Yesterday i noticed my server was turned off, when I turned it on, i saw a message that there was no time set in the BIOS.

 

I booted into the BIOS and set the time, then unraid was able to start, but never actually finished starting up.  It was just stuck on the booting screen.  The second line, which I can't remember what it says, but the first thing boots immediately, then the second command takes a long time to boot, but never finished.

 

Tonight, I restored my BIOS to my saved settings (assuming everything got jacked up somehow), and tried again.  The screen appeared to be stuck at the same place, but on the lower right it went from A1 to B2, then after several minutes, I saw my VM starting.  Great I thought.

 

I tried playing a video and it said it couldn't find the file.  I tried to get into the GUI and it wouldn't load.  i tried to putty into the server and it says it's unable to open connection. host does not exist.

 

i don't know how the server could not be online but the VM is working.

 

I don't know how to get a diagnostics from this condition.

 

Appreciate any help moving forward from here.

Does your VM's attached monitor (you're obviously doing a GPU passthrough) normally display the bootup sequence from the BIOS of the server itself?

 

Since you had to go into the BIOS to set the date and time, it implies your battery (probably a CR2032) is shot and the primary GPU you're using for the server (I'm assuming you have 2 -> one for passthrough, and the other (iGPU / cheapie card) is used for Unraid.  You've got to set the primary video card to be iGPU / el cheapie.  Then we'll be able to make some more progress

I don't actually know if the unraid bootup is normally shown on the VM display.  Once I got the VM working, I don't remember booting up the server again with that monitor on.

 

I'll buy a new battery and replace it, then go thru the BIOS and confirm all the settings and force the primary display to the iGPU.  Once I have that done, I'll boot again and if it's still not working, I'll report back.

 

thanks for the guidance.

I just realized my spare car key has a CR2032 battery, so I replace the motherboard one with it and changed the primary display to the iGPU, checked all my other settings and rebooted.

 

Everything worked fine now.  Not sure why the failing battery allowed it to start, but unraid didn't load and the VM did, but new battery seems to have resolved it.

 

I ordered new batteries and will replace again with a brand new one, as I'm not sure how old my spare key battery was

 

thanks again for your guidance!