Hello everyone,

 

I'm a bit lost and don't know what to do anymore.

I've changed the mobo/cpu of my unraid server from an ASRock-D1541D4U-2T8R (with xeon-d integrated) to an Asus Z590 PLUS WIFI and i5-11600. I added a LSI 9207-8i which I firmware upgraded (I thought that could be the issue).

 

But I can't start the UNRAID system anymore. It boots but get stuck after "/bzroot... ok". It is still 6.9.2 (yeah I know...) but I got the same result with a new usb drive and 7.0.1

I unplugged the HBA and all the drives but still the same...

 

To blow my mind a bit more, I can boot it on my laptop (Tuxedo with AMD cpu) !!

I also tried to boot a xubuntu live on the z590... and it works !

 

As I said before, I don't know what to do next ?

So please, if anyone has any idea, that would be much appreciated

 

Thanks

7 hours ago, Kam said:

but I got the same result with a new usb drive and 7.0.1

Was this a stock install, or did you restore the config?

Hi @JorgeB, thanks for your answer.

 

It was a stock install of UNRAID 7.0.1

Actually, I struggled a bit to make it bootable (I should report it to the correct thread).

 

Just in case it could be related: I had to make a bootable linux (xubuntu or proxmox) keep the boot files only and copy/paste the content of the UNRAID 7.0.1 archive. Then it booted but got stuck at the same point "bzroot... ok"

 

Do you know what is the next step that should be loaded ? Maybe I can check how it's related to my motherboard? cpu? something else?

And also, do you know if it's possible to log the boot sequence and how to check it ?

If a stock flash drive doesn't boot, there may be some compatibility issue with kernel, recommend trying 7.1.0-beta.2 since it uses a much newer kernel, also good to try a different flash drive.

Hi and thank you for your advice.

 

Sorry, I've just found the time to try it. Unfortunately, it is still stuck at the same point.

 

So far, I've tried with 3 different usb drives (all different models of SanDisk) and 3 different version (2 stable and 1 beta). So I assume the drive nor the kernel are faullty...

And as I could boot from other OSes, I assume the mobo/cpu/ram are fine too.

 

Do you think I could have wrongly configure something in the BIOS ?

 

Here's a link to the motherboard I installed:

https://www.asus.com/fr/motherboards-components/motherboards/tuf-gaming/tuf-gaming-z590-plus-wifi/

I've just read about the boot sequence at https://docs.unraid.net/unraid-os/troubleshooting/boot-issues/

It seems to me that it's failing to mount the USB drive, but there is no error message. What's more, the doc says it should prompt for login, but there is just nothing.

What do you think I could try ?

Sorry for spamming my thread... 😅

Just to mention that after

Loading /bzimage... ok
Loading /bzroot...ok

It just becomes unresponsive. I can't reboot with the keyboard and need to manually shut down the computer

Are you booting from USB2 port? That is sometimes more reliable.

 

41 minutes ago, trurl said:

Are you booting from USB2 port? That is sometimes more reliable.

 

Yes I am. I was booting from the front USB2 ports, but then I thought I might be luckier with the mb's USB2 port.

Try one of the flash drives on another board, if it boots there and not the new one, it suggests an issue with the board, or just some compatibility issue with it and Linux.

The 3 flash drives boot on my laptop. I'll try to get back the ASRock-D1541D4U-2T8R to try this weekend.

The asus motherboard is compatible with ubuntu, but I'll try also with slackware to see if it has something to do with it.

I tell you guys as soon as I've got anything new.

Thanks

I have this exact motherboard and have been successful at running Unraid on it from some version of 6.xx forward. I had moved my unraid USB key and drives from an older Intel Core i7-3770k CPU and motherboard to this new board and an Intel Core i7-11700k. On this board I can't boot with CSM enabled if I do not have an external graphics card, as the GPU built into the CPU requires UEFI booting. I had to change the boot flag for Unraid to allow it to boot in UEFI mode. I am using the default memory timings (no XMP), enabled hardware virtualization, and set the boot options to boot from the USB drive only. I was running a system with 6 drives directly attached to the motherboard and two more attached to a PCI-E SATA card, with a single NVMe 2TB Samsung drive for a cache. That has since been upgraded further to a 8 port PCI-E 3.0 x8 SAS controller in the main PCI-E slot directly underneath the CPU, and two additional NVMe drives. Everything is running perfectly.

 

I would recommend using RUFUS to create a live windows environment on a spare, fast, USB stick, so you can do the Intel Management Engine firmware update to the board, update to the latest BIOS for the board, then load bios optimal defaults, and change the options listed below. I don't have the exact names as I don't want to reboot my server into the bios to find them, but they should be close enough you can find them.

 

CSM: Disabled

Hardware virtualization enabled

Set memory timings to defaults, don't use either XMP settings

Make sure your USB drive is recognized and set it to be the only boot device

Make sure Unraid is setup to boot in UEFI mode

 

Currently running Unraid 7.0.1

11th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-11700K @ 3.60GHz

ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. TUF GAMING Z590-PLUS WIFI , Version Rev 1.xx
American Megatrends Inc., Version 1801
BIOS dated: Mon 26 Dec 2022 12:00 AM

 

I truly hope this helps. I had zero issues getting Unraid going on this board, except for the UEFI thing, and that was easily resolved.

 

 

Thank you @pantheis

CSM is disabled, so is XMP. So maybe it's the lack of discrete GPU...

I'll check further during the weekend.

Thanks again

I am only using the iGPU built into the CPU, planned it that way to use it for transcoding and free up the main PCI-E slot for use with a SAS controller, so it should work. Definitely make sure UEFI booting is allowed on the Unraid flash drive, if it's not set to allow it it may not boot with CSM disabled.

Sorry, I didn't have the time to come back and reply.

Sadly, I think there must be a problem with the hardware compatibility with custom kernels, maybe the ram...

 

I can boot ubuntu, debian and slackware fine. But, I'm stuck with either unraid or proxmox.

With proxmox, it got stuck at "creating ramdisk", and thus my doubt about the ram.

I'll try it later, but for now I've just put back the old motherboard. At least I can enjoy my unraid server again

 

Thanks everybody for your replies

 

PS:

On 4/4/2025 at 12:27 AM, pantheis said:

I am only using the iGPU built into the CPU, planned it that way to use it for transcoding and free up the main PCI-E slot for use with a SAS controller, so it should work. Definitely make sure UEFI booting is allowed on the Unraid flash drive, if it's not set to allow it it may not boot with CSM disabled.

Sorry, I misread your previous post. The UEFI booting is ON, and CSM disabled already.