I just put together a rig for my friend, and am seeing the weirdest issue ever. The server will boot up and run fine one time. If I power it down through the webgui (or using the poweroff command from putty/console), the server will freeze while loading bzroot. The dots go across the screen then stop and has a blinking underscore ( _ )  and just sits there. No matter how long it sits there, never finishes loading bzroot. Have to hold the power button to shut it down. Doesn't always have the same amount of dots, either. Sometimes it freezes fairly close to the beginning, other times freezes when it's the middle. The only way to get the server to boot again is to put the flash drive in my computer (Windows 8.1 Pro), copy all the data off the USB, format it, copy all the data back, and run make_bootable. System boots without a hitch. Power it down, it freezes when loading bzroot. All like clockwork. I've got a syslog attached from the keeplogs.sh script, but I didn't see anything weird in there. I have not ran a memtest or anything like that, as the system boots 100% fine as long as I have just formatted the USB. Wouldn't think RAM had anything to do with that. Anyone have any ideas?

 

System specs:

4x1GB RAM

ASUS P5B-VM DO

Intel Core 2 Duo

Unraid 5.0 Pro

2TB Parity, 2TB disk1, 1TB disk2, 250GB disk3, 160GB disk4, 160GB cache

No plugins except the keeplogs.sh (not even unmenu or new webgui)

syslog_2013-11-08_01.29.09.txt

Have you tried a different USB key?

 

just boot, run unraid, poweroff and see what happens.

 

It could also be a usb bios definitions (I would adjust and see how it works out).

It could also be a speed and/or cable position issue.

 

I know that Motherboard is good/reliable.

 

Ram can always have something to do with it. Poor quality or speed matched ram can cause intermittent boot/reboot problems.  I had the issue with some high speed ram on that board. you can try manually setting the CAS values to a lower speed.

 

Heat can also be an issue, especially with an older motherboard like that. 

 

If one of the chipset heatsinks has moved or had the thermal paste dry up it could cause issues like this.

usually they manifest during boot up or when you do high speed operations on the whole machine. I.E. The bus becomes taxed and you'll see these lockups.

 

Check the caps to see if they are bulging or leaking. Older mobo's who have been exposed to heat can have the capacitors go bad, thus causing these type of issues.

 

Do a memtest.

 

On one of my ABIT motherboards (VP6) one cap had gone bad and only a very specific memtest revealed it. After replacing all ram it still happened. it ended up being a cap that was drying out near the memory chips. 

 

My initial thought is a USB key/port incompatibility. 

Most newer keys are now USB 3.0 ready. That would probably be my first swap out to see what's going on.  Then check the bios (or vica versa).

 

Relax any memory timings in the bios too.

OK, I definitely have some things to try/test. My friend picked up the server today (I made sure to tell him that these were issues that we still need to work on). He lives about 45 minutes away, so it'll take some time for us to work everything out. Thanks for your advice; I'll post back here with any updates.

 

#include "master.h";

 

main() {

  printf("OK\n");

  exit(0);

}

 

#include "master.h";

 

main() {

  printf("OK\n");

  exit(0);

}

 

 

I'm terrible at coding, but if I remember correctly, .h is a C++ helper file right? LOL can't tell if you're making fun of me or not...

 

#include "master.h";

 

main() {

  printf("OK\n");

  exit(0);

}

 

 

I'm terrible at coding, but if I remember correctly, .h is a C++ helper file right? LOL can't tell if you're making fun of me or not...

 

I'm funning around with the idea that your handle is named like a header file in C (or C++).

No offense meant, it's the programmer in me seeing the humor in it.

 

Many times I respond to my programmer friends with code snippets.

keeps them on their toes, plus they usually respond in kind.