Hello everyone,

I am new to Unraid and currently trying to build my first unraid system (a simple 6-disk NAS). Unfortunately I cannot get Unraid to boot – whatever I do, it always gets stuck after the boot menu on „/bzroot…ok“ and then nothing happens anymore. I have found several threads that decribe the same issue, but none of their solutions have worked for me so far.

 

Screenshot:

 

The hardware I am using is:
Mainboard: Supermicro A2SDi-4C-HLN4F (with intel Atom C3558 processor, BIOS-Version 1.7 from 09/2022)
RAM: 1 x 4 GB Hynix DDR4-2133 ECC (HMA451R7MFR8N-TF)
USB-Drive: Kingston DataTraveler Kyson 32GB USB 3.0 (which was recommended for Unraid), loaded with Unraid 6.11.5 via USB Flash Creator.

 

I currently have the mainboard on the bench, with the only things connected:

- 1 stick of RAM

- VGA

- ATX Power

- Keyboard & Mouse

- Unraid USB drive

 

The system posts normally, then opens the boot menu on the flash drive, and either tries to boot into normal unraid, or one of the other items (unraid GUI, memtest, etc.), if I select that manually. But no matter what, it never goes past /bzroot…ok. I leave it there for a couple of minutes, just in case, but nothing more happens. I also tried running memtest86 from the unraid drive – same thing, does not boot.

 

Here are the troubleshooting steps that I have tried so far:

1. I tried using a different USB 3.0 drive (Kingston DataTraveler Micro 3.1 DTMC3/32GB) --> Same result

2. I tried to boot from the USB 3.0 drive on both the 3.0 and 2.0 ports on the board --> same result

3. I tried using a stick of „normal“ non-ecc DDR4 RAM --> Same result

4. I made sure that secureboot is disabled in BIOS (it is)

5. I tried flashing the USB stick with an older version of Unraid --> same result

6. I disabled fast boot --> same result

7. I tried using legacy boot instead of UEFI (and configured the stick accordingly) --> would not even recognize the boot drive, no boot.

8. I tried putting the unraid OS onto an older USB 2.0 drive, tried to boot from that in both USB 3.0 and 2.0 ports --> same result

 

9. I tried flashing the Kingston USB drive with just the normal version of memtest86 --> That booted immediately without issues, and memtest completed 4 runs with 0 errors.

 

Now I am completely out of ideas, and, to be honest, pretty frustrated.

 

So if anybody has any ideas or suggestions what else I could try please let me know, I am very grateful for any help

Try downgrading the BIOS to v1.6, it's a known issue with those boards:

 

Hello Jorge,

thank you for the suggestion, I would love to try that.

Slight problem: On the manufacturers website they only offer the latest BIOS version (1.7a) for download.

Do you happen to know where I can get an older version from?

Google did not help, unfortunately.

Try sending a PM do the OP in that thread, maybe he still has it or knows where to find it, there was another user that did the same but I'm not finding the thread at the moment.

Here is the 1.6 version. If you email SuperMicro support they will send it to you.

 

 

A2SDi-4C-HLN4F.BIOS.1.6-A2SDICH1.zip

Edited January 26, 20233 yr by johnwhicker

Thank you very much @johnwhicker
I had looked on the Supermicro Page on how to contact them, but then it said I had to open an account and they wanted to know which business I am from (which I do not have).

Could have lied, I suppose, but that is usually not my style ^^

I tried to flash the Bios from the zip-file according to the readme / board manual, but it does not seem to work:

(Tried it both with USB3 and USB2 sticks / ports)
After reboot it still has version 1.7

Do I need some special command for downgrading?

Edited January 26, 20233 yr by Ranger Kevin

It worked for me.  Try to do it via the IPMI GUI which works as good as the command line.

Success!
Took me a minute to figure out how to access and use the IPMI (I have never worked with dedicated server hardware before, but that is a neat system). Just strange that they want a license key to unlock the ability of BIOS update via IPMI, after you have already spent 400 bucks on the hardware. But getting around that was also not difficult, so what is the point?

Anyway, via the IMPI the installation of the 1.6 BIOS worked without issue. Then I booted again with the unraid stick, it went up to /bzroot again just long enough to tease me and shout at the screen (because I thought it would hang up again). But then it continued booting to the GUI. So I think this is finally fixed for me.

Now I can start to get familiar with the actual OS.

 

Thank you so much for your help, it is much appreciated!

Edited January 26, 20233 yr by Ranger Kevin

Team Work

...makes the dream work 😊

I just wanted to add this, for anyone else struggeling with this like I did and finding this thread:
The default IPMI Username is "ADMIN". You will find your password for it on the sticker on top of the IMPI-LAN-Port on the Mainboard (marked "PWD").

14 minutes ago, Ranger Kevin said:

...makes the dream work 😊

I just wanted to add this, for anyone else struggeling with this like I did and finding this thread:
The default IPMI Username is "ADMIN". You will find your password for it on the sticker on top of the IMPI-LAN-Port on the Mainboard (marked "PWD").

 

I usually change the admin password and I and extra admin user as a backup just in case. But you can always reset the password if you have physical access to the mobo   You're a fast learner