Change USB drive PAID Unraid - Plus Version

[sam9s]

Damm man things are getting from Bad to Worse now ....... well I went to BIOS and did a simple Load Bios Defaults .... and now I cant even get past the BIOS logo screen, it stuck there ..........

[sam9s]

UPDATE :::: I waitd there on the BIOS logo screen and after like 5 minutes the system gave me an error ...

 

3rd master hard disk error

3rd slave hard disk error ...

Press F1 to resume ....

 

What on God's Mother earth is that .....

 

If I click on F1 to resume, Unraid starts to load but again gets stuck on Loding Bizimage and couple of DOTS .....

 

I have my entire lifes data in those HDD man, please some one understands the gravity of the situation here and help ..... :'( :'( :'( :'(

[whiteatom]

All of us have all of our media (months of downloading) on our unraid boxes.. so we all understand the gravity (and that's why most of us have backups!)

 

The only time I've ever seen anything like what you are describing it was the PSU. What motherboard do you have? Supermicro boards are particularly sensitive to power supplies. Did you add one more drive when this started? Did you replace a green with a black?

 

I'd go to a brick and mortar store (with a good return policy) and buy a large and high-qality power supply and put it in the machine (I'd maybe pick up some new RAM while I was there as well). Put them in and boot it up. If the problems go away, you have your culprits.

 

A suggestion for you, if you are super concerned about your data, take the drives out while you are testing! UnRAID will boot with no drives in it just fine.. that may also help you narrow the problem to a SATA cable, or SATA controller. If the drives are not connected to the system, it can't loose your data. This is why you chose unraid (even if you didn't know it), but all your data is in-tact on the data drives - it does not depend on the drive configuration or OS to be readable.

 

No matter what, kernel panics and BIOS errors are 99% hardware errors, so take things out and go back to basics... then add things in one at a time until you find out what it is.

 

The exact error you are seeing sounds a little like the IDE controller on the MOBO, maybe disable that in the bios?

 

whiteatom

[sam9s]

I dont know what has gone wrong ...... its not even booting now, gets stuck at the BIOS logo and then after ages movs ahead with an error ...

 

Master hard disk error

slave harddisk error

 

and the number is diferent every time .....

 

I am so very disappointed and frustrated I can literally taste it ,,,,

 

NOW BILLION DOLLAR IS HOW TO GET THIS RECTIFIED ...

 

One question I ask is ................ if I purchase new hardware, ie new mobo, new processor, new ram and connect my UNRAID HDDs and boot via same pen drive WILL IT WORK .... ?? I can not seem to find any other alternative ..... or troubleshooting ....... 

 

Please get this working for once, I will immediately shift all my data to extrnal HDD and then dump Unraid for good and see other alternatives preferably Windows ......

 

Plz plz plz help me to get this back on ...... my humble request to every UNRAID guru out there .....

 

Regards

Sammy

[whiteatom]

No no and no... you need to read the posts from the people trying to help you. Saying pls pls pls isn't going to help if your not going to take the advice you are getting! We are all fans of unRAID - which is why we are here.. so blaming the software and saying your switching to something else is probably going to get most people to just click by to the next thread. Calm down, relax about your data and troubleshoot with us.

 

This is HIGHLY unlikely to be an unRAID software problem. unRAID is better then any Winblows solution because your data is IN TACT on the disks that are in your machine, unlike a RAID 5/RAID X/ZFS solution. No one can tell you everything is going to be perfect once you replace hardware X, because I'm not an electrical engineer looking at the PCB's in your machine. Unless the suspect hardware is your drives, the data is most likely fine.. you could pull the drives and connect them individually to your windows desktop and (with some windows drivers for the reiserFS) get at your data. Even if you put the disks in a new unRAID system with a new USB stick, you just need to tell unraid which is your parity drive, and your data will all load back up again.

 

1) unplug all your drives and try and boot the machine - if you are getting the master hard disk error, you're probably looking at a driver controller issue. One question.. did you tell the BIOS to use the USB port for booting after you reset it? Are you using the ports on the MoBo or on an external card? if are still getting the error, i'd try disabling the onboard sata and IDE controllers - I know that's not going to help you with getting your system up and running, but if it's OK with them disabled, then you know your onboard controllers are shot. If it's fine with the hardware enabled and no disks...

 

2) Go and buy a new power supply. If it works, you have the problem and you can order a replacement on line for less and return the store bought one. After that, try the RAM, and finally the MoBo.

 

whiteatom

[sam9s]

All of us have all of our media (months of downloading) on our unraid boxes.. so we all understand the gravity (and that's why most of us have backups!)

 

The only time I've ever seen anything like what you are describing it was the PSU. What motherboard do you have? Supermicro boards are particularly sensitive to power supplies. Did you add one more drive when this started? Did you replace a green with a black?

 

I'd go to a brick and mortar store (with a good return policy) and buy a large and high-qality power supply and put it in the machine (I'd maybe pick up some new RAM while I was there as well). Put them in and boot it up. If the problems go away, you have your culprits.

 

A suggestion for you, if you are super concerned about your data, take the drives out while you are testing! UnRAID will boot with no drives in it just fine.. that may also help you narrow the problem to a SATA cable, or SATA controller. If the drives are not connected to the system, it can't loose your data. This is why you chose unraid (even if you didn't know it), but all your data is in-tact on the data drives - it does not depend on the drive configuration or OS to be readable.

 

No matter what, kernel panics and BIOS errors are 99% hardware errors, so take things out and go back to basics... then add things in one at a time until you find out what it is.

 

The exact error you are seeing sounds a little like the IDE controller on the MOBO, maybe disable that in the bios?

 

whiteatom

 

Thanks whiteatom, I have not added or subtracted anything in my Unraid hardware ... it been running for more than a year now with minor problems ........ then suddenly just like that I started getting this ..... "bread block error" initially it was occational and a reboot would solve, then it started getting bad and almost after every hour or so I was getting this ........ Then all I did was to run a chkdsk on pen drive in windows and changed the slot  .... that seems to do the trick, but then I started loosing network connectivity ....... a reboot again would solve this but slowly and slowly it also started happening more frequently untill it was happening almost every day after a fresh reboot ..... up until today,................. when I lost the connectivity again, I was advised to connect a monitor and report the syslog which I did (snap shot) .....

 

But after that................. things started becoming from bad to worst to nightmare ...... below is the list of my exact hardware I have used to setup UNRAID ..

 

1. Processor ::: Intel E2140 Dual Core Proc

2. Motherboard ::: MSI P43 Neo

3. RAM 2 GB 800Mhz Kingston

4. Cabinet CM Elite 334

5. Gb LAN Intel Pro 1000

6. PSU :::: Cooler Master Elite Power 460 W

7. HDD ::: All 5 HDD are Western Digital Green

 

Nothing has been added or subtracted to this list from day one ........ except yes the GB Lan card .... I thought maybe the connectivity is loosing coz the inbuilt NIC has gone bad so I bought a new one, that too I made sure is the most common and the more widely acceptable LAN card available ... Intel Pro 1000. But it didnt help as I lost the connectivity again.

 

Apart from this nothing has been added or subtracted ,,,,,

 

I will try what you have suggested, removing every hdd and then rebooting and see what happenes ,,,,, can you also guide/help that If purchase new hardware (Mobo+Proc+RAM) and add the HDD and used the same pendrive to boot will it work ...? I can replace all hardware if that can solve the issue ......

 

Thanks for your time to help me out here ..... I really really appreciate this ...

 

Regards

Sammy

[sam9s]

No no and no... you need to read the posts from the people trying to help you. Saying pls pls pls isn't going to help if your not going to take the advice you are getting! We are all fans of unRAID - which is why we are here.. so blaming the software and saying your switching to something else is probably going to get most people to just click by to the next thread. Calm down, relax about your data and troubleshoot with us.

 

This is HIGHLY unlikely to be an unRAID software problem. unRAID is better then any Winblows solution because your data is IN TACT on the disks that are in your machine, unlike a RAID 5/RAID X/ZFS solution. No one can tell you everything is going to be perfect once you replace hardware X, because I'm not an electrical engineer looking at the PCB's in your machine.

 

1) unplug all your drives and try and boot the machine - if you are getting the master hard disk error, you're probably looking at a controller issue. One question.. did you tell the BIOS to use the USB port for booting after you reset it? If it's fine with no disks...

 

2) Go and buy a new power supply. If it works, you have the problem and you can order a replacement on line for less and return the store bought one. After that, try the RAM, and finally the MoBo.

 

Ok thanks Bro, knowing that the data is intact, gives a comfort feeling .... .... yes I told the BIOS to boot from USB, after resetting to defaults ...... I have a spare power supply with me, will try that and if that works, its gonna confirm the PSU fault, then tomorrow I will get a new power supply ...... I have corsair TX 750 in my desktop, will try to get the same (corsair is good right) ........

 

Will report the out come ... really really appreciate your help and assistance on this .....

 

Regards

Sammy

[Joe L.]

Not just select USB as bootable, BUT ALSO select the specific device in the list of potential boot devices.  (It is often listed as a hard-disk)

 

Your issue could be as simple as the CMOS battery on the MB, or as complicated as the power supply itself, or a USB flash drive that is dying.  None of those affect the data on your disks.  Even if you have to replace everything but the hard disks, the data on them should be fine.

 

Regardless,  unRAID is not a backup of your precious data.  It is a way to protect yourself against a single disk failure.    All it would take is a single flood, lightning strike, tornado, or fire and all your data could be gone.

 

Precious data should be backed up on removable media and stored elsewhere, preferably off-site.

 

Joe L.

 

 

[whiteatom]

I've never seen that breadblock error, but that sounds like a drive or controller issue - like you originally though, it might be your flash drive, it might be something else. No matter what turns out to be the problem, that sounds to me like some piece of hardware breathing it's last breaths. I had a problem with my flash drive mounting read-only, and a replacement was the solution.

 

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=22864.0

 

I'll await your response from booting with no harddrives, and the onboard controllers (IDE and SATA) disabled, that will eliminate the most obvious problems form here.

 

Like it was suggest before, you can also try another flash drive and a clean download (unlicensed) version of unRAID. Agreed that it won't run your disks, but it will boot and be helpful in eliminating the flash drive as part of the problem.

 

whiteatom

 

 

[sam9s]

Ok time to update and I am afraid it bad news ..... I presume whiteatom you were correct when you said that "some piece of hardware was breathing it's last breaths" ..... coz today that piece died I guess. As per the plan, the moment I returned from office ............... I opened my NAS case and removed all the SATA and power cables from all the hard drives and started the system hoping to go in to BIOS and disable the onboard controllers as well. To my surprise I did not even get a display ...... blank monitor ...... I then removed the RAM ... no display ... I removed on board FANs ... no display, I then removed every single thing connected to the mobo ...... and even unscrewed the mobo out from the case and placed on the table and started, but did not get any display, even though now only the PSU and the display card were connected to the mobo..................

 

Time to move on to stage two of trouble shooting ::::::::::: Now either the PSU was bad or the display card as nothing else was connected  to the board. Luckily I had a spare old desktop with me that I do not use and is just lying there eating dust. I now removed the PSU from the UNRAID system and connected it to the spare desktop (removing its own PSU)(monitor connected to its inbuilt mobo display) .... and vola I have the initial post from that spare system ..... so PSU wasnt bad ..........

 

I then connected the display card from UNRAID system and plugged it on to the spare system. Took out the VGA cable from inbuilt VGA out and plugged it in to the display card and started the system (with the UNRAID PSU still connected) and there again I have the display ....... so display card also aint the issue ............

 

I connected the PSU and the display card back on to the UNRAID mobo and started the system ............ same problem no display ..... so now I have no idea what has gone wrong ... The RAM is ok, PSU is OK, Display card is OK. Left are only Mobo and Processor and I have no idea how to test those ...... or may be I can assume that either one of them has gone bad .......

 

what do you people have to say ..... what should be my next step now ........

 

[mikechy]

For what it's worth, Sam, I had a similar problem over a year ago where I was getting random errors, random power downs and went through the mode of testing everything.  At the end if it all it was the motherboard.

 

I bought a new motherboard/cpu and used the old power supply and memory.  Moved everything over, powered on, re-assigned drives and ran a partiy check.  Everything has been perfect since then. 

 

Since that, I even moved my drives AGAIN to a new 24 bay system that already had hardware in it.  Dropped in drives and booted up.  Sometimes it would boot and sometimes it would get stuck at the loading BIZROOT.  That time it was the RAM.  Pulled two chips out (there were 4 x 1GB in there) and ever since then not a single issue.

 

Bottom line -  The data is most likely intact and fine. Unraid will work on a wide array of hardware but I'd recommend go with something that has been tested by the community if you replace the mobo.

[JonathanM]

I then removed the RAM ... no display

That is to be expected. With no RAM, you are looking for the appropriate beep codes from the motherboard speaker indicating a lack of RAM, typically a string of long lower toned evenly spaced beeps. Adding the RAM back and removing the video (assuming no onboard video) should result in a different beep code, beeep beep beep beep pause beep beep or something similar. If the motherboard doesn't have an onboard piezo speaker, then you need a plug in speaker connected to the speaker pins near the power, reset, and LED connections.

 

If the motherboard doesn't beep with no RAM, it's probably dead. A very few motherboard models don't do beep codes, but the vast majority do.

[BobPhoenix]

Could also try to reseat the CPU.  I had one where the HeatSink was dislodged and caused the CPU to loose connect as well.  Removed and reseated both the CPU and the HeatSink and it booted right up.

[sam9s]

I then removed the RAM ... no display

That is to be expected. With no RAM, you are looking for the appropriate beep codes from the motherboard speaker indicating a lack of RAM, typically a string of long lower toned evenly spaced beeps. Adding the RAM back and removing the video (assuming no onboard video) should result in a different beep code, beeep beep beep beep pause beep beep or something similar. If the motherboard doesn't have an onboard piezo speaker, then you need a plug in speaker connected to the speaker pins near the power, reset, and LED connections.

 

If the motherboard doesn't beep with no RAM, it's probably dead. A very few motherboard models don't do beep codes, but the vast majority do.

 

RAM was removed just once for testing, it was plugged on again after I removed the mobo from the cabinet itself. I also tried different ram stick with same result. This PC does not give any beep or beep codes ....... so I cannot have a judgement based on that.

[sam9s]

Could also try to reseat the CPU.  I had one where the HeatSink was dislodged and caused the CPU to loose connect as well.  Removed and reseated both the CPU and the HeatSink and it booted right up.

 

Ok this I have not tried, but looking at the Heatsink, it does not appear to be anyway near as dislodged ...... its clamped rock solid .....

I would still give it a try, though personally I have made up my mind to get a new hardware .... just looking if I can managed to get any used deal on mobo+proc, else I would have no option to go for an i3 with compatible mobo n ram......

[sam9s]

OK this is the hardware I have decided, this is the cheapest NEW mobo+proc I can get  ,.... kindly see and suggest if I should go for this ...

 

Processor :: AMD 3.2 GHz AM3 Athlon II 260 Processor ............Around 66 USD

Motherboard :: MSI 760GM-P21 (FX) or Biostar A960G+.........................................Around 48 USD

 

A small problem with Mobo is that is has only 4 SATA II ports (both) and I have 5 HDD including parity. But I also have one HDD which has not been filled at all, i.e its empty inside the array. I can plug out that HDD and only use the rest 4 (including parity).

 

Can this is done, is the hardware Okie, are Motherboard and processor compatible (which one to go MSI or Biostar).... ...... Please suggest If everything seems okie, I shall place the order then ....

 

Regards

Sammy

[JonathanM]

OK this is the hardware I have decided, this is the cheapest NEW mobo+proc I can get  ,.... kindly see and suggest if I should go for this ...

I don't know about this particular motherboard, but in general, using price as the only factor when purchasing hardware that is going to be used as a server is probably not a good idea. Desktop grade hardware is cheaper than server grade for a reason, typically duty cycle and wide spread known compatibility.

 

If I were you I would check the known good for unraid boards in this forum, and find the cheapest of those, not find the cheapest board and ask about compatibility.

[JonathanM]

RAM was removed just once for testing, it was plugged on again after I removed the mobo from the cabinet itself. I also tried different ram stick with same result. This PC does not give any beep or beep codes ....... so I cannot have a judgement based on that.

 

Details are important. You did not say you put the RAM back in in the post I replied to.

 

To my surprise I did not even get a display ...... blank monitor ...... I then removed the RAM ... no display ... I removed on board FANs ... no display, I then removed every single thing connected to the mobo ...... and even unscrewed the mobo out from the case and placed on the table and started, but did not get any display, even though now only the PSU and the display card were connected to the mobo..................

 

As far as the motherboard not giving error codes, what does the manual say? I've never seen a board that had no error codes,they either have audible or visual. Some boards have a couple of LEDs that blink or light up to indicate the code.

[whiteatom]

My thoughts are the same as jonathanm.. no codes means one of 2 things:

1) it's TOTALLY dead

2) there's no PC speaker hooked up to it.

 

Also.. i wouldn't rule out the PSU entirely - agreed it doesn't appear to be the problem, but I had a perfectly good PSU that caused my brand new box not boot... no beeps, no codes.. just the fans spinning up and then stoping 1 second later. Turned out the PSU was missing some voltage regulation standard that my board required (sorry I can't remember exactly what the problem was, but a different PSU solved it). Now that was the wrong PSU, not a broken one, but it will show you what effect the PSU can have on a system. 

 

Good luck with the MoBo!

 

whiteatom

[sam9s]

OK this is the hardware I have decided, this is the cheapest NEW mobo+proc I can get  ,.... kindly see and suggest if I should go for this ...

I don't know about this particular motherboard, but in general, using price as the only factor when purchasing hardware that is going to be used as a server is probably not a good idea. Desktop grade hardware is cheaper than server grade for a reason, typically duty cycle and wide spread known compatibility.

 

If I were you I would check the known good for unraid boards in this forum, and find the cheapest of those, not find the cheapest board and ask about compatibility.

 

Sir, I cannot afford server grade hardware, with ECC RAM, Xeon Processor and Server Board. I have to choose between normal desktop component only. If the above hardware is not up to the mark, please suggest as per your recommendations ......

[sam9s]

My thoughts are the same as jonathanm.. no codes means one of 2 things:

1) it's TOTALLY dead

2) there's no PC speaker hooked up to it.

 

Also.. i wouldn't rule out the PSU entirely - agreed it doesn't appear to be the problem, but I had a perfectly good PSU that caused my brand new box not boot... no beeps, no codes.. just the fans spinning up and then stoping 1 second later. Turned out the PSU was missing some voltage regulation standard that my board required (sorry I can't remember exactly what the problem was, but a different PSU solved it). Now that was the wrong PSU, not a broken one, but it will show you what effect the PSU can have on a system. 

 

Good luck with the MoBo!

 

whiteatom

 

Well I guess there is no spk on the board as I could not find one. About PSU, I connected it on my other system and it worked perfectly, as the system booted correctly...................Anyhow I have decided to get new hardware ...... can you comment on the Proc+Mobo I have  mentioned, or may be suggest one yourself ......

[sam9s]

To Add

 

I found this mother board for the same price that I listed in the previous page around 63 USD .....

 

MSI A55M-P35 Motherboard

 

This one has 6 sata ports so my initial problem could be solve ..... BUT can any one tell me if this mother board will support the AMD 3.2 GHz AM3 Athlon II 260 Processor that I have listed in the previous page. If yes I might go for this as this one as 6 sata ports .....

[JonathanM]

Sir, I cannot afford server grade hardware, with ECC RAM, Xeon Processor and Server Board. I have to choose between normal desktop component only. If the above hardware is not up to the mark, please suggest as per your recommendations ......

90% of people here run desktop grade hardware. What I said was to check boards that are known to be compatible and choose the cheapest option. I did NOT say that you had to run server grade stuff. Look here for more info on what is proven to work (and not) with unraid.

[dgaschk]

This board works with unRAID version 5: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135314

[sam9s]

Sir, I cannot afford server grade hardware, with ECC RAM, Xeon Processor and Server Board. I have to choose between normal desktop component only. If the above hardware is not up to the mark, please suggest as per your recommendations ......

90% of people here run desktop grade hardware. What I said was to check boards that are known to be compatible and choose the cheapest option. I did NOT say that you had to run server grade stuff. Look here for more info on what is proven to work (and not) with unraid.

 

Ok thanks for the link ........ for processor its listed there ...

 

Any; 2.0GHz or higher is recommended, but many users are happy with 1.6GHz, at least one was fine with a 1.2GHz CPU; [2], [3]

Single and multiple core processors are fine. As of unRAID v4.4, multiple core processors are fully supported. For versions of unRAID through v4.3.3, multiple core processors work fine, but only one processor is used.

 

So I guess I am fine with the AMD processor I have listed ........

 

Coming to Motherboard .... since there was no specific listing i went to Motherboards under hardware recomended NOT to work for Unraid ......

 

We have nForce2, nForce3, and nForce4, ECS P4M800PRO-M V2.0 (indecently dgaschk has suggested ECS board as well, that also has the worst reviews on new egg), VIA P4M800 PRO and VIA VT8237R Plus, FIC K8-800T, ASUS M4A785-M, BIOSTAR A880GU3 NOT recommended.

 

Most of the models I have listed are MSI ones, so I guess I should be safe ....... (will avoid Biostar)

 

Can anyone just tell me if MSI A55M-P35 Motherboard will take AMD 3.2 GHz AM3 Athlon II 260 Processor. I am still waiting before I place the order ....

 

Regards

Sammy