Hi

 

I recently got my old pc back so I am trying to use it as a server with unraid. The motherboard is kind of old and can NOT boot from usb so i decided to install unRaid on an old 20 GB hard drive, i plug in IDE.

Here is the HDD setting:

120 GB IDE: Windows XP

120 GB IDE (unplugged at first): empty, want to test as data storage

20 GB IDE: empty, want to use for unraid

 

Here is what I did:

boot up windows xp, format the 20GB drive FAT32, copy files to it (replaced kernel and system file with the one from the tvheadend thread to have firmwares and stuff), changed the syslinux options from -ma to -maf and executed. That worked. wohoo :-D

 

First question:

Now, when i unplug the windows hard drive and plug in the empty 120GB hdd as slave (20GB unraid is master) and boot the computer, nothing happens. Even the bios does not show up. I can resolve this by unplugging the power and unmount the motherboard battery for a few seconds. Why is that?

 

Second question:

OK, so finally: unraid boots up, i format the 120GB data drive, make a couple of settings, install unmenu and stuff. Now I shut down the system.

When I turn it back on, just the bios is loaded and nothing further happens. Just as if there was no disk to boot from. What can I do to change that?

 

 

Thank you for your help, I am just getting started with these things

 

btw: before you ask: I plan on plugging my bigger (2TB, 3TB) drives into a SIL-3114 Sata Raid controller and just run unraid from that small IDE HDD.

Get a new battery for the MB.

ok, I thought about this. I am a little confuse though because once I install everything inside and use XP for several weeks, there is no problem with the battery. Nevermind, I will change it. Just to be sure.

 

Anything about the second question? This is realy the annoying one.. :-(

Sounds like BIOS is not keeping the config for the boot drive. Could be a bad battery. Reset CMOS on MB and redo the BIOS config.

I did not change anything in bios at all. The Boot config in there was probably 5 years old, until I removed the battery. I did not even change anything in bios after that. I only change the windows HDD with the Unraid HDD. It would seem strange to me if windows shuts down and starts correctly for several years and now unraid doesn't start after the first shutdown...

 

I will receive the new battery shortly so we will see if thtas the problem.

Any other ideas? I have the feeling that something is damaging the MBR/bootloader while I run unraid for the first time (where it boots correctly). Is there any way i can check if the MBR/bootloader is still valid before I shut down unraid (for the first time)?

Try to boot another computer with the flash drive.

Its installed on an IDE hard drive :-P

You need to select the boot drive in BIOS. I'm surprised that it worked at all if BIOS has not been configured.

Yeah, I think the boot drive is configured to IDE as default. I don't know why it simply does not work with unraid while I can start and shutdown windows all the time. The HDDs are in the exact same spot.