I've been running Unraid 4.7 on an older system (Asus P5N32-E SLI Plus, Core 2 duo 6600) and after a proper shutdown, UnRaid crashes during boot. I am unable to provide logs because I can't get the system to boot, so I'm looking for some help capturing the on-screen logging during boot. Given that the hardware is 5 years old I am assuming that I'm going to need ti build a new server... but before I do, I'd like to do everything possible to determine the error.

 

Thanks in advance for the help!

I've been running Unraid 4.7 on an older system (Asus P5N32-E SLI Plus, Core 2 duo 6600) and after a proper shutdown, UnRaid crashes during boot. I am unable to provide logs because I can't get the system to boot, so I'm looking for some help capturing the on-screen logging during boot. Given that the hardware is 5 years old I am assuming that I'm going to need ti build a new server... but before I do, I'd like to do everything possible to determine the error.

 

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

Open up the box and make sure all the fans are running.  Particularly, the CPU fan!  Old Fans are prone to not starting after they have been turned off after long periods of running.  When you have the box open, clean out the dust.

All fans are running and dust bunnies evacuated.

 

The boot process is able to get just past unpacking initramfs... the problem is that everything is going by so quickly that I cant see errors during boot, and at some point it forcefully shuts down. Is there anyway to capture the boot log?

All fans are running and dust bunnies evacuated.

 

The boot process is able to get just past unpacking initramfs... the problem is that everything is going by so quickly that I cant see errors during boot, and at some point it forcefully shuts down. Is there anyway to capture the boot log?

 

When you say "forcefully shuts down"do you mean that power is being removed from the computer?  If this is the case, I am aware of two things which can cause this problem.  First, is that the processor overheats.  Usually this is caused by a bad fan, or the seal between the heatsink and the CPU has failed.  Second, is the failure of the power supply or possibly a overload caused by a short.  (I once had a terminal in a four pin power plug make contact with the chassis!) 

 

Another item you might want to do is to test memory.  I believe that all of the recent packages have included memtest as a boot option.  If your does invoke it and see what happens...

Start with the flash drive. Run chkdsk from windows to ensure there is no corruption.

Run memtest

 

When you say "forcefully shuts down"do you mean that power is being removed from the computer?  If this is the case, I am aware of two things which can cause this problem.  First, is that the processor overheats.  Usually this is caused by a bad fan, or the seal between the heatsink and the CPU has failed.  Second, is the failure of the power supply or possibly a overload caused by a short.  (I once had a terminal in a four pin power plug make contact with the chassis!) 

 

Another item you might want to do is to test memory.  I believe that all of the recent packages have included memtest as a boot option.  If your does invoke it and see what happens...

 

When I say "forcefully shuts down" the behaviour is the same as if AC power loss had occurred.

 

Thanks very much for the input... I will run the memtest once I'm home from work... given the age and wear of the components (the system has literally been running for 5 years and and was part of an overclocked system for the first two) I have opted to purchase replacement components - MB, CPU, RAM, Power.

 

The only issue I will have is making sure that my drives are put back in the correct order since I cant get to the web ui to get the mapping. Any ideas on how to resolve that?

 

thanks again for all the input, I really appreciate it!

The only issue I will have is making sure that my drives are put back in the correct order since I cant get to the web ui to get the mapping. Any ideas on how to resolve that?

 

Assign ALL drives as data drives, and start the array. The single drive that shows up unformatted will be your parity drive. If more than one drive shows as unformatted, ASK FOR ADVICE BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING ELSE.

 

The only issue I will have is making sure that my drives are put back in the correct order since I cant get to the web ui to get the mapping. Any ideas on how to resolve that?

 

If you are running 4.7...do you have a screen shot of your devices page? Otherwise, see above. 

I am running 4.7, but have no screen shot of the devices page. However I do have my drives in a hotswap cage and I do recall that I installed the drives in the cage in descending order (4,3,2,1,Parity). So I *think* I'll be okay since I'm not confused about which drive is mapped to which logical position... but, having never transplanted an UnRaid array I am somewhat assuming that this is all the information I will need.

 

I've decided on an Asus F1A75M mATX board http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD_Socket_FM1/F1A75M/ and related components (AMD FM1 CPU, 4GB RAM, 500W power). I may end up picking up a GBLAN card if the onboard qualcomm atheros lan does not behave.

Parts should arrive tomorrow... in the meanwhile:

 

[*]memtest86 tests passed.

[*]Since the machine is abruptly powering down after the HDDs are being accessed in the initial boot, I disconnected the drives (removed from hotswap bays) and attempted a reboot - the idea being that increased load on the PSU might be causing the power-down if the PSU is failing. With all HDDs disconnected, boot failed at the exact same place.

[*]Perhaps the USB drive became corrupted and was not loading unraid correcty... attempting to boot system with Knoppix (on a differnet USB drive) resulted in the same sudden power-down during boot. Continuing to tinker in an attempt to know what happened.

 

Tested old components with new PSU, same failure... would seem the motherboard or one of the onboard components failed. Replaced old PSU which promptly failed when attempting to restart.  So, perhaps a failing PSU caused this?

 

Installed new components:

MB: Asus F1A75M

CPU: AMD A3400

RAM: 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair XMS3 CMX4GX3M2A1600C9

PSU: Corsair CX600

 

Had to upgrade to unRAID 5rc3 to get the Atheros L1E onboard nic to work.

 

Array back on line with no issues, 5.0 looks fantastic.