2012R2 Essentials Pool and drives missing from DP

[tjgriffin1]

I'm beyond frustrated with DP.  New install on new 2012R2 Essentials.  From Dashboard DrivePool tab, the pool and the pooled drives are missing.  On the Storage tab, the individual pooled drives are listed but the Virtual pool/drive is missing.  The individual drives have the requisite Pool folders.  Event log is reporting VDS errors - changed service to "automatic" from "manual" and rebooted with no changes to problem.  Deleted the pool and re-added the drives to the pool - did not resolve.  I have stopped and restarted the VDS and Drivepool service with no change.  Just prior to the pool disappearing, migrated the default server folders to the pool.  I have attached the DrivePool Service logs and the Error Reports.

 

 

Hardware:

AMD Athlonx2 620 (2.5ghz quad)

4GB DDR3

WD Black 500GB system drive (partitioned into 120GB and 380GB)

2xWD Red 3TB drives (drive pool)

2xWD Red 3TB drives (external RAID0) - Server backup

Seagate 1TB - non-pool drive for Security cameras (Blue Iris)

 

 

 

Thanks,

Todd Griffin

DrivePool.Service.zip

ErrorReport.zip

[tjgriffin1]

Christopher,

Alex found that software (not sure what) was overwriting the GPT.  Alex ultimately made the physical disk read only so that it will not be overwritten.  Currently, the pool is functioning as designed.  Therefore, the issue appears to be resolved.

 

 

Thanks,

Todd

[Christopher (Drashna)]

Todd,

 

First, I'm sorry to hear about the issues. However, StableBit DrivePool uses VDS as a core part of the program, so if there are issues happening there, then it may be causing issues with StableBit DrivePool, as well.

 

To make sure this isn't a corruption of our files, could you do a complete removal of our software?

http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_Q3017479

 

Once you've done that, reboot the system and reinstall StableBit DrivePool.

If you're still seeing issues, then let us know (and in this case, could you grab the event Viewer logs as well)

 

Regards

[Christopher (Drashna)]

Todd,

 

A quick look at the logs indicates a serious problem here.

 

It's having issues opening "Physical Disk 6". That should be the sixth disk in the system (may be disk 5 in disk management).

 

Do you have StableBit Scanner or anything else that checks SMART data installed on the system? 

[Christopher (Drashna)]

Actually, could you enable the boot logging, and reboot?

http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_2.x_Boot_Time_Log_Collection

[tjgriffin1]

Christopher,

Thank you for the information.  Due to the size of the zip'd folder, I have uploaded it using "Box".  Per your first reply, I will delete the software and re-install with boot logging turned on.  I will post those logs after the reboot.

 

 

Thanks,

Todd 

[tjgriffin1]

Christopher,

After the delete and reinstall, the drivepool was visible.  I enabled boot logging and rebooted.  Upon reboot, the drivepool is missing.  So, the same issue is still occurring. I have uploaded the post reinstall log folder to the Box.

 

 

Thanks,

Todd

[Christopher (Drashna)]

Todd,

Thank you for grabbing the logs. I've flagged them for Alex, and he'll take a look at them soon. 

I'll let you know what he finds, or you can check the following link:

https://stablebit.com/Admin/IssueAnalysis/15586

(only public responses will show up, so it may be empty)

[tjgriffin1]

Thanks!

[Christopher (Drashna)]

It's not a problem at all. Hopefully, alex can get to the issue soon.

[tjgriffin1]

Is there an update from Alex?  My server is down hard until this is resolved.  Thanks!

[Christopher (Drashna)]

Is there an update from Alex?  My server is down hard until this is resolved.  Thanks!

No, he hasn't been able to get to it yet. 

I have re-flagged it and bumped it's priority (as well as have IMed him about it), so that we can get this resolved quickly for you.

 

Regards

[tjgriffin1]

Thanks!

[Christopher (Drashna)]

Alex has identified what we think the issue is, and fixed it.

 

If you could download the latest build, and see if it fixes the issue?

http://dl.covecube.com/DrivePoolWindows/beta/download/StableBit.DrivePool_2.2.0.621_x64_BETA.exe

[tjgriffin1]

Christopher,

Thanks!  Do I need to uninstall the current version, or is this a patch (i.e. install in place)?

 

Thanks,

Todd

[tjgriffin1]

Christopher,

The latest build/patch did not resolve the problem.  I ran the .exe has a "patch" (i.e. did not unstall previous version), DP still not showing the pool or the pooled drives.  I have posted the log files to the Box after the initial install of the patch/new build.  Next, I followed the steps to completely remove DP.  Installed the latest build.  Once the install completed, for a couple of minutes, DP saw the pool and drives.  Without doing anything, the pool and drives disappeared from DP after about 1-2minutes.  I did notice that the latest build does not have a setting to enable boot logging.  Is boot logging now "on" by default?

 

 

Thanks,

Todd

[Christopher (Drashna)]

I'm sorry to hear that it's still occuring. 

As for the boot logging, the settings are hidden a bit more in the newer builds.

There should be a "Troubleshooting" section in the Start Menu.

 

And I've updated the boot logging guide to reflect this:

http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_2.x_Boot_Time_Log_Collection

And do you have any antivirus or disk tools installed on the system?

And could you do this:

http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_Q2159701

 

 

And could you export (save) the Event Viewer logs (run "eventvwr.msc" and save the "Applications" and "System" logs and upload them to us).

[tjgriffin1]

Requested logs and boot logs uploaded.

[Christopher (Drashna)]

You're event viewer indicates an issue with "Disk 6" still, and is causing VDS errors.

Could you confirm which disk this is?

If it is not the Pool drive but one of the disks in the pool, it could be causing the issue.

 

 

Additionally, the event viewer shows a large number of "unexpected shutdowns". If you're experiencing random reboots, this could be causing all sorts of issues, or indicative of a hardware problem.

I would recommend running a memory test of the system. 

[tjgriffin1]

I see the "Disk 6" events but I don't have 6 HDs.  Unfortunately, none of the HDs are labeled as "Disk 6" by the system/server.  I disconnected the external USB drive (2xWD Red 3TB in RAID 1) since it was labeled as "Disk 5" and rebooted...still no pool or pooled drives in DP.  I disconnected a floppy drive, which appears to have resolved the Disk 6 events in the Event Viewer.  BUT, this did not resolve the missing pool and pooled drives within DP.  So, I removed all HDs except the OS drive and one pool drive...still no pool or pooled drives in DP.  Swapped pooled drives and rebooted...no pool or pooled drives in DP.  Added all drives (except floppy) to the server and rebooted, still no pool or pooled drives in DP.  Event viewer is NOT reporting VDS errors at this time (and since the floppy removed).

 

I'm at a loss.  I'm this >< close to uninstalling DP and going with a RAID pool, something I didn't/don't want to do since this will be throwing money at a problem that DP is supposed to handle.

 

As for the frequent reboots, this is from troubleshooting the issue, not Disk 6 problems.

[Christopher (Drashna)]

If you don't have six disks, then it may be that the disk 6 issues are related to the pool problems directly.

In fact, if the volume is having issues, then it could cause issues.

 

And if this is the case, could you do a clean reinstall of StableBit DrivePool?

http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_Q3017479

This will remove the driver and and all the files.

 

 

As for the frequent reboots, these are not graceful shutdowns. These are hitting the reset button or the like. And these can cause further issues. In fact, I'd recommend running "chkdsk c: /r" and "sfc /scannow".

[tjgriffin1]

Christopher,

Completed clean install of latest build.  DP saw the pool and pooled drives immediately after the install.  I turned on boot logging and rebooted.  After reboot, the pool and pooled drives are missing from DP.  I have uploaded DP logfiles, Event Viewer Application logs, and Event Viewer System logs.

 

Thanks,

Todd

[Christopher (Drashna)]

Tod, I've flagged the files that you've posted recently so Alex can take a look at them.

 

When this happens, try restarting the "StableBit DrivePool Service" and see if that fixes it, at least temporarily.

 

If it does, let us know.

[tjgriffin1]

Christopher,

Restarting the DP service and Virtual Disk service separately did not resolve the problem.

[Christopher (Drashna)]

Okay.

When this happens, could you run "devmgmt.msc" and see if the "Covecube Virtual Disk" device is present in the "Disk drives" group?

 

If it is, try disabling it and and re-enabling it, to see if that helps.

[tjgriffin1]

"Covecube Virtual Disk" is present under the "Disk Drives" group.  Disabling/enabling had no effect on the status of the pool and pooled drives in DP.  I also restarted the DP service, and the Virtual Disk services while toggling the "Covecube Virtual Disk" under the "Disk Drives" with no change on status of the pool or the pooled drives.  I have noticed that the Covecube virtual drive is present in Disk Managment Tool as a "Basic" 2048GB drive (the pooled drives are 2x3TB).