I just lost connection to my UnRaid server.  I cannot get to it via telnet, nor a web interface.  I have tried both telnet via IP and tower (and the same from the web)

 

I tried to export a syslog 3 or 4 times now and then power down and bring the thumbdrive over to my laptop, but every time the syslog is not there.  I have tried

 

CP /var/log/syslog /boot

 

and I have tried

 

cp /var/log/syslog /boot/syslog-2008-11-11.txt

chmod a-x /boot/syslog-2008-11-11.txt

 

I do not have files hidden.

 

I thought that maybe the built-in Network adapter has failed, so I tried ifconfig but I don't get any info when doing this.

 

I tried ls -l /dev/disk/by-label

  which said "no such directory"

 

I typed

 

cat /proc/partitions

  I got a list of all the drives, but I don't think the USB drive was in the list, so I (booted down) disconnected all the drives (not the usb drive) and did it again (booted up and did it again) and got nothing (no drives)

 

When I have the usb drive connected to the laptop, the files are on the drive and I can write to it, and the volume label is Unraid.  It shows up as drive letter i which is no different than the drive letter it has always appeared as.

 

I have tried:

ls -l /boot

I get nothing

 

I have tried

mount

 

and get:

proc on /proc type proc (rw)

sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw)

usbfs on /proc/pub/usb type usbfs (rw)

 

I need some help.  I can't seem to figure this out.

 

I am going to post this and then keep trying some stuff.

 

I am going to look at the mother board bios.

 

Thanks for any help

I have two Unraids, so I took booted the other UnRaid Tower (tower2) up to be sure it is working (I have not been using it nor have I had it on).  It booted up fine.  So then I powered it down and unpluged all the drives, then plugged in the Thumb Drive that has the UnRaid that I can't seem to boot to.  Tower2 could not boot to the thumb drive either.  Is there a chance that I have a corrupt file on the thumb drive? 

Is it possible to move/copy (I have already backed up the drives) the files from one thumb drive to the other to get back up and running. 

 

Or are there files that I could replace to get up and running.

 

 

Assuming it is files that need replacing, and it is not the flash drive itself...  (Your symptoms are that of a failing flash drive)

The really important files are bzroot and bzimage.  You can try replacing them first.

 

If that does not work, on your PC, try to save a copy of the "config" folder from the flash drive that is not booting.  The files in it will allow you to get back to your existing configuration.

 

Then, go through the same steps you did when you originally loaded your flash drive, formatting and running "syslinux -ma" on it., then loading the files from the distribution downloaded from the lime-technology web-sitee,, but before putting the flash drive back in the server, copy back the files you saved to its config folder. 

 

Joe L.

 

 

Joe,

 

Thanks for the reply.  I will give your suggestions a go first thing tomorrow.

 

Albin

Quick question,  I had to do the reformat, so I copied the entire Thumb drive then did the steps as recommended, and I am ready to copy back all the files and folders to the config folder.  Do I over write the files that are already there from the new install (disk.cfg, ident.cfg, network.cfg, share.cfg, and go)  My guess is that I should leave them all (don't over write them).  Please let me know.

unless you want to re-assign your disks, copy the old cfg files over the new ones.

I just tried to down load the HP Flash Formatter Tool using the link provided at http://lime-technology.com/wordpress/?page_id=19

 

The link provided is dead.  Anyone have a link that works?

When attempting the link below I get a "The page you are looking for is no longer available or has been moved."

 

http://h18000.www1.hp.com/support/files/serveroptions/us/download/20306.html

 

 

 

 

I just tried to down load the HP Flash Formatter Tool using the link provided at http://lime-technology.com/wordpress/?page_id=19

 

The link provided is dead.  Anyone have a link that works?

When attempting the link below I get a "The page you are looking for is no longer available or has been moved."

 

http://h18000.www1.hp.com/support/files/serveroptions/us/download/20306.html

See here: http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php?title=USB_Flash_Drive_Preparation#If_the_Flash_will_not_boot.2C_read_over_the_following_tips

 

 

 

Thanks for the link to Wiki regarding the HP Flash Formatter Tool being taken off the HP web site. http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php?title=USB_Flash_Drive_Preparation#If_the_Flash_will_not_boot.2C_read_over_the_following_tips

 

I tried locating this myself but doing a search for "HP Flash Formatter" returns no results, "Formatter" does not return results either, and "HP" is to short to return results.  I did not think to search for" HP Formatting tool "  ( a couple letter changed to the search would of made all the difference)

 

Can someone update (or tell Tom to Update) the dead "HP Flash Formatter" link on the main UnRaid instruction (under "BIOS Setup Tips" ) page to point to the wiki link that Joe provided.  That would of saved me some time and could save new comers some frustration.

 

After following steps 1, 2, 3, and 4 on the UnRaid Instruction site (it has been that long that I needed to go back and review), it still would not boot.  I tried the same process on the other Flash drive I had (my tower2) and then it would not boot at all, so I knew that I was doing something wrong.

 

I knew about the HP Tool but did not know if that was necessary seeing I formatted it using the HP Tool the first time that I installed UnRaid on the Flash Drive. 

 

After I reformatted the Thumb Drive / Flash drive using the HP Tool, ( searched for SP27213.exe using google ) it still would not boot.  So I took my other Flash Drive and did the HP Format, then copied all the files back to the newly formatted flash drive from the original " Config " folder that I had backed up.  It booted fine but the drives were not showing on the device page) and I received an error on the devices page saying " Flash GUID Wrong " (that may have not been the exact wording).  I knew this had to do with the license of the software, so I check the config folder and noticed a Pro2.key file, so I powered down the server then connected flash drive to my xp machine removed the Pro2.key file and put the Pro1.key file on the Flash drive.  (each key is specific to the drive it was made for).  Once I did that and powered up UnRaid, all was back up and running (a Parity-Check was under way and it finished with no errors).  Another UnRaid Success story.

 

I am surprised that my 1 gig Lexar Media JD Lightning gave out so soon.  I would of expected more life from the drive.

 

Question/s: 

-What is the percentage chance that formatting a drive is going to require the HP Flash Formatter Tool?

-Are there drives that would get damaged if the HP Formatting tool was used on it?

-If it is always safe to use the HP Tool, then could the main "instruction page" for using the HP tool be integrated into "step one" (on the main instructions page) instead of a note at the bottom of "step four" that sort of implies, that if you just got through with steps 1, 2, 3, and 4 and it is not working for you then step 5 is use the HP formatting tool, then step 6 is go back through steps 1, ,2, 3, and 4?  If it does not hurt to always do the HP formatting tool, then maybe it would save some extra steps and would prevent some trouble shooting posts.....just a thought.

 

Joe, Thanks for your help.  Now I have to look for a post on moving my Pro2.key to new Drive, if it can be done at all.

Question/s: 

-What is the percentage chance that formatting a drive is going to require the HP Flash Formatter Tool?

MB Bios were written when flash drives were much smaller than today, and many cannot deal with the geometry reported by the drive (in terms of cylinders, heads, and sectors) and still consider it bootable.

We would need to take a poll to see the actual percentages... It would really depend on the MB BIOS more than anything else.

-Are there drives that would get damaged if the HP Formatting tool was used on it?

I doubt it...  It just sets the cylinders/heads/sectors to report differently... there are, after all, no cylinders, heads, or sectors in the memory of the flash drive, just emulated ones.

-If it is always safe to use the HP Tool, then could the main "instruction page" for using the HP tool be integrated into "step one" (on the main instructions page) instead of a note at the bottom of "step four" that sort of implies, that if you just got through with steps 1, 2, 3, and 4 and it is not working for you then step 5 is use the HP formatting tool, then step 6 is go back through steps 1, ,2, 3, and 4?  If it does not hurt to always do the HP formatting tool, then maybe it would save some extra steps and would prevent some trouble shooting posts.....just a thought.

I agree, the instructions need some updating.

Joe, Thanks for your help.  Now I have to look for a post on moving my Pro2.key to new Drive, if it can be done at all.

Send Tom an e-mail describing what has happened with a link to this thread, and the GUID of the new drive, as indicated in this post: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=1898.msg13407#msg13407

pointed to from the wiki here: http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php?title=Best_of_the_Forums#Hail_to_the_Chief_.28Posts_from_Tom.29

 

Joe L.

Joe,

 

Thanks for the response.  I was emailing Tom about my Flash drive not being able to boot to UnRaid, when I saw an email notification of your reply to my post. 

 

If doing the HP Format for every installation is not harmful (as you indicate it should not be harmful), then it would be a big help to many new comers if it were integrated in Step one of the installation instructions (The UnrRaid expert have the installation process memorized, so having the HP Format tool included in the Installation instructions should not be a bother, because they will not be going to that page for instructions any way).  I am glad you think the instructions need some updating also.

 

===========================

word cloud for those who are looking to format their USB / Thumb / Flash Drive :

 

HP Flash Formatter Tool : http://lime-technology.com/wordpress/?page_id=46

HP Format Tool :  http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php?title=Best_of_the_Forums#Hail_to_the_Chief_.28Posts_from_Tom.29

HP Formatting Tool :  http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php?title=USB_Flash_Drive_Preparation#If_the_Flash_will_not_boot.2C_read_over_the_following_tips

HP USB Format Tool : http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php?title=Best_of_the_Forums#Hail_to_the_Chief_.28Posts_from_Tom.29

HP tool that works best has a file name of SP27213.exe  (this is the one I used) (google it, downloaded it , extract it, then located the extracted exe file (it extracted to C:\DriveKey ), and ran it (with the usb drive attached), (there were two exe files and I ran the HPUSBFW.EXE file)  (You will need to be sure to down load the appropriate version for your os, in my case I downloaded a version that would run on XP )

Some have had problems with the version named SP27608.exe

 

 

Thank you for critiquing the USB Flash Drive Preparation page, good constructive suggestions are always welcome.  With your comments in mind, I have updated the page, you'll see your HP keywords scattered throughout.  I don't think I went as far as you would like.  Feel free to edit it further.  I've updated the Start Contributing page, to help more people get started editing Wiki pages.

 

I'm not sure that the HP Formatting tool has been needed for most users.  All I needed was the Windows format, and *I think* that is all that many others have needed.  I agree that a poll would be very useful.  The following could be the entries:

 

What tool or method did you use that successfully resulted in a bootable unRAID flash drive?

• Windows format
  
• HP Formatting tool
  
• makebootfat
  
• Prepped by Lime Technology
  
• Manually set the geometry (Joe's method)
  
• Didn't do anything, it just worked
  
• Other (please explain)
  

Well it looks like the UnRaid Server Basics Page http://lime-technology.com/wordpress/?page_id=46  has already been updated.  Except there is no mention of needing to Use a software formatting tool or manually set the geometry for the Flash Drive.  I guess the old saying "Less is More" might apply.  I would think some kind of link to wiki http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php?title=USB_Flash_Drive_Preparation  would be in order.  (I guess the need of these special edits may not be as great as I think (as Rob mentioned in the last post), and if new comers stick to Tom's suggested Flash Drive /s, they will plow through a new install with no issues.

 

Rob,  Thanks for updating wiki.  I will take some time and review the "Start Contributing" link so I can help with that in the future.

 

Regarding the poll: I think it would be interesting to see what kind of statistics we could come up with.