Anyone with an ABIT AB9 PRO have this working with 4.3?

I'm wondering if the built in network adapters now work reliably.

also, anyone try port multipliers on the JMICRON or SIL3132 ?

 

I'm about to build a larger unRaid server and finally go pro and I'm considering this motherboard for all it's built in SATA ports.

 

 

I have the Abit AB9 Pro. It should work now. But I've recently swapped it out for a Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3R  that I recommended in another post. The gigabyte board works better than the Abit Board. As far as NIC goes, I put Intel NICs in all my linux machines. For the little amount of money to spend up front, they always work.

I'm currently using 4.3 Beta 3 with this board and have not encountered any problems so far.

 

The network adapter has always worked fine for me. Was using 4.0 before upgrading to 4.3 due

to the JMicron controller problem but that's fixed now.

 

Mark

 

Well, thanks for the input.  Now my turn to help:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813127004

 

If you are a newegg subscriber enter code "EMCADCHBB" for free shipping.  There is a $40.00 rebate bringing the total cost of this board to $49.99 shipped.  I just ordered one. 

 

 

A sweet deal

 

Going to get another one for building my 2nd unraid server.

 

Mark

 

Got mine Monday finally had time to install it and test with a spare drive.  First thing I did was update the BIOS to v22 as recommended here.  Installed 4.3 and all is working fine.  Nice having 9 SATA ports onboard. 

Got mine Monday finally had time to install it and test with a spare drive.  First thing I did was update the BIOS to v22 as recommended here.  Installed 4.3 and all is working fine.  Nice having 9 SATA ports onboard. 

 

Alright, but what about network performance?  Any rough numbers?

Haven't gotten mine up and running yet, but it is notable that both gige nics are Intel and on PCIE lanes....

 

I bought one of these as well. I also realized that I don't have any spare PCI, PCIe x1 or PCIe x16 graphics cards laying around. If I borrow one from another system, can I just complete the initial setup and then remove the graphics card and manage the UNRAID box from the web interface on another machine? I can't think of any reason why this wouldn't run without a video card.

 

 

but it is notable that both gige nics are Intel and on PCIE lanes....

 

I've read that the PCI bus might be a bottleneck and that is better if the nics are not on the PCI bus. Is this a problem with NICs on the PCI-Express lanes?

 

Thanks,

Gregg

I've read that the PCI bus might be a bottleneck and that is better if the nics are not on the PCI bus. Is this a problem with NICs on the PCI-Express lanes?

No, pci-express is faster then PCI, there are dedicated lanes for communication.

I stuck an OLD pci video card in... 

 

I also realized that I don't have any spare PCI, PCIe x1 or PCIe x16 graphics cards laying around. If I borrow one from another system, can I just complete the initial setup and then remove the graphics card and manage the UNRAID box from the web interface on another machine? I can't think of any reason why this wouldn't run without a video card.

 

There are (I think) quite a few of us that run headless, no monitor or keyboard, and no video card if we can.  But only when the system is running well.  I don't recommend pulling it out until it has been running without any problems for awhile, as it makes it much easier to diagnose many issues from the actual console.  When I am running headless, I pull my $35 PCI Express video card out, and lay it inside the computer case on the floor, in its static bag.  Running headless saves me about 12 watts.

 

I bought one of these as well. I also realized that I don't have any spare PCI, PCIe x1 or PCIe x16 graphics cards laying around. If I borrow one from another system, can I just complete the initial setup and then remove the graphics card and manage the UNRAID box from the web interface on another machine? I can't think of any reason why this wouldn't run without a video card.

 

 

 

Feel free to try, but mine won't run headless.  Even when I put the video card back in, it still wouldn't boot.  I had to clear the bios and then it worked again.  If anyone else had success I'll try again, could have been something flaky going on with one of the other cards (i.e., with my Promise Ultra66 in, it had some random issues, took a while to track down).

I borrowed an old PCI graphics card from a friend and I can't get anything to display on the screen when I turn on the system. I'm not sure if the video card is working properly, so I will try to get my hands on another tomorrow.

 

I noticed that the POST code LED displays the number 26 after start up. In the User's Manual appendix, it says the POST code definition for 26 is:

 

1. If Early_Init_Onboard_Generator is not defined Onboard clock generator initialization. Disable respective clock resource to empty PCI & DIMM slots.

2. Init onboard PWM

3. Init onboard H/W monitor devices

 

Anybody know what these mean?

I swapped out the PCI video card for a PCI-E x16 video card and now I get a display. I can get into the BIOS settings and finally make adjustments.

 

In the Advanced BIOS features, you can set the boot device. I've tried all sorts of different combinations of settings and haven't been able to get it to boot to the USB flash memory stick. I've even tried a couple different sticks, one a 128 MB and the other a 512 MB.

 

I tried just defining the first boot device to be either USB-FDD, USB-ZIP/LS or USB-CDROM. None of these work. I've also tried disabling both the second and third boot devices.

 

For those of you that are able to boot to USB flash with this mobo, what settings are you using?

 

Thanks for your help.

I have my boot order set to

 

USB-FDD,

USB-ZIP/LS

 

it works with my key, however it's an SD Card reader with an SD card.

 

Please try and do a syslinux -ma on your key to insure you install the Master boot record and set the partition to active.

 

First, boot with the usb key (which has been properly formatted for unRAID use) and enter the bios.  Go to hard drive boot priority.  Move your usb key to the top.  Select Hard Drive as the first boot device.  Save changes and reboot.  Do note that if you boot without the usb key installed, then install it again, it will be at the bottom of the boot list.

 

Works for me, using the same motherboard and a Kingston DataTraveller formatted with the HP tool first, then syslinux command (and of course copied the unRAID files to the root).

After downloading the HP USB formatting tool from here: http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=197 and formatting my USB flash memory, running "syslinux.exe -ma g:' as an administrator, and then extracting the unRAID server software to the USB flash, I finally got it to boot from the USB flash.

 

Now I'm at the 'Tower login:' prompt. Time to do a little more reading...

 

Thanks for your advice.

enter the bios.  Go to hard drive boot priority.  Move your usb key to the top.  Select Hard Drive as the first boot device.

 

Just for reference in the future,

This is the proper way to do it.. IF your key shows up in the hard drive boot priority list.

With my key (Which happened to be a SD reader) it did not show up as a mass storage device or hard drive in the hard drive boot priority order.

 

Therefore I selected

USB-FDD,

USB-ZIP/LS

HARD DISK

 

Then I was able to boot from the key.

I plan on trying with another key later, I'll post any updates.

 

Everything seems to be working, but I have a few concerns about performance. I'm not sure if I have a network problem or if the unRAID write performance is normally pretty slow. I tried ripping a DVD to the unRAID server from one of the PCs on my network. The PCs and the unRAID server are connected using CAT6 cable to a Netgear GS108 gigabit switch. I didn't do any benchmarks, but the rip to a local drive normally takes around 20 minutes. It took about 4 hours to rip to the unRAID server. Later, I tried moving a ripped DVD's folder from the PC to the unRAID server and that also took a very long time. I noticed the bitrate of the transfer was only showing about 1 MB/sec. Shouldn't I be getting more than 20 MB/sec? I also ran a test and copied a 2.29 GB folder to another PC on the network. The transfer rate was 13.5 MB/sec. I tried transferring the same folder to the unRAID server and it started out at a transfer rate of over 35 MB/sec, but by the end of the transfer it had slowed down to less than 10 MB/sec.

 

The LED indicator next to the LAN1 connector on the rear panel of this motherboard displays an orange light. Shouldn't a normally functioning LAN connection have a green light? What does the orange light mean? I thought it might be a bad ethernet cable so I tried using several different cables. One was a short 2 ft. CAT5e cable and another was a 7 ft. CAT5e. Both of these cables are factory made. I also tried a 3' cable that I made using CAT6 cable. None of them made a difference - the LED light still displayed orange. Using the LAN2 connection and other positions on the Netgear switch didn't make any difference either.

 

I couldn't find any info in the AB9 Pro user manual that explain what the different LAN LED indicators mean.

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks.

GreggP

 

If the light is green you are connected at 100MB/sec, if it is orange you are connected at 1000MB/sec. As for your other problem, something is wrong. I can rip to the server in about 10 - 15 minutes depending on the movie. What version of Unraid are you using? The versions before 4.3 had problems with the onboard lan, and one of the sata controllers.  If you post your syslog somebody should be able to help you.

 

Gary T.

With the Abit AB9 Pro you have to have the latest BIOS. Also make sure you have USB-ZIP as the first boot device. USB-ZIP was the only way I could get a Cruzer Micro USB to boot up.

If the light is green you are connected at 100MB/sec, if it is orange you are connected at 1000MB/sec. As for your other problem, something is wrong. I can rip to the server in about 10 - 15 minutes depending on the movie. What version of Unraid are you using? The versions before 4.3 had problems with the onboard lan, and one of the sata controllers.  If you post your syslog somebody should be able to help you.

 

Thanks Gary. That's good to know. When I setup my server, all the initial testing was performed when I was connected to a 10/100 switch and the light was green. I just bought the Netgear switch, so it was the first time I connected anything to a gigabit network. I suppose it's common knowledge, but I couldn't find any info about the meaning of the color LED indicator anywhere, even after a google search.

 

I'm running version 4.3 beta 6. I'll run some more tests to see if I can resolve the time it took to rip to the server. Does it slow down drastically if unRAID is doing a parity check? Maybe that was in progress when I tried the rip. How do you post a syslog?

With the Abit AB9 Pro you have to have the latest BIOS. Also make sure you have USB-ZIP as the first boot device. USB-ZIP was the only way I could get a Cruzer Micro USB to boot up.

 

I think I have the latest bios (22). I had to take apart another machine to borrow its floppy, etc., but after a lot of screwing around was able to update the bios. Hopefully I won't have to do that too often.

 

As far as getting the Abit AB9 Pro to boot from the USB flash, I followed the recommendation to set the USB key to the top of the hard drive boot priority list. Then after setting the hard drive as the first boot device, it worked. I also set the usb devices as the 2nd and 3rd boot devices, but I assume it is finding the first boot device in this case.