rcrh Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 I have an old HP mediasmart server that used to run Windows Home Server. It seems to meet the requirements of unRAID but I don't know if it can be configured to boot from a USB drive. So, I'm wondering if anyone in this community has tried (and hopefully succeeded) installing unRAID on this hardware. Thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment
Johnm Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 I have an old HP mediasmart server that used to run Windows Home Server. It seems to meet the requirements of unRAID but I don't know if it can be configured to boot from a USB drive. So, I'm wondering if anyone in this community has tried (and hopefully succeeded) installing unRAID on this hardware. Thanks in advance. Thats a very good question and i have wondered about that myself. I know a few people with the older MSS units that are unused. I believe they MSS boots from usb if it is in the top rear USB port. the motherboards are proprietary, but they have Intel 775 chips in many of them (some are upgradeable). some can support 2GB (or more?) of ram. A good place to ask would be over at www.mediasmartserver.net/forums/ You could try booting the free version of unraid if you can get it to boot usb. the hardest part is that they are headless and you cant see any errors without a breakout cable.. Quote Link to comment
rcrh Posted June 26, 2012 Author Share Posted June 26, 2012 Thats a very good question and i have wondered about that myself. I know a few people with the older MSS units that are unused. I believe they MSS boots from usb if it is in the top rear USB port. the motherboards are proprietary, but they have Intel 775 chips in many of them (some are upgradeable). some can support 2GB (or more?) of ram. A good place to ask would be over at www.mediasmartserver.net/forums/ You could try booting the free version of unraid if you can get it to boot usb. the hardest part is that they are headless and you cant see any errors without a breakout cable.. I've poked around on that site and didn't find anything. Mostly discussions of people abandoning their hardware and starting over. I may take an afternoon and try that before I toss it in the bin. Thanks. Quote Link to comment
Johnm Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 It is still usable hardware in my opinion. I would post your question there. some of the mods on that site are very knowledgeable on the hardware and its limits and installing other stuff on them. i believe that some of the people on that forum used to work for the MSS division of HP. Quote Link to comment
rcrh Posted June 27, 2012 Author Share Posted June 27, 2012 OK, I'm going to give this a try since it doesn't seem that I can do any harm. One more question though; I've downloaded the current release candidate of v5.x and need to know if there will be an upgrade path to the full version when it's finalized. Or, should I start with the 4.7 version? Thanks yet again. Quote Link to comment
dikkiedirk Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 I still have an EX490 that is my first unraid experience. Just put an unraid stick, that I prepared on my laptop, in one of the USB-ports on the back and it booted without a problem. Never changed a BIOS-setting. Even 3 TB drives worked, and the eSATA-port too. I had a Sans Digital TR5M on it and all five drives worked as data and cache drives. The server was upgraded with an E5800 CPU and 4 GB DDR2. Quote Link to comment
rcrh Posted June 27, 2012 Author Share Posted June 27, 2012 I still have an EX490 that is my first unraid experience. Just put an unraid stick, that I prepared on my laptop, in one of the USB-ports on the back and it booted without a problem. Never changed a BIOS-setting. Even 3 TB drives worked, and the eSATA-port too. I had a Sans Digital TR5M on it and all five drives worked as data and cache drives. The server was upgraded with an E5800 CPU and 4 GB DDR2. Oh, this makes my heart beat faster!!!! This is almost exactly my situation (except I have an ex470 that I've upgraded the RAM in). I even have the same eSATA chassis. I'm part way through this little experiment and am hitting one problem so far. Only drives in the first and third bays are being recognized. I've opened the case, checked the connections to the backplane; removed the backplane and reseatted it and still have the same problem. I'm now rebuilding my USB with version 4.7. I'm hoping the problem was with the RC version of 5.x that I was using. It would be to give this old hardware new life! Richard Quote Link to comment
rcrh Posted June 27, 2012 Author Share Posted June 27, 2012 ... I'm now rebuilding my USB with version 4.7. I'm hoping the problem was with the RC version of 5.x that I was using. Moving to version 4.7 made no difference. I'm off to the Mediasmart forums to see if I can find any info. Quote Link to comment
dikkiedirk Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 Were all drives detected in WHS? Does the EX470 also have an Intel processor? Or is it AMD based. As far as I know the four internal SATA-ports on my machine are four channels on the ICH8 chip. Quote Link to comment
rcrh Posted June 28, 2012 Author Share Posted June 28, 2012 Were all drives detected in WHS? Does the EX470 also have an Intel processor? Or is it AMD based. As far as I know the four internal SATA-ports on my machine are four channels on the ICH8 chip. I think all of the drives were working when I pulled the plug on it. But, that was about 18 months ago. The CPU is an AMD Sempron 1.8 GHz. I currently have a third drive running in an eSATA enclosure so I can continue testing unRAID. This morning I'm going to try to boot NAS4Free and I'll report back. Quote Link to comment
dikkiedirk Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 The EX470 will only see 4 drives in a TR5M I think. Did you have 4 drives in the EX470? Did you check the syslog? Quote Link to comment
rcrh Posted June 28, 2012 Author Share Posted June 28, 2012 The EX470 will only see 4 drives in a TR5M I think. Did you have 4 drives in the EX470? Did you check the syslog? I believe you are right about the TR5M but that isn't my issue right now. My issue is trying to avoid using the TR5M by getting all four bays in the EX470 to work. Any thoughts on what I'd look for in the syslog? Quote Link to comment
jacko Posted May 7, 2013 Share Posted May 7, 2013 I know this topic is stale but I wanted to share how I got my MSS working. I too had problems getting all 4 drives recognised. I have a video breakout board and was able to go into the BIOS and check the SiS interface chip config. I found that by changing the mode from 4P(IDE)+4S(RAID) to 4P(IDE)+4S(IDE) all the disks were found. I have now been using the unRAID for several weeks (2x2TB data + 1TB cache + 2T parity) and am generally pleased. The only problem I have is that the 1GB/s NIC is only working in 100Mb/s mode. I suspect this is a unRAID driver issue. Any ideas? Quote Link to comment
Frank1940 Posted May 7, 2013 Share Posted May 7, 2013 I know this topic is stale but I wanted to share how I got my MSS working. I too had problems getting all 4 drives recognised. I have a video breakout board and was able to go into the BIOS and check the SiS interface chip config. I found that by changing the mode from 4P(IDE)+4S(RAID) to 4P(IDE)+4S(IDE) all the disks were found. I have now been using the unRAID for several weeks (2x2TB data + 1TB cache + 2T parity) and am generally pleased. The only problem I have is that the 1GB/s NIC is only working in 100Mb/s mode. I suspect this is a unRAID driver issue. Any ideas? What speed is your router (or switch) that you are connected to? Is the cable used at least cat5E or cat6? If these are not your problem, post a syslog. Quote Link to comment
rcrh Posted May 22, 2013 Author Share Posted May 22, 2013 I know this topic is stale but I wanted to share how I got my MSS working. I too had problems getting all 4 drives recognised. I have a video breakout board and was able to go into the BIOS and check the SiS interface chip config. I found that by changing the mode from 4P(IDE)+4S(RAID) to 4P(IDE)+4S(IDE) all the disks were found. I have now been using the unRAID for several weeks (2x2TB data + 1TB cache + 2T parity) and am generally pleased. The only problem I have is that the 1GB/s NIC is only working in 100Mb/s mode. I suspect this is a unRAID driver issue. Any ideas? Wow, this is great news. Where did you get the video breakout board? My MSS is still sitting around & I'd love to get it working. Quote Link to comment
bombz Posted January 12, 2021 Share Posted January 12, 2021 An older thread to say the least. I have had this HP system in a box brand new for years, and would love to get it working with UnRAID. Anyone finalize this project more so in the recent years? Quote Link to comment
bombz Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 On 1/11/2021 at 8:46 PM, bombz said: An older thread to say the least. I have had this HP system in a box brand new for years, and would love to get it working with UnRAID. Anyone finalize this project more so in the recent years? I have made progress on this (if anyone looks at this old thread) Upgraded CPU to dual core Upgraded RAM to 4GB stick (only detects 2GB) had a 4GB kicking around so used it The server sees 10TB disk in BIOS Have yet to test Unraid on it, going to try to carve out some time to do that, and if all is well, I will be purchasing another license Making old hardware 'new' again, or current 1 Quote Link to comment
bombz Posted February 6, 2021 Share Posted February 6, 2021 (edited) On 5/7/2013 at 5:30 AM, jacko said: I know this topic is stale but I wanted to share how I got my MSS working. I too had problems getting all 4 drives recognised. I have a video breakout board and was able to go into the BIOS and check the SiS interface chip config. I found that by changing the mode from 4P(IDE)+4S(RAID) to 4P(IDE)+4S(IDE) all the disks were found. I have now been using the unRAID for several weeks (2x2TB data + 1TB cache + 2T parity) and am generally pleased. The only problem I have is that the 1GB/s NIC is only working in 100Mb/s mode. I suspect this is a unRAID driver issue. Any ideas? Thank you so much for this Unraid Version: 6.9.0-rc2 Currently all 4x disk (test server) are detected I plugged in a SSD disk to the ESATA port (cache disk) on the back of the HP EX470 (modded system) and it detected Currently started the array and waiting to test over the next month. If all goes well grabbing another license! LOVE YOU UNRAID!!!! I have attached a photo of my test rig of disk I had laying around. Glad to see this old NAS (that really sucks as a stock NAS) is working with the golden UnRaid OS, with support (tested) up to 10TB Edited February 8, 2021 by bombz 1 Quote Link to comment
Maverick52 Posted February 15, 2021 Share Posted February 15, 2021 On 5/7/2013 at 4:30 AM, jacko said: I know this topic is stale but I wanted to share how I got my MSS working. I too had problems getting all 4 drives recognised. I have a video breakout board and was able to go into the BIOS and check the SiS interface chip config. I found that by changing the mode from 4P(IDE)+4S(RAID) to 4P(IDE)+4S(IDE) all the disks were found. I have now been using the unRAID for several weeks (2x2TB data + 1TB cache + 2T parity) and am generally pleased. The only problem I have is that the 1GB/s NIC is only working in 100Mb/s mode. I suspect this is a unRAID driver issue. Any ideas? I know this is a super old post, but since the thread has been somewhat refreshed anyways I just wanted to quote you and say thank you for solving the issue I was having with my HP Mediasmart and Unraid. Unraid was only seeing two drives in specific slots, after changing this in the BIOS it now sees all four perfectly. I picked up my old HP Mediasmart off Facebook, I figured it was worth a gamble for $80 and it came with 7 TB of HDD's and the video cable. Even with the super old hardware I think it's going to make a nice NAS for me. 1 Quote Link to comment
bombz Posted February 18, 2021 Share Posted February 18, 2021 On 2/14/2021 at 8:29 PM, Maverick52 said: I know this is a super old post, but since the thread has been somewhat refreshed anyways I just wanted to quote you and say thank you for solving the issue I was having with my HP Mediasmart and Unraid. Unraid was only seeing two drives in specific slots, after changing this in the BIOS it now sees all four perfectly. I picked up my old HP Mediasmart off Facebook, I figured it was worth a gamble for $80 and it came with 7 TB of HDD's and the video cable. Even with the super old hardware I think it's going to make a nice NAS for me. This is great to hear! I had one as well in a box for years never used, and I thank once again the unraid community for their awesome help. Happy to see the ESATA port works for a SSD cache disk with unraid for docker etc. +1 to this thank you as well! Quote Link to comment
lordbeavis Posted March 2, 2021 Share Posted March 2, 2021 On 2/6/2021 at 1:05 PM, bombz said: Thank you so much for this Unraid Version: 6.9.0-rc2 Currently all 4x disk (test server) are detected I plugged in a SSD disk to the ESATA port (cache disk) on the back of the HP EX470 (modded system) and it detected Currently started the array and waiting to test over the next month. If all goes well grabbing another license! LOVE YOU UNRAID!!!! I have attached a photo of my test rig of disk I had laying around. Glad to see this old NAS (that really sucks as a stock NAS) is working with the golden UnRaid OS, with support (tested) up to 10TB How did you get the network port to run at full speed? it is super flaky and mine wont even register the trial license. It has an SiS 191 chipset Quote Link to comment
lordbeavis Posted March 2, 2021 Share Posted March 2, 2021 32 minutes ago, lordbeavis said: How did you get the network port to run at full speed? it is super flaky and mine wont even register the trial license. It has an SiS 191 chipset hmmm.....i found some info on this but i am in over my head regarding compiling a kernel https://www.howtoforge.com/creating-the-sis191-gigabit-ethernet-driver-on-linux-2.6 Quote Link to comment
lordbeavis Posted March 2, 2021 Share Posted March 2, 2021 (edited) ok... my 4gb of ddr2 ram must have failed. got the 2 blue and 2 red after pressing the pinhole button in the front currently waiting for a AMD Athlon 64 X2 3250e to be delivered, so i needed to tear it apart anyways but i changed to a 2gb ddr2 800mhz. havent run the memtest86+ on the new ram but my issue with not being able to activate the trial key is gone. with 6.9.0-rc2 the link speed on my adapter 100 00:04.0 Ethernet controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 191 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter (rev 01) Mar 2 14:45:43 HPSTORAGE kernel: sis190: sis190 Gigabit Ethernet driver 1.4 loaded Mar 2 14:45:43 HPSTORAGE kernel: sis190: 0000:00:04.0: Read MAC address from EEPROM Mar 2 14:45:55 HPSTORAGE kernel: sis190 0000:00:04.0 eth0: mii ext = 0000 Mar 2 14:45:55 HPSTORAGE kernel: sis190 0000:00:04.0 eth0: mii lpa=c5e1 adv=01e1 exp=000f Mar 2 14:45:55 HPSTORAGE kernel: sis190 0000:00:04.0 eth0: link on 1000 Mbps Full Duplex mode Mar 2 14:45:55 HPSTORAGE dhcpcd[1294]: br0: carrier acquired Mar 2 14:45:55 HPSTORAGE kernel: bond0: (slave eth0): link status definitely up, 100 Mbps full duplex Mar 2 14:45:55 HPSTORAGE kernel: bond0: (slave eth0): making interface the new active one so i am back to not connecting at 1gbit hpstorage-syslog-20210302-2251.zip Edited March 3, 2021 by lordbeavis Quote Link to comment
PeterTheN00b Posted August 14, 2021 Share Posted August 14, 2021 I too an trying to resurrect my HP Mediasmart server (EX470) as an Unraid box. I just upgraded to an Athlon X2 300+ CPU and 4GB of RAM after doing ymboc's bios hack. I used the CD Creator tool to make an Unraid USB stick. The Unraid USB is not booting on EX470. I have tried all the USB slots without success. It keeps starting up and then starts up Windows. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I have a VGA cable so I can get into and see the BIOS. Quote Link to comment
trurl Posted August 14, 2021 Share Posted August 14, 2021 33 minutes ago, PeterTheN00b said: I have tried all the USB slots without success. It keeps starting up and then starts up Windows. Any suggestions would be appreciated. UEFI or not? Quote Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.