I have been stuck on this boot screen for a day of troubleshooting now.

(long-time listener, first time caller.. etc..)

 

Cause:
I did a controlled shutdown on the server to move my UPS around.
When I attempted next start up i first saw the below screenshot. 

 

Server info:
UNRAID 7.0.1
Running on bare metal
4HDD, 2 SDD (as cache pool)

 

Attempted fixes thus-far:

1. Safe boot with no plugins - Same Issue
2. Restore from working back up (1 day old) from Unraid Connect - Same issue
3. Restore from working back up (1 day old) from Unraid Connect on a NEW USB Drive- Same issue
4. Removed all peripherals and drives - Same issue
5. Download fresh install of Unraid 7.0.1 - The Server fires up to a new UNRAID instance (This is positive)
6. Partial replacement of new "bz" files to my old USB back up - Same issue
7. Attempted a new UNRAID image with just the config files copied across - Same issue
    

Any Ideas on how to bring the server back form the dead?
 

Edited April 12, 20251 yr by Emuexport

Try recreating the flash drive, first backup the current one, then recreate it using the USB tool, confirm the flash drive boots with the stock install, and if yes, restore only the /config folder from the backup overwriting any existing files, and see if it keeps booting, if not, there's a config issue.

2 hours ago, Emuexport said:

Download fresh install of Unraid 7.0.1 - The Server fires up to a new UNRAID instance (This is positive)

Is this using the same (your licensed) flash drive? If so, then we just need to figure out what in your config folder is breaking things.

 

Not clear from the rest of your description whether these attempts were from the same or from a different flash drive.

 

1 hour ago, JorgeB said:

only the /config folder from the backup overwriting any existing files, and see if it keeps booting, if not, there's a config issue.

Your disk assignments are in config/super.dat. This file is not human-readable. Plus your pool assignments in config/pools. These files are text and can be examined for possible corruption.

 

The files in config/shares are the settings for each of your user shares. These are text and can be examined for possible corruption.

 

All of the other files in config are text and can be examined for possible corruption.

 

Many of the subfolders in config are also text, but some are not since they contain plugin code.

 

Also, look at the top level of flash (if you haven't formatted it) and see if there are any FSCK files there. Those would be files that were corrupt and no longer used, but you might be able to examine the contents to see what it might have been.

 

If you have a recent Diagnostics from before your problem, some of those files are mostly just copies of the config files. Plus we can get many of the other things about your configuration from examining Diagnostics.

 

 

5 hours ago, JorgeB said:

Try recreating the flash drive, first backup the current one, then recreate it using the USB tool, confirm the flash drive boots with the stock install, and if yes, restore only the /config folder from the backup overwriting any existing files, and see if it keeps booting, if not, there's a config issue.

Thanks for the recommendation, I tried that exact process (number 7. on my list of attempts to fix).

-------

 

@trurl
1. Yes it was with the original licensed thumb drive. All troubleshooting was with the original drive, besides point 3.

 

2. Sadly I have lost the original boot drive files, as I naively thought the Unraid Connect backup would be sufficient, this is good to know for future reference.
I will have a dive into those files, and cast my eyes over for anything obvious. If i cant see anything, i might have to ask for further help.

I have been busy trying different permutations of adding my config files back to a stock image part by part.

 

1. All the folders (plugins, pools, shares, ssh, ssl) I tired removing and them one-by-one had no effect.
2. The issue must be in these folders (in blue box), as swapping them out for stock files gets me to the boot screen successfully.

 

3. I have also tried to swap the disk.cfd and super.dat for their old counterparts. This did not work at all, and i got stuck at the same spot.

 

Does anyone have any other ideas on what could be locking the system up?

 

Cheers.

25 minutes ago, Emuexport said:

these folders (in blue box)

None of the .old files are used. You have multiple .key files, you only need Pro

 

You should use the stock go file.

 

I can imagine vfio-pci.cfg causing problems, you might consider removing it completely for now.

Well done @trurl that worked.

Unfortunately, I am not sure which one of your ideas worked!

But I did the following, and now it is back up and running:

1. removed the .old files
2. removed the other licence files
3. removed the vfio-pci.cfg

Only step 3 should have had any effect.