Drobo problems under 10.8.1

Question

Drobo problems under 10.8.1

Here's a few unusual problems that seem to be related to a Drobo (2nd generation) hooked to a Mac Mini via FireWire, running 10.8.1.

I had two Drobos hooked to the Mac when it was running 10.7 just fine. I did the upgrade to 10.8 and everything seemed fine as well. But, the other night, I decided to start over, reformat the Mac hard drive and install 10.8 fresh. I began installing non-App Store software, like Drobo Dashboard (which isn't a signed app, and you have to alter security settings to install it).

Problems:

1. When I rebooted (after also doing a memory upgrade), the system would hang at the grey screen. Rebooting with the Drobo unplugged booted quickly. I soon found out it was just taking a VERY LONG TIME to boot when the Drobo was plugged in.

2. When the Drobo is plugged in, I can use my bluetooth keyboard and trackpad on the login screen, but once it gets to the desktop, they stop working. Connecting to the Mac via ethernet and Screen Sharing shows that Bluetooth was still on, and the keyboard/trackpad show as connected. Disabling and re-enabling Bluetooth did not make them start working.

3. I also not that often only one of my two Drobos mounts. I have seen just the drives of my Drobo1 show up, and then after another attempt, just the drives of Drobo2.

The unknown things that could be significant: 1. This is the first time I have tried to use this with the new 10.8.1 update. Perhaps that is the problem? And 2. this is the first attempt after upgrading the memory (which seems like an unlikely problem, since unplugging the Drobo appears to have everything working properly).

Anyone encountered any issues like this?

Mac mini, OS X Mountain Lion

Posted on Aug 24, 2012 7:07 PM

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Answer 1

Aug 24, 2012 7:42 PM in response to Allen Huffman

Additional observations... Following the steps on the Drobo support site, I removed the Drobo Dashboard software and restarted. It starts fast and fine with the Drobo unplugged, but takes forever at the grey screen if it is plugged in. Drobo Dashboard does not seem to be the issue, unless it left something around after their uninstaller ran and I manually deleted the leftover files.

Once past the grey screen (with Drobo connected during boot), bluetooth keyboard and trackpad are unresponsive.

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Answer 2

Aug 25, 2012 10:46 PM in response to Allen Huffman

This may have been a Drobo firmware problem.

I have two Drobos, and several weeks ago, one of them was able to upgrade to 1.4.2 using the Drobo Dashboard. The other unit, at 1.4.1, kept saying it had the latest firmware, so I left it alone to investigate later.

Tonight, I decided to manually update my Drobo1 unit to 1.4.2. After a reboot, the Mac mini started up quickly, and all Drobos were recognized.

In the release notes for 1.4.2, Data Robitics notes:

"

This is a new release of Drobo Firmware. Improvements included in this version:

Enhance support for drives with long spin up time.
Fixed disconnect problems when Drobo is connected via FireWire to older Mac systems.

"

Since the Mac is no longer taking forever to get past the grey screen, and after login I have access to Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, it does seem like it may have been the problem. (Very bizarre. You'd think a USB/FireWire drive would just be a drive of sectors to the computer.)

I will check it out over the next few days and report back.

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Answer 3

Sep 21, 2012 6:29 AM in response to Allen Huffman

I am having the same issue on 10.8.2, with a brand new iMac and the older 4 bay drobo. mouse/trackpad/keyboard are frozen when restarting machine, and won't respond until FW800 is unplugged.

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Answer 4

jfconno

Level 1

0 points

Dec 6, 2012 4:24 AM in response to b16_madman

Had exactly this issue and seem to have resolved it...

Booted up Mac
Plugged in Drobo
In Spotlight's preferences, I've added the Drobo to the privacy list - ie the volumes that Spotlight doesn't index.
Rebooted and didin't touch anything for an hour or so as my hunch was something was indexing/searching/repariring in the background

After an hour or so, TimeMachine cranked up, mounted the sparse bundle on the Drobo created by TimeTamer, and now everything's all working and back to normal.

Reboots fine, no hangs etc

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Answer 5

Mar 11, 2013 6:08 PM in response to Allen Huffman

I had exact problems described by Allen (i.e. takes for every to restart and bluetooth keyboard and mouse unresponsive at login screen) but I am on 10.8.2 with Drobo Dashboard 2.4.1 and Firmware 1.4.2. So I am already on the the latest firmware but still had issues. Following is what I did:

Reinstalled Drobo Dashboard and Firmware (manual update)
Added Drobo to the Spotlight Privacy list
Reset the SMC (perhaps this is the first thing you can try)

Resetting the SMC for Mac Pro, Intel-based iMac, Intel-based Mac mini, or Intel-based Xserve

Shut down the computer.
Unplug the computer's power cord.
Wait fifteen seconds.
Attach the computer's power cord.
Wait five seconds, then press the power button to turn on the computer.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3964

After resetting the SMC system seems to be back to normal. Hope that helps.

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