I came home from a trip to find I couldn't connect to my server via the web, telnet was working just fine.

I rebooted the server, and viewed the boot process from an attached monitor.  During the boot process it seems to loop on the following errors:

 

Oct 11 18:14:59 Tower kernel: usb 1-2: reset high speed USB device number 3 using ehci_hcd

Oct 11 18:14:59 Tower kernel: usb 1-2: reset high speed USB device number 3 using ehci_hcd

Oct 11 18:14:59 Tower kernel: sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Unhandled error code

Oct 11 18:14:59 Tower kernel: sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc]  Result: hostbyte=0x07 driverbyte=0x00

Oct 11 18:14:59 Tower kernel: sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] CDB: cdb[0]=0x28: 28 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 08 00

Oct 11 18:14:59 Tower kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev sdc, sector 0

Oct 11 18:14:59 Tower kernel: Buffer I/O error on device sdc, logical block 0

Oct 11 18:14:59 Tower kernel: usb 1-2: reset high speed USB device number 3 using ehci_hcd

Oct 11 18:14:59 Tower last message repeated 5 times

 

I can break out of this, but then it doesn't appear that the webservice or SMB have been started.  sdc is the flash drive I am using for the unRaid files.

Also when I copy the syslog.txt file to the flash drive, it appears to copy fine, but when I pull the flash drive and try to view it on my Win7 PC, it tells me the drive isn't formatted.  Not sure how else I can grab the syslog.txt file.

 

 

I assume this isn't a good thing, but was wondering if anyone has any ideas as to what I can do to repair this or what might be causing it?

 

syslog.zip

I was able to copy the contents of the syslog via telnet.  I'm attaching a zip of my syslog.txt file.

 

I'm starting to think the flash drive might be going bad.  UnRaid will boot off it, but it won't work in any of my other systems.  It just shows as unformatted.

syslog.zip

Update: I was able to finally read the flash drive.  I reformatted it and copy all the files from an old backup I had.  I'll try rebooting once I get home tonight.

Well seems I get the same errors, and once again I can't read the flash drive on my PC. 

So I take the flash drive, reformat it, load all the files on it (from a backup of the flash drive), make it bootable (run make_bootable.bat), install on unRaid server, boot up, and get the infinite loop as described below.  I then break out of the loop ^C, and ls the boot directory, and there is nothing on it but a config directory.  When I remove the flash drive and try to view it on my PC, it isn't recognized and viewing it's contents is not possible.

 

So either the flash drive is bad, or whatever is causing it to hang is corrupting the flash drive.

 

If anyone has any recommendations on how to debug this I would greatly appreciate it.  I just lost my job, and my resume is sitting on my unRaid server, and I really need to get to it.

I would try another flash drive to see if this is causing the problem. It should show up in other systems. Flash drives have a lifespan and it could be worn out.

I'm going to try that tonight.  I have a spare 2GB drive laying around.

So I tried my spare flash drive and the server is now sitting at the "Verifying DMI Pool Data...." message.  So either I have 2 bad USB sticks (which is not out of the realm of possibility), or the USB subsystem on my Motherboard is gone.

 

I'm going to pick up a new USB stick just to rule that out.  If it's the motherboard, I might look into a USB port card and see if that works.

So I tried my spare flash drive and the server is now sitting at the "Verifying DMI Pool Data...." message.  So either I have 2 bad USB sticks (which is not out of the realm of possibility), or the USB subsystem on my Motherboard is gone.

 

I'm going to pick up a new USB stick just to rule that out.  If it's the motherboard, I might look into a USB port card and see if that works.

Does the USB stick show up in the list of bootable devices in the BIOS?

To me, it sounds like the USB on the motherboard corrupting the drive.  The drive works fine on your other computer until you plug it into your server.

@jonathanm: My BIOS doesn't show a list of bootable devices, it just allows you to select the boot priority.  I have the boot priority set to USB-HDD for all options.

 

 

I tried 2 new USB flash drives (got a deal from Tiger on a 2 pack). I installed a clean copy (just downloaded) of Unraid server onto both sticks, and made them bootable.

When I try to boot from either on the server they both get stuck at Verifying DMI pool data....

Both of these new drives will boot to Unraid just fine in another PC.

 

So I'm thinking there might be an issue with the DMI pool, so I reset the CMOS, put all the BIOS settings back to the default and gave it another try, same error.

 

At this point the only thing I can think to be the problem is the USB subsystem on the mobo, which is weird because my keyboard works just fine.

 

Has anyone used a USB PCI card for running the flash drive?  If that's an option I might just try that first before going with a newer motherboard.

I tried installing a PCI USB card, but that didn't seem to do much good.  It's possible the BIOS doesn't see the PCI card, and therefore can't boot off it, but I have no way to really test that.

 

Looks like I'll be ordering a new Mobo/CPU/RAM package.  Any other time I wouldn't mind but being out of work makes it hard to justify this expense right now.