Hi guys,

 

My motherboard died due to what I believe is bad capacitors. It had been running fine with no issues for several years and suddenly the server would no longer boot up.

 

The flash drive is fine.

 

Now, how do I know what the correct drive assignment is if I can't log into unraid?

 

Can I see the previous drive assignment on the flash drive somewhere?

 

Thanks for the help.

As long as you know which disk was parity then I think you could create a new array using your other disks.  Then add in your parity drive and just recreate parity.

 

Your data wouldn't be protected from disk failure until the parity was recreated though.

 

Ignore that, you're on V5 not V6 so I'm not so sure, wait until someone who is sure before you do anything!

 

Sorry

Assign all drive as data drives and start the array. One drive will show as unformatted or unmountable. This drive is the parity drive. The contents of the data drive will be visible.  Select Tools -> New Config. Assign the parity drive as parity and the data drives as desired. Select parity is good and start the array. Allow the parity check to complete. There should be no errors.

 

 

If at any step my instructions do not seem to apply then stop and ask, e.g., if 2 drives are unmountable.

 

 

Never mind all of that. If your flash is good then it will work with any compatible MB. I move disks and flash to different boxes all the time.

Assign all drive as data drives and start the array. One drive will show as unformatted or unmountable. This drive is the parity drive. The contents of the data drive will be visible.  Select Tools -> New Config. Assign the parity drive as parity and the data drives as desired. Select parity is good and start the array. Allow the parity check to complete. There should be no errors.

 

 

If at any step my instructions do not seem to apply then stop and ask, e.g., if 2 drives are unmountable.

 

Will that work if I change mobo?

 

 

Assign all drive as data drives and start the array. One drive will show as unformatted or unmountable. This drive is the parity drive. The contents of the data drive will be visible.  Select Tools -> New Config. Assign the parity drive as parity and the data drives as desired. Select parity is good and start the array. Allow the parity check to complete. There should be no errors.

 

 

If at any step my instructions do not seem to apply then stop and ask, e.g., if 2 drives are unmountable.

 

Will that work if I change mobo?

if the flash is good then it doesn't matter. Just plug all the devices in and go. Config the BIOS in the MB to boot from the Flash. Set MB graphics to lowest RAM setting. Set SATA to AHCI only.

 

Hi guys,

 

My motherboard died due to what I believe is bad capacitors. It had been running fine with no issues for several years and suddenly the server would no longer boot up.

 

The flash drive is fine.

 

Now, how do I know what the correct drive assignment is if I can't log into unraid?

 

Can I see the previous drive assignment on the flash drive somewhere?

 

Thanks for the help.

 

If the flash drive is fine - all you need to do is connect up all of the drives, get the new motherboard to boot off of the flash, and all of your configurations should be fine.

 

Some of the steps others mention is if the flash had been lost or destroyed. unRAID is motherboard agnostic, and slots are assigned by drive serial number (even in version 5).

 

I'd watch the POST carefully to make sure all of the drives are connected.

 

Always a good idea to do an overnight memory test on a new system. It is one of the boot options. I'd recommend that as the first step.

 

Assuming all looks good, boot into unRAID. After some ad hoc checking to make sure all looks good, I'd recommend a parity check to verify everything is connected and the system is functioning properly.

 

[dgaschk beat me to the post. Combine his with mine above and you'll be in good shape.]

Why would changing the MB matter? If the MB can boot the flash drive then it will work. I do not understand the question.

Why would changing the MB matter? If the MB can boot the flash drive then it will work. I do not understand the question.

 

In the 4.x days, drives used to be identified by some arcane notation relating to their physical connection. In those days, moving to a new motherboard would require reconfiguring all the drive slots. I don't remember what version this changed, maybe around 4.5. But in 5.x and 6.x you are 100% correct.

That's why I changed my original reply, just got confused about how to approach things on anything other than V6.  I didn't realise it was only a V4.7 thing though.

That's why I changed my original reply, just got confused about how to approach things on anything other than V6.  I didn't realise it was only a V4.7 thing though.

 

The change happened in 5.0 beta 5. Up to that release, disks were identified by "slot" (which equated to a port on a controller card). Afterwards, disks were identified by their model/serial number.

Thanks for all the help.

 

I will post back with an update later today.

 

As an aside, I will be moving to a much more powerful system and was thinking of running unraid in a VM. Any good threads or tutorials to do this?

The new Unraid V6 wiki is where to start.

 

Make sure your hardware is all virtualisation capable before you spend all the money, especially if you want to do passthrough of devices.  For Intel that would need vt-d not vt-x it's a common cause of confusion.

Update:

 

Well, turns out it's a little more complicated than I thought.

 

I had initially thought that the motherboard had died, but now I am not so sure anymore. I replaced it with a known to be working motherboard and processor and ram and still got no post.

 

I removed the battery a couple of times too.

 

I tested the PSU with a multimeter and the volts came +/- within specs. I tried to boot with a different stick of ram (also known to be working) and got zilch. I switched the ram modules around and got nothing.

 

I even piggybacked from a known working PSU from another case and still got no boot. I am not sure what I can try anymore!

 

All I get is the fans running and that's it. No beep, no nothing.

 

The replacement is an Asus P6X58D and core i7 930. Any ideas?

Update:

 

Well, turns out it's a little more complicated than I thought.

 

I had initially thought that the motherboard had died, but now I am not so sure anymore. I replaced it with a known to be working motherboard and processor and ram and still got no post.

 

I removed the battery a couple of times too.

 

I tested the PSU with a multimeter and the volts came +/- within specs. I tried to boot with a different stick of ram (also known to be working) and got zilch. I switched the ram modules around and got nothing.

 

I even piggybacked from a known working PSU from another case and still got no boot. I am not sure what I can try anymore!

 

All I get is the fans running and that's it. No beep, no nothing.

 

The replacement is an Asus P6X58D and core i7 930. Any ideas?

Did you forget to plug in the 8-pin EATX12V? I only ask because I did that once.

Did you forget to plug in the 8-pin EATX12V? I only ask because I did that once.

 

I wish I did. Unfortunately, it is firmly seated in the plug.

 

I will try to remove the mobo and have it boot outside the case. It might be a short between the case and the mobo....

Is a speaker installed? Often there are beep codes when things fail early.

I have one, but it does not beep. 

I have one, but it does not beep. 

Start with the basics. Remove ALL things connected to the motherboard except CPU and CPU fan, power, power button and speaker. When you apply power to the PSU, you may get a LED on the board somewhere indicating there is power applied. Push the power button, and listen for beeps. You should get a series of long beeps telling you the memory is missing.  Turn the power off to the power supply, push the case power button to bleed down power from the PSU, and then add ONLY the memory. Repeat the test and see what the beep pattern is now.

I tested the speaker in another system and it beeps fine.

 

Only PSU, CPU and HSF = fan spins, no beep, no post basically same as every other test I did.

 

I tried another set of ram sticks, same results. I tested with yet another PSU (known good) and I get the same problem.

 

So the problem appears to be mobo or cpu or both.

 

 

I tried another set of ram sticks, same results.

You verified with no RAM, correct? Not just another set, completely empty?

I tried another set of ram sticks, same results.

You verified with no RAM, correct? Not just another set, completely empty?

 

Yep, same as before. I also tried without a processor for snitch and giggles and same issue.

I tried another set of ram sticks, same results.

You verified with no RAM, correct? Not just another set, completely empty?

Yep, same as before. I also tried without a processor for snitch and giggles and same issue.

I wouldn't expect beeps without a CPU. With CPU and no memory almost all motherboards will let you know either with beeps or LED error display of some sort. No response, toss the board, since you already verified PSU.

Are both the processor and motherboard dead or just the motherboard?

 

 

In my experience, it's much more likely to be dead motherboard than bad CPU.  But the only way to know for sure is test it, install the CPU on another board, known good.

I hate intel for this reason...

 

Socket 1366 is a dead end and all the boards are EOL. I can get a new 6 core AMD setup (with IMMOU) for about the same as just a board.

 

I think I will cut my losses and get rid of the board and processor.