ECS A885GM-A2 BIOS setup

[MRA45]

I recently purchased the ECS A885GM-A2 Motherboard but am having trouble booting into UnRAID. I believe it is a problem with how I have the BIOS Setup. If any one can help me find the correct setup that would be much appreciated.

 

[joshpond]

Probably need a bit more info as to when it freezes or what happens. What happens when you try and boot into it?

 

Usually the USB has to be set to boot first. If the USB is on auto, try forcing it as a hdd and set it as the first hdd and then first boot option.

 

Josh

[lovingHDTV]

Did you ever get this to work?  I'm having the same issue.

 

I can get it to boot into unRaid only if I have no SATA drives installed.

 

dave

[dave_m]

I've been using this motherboard for a while, and while I can't remember the exact steps, I didn't have to do anything unusual to boot from the USB thumb drive.  Normally you want to set the boot options in the BIOS after installing all the drives.

[lovingHDTV]

I've been using this motherboard for a while, and while I can't remember the exact steps, I didn't have to do anything unusual to boot from the USB thumb drive.  Normally you want to set the boot options in the BIOS after installing all the drives.

 

Yes I've done that and it doesn't work.  What brand USB drive do you have and how did you make it bootable?  I've tried 3 different thumb drives all with the same non-success, but an willing to try another.

 

thanks,

dave

[lovingHDTV]

I got it to work!!!

 

If I set all the boot drives to be my flash drive. Power off, then power on it will work.  Nothing else would work.  Having the computer restart automatically after saving BIOS won't work.  Having anything less than all boot drives set to my flash will not work.  The bummer thing is that every time I add a drive I will have to enter bios and set the newly added drive slot in the BIOS to be my flash drive, but at least it will work.

 

I did speak with ECS and they didn't have a clue, told me to just exchange it with newegg.

 

dave

[lovingHDTV]

One additional limitation.  You have to power off to get it to work.  If you reboot, then it will not boot.  Another annoyance, but if you do power down completely, then power back up it will work for you.

 

dave

[lovingHDTV]

As an update for this board.

 

I'm having unRaid hang overnight.  There is nothing running over night, but when I get up in the AM, it is unresponsive.  The terminal screen is off, the network connection is up but I can't ping it.  Its almost as if it went to sleep mode with all the fans still running.

 

I'll try changing the S3 mode in the BIOS, though I'm not telling it to go into S3 mode.  UnRaid doesn't do that automatically with the latest beta does it?  The most frustrating part is that I've copied terabytes of data, calculated parity, checked parity many times and there is never a hickup.  But I can't get through the night without it being hung in the AM when it is idle.  It will copy data for 18hours straight.

 

Odd,

dave

[lovingHDTV]

I found the failure mechanism.  If I spin down all the drives, the board hangs and I have to power off/on to get it back up.  Anyone else seen issues like this before?

 

dave

[Rajahal]

I've gone through several of these boards and haven't seen any of the issues you are seeing, though I do most of my testing with unRAID 4.7, not beta.  My guess is that you either have a defective unit or you may be stumbling upon some bug in unRAID beta.  Are you able to try running unRAID 4.7 instead?

[mitt]

I recently completed my first unRAID build using this board.  Currently running v5 beta14 with a 3TB parity, (2) 2TB data, and a 250GB cache.  The 250GB is temp until I receive a replacement for a DOA Hitachi 2TB.

 

The server has only been up since Friday.  I've tried spinning down and up a handfull of times without problems.

 

I noticed similar BIOS behavior with changing the boot HDs when adding a new HD.  I've disabled 'Boot Other Device' and will see what effect this has when I install the replacement 2TB mentioned above.

 

 

[lovingHDTV]

I figured out the hang issue, I had an IDE drive on a Promise controller (cache drive).  When I replaced it with a SATA drive for the cache the hangs went away.  I've been able to run now without hanging.

 

I have only a couple things I don't like about this board (i.e. I wouldn't buy it again)

 

1. Have to reset the flash boot order after each new drive is installed.  Not a biggie as I don't add drives frequently.

2. The biggie is that I cannot reboot the system, because the board fails to recognize the drives during POST, it just hangs.  As long as I power down, then power on it all works.  Its annoying to have to shutdown, walk to the cabinet, and power it back up.

 

In the end I kept the board because it is stable once it is up and running and I didn't want to go through the entire selection process again.

 

dave

[mitt]

I figured out the hang issue, I had an IDE drive on a Promise controller (cache drive).  When I replaced it with a SATA drive for the cache the hangs went away.  I've been able to run now without hanging.

 

I have only a couple things I don't like about this board (i.e. I wouldn't buy it again)

 

1. Have to reset the flash boot order after each new drive is installed.  Not a biggie as I don't add drives frequently.

2. The biggie is that I cannot reboot the system, because the board fails to recognize the drives during POST, it just hangs.  As long as I power down, then power on it all works.  Its annoying to have to shutdown, walk to the cabinet, and power it back up.

 

In the end I kept the board because it is stable once it is up and running and I didn't want to go through the entire selection process again.

 

dave

 

Relative to issue #2, I've not had any problems rebooting or shutting down using the Server Management Utility.

 

[lovingHDTV]

Sounds like I should to do a board swap.  I have issues with just brand new drives.

 

 

Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk

[mitt]

I installed a new 2TB Hitachi today that was a replacement for a DOA drive. On initial start up after the new HDD was added, the server booted from the flash drive normally without issues.  The Server Management Utility correctly identified that the new drive was not part of the array.  I stopped the array and powered down the server without incident.  I repeated this process a second time with the same results – that is everything working as it should.

 

On the third restart I entered the BIOS.  The flash drive was no longer listed for the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd Boot Device.  Choosing the 'Hard Disk Drives' lower on the same menu, the flash drive was listed as the 6th drive, with the other five HDD listed as 1 through 5.

 

I then changed  the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Boot Device to all show the flash drive, and changed all the 'Hard Disk Drives' to the flash drive.  Exiting the BIOS utility and rebooting caused the computer to hang while POST the HDDs.  Powering off and restarting yielded the same results with the computer hanging during POST at the same point.

 

I reset the BIOS settings for 1st, 2nd, or 3rd Boot Device to something other than the flash drive, and the 'Hard Disk Drives' to ‘1st Drive’ ->  flash and #2 through #6 to something other than the flash drive.

 

The next boot was back to normal and unRAID started without issues.

 

One more reboot and entering BIOS revealed that my flash drive was now listed as the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Boot Device, and under ‘Hard Disk Drives’ the flash drive was still #1, and #2 through #6 were the other HDDs.  IIRC, I believe these were the BIOS settings BEFORE adding the new HDD…

 

I've kept 'Boot Other Device' set to 'NO' during these trials.

 

Short version:

 

1) Try changing the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Boot Device to something other than your flash drive.

2) Enter the ‘Hard Disk Drives’ menu and change the 1st Drive to your flash drive, and the other positions to something other than your flash drive.

 

I’ll agree that these settings don’t make sense….Good luck.

 

[Rajahal]

You can also try messing with the USB emulation settings.  Try emulating the flash drive as a hard drive.  Also, I always set the flash drive as the first boot device and then disable all the others.  Again, I haven't had any of the issues you guys are seeing with the Verbatim Clip-It flash drives we use in Greenleaf builds.

 

If anyone knows of a motherboard that doesn't alter its boot settings when adding a new drive, please let me know!  I haven't found a single board without this 'feature', even high quality server motherboards.

[prostuff1]

My old Gigabyte board (which I now have set up and ready for use in a test server) does not change its boot device once set.

 

I can add/remove/change places of any number of drives and that board will always boot from the device I set it to, assuming it can find it when the computer starts up.  I would still be using that board if I would have been able to use it for my ESXi build.

[thegreatgumbino]

FYI, I'm running this board & listed my BIOS settings in this post.  I'm early in the process of setting up my server and everything seems to be working.  The only question I have is about the SATA Configuration option on the "Integrated Peripherals tab.  Should this be set as IDE or RAID?

 

Updated to reflect Raj's recommendation of AHCI for best performance.

[Rajahal]

FYI, I'm running this board & listed my BIOS settings in this post.  I'm early in the process of setting up my server and everything seems to be working.  The only question I have is about the SATA Configuration option on the "Integrated Peripherals tab.  Should this be set as IDE or RAID?

 

AHCI, as I stated in your other post.

[lovingHDTV]

My original Intel board did not change when adding new drive.

 

dave

 

You can also try messing with the USB emulation settings.  Try emulating the flash drive as a hard drive.  Also, I always set the flash drive as the first boot device and then disable all the others.  Again, I haven't had any of the issues you guys are seeing with the Verbatim Clip-It flash drives we use in Greenleaf builds.

 

If anyone knows of a motherboard that doesn't alter its boot settings when adding a new drive, please let me know!  I haven't found a single board without this 'feature', even high quality server motherboards.

[husky55]

I also bought this board. Thanks for the heads up. The reported problems are new to me as I have not had this boot problem with any of my other boards, i.e Asus, MSI, Epox etc... Did you guys have the latest bios?

 

Update: My board came in. Installed it and it boots OK. The bios on the board is the newest one. My problem, albeit a minor one is I have trouble to find the serial number on the board for the rebate. Looking with a flashlight and do not find anything with a SN number.

[Rajahal]

The serial number should be on the motherboard's box.

[LSlipetz]

Update: My board came in. Installed it and it boots OK. The bios on the board is the newest one. My problem, albeit a minor one is I have trouble to find the serial number on the board for the rebate. Looking with a flashlight and do not find anything with a SN number.

 

Raj is right.  It is on the box.  I bought one of these recently and it is listed also where the UPC is.  If memory serves me correctly, the format is something like a letter followed by some numbers and then another letter followed by some more numbers.  Like A12345678B12345. 

[husky55]

Thanks. I looked at the MB and did not find it. Found it under the UPC code on the box.

[apotek]

I got it to work!!!

 

If I set all the boot drives to be my flash drive. Power off, then power on it will work.  Nothing else would work.  Having the computer restart automatically after saving BIOS won't work.  Having anything less than all boot drives set to my flash will not work.  The bummer thing is that every time I add a drive I will have to enter bios and set the newly added drive slot in the BIOS to be my flash drive, but at least it will work.

 

I did speak with ECS and they didn't have a clue, told me to just exchange it with newegg.

 

dave

 

I kept having this problem and found it was unacceptable not to be able to add new drives without having to reconfigure the bios settings each time. I need to run this server headless.  I was about to give up and do a RMA when I decided to update the bios with the previous bios version available on ECS's website. This reversion solved all my issues. The bios now remembers the flash drive is the 1st hard drive, even when I add new hard drives, and otherwise acts like it should. Power off, power on or reset, it doesn't matter: the flash drive remains as 1st hard drive.