Apparently you plugged the flash drive back into your unRaid server and now it is identified and mounted. And you can see the files on it since it mounted properly... I'll bet the ls -l /dev/disk/by-label works too.

 

So it seems:

 

root@Tower1:~# ls -l /dev/disk/by-label
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Mar  5 22:04 UNRAID -> ../../sdg1
root@Tower1:~#

 

All I can think of is an intermittent connection of the flash drive.   Can you try a different USB port?  Are you unplugging the USB flash drive after your server is booted?  (you should NOT unplug it... it should be left in place all the time)  If the connector you are plugging into has a cable connecting it to the motherboard, is the cable plugged into the MB securely?

 

Perhaps Tom will have an idea with the extra clues you have supplied.

 

Joe L.

 

No, I'm not unplugging the flash drive after the server is booted.  I leave it plugged in all the time.  All the USB ports are mounted directly to the mobo (no cables).  I think I did plug it into a differrent port when I plugged it back into the server.  If the problem happens again I'll try a different one.  Either way I have to wait for parity to sync (6+ hrs) until I can reboot and see what happens.

 

Thanks for all help Joe!!

Well it's right back to doing the same thing again!  What do I do now?

Before you shut the server down, try an "ls -l /boot"

 

If it is empty, there is no way to write the status.

 

If it is empty, you might try to unplug and plug the flash drive back in (without shutting down the unRaid array). See if it comes back to life and will respond to an "ls -l /boot" command.    If it does, then you should be able to shut down and save the status correctly.

 

I can foresee either a new flash drive, or a new motherboard in your future.  Since you have some problems with the IDE controller on the motherboard too, I'd give it a decent burial.    Since you could see the files on the flash drive when you unplugged it from the unRaid server and plugged it into your PC it is probably OK. (although iit still could be the problem if it re-initialized when powered up again)

 

Does your motherboard bios have any power-saver mode where it shuts off power to USB connectors? 

 

I have yet to reboot again and I tried an "ls -l /boot" and I got the same as before:

 

/boot:
total 0

 

I should mention that a while back this flash drive seemed screwy once.  I was having the first of these problems and I plugged the flash drive into my desktop to try to read it's contents and the only thing that showed up in the root of the drive was the config folder.  I double-clicked on it to see it's contents and within it was another config folder, but no files.  I double-clicked on that one and agin I got another nested config folder and no files.  I did this about ten times with the same result.  It was like an endlessly nested config folder with no actual files.  Finally, I just re-formatted and reloaded unRAID.  Not sure if that could indicate a bad flash drive or be the result of a screwed up write attempt my the server.

 

Is there any way to test the validity of the flash drive?  I hate to go buy a new mobo and find out that's not the problem.

 

It is *much* easier to deal with a replacement flash drive than to swap out the motherboard.  That's for sure.

 

If you can get a spare flash drive, set it up with unRaid and boot it.  Yes, it will only let you get to three of your drives, but perhaps you can live with only three for a day or so to see if it too gets lost.  If it gets lost and an ls -l /boot comes up empty after a day or so, then it is probably not your existing flash drive that is at fault, but your motherboard.    However, if it works, and stays working, drop Tom an e-mail, promise him your first-born, or at least your undying gratitude, and see if you can work out a way to get a key file for your replacement USB flash drive so you can get to configure all your hard disks.

 

Joe L.

Well, I finally got around to getting a new USB flash drive and trying it with the Basic version and it is working fine.  I've tried multiple reboots and each time parity is mainained and every time I run "ls -l /boot" I get a valid response.  Thankfully it seems the problem was withe the USB drive and not the motherboard.  Time to email Tom.

Just thought I should post a follow up.  This morning I rebooted the system with the new flash drive again and again it restarted with vakid parity (that makes about a dozen successful reboots).  That convinced me it was indeed the flash drive that was the culprit so I emailed Tom that my flash drive had died along with a link to this thread.....

 

In exactly eleven minutes I received a reply containg my replacement key!  No charge, no querstions, no qualms!!!  I didn't even have to promise him my first-born OR my undying gratitude  .  Although he now has the latter anyway.  I realize the eleven minute response was probably more a matter of lucky timing than an indicator of the usual support response time, but the whole thing was as painless as can be. 

 

Thanks Tom and kudos for a great product and even better service!!!