(SOLVED) Trouble getting started - can't boot to Unraid USB

[Sypower]

This is my first time setting up Unraid or any NAS system.  I have created an UNRAID USB using the Unraid.USB.Creator, but I can't get my machine to boot to it.

 

For hardware: I wanted to explore the idea of having a NAS before buying a bunch of shiny new hardware, so I dusted off my old Gateway GT5414E desktop.  It still has the original motherboard, CPU, and RAM:

• Motherboard: MCP61PM-AM
• CPU: Athlon X2 4600+
• RAM: 2x1GB

I also have my main rig which I do not intend to use as an Unraid server, but I can use it to see if the bootable USB is working.  It has much more modern hardware:

• Motherboard: Asus TUF Z490 plus wifi
• CPU: i5-10600k
• RAM: 2x16GB

 

Here's what I've tried so far:

• In the BIOS:
  • Set "First Boot Device" to be "Removable"
  • Disabled "Quick Power On Self Test" (closest thing I could find to fast boot)
  • Updated system date and time
• Using Unraid 6.9.1 instead of 6.9.2
• Using the "boot menu" to choose my USB as the boot device
• Cleared CMOS
• I looked into doing a BIOS update, but I haven't found firmware for my motherboard yet
• Using a different USB stick
• Creating a TrueNAS Core bootable USB.  This worked and I got through the first few pages of setup.  I did not continue with that because they suggest having at least 8GB RAM, which I do not have in my old Gateway.

 

Whenever I try to boot to the USB, the old Gateway machine will get to "Verifying DMI pool data . . . . ." and then not go further.  My main rig will show a black screen until it the Windows login screen comes up.

 

I'm not sure what else I should try.  Please let me know if there is any other info that I should post to help figure this out. 

[ChatNoir]

Hello,

If your boot flashdrive have a folder named EFI- , try to rename it EFI (without the trailing - ).

[Sypower]

12 hours ago, ChatNoir said:

Hello,

If your boot flashdrive have a folder named EFI- , try to rename it EFI (without the trailing - ).

I renamed that folder and then re-ran the make_bootable script.  Now I can boot to the USB on my main rig but it still doesn't work for the machine that I wanted to have Unraid on.  That old Gateway was purchased around 2008 and it looks like it doesn't support UEFI. 

 

Any other ideas?  Or is there just no hope for hardware this old?

[itimpi]

4 minutes ago, Sypower said:

I renamed that folder and then re-ran the make_bootable script.  Now I can boot to the USB on my main rig but it still doesn't work for the machine that I wanted to have Unraid on.  That old Gateway was purchased around 2008 and it looks like it doesn't support UEFI. 

 

Any other ideas?  Or is there just no hope for hardware this old?

can’t think of any reason why not as long as that machine has a 64-bit capable processor unless it is not capable of booting off a USB device.

[Squid]

10 hours ago, Sypower said:

Set "First Boot Device" to be "Removable"

See if you can't set it to Hard Drive, and in the Hard Drive boot priorities set it to the USB flash device

[Sypower]

28 minutes ago, itimpi said:

can’t think of any reason why not as long as that machine has a 64-bit capable processor unless it is not capable of booting off a USB device.

This machine used to run a 32-bit version of Windows Vista, but according to google the "Athlon 64 X2 4600+" is a 64 bit processor, so there should be no problems there.  As I mentioned in the original post, I was able to boot to a TrueNAS USB drive on the Gateway which shows that it can boot from a USB.  The TrueNAS USB was a bit different because it was an ISO image, but I'm not sure what the implications of that are.

 

27 minutes ago, Squid said:

See if you can't set it to Hard Drive, and in the Hard Drive boot priorities set it to the USB flash device

When I try that, my only option for "Hard Disk boot priority" is "Bootable Add-in cards".   After saving that to the BIOS and rebooting, I see the same "Verifying DMI Pool Data".  It is worth noting that when I use the "Boot menu" to manually choose a first boot device, I see my USB listed under the "Removable" section.  When I choose it that way I get the same thing, but I think that shows that the USB is being detected as an option for boot.

 

PS: I also changed back to having the "EFI-" folder (with the trailing dash) and ran the "make_bootable" script again, since I think this machine does not support UEFI, and I don't want that to get in the way.

[Sypower]

Update: I tried creating a Debian live bootable USB to see if my machine would boot from there.  Using the default settings in Rufus to create the USB led me to the same "Verifying DMI Pool Data" message I keep getting stuck at.  On the next attempt it did work after checking the box in Rufus for "Add fixes for old BIOSes (extra partition, align, etc)".  Does anyone know what exactly that does and how I might be able to do the same thing when setting up the Unraid bootable USB?

[Van Helsing]

Maybe check your bios version against what the last version that was available for that motherboard. Possibly updating the motherboard bios to the latest version could solve the problem your having.

[Sypower]

18 minutes ago, Van Helsing said:

Maybe check your bios version against what the last version that was available for that motherboard. Possibly updating the motherboard bios to the latest version could solve the problem your having.

I've tried looking for a BIOS update for my motherboard but haven't had any luck.  I've never done that before so I could use some guidance.  Where can I go looking for firmware files if the original manufacturer doesn't have it?  Drivers and documentation are available on Gateway's website for my GT5414E, but under BIOS/Firmware it just says "?_No results".  Searching the motherboard's part number also doesn't turn up many useful results.  Maybe someone else knows where to look?

[Sypower]

SOLUTION!  Well, a workaround at least.

 

I took the Debian live USB that was created using Rufus' "Add fixes for old BIOSes" option, and just replaced the Debian files with the Unraid files using a plain old Windows file explorer.  Honestly I'm a bit surprised that worked because it really felt like I was putting together puzzle pieces that were not designed to fit together.

 

Here's the recap:

• Download a Debian live ISO file: start with debian.org/CD/live, and then choose your preferred download source, architecture, and flavor, then download the corresponding .iso file.  (In my case it was "debian-live-11.2.0-amd64-xfce.iso".)
• Use Rufus to turn the downloaded Debian live .iso into a bootable USB.  Make sure to check the box "Add fixes for old BIOSes", which does some magic to make the USB bootable for my old machine.
• Download the Unraid manual install files: go to unraid.net/download and scroll down to find the .zip file for the version of your liking.
• Delete all the files on the Debian live USB and replace them with the unzipped contents of Unraid's manual install files.  There is no need to run the "make_bootable" script.
• Remember to rename the USB to "UNRAID".

[solomonshv]

On 12/31/2021 at 3:59 AM, ChatNoir said:

Hello,

If your boot flashdrive have a folder named EFI- , try to rename it EFI (without the trailing - ).

 

hello. 

 

sorry to hijack a thread, but why does the media creator put the dash there? i created unraid drives before and this didn't happen before, but it started happening now. i tried making the unraid media on at least 5 different computers and probably a dozen flash drives. and it kept happening. i didn't notice the dash until i read this.

 

removing the dash got me in business. why is it happening now but wasn't happening before? am i doing something wrong? 

Edited April 21, 2022 by solomonshv

[JonathanM]

41 minutes ago, solomonshv said:

why does the media creator put the dash there?

Some older motherboards didn't boot properly if the EFI folder existed, I guess they got confused whether they were supposed to boot traditionally or UEFI. The compromise was made to properly configure the EFI folder but rename it if the checkbox to enable UEFI boot wasn't checked when the flash was created.

 

48 minutes ago, solomonshv said:

why is it happening now but wasn't happening before? am i doing something wrong? 

Are you selecting the Allow UEFI checkbox in the customize section?

[solomonshv]

1 hour ago, JonathanM said:

Some older motherboards didn't boot properly if the EFI folder existed, I guess they got confused whether they were supposed to boot traditionally or UEFI. The compromise was made to properly configure the EFI folder but rename it if the checkbox to enable UEFI boot wasn't checked when the flash was created.

 

Are you selecting the Allow UEFI checkbox in the customize section?

it appears that i was doing something wrong, i didn't check the EUFI box. i didn't know it was there. oops

 

thank you 

[CSIG1001]

I am running into the same issue running a z370 mobo. Not sure what is going on but my bios is showing CSM disabled and everytime i reboot unraid , i have to manually go into my bios to manually select the boot device to force boot the USB drive where unraid resides.  It will reboot the machine and work but gone are the days of rebooting my server and having it automatically boot into the OS.

 

I did remove the dash on EFI folder so no more EFI-   , Along the lines i basically forgot what I did to cause the USB not to automatically boot into unraid. What am i doing wrong?

I have no other boot devices besides the USB unraid drive. I am affraid to click on Make USB bootable on the USB drive as i do not want to reformat the drive.

 

How can I fix my USB drive to automatically boot from the USB so when I update unraid and reboot i, do not have manually force boot the USB drive in the bios?

THanks

[ChatNoir]

6 hours ago, CSIG1001 said:

I am affraid to click on Make USB bootable on the USB drive as i do not want to reformat the drive.

It will not format anything.

[CSIG1001]

15 hours ago, ChatNoir said:

It will not format anything.

 

I was told to remove fast booting in the bios..  I will try this then what if this is still not working? I removed the - on EFI so no EFI- folder , just EFI

Am i supposed to run "make bootable" again?

 

 

[ChatNoir]

I would say keep this discussion in your other thread, it is difficult to coordinate answers if it's all over the place.

[reluctantflux]

On 12/31/2021 at 2:59 AM, ChatNoir said:

Hello,

If your boot flashdrive have a folder named EFI- , try to rename it EFI (without the trailing - ).

Hey, I know this is old, but this fixed my issue on my new gigabyte mobo, where I couldn't get my decade old unraid usb to be recognized as a boot device on new hardware.  Removing the - from EFI- folder allowed my system to boot up on my new hardware, and I was off to the races.  Thanks! 

[cookeh]

On 1/1/2022 at 8:12 AM, Sypower said:

SOLUTION!  Well, a workaround at least.

 

I took the Debian live USB that was created using Rufus' "Add fixes for old BIOSes" option, and just replaced the Debian files with the Unraid files using a plain old Windows file explorer.  Honestly I'm a bit surprised that worked because it really felt like I was putting together puzzle pieces that were not designed to fit together.

 

Here's the recap:

• Download a Debian live ISO file: start with debian.org/CD/live, and then choose your preferred download source, architecture, and flavor, then download the corresponding .iso file.  (In my case it was "debian-live-11.2.0-amd64-xfce.iso".)
• Use Rufus to turn the downloaded Debian live .iso into a bootable USB.  Make sure to check the box "Add fixes for old BIOSes", which does some magic to make the USB bootable for my old machine.
• Download the Unraid manual install files: go to unraid.net/download and scroll down to find the .zip file for the version of your liking.
• Delete all the files on the Debian live USB and replace them with the unzipped contents of Unraid's manual install files.  There is no need to run the "make_bootable" script.
• Remember to rename the USB to "UNRAID".

 

This worked for me.. I really had trouble getting my new SanDisk UltraFit 32GiB to work.. USB Creator didn't recognize it, manual method for creating bootable unraid stick didn't work (neither on my linux machines nor on the windows one).. but this here worked just fine.

Thanks mate.

[Shibbysnacks]

I used Sypower's fix for an old ASUS M4A78 PRO mobo. (Thank You!)

If you already set up your UNRAID like me and then realized the stupid thing won't reboot, go to the MAIN tab, select "flash" under Boot Device and click "FLASH BACKUP". This will create a zip file of your flash contents. These contents is what you copy back to your "empty" flash drive. If asked to overwrite duplicate files, the answer to this is absolutely NOT. Otherwise the fix does not work.