen, then it's definitely a Docking problem.


    What are your suggestions?

    • Offizieller Beitrag

    While I've been lucky, I have two different drive docks that are working fine (they even wake up when they should - some don't). All docks are not created equal. The following is a reasonable test.

    Zitat von neoxCRO

    I will try to install OMV on another system, use the same Docking connected to USB. If it's going to happen, then it's definitely a Docking problem.

    I installed it on another system.


    Gigabit ethernet transfers data without problems, Docking is stable and nothing crashes.

    Transfer speeds up to 100MB/s without problems.

    On the performance statistic graph, the transmission is "not felt".

    Tested on:

    Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-7100 CPU @ 3.90GHz

    8GB ram


    So there is some hardware problem with the mini PC.

    Any suggestion what could be the cause? Weak processor? Drivers for usb?


    Looks like the Rpi B is a better feature-wise option than my mini PC?

    • Offizieller Beitrag
    Zitat von neoxCRO

    Weak processor

    I highly doubt this. One box that I'm running for backup has an older Atom processor with 4GB ram. In the bottom line, OMV doesn't need strong hardware for the NAS function. Raspberry Pi's and other SBC's run OMV just fine.

    Zitat von neoxCRO

    So there is some hardware problem with the mini PC.

    Possibly, but it's hard to say.

    One thing that can be tested, definitively, is RAM. memtest86 can do that task.
    (memtest86 can be installed on OMV, if you have OMV-Extras installed.)

    For the remainder of the minipc platform, -> Stress Linux might tell you something but you'll need to be familiar with the Linux CLI.
    ______________________________________________________________

    What model of "minipc" are we talking about? Is it used or new?
    Does this minipc have an external power cube?

    • Offizieller Beitrag

    An R-PI4 is a good choice but there are plenty of options. It depends on what you're looking for. Small? Low power? Low cost? Etc.

    Amazon has refurb's for good prices -> example. If you want go this route, try to find something with USB3 ports. 4gig is enough for a file server. If you boot from a thumbdrive, some of these small form factor PC's have a bay for a full sized hard drive (3.5) within the case. You could then use the drive dock for external backup.

    well, i have a problem. Everything stopped when I tried to boot memtest86.

    I'm stuck on measuring CPU/cache/mem speeds... and nothing happens...

    • Offizieller Beitrag

    I don't know what to tell you from here but speculation. Could it be a bad mem stick? It's possible. Do you have a stick of the right speed and type laying around?

    You might try a live Linux distro to see how that goes.

    I'd look at the power supply, if it's one of those external types. Often, ultra small minipc's use laptop type PS's. If you have a laptop PS with the same voltage and the right connector type, it might be worth a try.
    ________________________________________________________

    From here, the question is, how much more do you want to invest (time, effort and money), in trying to get this minipc to work? Out of curiosity, I might consider buying a mem stick on an auction site to see if it worked, if I could get the stick dirt cheap.

    This is one of the problems when buying from an auction site or buying used. An old old mantra applies, "Buyer Beware". The majority of what I've bought used was a bargain. On the other hand, I've been burnt once or twice.

    BTW: You didn't answer what your priorities are. If you're just looking to set something up (for testing?), nearly anything will work decently as a file server. Since you have a drive dock and a good sized drive, an old laptop or workstation will do fine.

    • Offizieller Beitrag

    BTW, when it comes to troubleshooting PC hardware:

    Other than the diagnostic ISO's like memtest86, Stress Linux, or one of the rescue disk distro's (these utilities provide troubleshooting "indicators"), the only thing left to the user is "component substitution". There's no software that can determine, definitively, what component has failed.

    I'll try another usb again until I'm sure it doesn't work because it bugs me. I used to have windows 10 on that machine (it was slow), after that I ran ubuntu and some local mqtt servers, never any problems. This is the first time I've encountered the problem. I have a feeling that something is wrong with the driver or something. Before OMV, I ran tiny11 again (striped windows 11) and created an smb share. Everything worked as it should. Ever since OMV was put on PC, strange things have been happening.


    I'll see what I do next, but I want something small, economical, that works 0-24.


    I use SMB share, plex, qbittorrent, jdownloader2, cloudflare ddns, cloudlfare tunnels for remote access from the internet.

    • Offizieller Beitrag
    Zitat von neoxCRO

    This is the first time I've encountered the problem. I have a feeling that something is wrong with the driver or something. Before OMV, I ran tiny11 again (striped windows 11) and created an smb share.

    The problem, if any, would be with Debian which is one of the oldest and most stable of all Linux Distro's. The USB driver and other hardware support is complied right into the Linux kernel. (More -> info.)

    The memtest86 failure, in the way that it failed, is not good. I've never seen that before. I've seen results from bad sticks but not a "freeze". On the other hand, memtest86 creates an I/O storm by writing and reading to RAM in patterns, non-stop.

    Because it's a free and easy action, perhaps you might try reseating the minipc's SODIMM stick. (Carefully pop it lose, snap it back in again.) Then run the memtest86 again.
    ____________________________________________________________

    The last thing I can think of is, perhaps, the CPU is thermal-ling out. When a CPU gets hot, especially in fan-less designs, it might be throttled down to save it. This could happend if the thermal grease applied at the factory was inadequate and / or if has dried out a bit. If you have OMV-Extras installed, there's a CPU temperature plugin that would tell you if the CPU is heating up excessively.

    From there, I don't know. While it's a lot of work, you could see if the minipc works with tiny 11. Maybe something went wrong with the hardware in-between.

    Zitat

    The memtest86 failure, in the way that it failed, is not good. I've never seen that before. I've seen results from bad sticks but not a "freeze".

    I will try again, I have a feeling that the USB is not properly formatted because in the bios it shows the same usb as 2 partitions.


    Zitat

    Because it's a free and easy action, perhaps you might try reseating the minipc's SODIMM stick.

    Unfortunately, impossible. The RAM is soldered directly to the motherboard.


    Zitat

    The last thing I can think of is, perhaps, the CPU is thermal-ling out.

    The temperature was never higher than 38-40°C when the system crashed.

    Here's a review of somebody who has the same problem with the UE300 under Linux:

    Amazon.co.uk:Customer reviews: TP-Link UE300 USB 3.0 to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter, USB to RJ45 Lan Wired Adapter for Ultrabook, Chromebook, Laptop, Desktop, Plug and Play for Windows (XP/Vista/7/8/8.1), MacOS 10.9/10.10, Linux OS

    Zitat von D-Three

    Here's a review of somebody who has the same problem with the UE300 under Linux:

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/UE300…r=1&filterByStar=one_star

    Thank you very much, thank you! That's exactly what I suspected, but I didn't want to believe it.


    Every time there was a lot of traffic, everything would collapse. I suspected it was the ethernet that was crashing the system.


    But there is one big problem!!!


    I connected via wifi (ethernet removed from usb port) And the same thing happened!


    The system crashed again, the disk was unmounted and I had to restart the system.


    What is the conclusion?

    I just can't believe that ubuntu works, windows works, OMV 6 has a problem.

    I'm a little confused about this problem.


    Maybe the WiFi chipset is a problem as well as the RTL8153 Tplink UE300?


    What if I did the following:


    USB port1 I connect Docking station 4T disk

    USB port2 I connect a USB stick 16GB full of files (all 16GB)


    Then use Rsync to record data back and forth to the stick and HDD docking.


    The system would then be under the same load, but I would eliminate wifi and ethernet adapters.


    If the system remains stable, it means that the problem is in the wifi/ethernet adapter.


    Is there any logic to this?

    Additionally, when I tested HD Docking on another system, nothing crashed.


    I didn't use the ethernet USB itself. I used the ethernet card of that computer.


    An additional test would now be to use that Tplink ethernet USB adapter again on that system.

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