TCIII

Hi all, I have had my two unRaid servers running for about two years now (I was a very early adaptor of the unRaid system). I started with the recommended Intel microATX motherboard (discontinued), Promise controller card, and the CM Stacker case. Everything went together nicely and worked with a minimum amount of problems. Tom was very helpful and always available by email when I needed help before this forum was created. If you feel that you do not want to spend half an hour researching this forum to determine what combinations of motherboards, controllers, and case/power supplies will work together to build an unRaid server, then maybe you ought to buy something off the shelf from a major computer manufacturer. Just a thought. Regards, TCIII

Hi all, I have been using the Asus P5PE-VM motherboard in a Home Automation PC that runs 24/7 and while I have not had the on-board NIC fail, the RTC has started to loose about two minutes per day recently. I have two other P5PE-VM motherboards. One is in a home made Home Security DVR and the other is acting as a test bed/backup spare for my two unRaid servers that are still running the original Intel micro ATX motherboards that Tom started with. I think that this would indicate that Asus is having a real problem with quality control in relation to their parts suppliers. The two other P5PE-VMs are still running okay, but I doubt that I will purchase anymore of them because of the NIC/RTC issues. Just a thought. Regards, TCIII

BritOverseas, You might start by hooking a monitor, keyboard and mouse up to the motherboard and take a look at the motherboard BIOS and make sure that all of the settings are correct. Restarting the system with the monitor, keyboard and mouse hooked up will allow you to see the unRaid start up without having to telnet to the unRaid system and might give you a better idea about what is going on during the unRaid system startup. Just a thought. Regards, TCIII

foo_fighter, Tom plans to implement a UPS/unRaid interface in a future release as far as I know. Regards, TCIII

fgunnars, I am using two Cooler Master Stacker chassis for my two unRaid servers. Each chassis has two 350 watt power supplies. Each server is connected to a 1kw APC UPS that can handle both servers at the same time. Regards, TCIII

sainttjames, Your unRaid drives should be set up as "cable select" not as "master" or "slave". Just a thought. Regards, TCIII

bdee1, Gigabit switches tend to run very warm due to their high speeds compared to 10/100 switches. Are you switches in a well ventilated place? If not, switch overheating may be your problem if it is not your unRaid server. Just a thought. Regards, TCIII

Roscoe62, I suspect that you might have a dead NIC on the unRaid motherboard. Regards, TCIII

Roscoe62, I purchased an APC 1Kw UPS from Costco for $99 last year and it will handle both of my unRaid servers at the same time. Costco is presently selling 1Kw Tripplite UPS here in the Los Angeles area for $99. We are on Southern California Edison here in the South Bay of LA County and they have constant glitches and brown-out throughout the year. I also have all of my HiFi equipment on 1200 watt Tripplite voltage stabilizers. I plan on purchasing several pure sine wave UPS for most of my HiFi equipment in the near future. Regards, TCIII

mutant_matt, Good observation mutant_matt. I had a similar problem occur and I had to go into the BIOS and reset the boot-up order. Regards, TCIII

Roscoe62, Is the server on a UPS? If not, there may have been a power glitch that caused it to hang. Also, garages can get hot and it may have caused the processor to shutdown/lockup if the garage air got hot enough. Both of my unRaid servers are in my garage and it can get above 80 deg F during the spring/summer/fall and I therefore never run a parity check except at night when it is cooler. I have never experienced this kind of symptom with either of my two unRaid servers. Just a thought. Regards, TCIII

aitf311, I think that you are confusing switch with router. I also have the Linksys WRT54G for WiFi, 10/100 speed routing, and Internet interfacing. However, I use Linksys SD2500 Gigabit switches to connect my HTPC and media clients with my two unRaid servers. The WRT54G is coupled to one of the Gigabit switch ports to provide Internet 10/100 speed access to the rest of the clients. Regards, TCIII

jknight, AMD's Cool and Quiet may only operate under Windows. I have it installed on my AMD Athlon 64 3700 powered HTPC running Windows XP Pro and it installed as an application would. Just a thought. Regards, TCIII

Dave, I am running a Linksys SD2005 five port Gigabit switch and have had no problems with the connection between my HTPC Gigabit NIC and my unRaid server when streaming a movie. Are you sure that the Linksys eg005 switch can handle jumbo packets? I know that my Linksys SD2005 cannot handle jumbo packets. Also, you may have to set a switch in the unRaid OS via telnet to enable jumbo packets on the server. Gigabit switches by nature run quite warm due to their switching and transmission speeds. Make sure that it has plenty of ventilation when used for extended periods of time such as when you are streaming a movie off of your unRaid server to your HTPC. Just a thought. Regards, TCIII

Hi all, I second sonofdbn's suggestion. It would be nice to have some detailed instructions on such a useful feature. Regards, TCIII

crankbearing, Did you follow the instructions that came with the processor? If you bought a boxed (retail) Intel processor there are instructions that tell you how to mount the heatsink/fan on the motherboard. They specifically tell you to mount the heatsink/fan on the motherboard after the motherboard is securely mounted in the pc chassis. I just recently put together a P5PE-VM motherboard and a retail Celeron 2.66GHz cpu for evaluation in an intermediate size tower case. When I installed the heatsink/fan, I had no problems with the motherboard warping because it was securely mounted to the chassis. Just a thought. Regards, TCIII

mutant matt, Actually there are two IDE connectors so you can have up to four (4) IDE PATA hard drives. I only saw two SATA connectors on the board. I am presently evaluating this board as a replacement for the original Intel micro ATX board that Tom recommended at the beginning. Regards, TCIII

franky, Try stopping the array and see what appears on the main page. Just a thought. Regards, TCIII

teamhood, The Asus P5PE-VM motherboard that some members are using is a micro ATX motherboard and is widely available from mwave.com, newegg.com, zipzoomfly.com, etc. I just bought one to evaluate as a replacement for the original Intel micro ATX motherboards that the unRaid server uses. Regards, TCIII

Hi all, I am presently using four flat 18" cables and two 24" flat in my Cooler Master Stacker case and have no DMA problems whatsoever. I did have DMA problems when I tried to use the round cables. Regards, TCIII

JM2005, I have had the garage get up to 90 deg F during the summer so I raise the garage door in the afternoon to let air circulate in. I never run a parity check during the day when the garage is warmer than 80 deg F. Since only a couple of drives are spun up during normal server usage, having the garage be at 90 deg F has not caused a problem. Also, my garage never gets below 65 deg F during the winter because I have a water heater in there that helps warm it up. Regards, TCIII

dabl, I am presently using Antec 350 watt model SL350 power supplies. Antec may not make these power supplies anymore. If one of them dies, I will probably replace it with an equivalent Sparkle power supply. Hope this helps. Regards, TCIII

Hi all, Okay. I will shoot a couple this afternoon when I get home and post them tonight. Here is the link to the photos of the server cabinets: http://home.socal.rr.com/tcoyle/Server%20Cabinets/ Regards, TCIII

Hi all, I mounted both of my unRaid servers in plywood boxes with large washable airfilters mounted on the front. The back of the Cooler Master stacker servers hang out the rear of the boxes and the boxes are totally sealed. This way they are very quiet and the front mounted filter helps reduce dust/dirt intake. Regards, TCIII

Tom, Is there a telnet command that can be used to show the state of the unRaid server? Regards, TCIII