Initial setup help needed... [SOLVED]

[vorpel]

I am setting up my first unRAID server.  I got all the hardware to be seen at the BIOS level and when I initially ran the unregistered version of unRAID 4.7 I selected 3 of the 2TB drives just to see how it worked, etc.  I setup the parity drive and 2 data drives, and the initialization completed successfully.  My next step was to get it seen by my home network (Windows 2008 Domain).  As I couldn't get this setup on the unregistered version, I was ready to move forward and purchased a Pro license (done this afternoon and key file received).

 

When I got home I shutdown the box and loaded the USB drive onto another machine and put the key file on.  Initially I did this wrong and put it on the root of the drive, but got that fixed).

 

When I plugged the USB drive back into the unRAID system the system would not boot from the USB drive.  I tried loading defaults in the BIOS and re-setting the same things I did when I initially setup the system - no go.  I formatted the USB drive and tried that - nothing.  The system would go to boot and then I would just get a blinking dash...

 

After unplugging all 10 drives I did get the USB drive to boot, so after a lot of trial and error I found that if any of the 3 2TB drives that I initially used in the first unRAID were plugged in, I would get the blank screen and blinking dash.  If all 3 drives are unplugged I get the boot menu.  These drives are all directly connected to the on-board SATA ports.

 

I don't want to proceed forward without these 3 drives.  I pulled them from the system and connected them to another machine where I removed the partition and did a quick NTFS format on the drives.  This didn't help.

 

How can I get the system to boot up on the Flash drive and keep all 10 drives connected?  I'm sure that I am just missing something basic, but I don't know what it is.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks and I'll list the hardware below.

 

-DC

 

Case:  Old Chief-tec Server case

PSU:  OCZ ModXStream Pro 700W

Mobo: ECS A885GM-A2 (has 5 SATA ports)  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135272

CPU:  Sempron 145 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103888

Memory:  G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600

Exp card:  Rosewill RC-218 PCI Express SATA II Controller Card  

Exp card:  Rosewill RC-201 PCI SATA Silicon Image Controller Card

Hard drives:

2 ea  Hitachi 2TB 7200rpm (model HDS5C3020ALA632)

4 ea  Western Digitial 2TB Green (model WD20EARS)

3 ea  Seagate 1.5TB Barracuda XT 7200rpm

1 ea  Hitachi 1TB 7200rpm (don't have the model #)

 

[prostuff1]

The flash drive is not being seen as bootable once you get past a certain number of drives.  You need to see if you can figure out how to turn of Int13 on the SATA controllers BIOS or int19 in your BIOS.

[vorpel]

Thanks for the reply!

 

I'm not sure that is the issue.  It was a lot of troubleshooting last night, but I believe I tried booting with just 1 drive connected of the three that are causing me issues, and I got the same problem - blinking cursor and no unRAID boot.

 

Also, I did get it to initally boot up with all 10 drives present prior to last night (during my first initial setup).

 

Since all I did try last night with the 3 drives from my initial setup was removing the partition  and creating a new simple volume in Windows 7.  Is there something with the MBR that I need to reset?

 

Thanks again!

 

-DC

[daniel.boone]

My board does that when the drive boot order is off. The boot USB drive has to be first in the list of the drives. Even if I set it to boot only from usb.

[vorpel]

Thanks for the reply!

 

Okay - I found the issue.  If any of the 3 drives from my initial unRAID setup were present in the system, I could not boot - I would get a flashing cursor after POST.  If I took all 3 drives out, the other 7 drives would work (I tried all combinations of drives as well as moving the problem drives to different on-board SATA ports.  Interestingly the 1 WD 2TB Green drive I was having issues with would boot if connected to one of the SATA controller cards)

 

I pulled the 3 drives and used HDD LLF Low Level Format Tool from HDDGuru.com (http://hddguru.com/software/HDD-LLF-Low-Level-Format-Tool/) to do a MBR format.  

 

Once all 3 drives were formatted, they individually and together would allow my system to boot unRAID off the USB drive.

 

Now, onto setting this beast up...!  15.5TB usable, here I come!

 

-DC