Sorry first of all for posting here with me running version 4.7  I didn't see any other place to post it. 

 

I have had my unraid up and running now for a good 2 plus years.  This morning I got my email notification, that something was wrong.  So, I checked what was going on and my parity drive was having some issues.  So, I did a shut down, and then reboot the unraid box, and that was it.  I just get a black flashing cursor.  So, I pulled the usb stick out and reformatted it and reloaded the files back onto it and same situation, black flashing cursor again upon boot.  I know the usb stick is good because I can boot from it from another computer.  If I unplug all three sata drives it will boot from the usb stick.  If I leave any one or two drives plugged in it won't boot off the usb drive, just a black flashing cursor.  The bios recognizes all three drives.  I have been messing with this now for about 2 hours, and throwing in the white flag.  Anyone have any ideas that might help me resolve this issue?  Thanks....

 

 

 

Sata 1 - WDC WD20EARS

Sata 2 - WDC WD20EARS

Sata 3 - ST31000528AS

 

Asus M4A785-M 

Connect all the drives back the way they were, boot into the BIOS setup screen and make sure the USB stick is set as the first boot device.

Yes, the first boot device is the usb stick. 

 

This was the last of the log file after I stopped the box, and attempted a reboot.

 

Jul 21 15:20:40 UNRAID status[11890]: State: STOPPED

Jul 21 15:20:40 UNRAID status[11890]: D#          Model / Serial          Status        Device   

Jul 21 15:20:40 UNRAID status[11890]: 0  WDC WD20EARS-00 / WD-WCAVY6068687 DISK_DSBL      sda     

Jul 21 15:20:40 UNRAID status[11890]: 1  WDC WD20EARS-00 / WD-WMAZA1800963 DISK_OK        sdc     

Jul 21 15:20:40 UNRAID status[11890]: 2    ST31000528AS / 9VP7Q4BX        DISK_OK        sdb     

Jul 21 15:20:40 UNRAID status[11890]: SMART overall health assessment

Jul 21 15:20:40 UNRAID status[11890]: /dev/sda: smartctl 5.39.1 2010-01-28 r3054 [i486-slackware-linux-gnu] (local build)

Jul 21 15:20:40 UNRAID status[11890]: Copyright © 2002-10 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net

Jul 21 15:20:40 UNRAID status[11890]: Log Sense failed, IE page [scsi response fails sanity test]

Jul 21 15:20:40 UNRAID kernel: program smartctl is using a deprecated SCSI ioctl, please convert it to SG_IO

Jul 21 15:20:40 UNRAID last message repeated 4 times

Jul 21 15:20:40 UNRAID status[11890]: /dev/sdb: smartctl 5.39.1 2010-01-28 r3054 [i486-slackware-linux-gnu] (local build)

Jul 21 15:20:40 UNRAID status[11890]: Copyright © 2002-10 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net

Jul 21 15:20:40 UNRAID status[11890]: SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

Jul 21 15:20:41 UNRAID status[11890]: /dev/sdc: smartctl 5.39.1 2010-01-28 r3054 [i486-slackware-linux-gnu] (local build)

Jul 21 15:20:41 UNRAID status[11890]: Copyright © 2002-10 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net

Jul 21 15:20:41 UNRAID status[11890]: SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

Jul 21 15:20:41 UNRAID status[11890]: /dev/sdd: smartctl 5.39.1 2010-01-28 r3054 [i486-slackware-linux-gnu] (local build)

Jul 21 15:20:41 UNRAID status[11890]: Copyright © 2002-10 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net

Jul 21 15:20:41 UNRAID status[11890]: /dev/sdd: Unknown USB bridge [0x0930:0x6545 (0x100)]

Jul 21 15:20:41 UNRAID status[11890]: Smartctl: please specify device type with the -d option.

Jul 21 15:20:41 UNRAID status[11890]: Use smartctl -h to get a usage summary

Jul 21 15:20:41 UNRAID status[11890]: No active PIDS on the array

Jul 21 15:20:42 UNRAID rc.unRAID[11915]: Killing active pids on the array drives

Jul 21 15:20:42 UNRAID rc.unRAID[11919]: Umounting the drives

Jul 21 15:20:42 UNRAID rc.unRAID[11922]: umount: /mnt/disk*: not found

Jul 21 15:20:42 UNRAID rc.unRAID[11922]: Could not find /mnt/disk* in mtab

Jul 21 15:20:42 UNRAID rc.unRAID[11925]: Stopping the Array

Jul 21 15:20:42 UNRAID kernel: mdcmd (1587): stop

Jul 21 15:20:42 UNRAID kernel: md: stop_array: not started

 

Either a BIOS problem or a hardware problem is preventing you from booting from the flash drive. Maybe try a different USB port.

I tried all the onboard usb ports with the same results.  I just grabbed my Win 7 Usb install stick, and put it in the same usb slot where the unraid usb stick was, and it booted up fine to win 7 install.  So, I am thinking the usb port I am using is good. 

 

 

When you say you can boot from it from another computer, was that before you reformatted it? Maybe you just need to run make_bootable on it.

I took the UNRAID stick and plugged it into an older computer and it booted off the usb stick. 

 

I did try a few times running the make_bootable.bat file 

 

I was assuming because the bios can see the x3 drives, that the onboard sata controller was good.

 

I also just tried resetting the bios, I disconnected power to the tower and pulled the bios battery and started again from scratch.  No luck with that either.... 

 

 

Anyone think it could be a mbr issue on a drive?  I read something on the forum about someone with a similar problem before. 

I think it's almost certainly a boot issue problem.

 

Depending on the BIOS, the USB flash drive may be treated as a USB device, or as a hard drive.  If it's a hard drive, you need to list it first on the hard drives menu (typically separate than the boot order menu).    If it's a USB device, you need to be sure it's listed first on the bootable USB devices list; and that USB boot is first in the boot order.

 

If your system supports a real-time boot order selection (typically F12, F9, or F10, but sometimes ESCape), try that and see if the flash drive is listed.  If not, it's not set correctly in the various boot order screens.

 

Well, I took about an 2 hour break from this, and I just used the hp usb format tool, and reformatted the usb stick, and then ran the make_bootable.bat file.  This time it booted up, however it says a new parity drive has been installed.    So, I triple checked the old log file to make sure I had the drives in the right order again after all my tinkering around.  I confirmed it and they are in the right order, so it's doing a parity-sync now.  I will keep my fingers crossed that this will bring it back to life.  I think I will be order some new HD's tomorrow, and start thinking about moving up to version 5.x and having a spare HD on hand.  Or perhaps be a good time to build another unraid box. 

 

I appreciate everyone taking their time to keep me going on resolving this issue.  I will keep my fingers crossed that in the morning, my box is up and running again.

 

 

Glad it's working well now.    Time for a couple of nice new 6TB WD Reds