Unraid Version: 6.8.3

Motherboard: SuperMicro X8DTL-3F rev2.01

CPUs: Dual XEON L5640

 

Hi, I hope someone can help me with my issue.  So today I was noticing that my server was running the fans a bit more than normal and when I went to the Dashboard I noticed that most of the threads were running all over the place which is unusual for my server.  I checked top and saw that containerd and dockerd were using 100% of the CPU.

 

I shut down docker and then just to be safe I shut down the server.  When I powered it back on I now get this message that it can't find the bootable media and try again.  I thought my usb stick went bad so I bought another USB stick.  Tried that and same message.  Tried several USB sticks all with the same message.  Tried several different USB ports on the motherboard and same message.  I even tried a Ubuntu Live USB and it wouldn't boot and gave me the same message.

 

At this point I am thinking my motherboard USB ports went bad.  Now the server is older.  Dual XEONS L5640 running on a Supermicro board.  The server hardware was used when I bought it and that was several years ago.

 

I have 2 questions.

 

1. Can I buy a USB PCI card and disable the BIOS USB and force it to use the card to boot Unraid.
2. If I can't do that and I buy new hardware(motherboard/cpu/memory) can I just plug in the old USB stick and it boot up my configuration.

 

Any help would be appreciated.

Have you checked that the BIOS is still set to boot off the USB stick and has not reverted to something else as the default?

I have checked the BIOS and did all the recommended things that were in the documentation.  I even selected it through the boot menu on the BIOS and it still won't boot from any of the USB devices.

 

 

 

Also do you see the USB devices in the BIOS boot options?

Yes I see the devices in the boot options.  I haven't tried resetting the BIOS to defaults yet.  I just am confused as to how it was working and everything was great to not working now.

is legacy set to auto in the south bridge conf?

So I messed something up in changing all the BIOS settings and locked myself out of the BIOS because I am using a USB keyboard.  I am going to clear CMOS tonight which should reset all the BIOS settings and hopefully get myself back into the BIOS.  Once that is done I will go through and see if the settings you said to check are correct.

Okay cleared CMOS and set Legacy USB Support to Auto(it was enabled) and still won't boot from any USB.  I feel like this is a complete loss and need to buy a new mobo/cpu/memory.  

 

Is there anything else to try?

Update: I decided to pull out all my drives(thank god for Rosewill's hot swap server chassis) and just boot up.  Now I can boot the USB drive.  I am thinking it might be a PSU issue but have a question.  Could I be drawing too much power from the drives?  I have 12 drives in the server and it was running fine before.  It is as barebones as I can get it.  12 drives and 1 SAS card and a USB keyboard and USB thumb stick connected to a monitor using the onboard VGA port.

Not related power or PSU issue, just BIOS issue. Someone said some motherboard if attach too much disk then it won't boot USB anymore.

 

Does disk connect thr HBA ? If yes, pls try disable (BIOS) the OPTROM at the HBA seat slot.

Edited February 26, 20215 yr by Vr2Io

I have 6 drives attached to the SATA ports on the motherboard and then 6 drives are attached to a PCI SAS card.  I have disabled the onboard SAS in the BIOS.  Do you have a link to what that person said?  Would like to read more up on it.  I could take 2 drives off of the SATA ports on the motherboard and plug them into the SAS card but just seems odd that everything was working great and now it isn't.

15 minutes ago, TheClaus said:

Do you have a link to what that person said?

Haven't

 

If 6 disks detect on BIOS AHCI ( HBA Oprom disable ), 6 shouldn't trigger the bug.

I agree you can try plug-back HBA and unplug the on-board disk to trouble shoot step by step.

Edited February 26, 20215 yr by Vr2Io