Hi everyone,

I’m running into a serious issue with my Unraid system failing to boot from the USB key, and I could really use some help. My system has been running fine until recently, but now it won’t boot properly, and I’m seeing a lot of errors related to the USB key /dev/sda). I’ve attached the relevant logs below and would appreciate any advice on how to troubleshoot or recover from this.

What Happened

I was using my Unraid server as usual when I noticed it wasn’t responding properly. I attempted a reboot via the webGUI, but the system failed to come back up. Now, when I try to boot, it gets stuck with a message prompting me to press ENTER to reboot, and I see a bunch of errors related to the USB key.

USB Type: Samsung BAR Plus

Logs

Here are the key error messages I’m seeing during the boot process:

```

sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off

sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA

xhci_hcd 0000:0c:00.3: Timeout while waiting for setup device command

usb 8-1: device not accepting address 2, error -71

usb 8-1: Device not responding to setup address

usb 8-1: device not accepting address 2, error -71

I/O error, dev sda, sector 22563104 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x80700 phys_seg 1 prio class 0

Buffer I/O error on dev sda, logical block 22963105, async page read

Buffer I/O error on dev sda, logical block 22963106, async page read

[... several more Buffer I/O errors ...]

can't mount: /dev/sda1 is not a valid block device

mount: /dev/sda1: press ENTER key to reboot...

sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Synchronizing SCSI cache

```

Additionally, I noticed this message, which might be related:

```

mount: /sys/filesystem/efi/efivars: unknown filesystem type 'efivars'

```

What I’ve Tried

1. I’ve tried rebooting multiple times, but the issue persists.

2. I moved the USB key to a different USB port (another USB 2.0 port), but I’m still seeing the same errors.

3. I haven’t yet tested the USB key on another system to see if it’s readable, but I plan to do that next.

Questions

- Does this look like a failing USB key, or could it be an issue with the USB port/controller on my motherboard?

- Is there a way to recover the USB key, or should I focus on creating a new boot drive?

- Could the efivars error be contributing to the issue, or is that a separate problem?

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated—I’m a bit stuck and don’t want to lose my array configuration if possible. Thanks in advance for your help!

Edited May 31, 20251 yr by MarkAC
adding new content

Replace the flash drive, see if you can copy the /config folder from the old one, that's all you need.