(Solved) How many mistakes can I make? Frozen preclear won't let array boot

[RickInHouston]

Geez.  I keep finding little tweeks I need to make to get this OCD correct.

 

I put a PCI SATA card in a slot that is PCI-E 2.0 x4 on x8 when I have an available PCI-E 2.0 x8.  I figure why not move it because I DO NOT HAVE PARITY running, yet.  (Just a bit more data to tranfer, first)

 

Can a PCI card for hard drives be moved?  I figure it can, but want to first check with guys who know.?.

 

Does it really matter?  The throughput for an unRAID box can't be that taxing, right?

 

Rick

[bilbo6209]

Rick,

 

I just did a rebuild, and moved drives from one controler to another with 100% no issues. If I understand correctly UnRaid uses the drive serial number (or a combo of model and SN) to identify the drive and doesnt care where it is attached.

 

Bill

[RickInHouston]

Thanks. 

 

The serial number / disk# association is what I'm just getting around to figuring out, as well.  Thanks again.

[garycase]

The key question here is what's the card designed for?    If it's an x8 card, then by all means move it.    Many PCIe controllers (It's a PCIe card -- NOT a PCI card)  are designed for x4 slots ... if this one is as well, there's no advantage to moving it to an x8 slot.

 

... but in terms of moving it -- you can freely move the card to any slot you want with no impact on UnRAID -- even if you had a parity drive it wouldn't matter (assuming you're running v5).

 

[RickInHouston]

Just when I think I'm getting a handle on it...

 

I started a preclear in screen.  Started off just as it should.  Came home and resumed the screen and it was at 0%.  Nothing moved for four hours.  I tried to stop the process but no keystrokes would register.

 

Now, when that drive in inside any bay, the array won't boot and mount.  I remove the drive and all works well.  I shut down the array and install, no boot to mounted disks. 

 

Any thoughts on how to proceed?  I'm thinking of taking the drive to work and mounting it in windows and reformatting it.  Hopefully this will get me out of this loop. 

 

Any other suggestions?

[garycase]

I'd say the drive is defective and has failed in a way that the electronics are pulling down the SATA bus -- thus keeping anything else from working as well.    I've seen a couple of drives that were DOA and had this exact symptom.

 

Put the drive in another system and see if it's accessible.    If not, RMA it.

 

[JonathanM]

Now, when that drive in inside any bay, the array won't boot and mount.  I remove the drive and all works well.  I shut down the array and install, no boot to mounted disks. 

Have you confirmed that the BIOS is not trying to boot from that drive instead of your USB? Sometimes adding a drive will change the boot order arbitrarily.

[RickInHouston]

Defective drive.

 

I get nothing on a Windows machine.  Nothing in device manager, nothing from different type of connections to the drive...  Nothing.  No spin-up...  Error messages.

 

This is the drive I just got from New Egg after someone on this forum posted the deal for $113.  They quickly sold out, someone mentioned.  Hmmmm...

[garycase]

Is this by any chance an EZRX ?    Just curious, as the two instances I've seen of this particular problem were both that model.    It's actually an excellent drive -- but WD seems to have had a problem with the circuit boards on them, as I've had 2 defective ones ... just wondering if yours happens to be a 3rd.

 

[RickInHouston]

Western Digital Red drive 3TB.  It's on it's way back to New Egg.

 

unRAID is going through parity.  5 hours to go.  Almost there!

[garycase]

That was a REALLY good price for a 3TB Red !!

 

Too bad it was defective ... but I'm sure Newegg will get you a nice new, non-defective one 

 

I paid FAR more than that for my 6 3TB Reds ... but then I bought them when they were pretty new (close to $200 ea).