MD-1500/LL-3 Only Boots on SECOND Attempt

[grandan]

I bought my server from LimeTech about 10 months ago.  From the beginning, it has only booted on second attempt.  Since I haven't had to boot it much, I've just ignored the issue.  But recently had a drive to fail and decided to buy bigger drive and swap parity and data disks.  So, I have had to boot more in last 2 weeks than in firts 10 monthsl.  Anyway, when I get ready to shut down server, I first stop the array in the Tower Main Page Command area and when stopped, I shut it down from the Main Page Command area.  When I get ready to start it again, I hit the power button and the fans start up but no processing occurs--the monitor doesn't even come out of sleep--no activity on monitor; I then force the server to shut down by holding down the power button until it shuts down; I then wait a few seconds and push the power button again and the server starts.  It behaves this way every time-never boots on first attempt, always boots reliably on second attempt.  I am assuming this is some sort of hardware issue but don't really have a clue.  I am running v.4.4 with parity plus 10 data disks but it did same thing when i was running 4.2.3.  Does anyone have an idea what would cause this?

 

Thanks,

[Inimical]

Sounds like it may be a PSU or Mobo issue. Have you tried swapping the PSU?

[Inimical]

Also, try moving the Ram around to different slots.

[grandan]

Nope, haven't tried swapping out PSU; my server has 610W PSU but I do have a 500W Seasonic lying around that would probably carry the load long enough to see it that fixes it but it's going to be a pain to swap the PSU so I'd like to try some less labor-intensive things before resorting to that.  I will swap the RAM chips to reseat next Monday or Tuesday as I am adding a new hard drive then after it arrives and will have to shut down the system anyway.

 

Thanks for the suggestions!

[RobJ]

Does sound like a PSU or mobo issue to me too.  Definitely not anything software related.  As a very remote possibility, you might look for a BIOS update.

[grandan]

Rob,

 

Thanks for the reply.  I have no idea how to even get into BIOS with Linux.  Do I still F8 during boot or what?

 

Dan

[bubbaQ]

I have seen this behavior on several occasions over the years.  Most of the time it was related to ACPI

 

In most cases, it is a BIOS issue, and upgrading to the latest BIOS solves the problem.  Disabling all ACPI features also may fix it.

 

I have also seen it with incorrect/aggressive timings and overclocking.  Try resetting your BIOS values to failsafe/factory defaults.

[grandan]

BubbaQ,

 

Thank you for the reply.  Once I can figure out how to enter BIOS on Linux, I will try to figure out if LimeTech set the timings too agressively or I just got bad RAM.

 

Dan

[bubbaQ]

The OS is irrelevant... you get into the BIOS the same way regardless of OS.

[grandan]

Thank you!  Will try it early next week when I will be adding a hard drive anyway and need to shut down the server.

[erikatcuse]

I would also contact Tom and see what his recommendations are since you did buy it from Lime Tech.

[grandan]

Thanks to all who offered suggestions.  I replaced the RAM as I had 4 sticks of 1024MB RAM left over from when I upgraded my HTPC MoBo and amazingly it was on the recommended memory list for the ASUS P5B-VM DO motherboard in my server.  That solved the doesn't boot on first attempt problem--so either I had some bad memory or it wasn't seated properly (although the sticks were very tight and clips were closed on the sticks).  [Guess I shoulda run memtest before I pulled the old sticks but didn't.]

 

Now I have another question.  The server came with 2 x 512MB sticks of memory; I now have 2 x 1G sticks installed; I have 2 more matching 1G sticks.  Should I install the other 2 sticks ( going to 4 x 1G) and what will it buy me, if anything?  The CPU is 1.6 GHz single core.

 

Thanks again

[WeeboTech]

Should I install the other 2 sticks ( going to 4 x 1G) and what will it buy me, if anything?  The CPU is 1.6 GHz single core.

 

if it's a lightly used server 2G will be fine.

 

If you are going to use your server heavily, then the extra 2G could help with caching reads and caching directories (Thereby  preventing spinups). It's not necessary and you may not even notice the difference.

 

I usually recommend as much ram as you can comfortably afford.

[grandan]

OK, I'll install the other 2G of memory--don't guess it will harm anything and I just have it stacked in my parts bin, so to speak.  I just use the server for streaming BD and SD movies, home movies, and music to PCs and extenders around the house and for file backups for my PCs and other files.  So, it's not heavy duty usage.

 

Thanks,

[grandan]

Well, I installed the other 2G of RAM and server would not boot--got message " No TPM device detected".  So, I don't know if I have a bad stick, slot, or what the message means.  Anyway, I just went back to 2 x 1G in yellow slots and the server boots fine again.

[ilovejedd]

Just a thought, some motherboards just don't like all four RAM slots filled up. That's why if you want 4GB RAM, it's usually suggested to go with 2x2GB instead of 4x1GB sticks...

[grandan]

OK, thanks for the reply.  The manual says 4 sticks are OK but the mobo sure reacted when I put all 4 in.  Anyway, I just had 4 matching sticks and they were sitting idle.  I can be happy with 2 x 1G.