directo

I'm looking for something to help guide me along as well! It's been 10+ years, I'm still running a 4.7 unraid rig, but want a new project....

Thanks for the reply! What are you running on your build? Looking to build an all-in-one server, storage and VM usage. Do you have a link to your build?

Did you go ahead with this chassis? Any reason you picked this one over the 4U 24 bay models?

Same here - hah! My last unRaid build was 10 years ago, and I remember just cloning one of their recommended builds. Things seems to have gotten more complicated since then! If you find anything, let me know - I'm still just trying to find a decent case / chassis with external 5.25 drive bays!

Interested in this too - if only for the chassis. Would be willing to rip all the components out and start from scratch. Other chassis I was looking at was the Norco 4224.

Thanks for the update heffe - cautionary tale for those using the TX750 - it may or may not work for you. I've since upgraded to the HX620 (currently running with 13 drives). So far so good. Wanted to thank everyone who helped out!

I guess this is how crow tastes? I just went out and bought a PSU (from a big box store) to see if it works, and for now - it seems to be working (able to boot, i'm doing a transfer from 1 drive hooked up). Previously, it crapped out by now, but I'm not holding my breath. It's a BFGtech 550W, so I think I'll return this and get another PSU...any suggestions? What's very weird is that my old PSU worked on my old MOBO (albeit, it was a uATX board, so only needed the 4pin 12V connection). Very strange indeed. Many thanks for all the suggestions - and a lesson to all, NEVER ASSUME something works just cuz it did on your old setup! I'll post later on with what PSU I get, and the stability of the system after the fact.... Send any PSU suggestions along (I'm in Canada, and will likely go to www.canadacomputers.com or tigerdirect.ca)....

is there a way to boot in an attended fashion? ie. hit a key for every step? I can see some output after the bzimage and bzroot steps...

I've been trying what bjp suggests. Just trying to boot the unRAID O/S (I've also tried Ubuntu from USB and CD). Same problem. (I didn't have any drives hooked in. I've gone back and forth between both MOBO's a few times to make sure i wasn't going crazy. I've also tried both C2SEE boards and same results. I'm going to try and fiddle around with the BIOS settings (as suggested by Weebo), but may go out and get another PSU. Any suggestions (hopefully they have a good return policy )? BTW - temperatures and voltages all look ok in the BIOS. CPU Temp - Low System Temp - 30-40 C VCORE - 1.288 AVCC - 3.376 3.3Vcc - 3.376 12V - 12.249 V_DIMM - 1.584 5V - 5.152/5.184 -12V - -12.472 3.3Vsb - 3.360 Vbat - 3.280

- symptoms are 100% reproducible -> when trying to boot linux, it dies at the exact same time, when trying to boot from the HDD (WinXP) it dies at the exact same time. when booting unraid, it gets through the bzimage and bzroot steps (with the dots), and then shortly after that, it shuts down. - my worries exactly, I'd like to rule everything out before I try and get my hands on another PSU. - as of now, yes - the symptoms are the same; however, when I tried the first C2SEE a few weeks ago, I could actually boot into unRAID but the system would crash whenever i spun a disk down, or did a file transfer. Now I can't even boot into unRAID. - have double checked all my connections, and have tried only connecting the power switch up and no comination has worked - the 8 pin power connector can only go in a certain way (some pins are square, others are tapered at one end), so it's snapping in correctly let me know if a video would help - i can try whipping something up and posting it on youtube or something.

Thanks for the replies... I'm running (another) memory test overnight, just to double check. I don't have another PSU with an 8 pin connector, BUT - I have been using this PSU with my former motherboard, and it's performed without any issues. I'm reluctant to go out and buy another PSU to test this out -> what are the chances that it is the PSU manifesting this problem? (my previous board only used a 4pin EPS connector though). I've also tried using another CPU on the board, and it didn't change any of the symptoms. Even the tech support guy from Supermicro thought this was weird. Some answers: 1) I'm using OCZ DDR3, 1066 memory. Will rerun the memory test, but when I did it last week, didn't have any problems with my memory. 2) Reseated the connectors multiple times. Everything was connected well. 3) Fan was working fine. Reseated, and reapplied thermal grease, and tried 2 different CPU's. Same results. 4) Haven't been able to try another PSU - but the PSU has worked with my other MOBO. 5) I can't even boot the Unraid, or Fedora live usb images It gets to the point where it says decompressing kernel image, and the whole thing shuts down (no error beeps, or anything - the screen goes magenta, and then dies. What do you guys think about: 1) the chances of getting 2 defective boards in a row... 2) my PSU being the problem (even though the one I'm using has been working without a problem with my previous microATX MOBO)

Is anyone else using this board? I was the one that wrote a few weeks back about my problems with the C2SEE ( http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=3520.0 ). I got another RMA board back and am having real problems with this guy. Here's some things I tested: 1) I decided to start with the bare minimum in the chassis - nothing hooked up! Seems to boot and POST fine, can get into the bios. 2) When I add a SATA CDROM drive - seems to work fine (can boot from my windows XP disk that's in there.) 3) Once I add a HD (tried a WD10EADS, and a Samsung drive (the model escapes me right now)) it just crashes and powers down. 4) When I try to boot from JUST the unRAID USB stick, it will decompress the image, and then shutdown (bzimage / bzroot). I've also tried Ubuntu - same thing. 5) I've managed to do the first part of the XP install (formatting and copying files) to the WD10EADS but when it restarted, it got to the Windows XP screen for (probably a millisecond) then shut down. I'm trying this again with another HDD to see if it's the drive (I don't think it is, but I want to make sure). [AGGHH - just did the exact same thing using the laptop HDD - it won't even boot into an OS!!!] I've tried calling Supermicro for tech support, but they weren't too helpful, and told me to reinstall Fedora 7 or Windows on the SATA HDD (which is why I'm doing the above). Is anyone else having problems with this board? I would find it really hard to believe 2 boards came to me bad. (I've also tested the memory using the unRAID stick and let it run over night). All my components (save the memory) have been used on another motherboard without issues. I'm really at a loss for what could be wrong. I'm also using a Corsair TX750W powersupply, and an Intel Celeron 1.6 GHz 420. How can this be the reference board?

I know enough to get myself into trouble (all kidding aside, I know how to build a computer - been doing so for 15 or so years).... I plugged my old MOBO in, and copies seem to work fine. I've also never had a MOBO go bad, let alone get one on the first go....I guess I'll start filling out the RMA papers.... I'm wondering what would cause this kind of error....seems so random....

i've unmounted the board, from the case and still not working. I think I'm going to have to revert to my old mobo for now, and see what's up. Any other MOBO recommendations other than the C2SEE? (with two PCI-E slots)... very frustrating...

1. When I spin the disks down, the whole thing shuts down. When I'm copying a file, the server freezes and I need to do a hard reset. I've tried to tail the syslog, but nothing happens. 2. I'm doing a copy of the file over the network, using SAMBA. 3. I've tried a different USB stick. - Do you guys think this is an RMA candidate? I'd really like to avoid that... UPDATE I just tried using another controller to do a file copy, and it still hangs.....

BIOS updated, and didn't seem to do any good... I'm at a loss - I can't even copy files when there's 1 drive in the array (with or without backplane). Any other tricks I should try? Or does this sound like a bunk board...(I'll have to RMA) Help me Obi-Wan Kenobe, you're my only hope...

Just tried that...with a NON WD10EACS (western digital 1TB) drive... Boots, but when spun down, the server shuts down...

did some more 'fiddling', not sure if any of this will help... - I took out all external SATA controllers (only testing with onboard SATA controller) - I only connected 1 drive to the MOBO at a time - I only powered 1 back plane at a time These are some of my findings: - With no drives plugged into the MOBO, the system WON'T boot. It gets to the menu and goes through the bzimage and bzroot steps, and then quickly shuts down after that. (Is this normal?) - If I connect a WD10EACS drive to the MOBO, the same thing happens (shuts down quickly after the bzimage and bzroot steps). It does not matter which back plane or which SATA header the drive is plugged into. - If any other drive is connected, unRAID will boot and I can get into the GUI, etc. - If I spin down any single disk that's attached that successfully booted, the system immediately shuts down. It doesn't matter which plane the drive is plugged into, or which SATA header on the MOBO it's plugged into. - I also repeated these tests with different cables. Can anyone explain this? (should I try to flash the BIOS?)

ok - it just keeps getting weirder... Did the memtest - ran it over night, and passed all the tests. Now I notice that when I'm trying to copy files from the array, it craps out after a few seconds. The lights on my Icy Dock back planes go red for some drives (this changes every time I try to run the copy test). I've tried to tail my syslog as I do the copy, but nothing shows up in the syslog. I have since, totallydisconnected the new 1430SA, new drives I installed, and the third back plane I was using. This leaves me with this setup: - 2 ICY Dock Back planes powered - 10 drives (6 using the onboard mobo SATA connections, 4 using my original 1430SA (that has been working find with the old mobo) - removed all molex splitters (as I only have to 2 back planes powered right now) with this configuration, the spin down test also fails (in addition to the copy file test) I'm now going to go through the process of removing drives from the array and testing each cable out. If anyone has suggestions on how to do this, I'm welcoming anything at this point.....what has me perplexed is that I've been using the above configuration (with albeit a different motherboard) for months now and everything had worked (I was running the server without spin downs previously). could this be a bad mobo?

Well, something is DEFINITELY not right. Was trying to stream a movie, and the whole thing just conked about a minute into the movie. My build is extremely unstable now I think (I hard restarted it, and it conked again). I have a feeling it's a hardware issue, now it's just a matter of trying to isolate which piece of the puzzle it is... I'm doing a memtest right now. I've reseated all the cables, double checked all the power connections, etc. As to your suggestion of the actual drive being the problem - along with the mobo, I added 3 new drives (one of them being sde that's referenced in your post). I yanked all three and did the spin down test again and it still happened. I'm using the C2SEE mobo - and I tried to find the setting to change it to AHCI, but I can't seem to find it. It's in the manual, but that parameter seems to be missing from my menus, I'll need to see if I'm on the latest firmware. I'm a little dissapointed now, as I thought upgrading to this hardware would at least put me in a better position - hopefully I can get this working! I'll try posting another syslog once the memcheck is done. Frustrated, but optimistic! (note, I've been using the PSU, cables, 1 controller card just fine. I've changed the mobo, added another 1430SA, and a masscool controller (to get an extra 2 more ports)). Thanks again Rob for the insights, and the help...

Did some more testing...I don't think it's the controlllers...I switched the controllers, and then took the controller out that was apparently causing the problem, but I still have issues with spin down (shuts the server down). So after I took the suspected controller it, it still keeps crashing (now it's crashing during spin down of disks that previously would spin down fine. Needless to say, I'm a bit confused.....

Thanks Rob....I'll investigate this a little further. Admittedly, I'm not an expert in unraid / linux...so if you do see something else that catches your eye, please let me know... Like I said, it's running the parity check (seems to be going fine). Once that's done, I'll check into this. I'm also not sure if I've setup my controllers properly - I just glanced through my syslog (I don't really understand msot of it ) and noticed I saw a lot of UDMA / 133. Somehow that doesn't seem right to me? (I could be wrong)....

admittedly, it hasn't been running for more than a day with the new configurations, but it's going through the parity check now and seems to be running fine (I've historically had problems with disks spinning back up causing errors). I'll monitor the usage of the system (I currently have it set to no spin downs) but eventually want to get to a state where I have spin down enabled (to save both on power, and longevity of my drives). Anybody else have any suggestions?

Just upgraded some components in my unRAID setup. High Level overview: - C2SEE mobo - 2 1430sa's - Corsair TX 750 W (750 watt PSU) - I've got 13 drive in total - using Lian Li case with 5-3 icy dock backplanes When I click the "Spin Down" button to spin all the disks down, I can hear the drives starting to spin down, and then it just hangs. Sometimes it resets the system, sometimes I need to do a physical reset from the box. Here's the tail of my syslog when it does that (I stopped a parity check that was in progress): Mar 21 12:14:10 DIRECTO_MEDIA kernel: mdcmd (10): nocheck Mar 21 12:14:10 DIRECTO_MEDIA kernel: md: md_do_sync: got signal, exit... Mar 21 12:14:10 DIRECTO_MEDIA kernel: md: recovery thread sync completion status: -4 Mar 21 12:14:25 DIRECTO_MEDIA emhttp: shcmd (19): sync Mar 21 12:14:29 DIRECTO_MEDIA emhttp: shcmd (20): /usr/sbin/hdparm -y /dev/sdd >/dev/null Mar 21 12:14:29 DIRECTO_MEDIA emhttp: shcmd (21): /usr/sbin/hdparm -y /dev/sdk >/dev/null Mar 21 12:14:30 DIRECTO_MEDIA emhttp: shcmd (22): /usr/sbin/hdparm -y /dev/sdm >/dev/null Mar 21 12:14:31 DIRECTO_MEDIA emhttp: shcmd (23): /usr/sbin/hdparm -y /dev/sdi >/dev/null Mar 21 12:14:31 DIRECTO_MEDIA emhttp: shcmd (24): /usr/sbin/hdparm -y /dev/sdn >/dev/null Mar 21 12:14:32 DIRECTO_MEDIA emhttp: shcmd (25): /usr/sbin/hdparm -y /dev/sdj >/dev/null Mar 21 12:14:33 DIRECTO_MEDIA emhttp: shcmd (26): /usr/sbin/hdparm -y /dev/sdc >/dev/null Mar 21 12:14:33 DIRECTO_MEDIA emhttp: shcmd (27): /usr/sbin/hdparm -y /dev/sdb >/dev/null Mar 21 12:14:34 DIRECTO_MEDIA emhttp: shcmd (28): /usr/sbin/hdparm -y /dev/sda >/dev/null Mar 21 12:14:34 DIRECTO_MEDIA emhttp: shcmd (29): /usr/sbin/hdparm -y /dev/sdl >/dev/null Mar 21 12:14:35 DIRECTO_MEDIA emhttp: shcmd (30): /usr/sbin/hdparm -y /dev/sde >/dev/null I've read a few posts on spin up/down - could this be related to my HD? I've connected the backplanes with the molex connectors. The PSU has 8 molex connectors, and I split a couple of those to power the back planes and for ease of cable routing (3 for each back plane). Any thoughts?

Ok...so I'm waiting for the 'use the search function posts'!!! Just to be clear, I did do a search, but maybe I wasn't looking hard enough. I want to upgrade my motherboard (to the supermicro). Is it just a matter of unplugging my old motherboard, and plugging all the drives into the new motherboard? Any help would be appreciated....thanks.