Hi all,

 

I've assembled my build, ABIT AB9 Pro as my MB.  Machine boots fine, up to the login screen, and I am able to access the control via the IP address (trying to go to \\tower or http://tower won't work--this is a separate issue, anyone have some ideas with this? Update: the PCs on my network can get to it through http://tower, but not OS X).  However, I can't see any of the SATA HDs I've put in.  After going through the wiki, I found lots of materials for newbies but no instructions on a first build and how to set things up originally.

 

I found the instructions for adding a new drive, which says as follows:

 

Add one or more new disks

This is the normal case of expanding the capacity of the system by adding one or more new hard drives:

Stop the array.

Power down the server.

Install your new hard drive(s).

Power up the unit.

Start the array.

When you Start the array, the system will first format the new disk(s). When this operation finishes, all the data disks, including the new one(s), will be exported and be available for use.

 

I have powered down the system and started it up with the new drives attached and all, but don't see any change to the bootup and I see nothing under Devices with regards to HDs.  No disks show under Disk Status, and my command area simply shows:

 

Stopped. No devices. No array disk devices have been assigned!

 

Refreshing on this screen does nothing.

 

I am using Athena backplates, and saw the issues regarding though, but I have tried with them plugged directly into the MB, bypassing the plates, with no success.  The bios show the drive at the correct size.

 

Thanks for all of your support.

 

Cheers!

I took a look at the manual and other info, and you are right, there is almost nothing about how to assign a disk!  I guess we are so used to doing it, that no one remembered to mention how it is done, by selecting a drive from the appropriate dropdown list on the Devices tab.  I finally found some info on it at the very bottom of the unRAID Manual, in the last section called Disk devices, there is a little piece called Assigning devices.  Another page that might be helpful is this HowTo: Building an unRAID Server.  The basics of setting up a first array clearly could use a little better writing plus screen shots, in the manual, the FAQ, and perhaps elsewhere too.

 

Then I took a look at your syslog, and WOW!  What a disaster!  IRQ 18 is first assigned to handling some of the USB stuff, then fails badly, is disabled, then is re-assigned to SATA ports!  Only one drive is recognized, but it immediately responds with 'exception Emask' errors, is reset a few times, then slowed to PIO speeds, and then is still not included in the Device Inventory, because the kernel hasn't finished trying to get it to work correctly, when unRAID takes over and tries to set up an array.  It appears as if the unRAID drivers and system give up waiting for the kernel to identify and configure drives, and proceed on anyway, even though not one drive has been added yet to the Device Inventory.

 

Because of the IRQ problems, I'm going to recommend loading and trying unRAID v4.2.4, which can be downloaded from here:  unRAID Server 4.2.4.zip.  Just extract and copy the bzroot and bzimage to your flash drive, then reboot.  Let's see if you can boot farther, and at least see the drives.  Capture another syslog and attach it here.  If it doesn't work better, you may have a bad board.  I believe I recall that there are a number of reports of bad boards for that model.

 

unRAID v4.2.x includes the Linux kernel 2.6.22, which handles the interrupts a little differently than the kernel 2.6.24 in 4.3.x.

I took the bizroot and bzimage from 4.2.4 as you suggested.  The system won't even pull an IP now from the network.

 

In my BIOS I have a "SATA Mode".  It's currently set to "IDE" but has available options of RAID and AHCI.  Does this need to change?

 

Please find attached my new syslog.  I am open to trying any next steps that people could be able to support.  Once this is running I'll be grabbing a pro license but until then I'll keep plugging away....

 

 

I took the bizroot and bzimage from 4.2.4 as you suggested.  The system won't even pull an IP now from the network.

 

In my BIOS I have a "SATA Mode".  It's currently set to "IDE" but has available options of RAID and AHCI.  Does this need to change?

 

Please find attached my new syslog.  I am open to trying any next steps that people could be able to support.  Once this is running I'll be grabbing a pro license but until then I'll keep plugging away....

 

 

You want AHCI mode.

I also see, under the "Onboard PCI Device" section, the following:

 

SIL3132 SATA Controller.  I've set this to enabled and we have a SATA Mode under it, but the only options are IDE and RAID (default is IDE).  What should this be on, since I don't see any AHCI option?

 

JMB363 Sata Controller.  I've set this to enabled.  Under it we have Controller Mode, options are RAID, IDE, AHCI (default is IDE).  I presume this should be on AHCI as well.

SIL3132 SATA Controller.  I've set this to enabled and we have a SATA Mode under it, but the only options are IDE and RAID (default is IDE).  What should this be on, since I don't see any AHCI option?

 

The Silicon Image SiI3132 controller is a good one, but typically comes with the RAID firmware, and has to be flashed to the latest non-RAID firmware.  You can get it and the tools to flash it on the Silicon Image site.  Be careful to select the correct version, non-RAID, and the appropriate version for onboard or addon card.

 

The v4.2.4 syslog does not look any better, may be actually worse.  The 'abused' interrupt changed from IRQ 18 to a lower x86 interrupt, IRQ 11.  There are 2 drives visible now, and no 'exception Emask' errors (perhaps because of less advanced error detection?) with their associated timeouts, but the same bad HPA issues on both drives, and both drives are being limited to PIO3 speed.  One thing that is worse is the networking.  It could not find a DHCP server this time, and that did work earlier.  It finds a link beat, then reports "ifplugd(eth0): Killing child" and later a ifplugd(eth0) program failure.

 

The prime suspects here (may be others) are a bad motherboard and/or bad drives.  Among other things, this system is reporting something wrong with the HPA on these drives, Seagate terabytes - ST31000340AS.  If you have another empty drive handy, try disconnecting these 2 Seagates, and see if another drive will work better, just to confirm that the motherboard is OK.  The only other very remote possibility I can think of are bad SATA cables.

 

Just curious, you mentioned you could not 'pull an IP', how did you determine that?

This was a BIOS issue, as was suggested in other threads.  I simply followed the instructions I found here: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=1453.0 to flash to 22 (the newest non-BETA BIOS) and things seem to be working fine.  It doesn't see one or two of my drives, but I will deal with that issue later after I upgrade to PRO and can actually use the additional drives--as a whole it all looks great.

 

One question I have: I assigned the parity drive, then another drive.  I stated the SYNC.  The data drive is also showing as unformatted right now.  Do I need to wait for the parity sync to complete before I use the "Format" command?

 

The Silicon Image SiI3132 controller is a good one, but typically comes with the RAID firmware, and has to be flashed to the latest non-RAID firmware. You can get it and the tools to flash it on the Silicon Image site. Be careful to select the correct version, non-RAID, and the appropriate version for onboard or addon card.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like there's only a single SATA port on this board connected to the Silicon Image controller.  If it's left on IDE, will this cause the system not to work, or will it still function?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like there's only a single SATA port on this board connected to the Silicon Image controller.  If it's left on IDE, will this cause the system not to work, or will it still function?

 

See the post below, as pointed out on the excellent Best of the Forums wiki page, in the Troubleshooting section.

 

  http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=1453.msg9755#msg9755

 

That page does not mention specific BIOS versions, or BIOS settings (would be nice), but IDE is always the least desirable choice.  I note that Sparkie, who started that thread, now lists a Gigabyte board instead, in his sig.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like there's only a single SATA port on this board connected to the Silicon Image controller.

 

The eSATA connector is also controlled by the Sil chipset I believe.

 

edit: ah yes it says it in the thread that Rob just linked to!