Power cycle server, now won't boot from USB

[MPR Files]

I have an Unraid server v5.0.5 all running well (9 days uptime since an unexpected power cut).

 

I see that v6.0 is out and so started the process of upgrading.

 

I have 3 x USB sticks labeled :

Unraid Pro 1 - this is the USB drive that is used everyday on my server

Unraid Pro 2 - this is at a friends house running his server

Unraid Pro 3 - spare sitting on my desk. v5.0.5

Unraid Pro 4 - spare sitting on my desk. v5.0.5

 

I shutdown my server, removed Unraid Pro 1 and inserted Unraid Pro 3.

Powered on, server couldn't boot from Unraid Pro 3, error message :

 

"Reboot and Select Proper Boot device,

or Insert Boot Media in Selected boot device and press any key"

 

Shutdown, insert Unraid Pro 3 into my iMac and ran make_bootable_mac script.

Script ran ok, Unraid Pro 3 back into server, power on, won't recognise any boot device.

 

I have made a point of not inserting Unraid Pro 1 into any other device in order to ensure it doesn't get trashed by some other operation.

 

Have powered off server and tried Unraid Pro 1 in various USB ports. Have tested USB ports with a keyboard and find they work ok.

Have had a very short look into BIOS settings, but found nothing that looked wrong.

Have also tried the same steps above with Unraid Pro 4 drive.

 

Any suggestions would be gratefully received.

 

 

 

 

[MPR Files]

And while we're all here, could someone please sanity check my v6 upgrade plan.

 

I was intending to check that the server would boot from spare v5.0.5 USB drive.

Then upgrade that particular USB to v6 and test again.

If it all worked, then simply leave it running.

 

If any step failed, then simply reboot from the original Unraid Pro 1 drive (untouched, running v5.0.5)

 

I'm not sure where the config sits, is it on the USB boot drive or on one of the disks in the server ?

[MPR Files]

Kept poking around and made some progress.

 

1. the BIOS I was looking at was for the Marvell SATA card not for the Gigabyte motherboard. I had my suspicions that I was looking at the wrong thing.

Solved with a Google search telling me to press DEL key to access BIOS.

Note that 10 year old iMac keyboards don't have the required forward DEL key to access the BIOS.

Find a new keyboard, press DEL at the right time and can now access Gigabyte motherboard BIOS.

 

Changed BIOS setting to display power on self test (POST) which contains BIOS instructions rather than the pretty Gigabyte splash screen.

 

Looked through device boot settings, looked ok. But still wouldn't boot USB drive.

Found what seemed to be the exit screen for the BIOS settings which listed all the server storage devices.

At the top of the list was my Lexar USB and also at the bottom was the Lexar USB.

I chose the Lexar at the bottom of the list and rebooted.

 

Boots into Unraid ok.

 

I'll now try to boot using the other Unraid Pro 3 & 4 drives that I have so check that they work before proceeding to v6 upgrade.

[MPR Files]

Here's the BIOS screen.

 

Note that the Lexar device at the top is what the Boot Device menu allows me to select, but it doesn't work.

But if I choose the Lexar at the bottom of the list, it boots ok.

[itimpi]

Here's the BIOS screen.

 

Note that the Lexar device at the top is what the Boot Device menu allows me to select, but it doesn't work.

But if I choose the Lexar at the bottom of the list, it boots ok.

I have seen that before on my own system where the USB device is presented both as a UEFI device and as a non-UEFI device.  Only the non-UEFI one works.

 

I am not sure what you need to do on your system to get the non-UEFI one offered as an option in the Boot Device menu.  I have had similar problems on my own system in the past but by 'fumbling' around plugging/unplugging USB devices have managed to get the BIOS to recognise the non-UEFI one as a boot device I can set.  Never been quite sure what was the action that fixes the issue.

[trurl]

I'm not sure where the config sits, is it on the USB boot drive or on one of the disks in the server ?

All the configuration settings from the webGUI, and more importantly, the array configuration, is on the boot drive.

 

You need to be very careful swapping these boot drives. Depending on how you created them, it is very easy to get yourself in trouble with this.

 

One of the things that is stored on the boot drive is the array configuration; i.e., which drive is assigned to which slot.

 

Another thing that is stored on the boot drive is the started/stopped state of the array. If you boot from a flash that says the array is not stopped, unRAID will assume an unclean shutdown, and immediately begin a correcting parity check.

 

If you boot from a flash that has on old array configuration on it, it may or may not start, depending on whether the disks you have installed can match that old configuration.

 

To make this more concrete, there was a user who upgraded his parity disk, then used his old parity drive as a data disk. Later, when he was having some problem, he tried to boot from a backup of the boot drive. Unfortunately, that backup showed that the array had not been stopped, and worse, that his old parity drive (now a data drive) was parity. unRAID immediately began a correcting parity check, but to the wrong drive!

 

You should never boot from a drive that has a different array configuration than your current one. If in doubt, you can always delete config/super.dat and when unRAID boots, it will make you reassign all the disks. Make sure you know which drive is parity!