On Dec 2013 sometime after 6:47 am, my UNRAID server stopped working. It's on version 4.5.4 and it has been working for many years.

 

I can't get it to start. I connected a monitor to the computer, but it is just a blank screen. I did verify that the monitor is working. Nothing from the bIOS shows up on the screen.

 

This is what happens when I power up: The fans in the computer starts, the CPU fan starts, the keyboard power light lights up, the disks start spinning. The green led next to the ethernet ports starts flashing green. But, nothing shows up on my monitor and the UNRAID USB flash drive doesn't start flashing.

 

This is what I did to troubleshoot:

a. Verified that the UNRAID USB drive is working. I connected it to another computer was able to view the files. I backed the contents to another computer.

b. There are 2 memory sticks, so I removed one, tired with one memory stick. Same result. Then I tried with the other memory stick. Nothing changed.

b. I removed UNRAID USB drive, I disconnected network cable, disconnected the hard drives etc. So, only things on the motherboard were cpu and memory. Again nothing changed.

 

So, what could be wrong - motherboard or memory?

 

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

 

Thanks!

 

VJ

 

 

If you tried each memory stick and nothing... guess they would not fail both at same time?

 

Did you tried to reset cmos?

BIOS ?

I've had the BIOS somehow corrupt itself...I never figured out how or why. (dead internal battery?)

 

 

Anyway, it required that I boot with DELETE-KEY, F8, F12 or F2 (depends on BIOS).

Then re-configure the BIOS to add the USB to the Boot List ahead of the hard drives,

And to make sure that AHCI/SATA is enabled for the hard drives, and not ATA.

...maybe some other settings, but these are the ones I remember.

Nothing from the bIOS shows up on the screen.

So, what could be wrong - motherboard or memory?

Try removing both sticks of RAM, the motherboard should beep or something to indicate the total lack of RAM.

 

Try unplugging EVERYTHING from the motherboard except the CPU and PSU connections, and see if it beeps at all. Resetting the BIOS by removing the CMOS battery and shorting the BIOS reset pins wouldn't be a bad idea either.

 

Most motherboards should at least beep an error code to indicate they are alive if you power them up with only a CPU. Do you remember if you got 1 short beep on a successful boot in the past?

FAN.

Motherboards will shut down immediately if they are powered on WITHOUT a working FAN on the CPU.

Check the fan connection...are there wires caught in it?...Watch the fan as you power-on...does it spin?

I finally got to work on my server. I tired the steps that jonathanm had suggested. I removed all the RAM and started the PC. But, my server did not have a speaker so i couldnt hear any beeps. But, luckily, for some reason, I had kept my old PC in the attic. I went and got the speaker from that. Attached it and when I started it, it started beeping.

 

Then, I went and check to see if I could use some old memory that I had. I remembered that I had initially tried these out, but these always caused memtest to fail. So, anyway, I used this memory and voila, the computer started. I also booted off my unrad USB drive, but, I did not start unraid. I just ran memtest and as expected, it started throwing out memory fail errors. So, I guess, my memory has gone bad on the PC. I will get a new set and see if that works.

 

I have all these old PC components up in the attic. I always think I should throw them away, but one day something like this occurs and I am able to reuse some part. :-).

 

Thank you for your help. I will update the post after I get this working.

 

VJ

 

Glad you figured it out. Really odd to have two sticks fail at the exact same time.

Well my new memory also did not work. So, I decided to buy a new motherboard and new memory. I re-built unraid with these 3 from newegg:

 

• Intel Celeron G1610 Ivy Bridge 2.6GHz LGA 1155 55W Dual-Core Desktop Processor BX80637G1610
  
• ASRock B75 PRO3-M LGA 1155 Intel B75 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
  
• G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL8D-4GBRM
  

 

I started my UNRAID and started a parity check. Now, it looks like my parity drive is bad. I got a lot of errors. I have attached my syslog.txt file. Let me know if it is time to change the parity drive.

 

Thanks!

 

VJ

 

 

 

syslog-2014-01-24.txt

Make sure the power and SATA connections are properly seated for all the drives.  Attach a SMART report for the parity drive.

I have attached the SMART report. I also made sure power and SATA connections are properly seated for all the drives.

 

VJ

paritydrive_smart.txt

The parity drive has 4 sectors pending reallocation.

 

Please provide SMART reports for all other drives.

 

If the other drives are fine you can either replace the parity drive and rebuild parity, or unassign and reassign the parity drive to rebuild parity and see if it resolves the pending sectors and the drive stabilizes.

 

 

and consider WHY this all started .... I'd consider the PSU suspect.

@dirtysanchez - Attached are the smart reports for all teh drives. The pensding sectors have gone down from 4 to 3 now. The report shows no errors for any of the other drives.

 

@jumperalex - Suspect PSU thought also occurred to me, but, how do I know it is bad or not working correctly?  How can I test it?

 

 

Thank you guys for taking the trouble to help me figure out the issues with my UNRAID. I really appreciate it a lot.

 

 

Thanks!

 

VJ

disk1_smart.zip