hi all, i am trying to boot my second unraid box

 

bizarre problem- have a female to female usb adapter.  i intended to hook this up to the mobo and then insert the flash drive.  no matter what way i hook it up, the drive is not being recognized.  in the boot process, it does quickly say one usb keyboard one usb hub.  so it looks like it's being seen as a hub, and not a drive (even though the drive is plugged into one end, and the other end is in the mobo.

 

even more frustrating, is if i plug the drive directly into the back of the server direct into the usb port, then unraid boots!  HOWEVER i can't plug my keyboard and flash drive in at the same time, so basically i can't configure anything

 

any suggestions?  i've tried to plug in a usb adapter in the back so that the keyboard and drive can both be plugged in but this doesnt seem to work- it only seems to work if i have the usb plugged in directly, which means i cant' also have a keyboard plugged in.  aargh!

 

Could you possibly take a picture of the adapter and what you are plugging it into and post it? I'm having a hard time picturing what you have and how you are plugging it in. I've never seen a male usb connector on a motherboard, only standard female USB or 10 pin IDC headers.

hi this is what i'm using.  i have the exact same one in my other server, working for years now

hi this is what i'm using.  i have the exact same one in my other server, working for years now

Ahh, so not a female usb to female usb, but IDC pin header to female USB.

 

Are you sure you are plugging in to the correct USB header on the motherboard? Many boards have multiple IDC pin rows for different purposes. Also, typical USB motherboard headers have one pin missing to match a filled spot on the cable header to make sure it's plugged in the correct way. I have seen on board USB ports blown by accidentally plugging the header in wrong and shorting it out.

 

Which motherboard are you using? Many modern boards have 2 or 3 USB headers, so maybe try a different one?

  no matter what way i hook it up, 

If I'm reading that correctly, you just plugged the cable into the motherboard, it didn't work, and then reversed it.  Definitely something that you shouldn't be doing.  Properly made USB cables to motherboards are keyed to prevent improper insertion, and damage potentially happening.  I would guess that you originally plugged it in backwards, took out the USB controller for the internal ports.

 

If that's the case, you should be grateful that that is the only damage that occurred

Hi there this is my mobo

 

http://www.supermicro.com/Aplus/motherboard/Opteron2000/MCP55/H8DM8-2.cfm

 

I am quite confidemt that i am using the right usb headers. There are four sets of them and ive tried each but no luck. Usb keeps getting recognized as a hub not  a drive. When i plug directly in the back it gets recognized as a storage device and proceeds to boot unraid

 

I think there may be two options- perhaps the usb adapter is broken. I am also considering updsting the bios in the hope that may fix it

 

But i am defintely up for any other suggestions. I dint think ive destroyed the controller but i guess i should not have Reversed it. It is still being recognized as a hub just as it was initially.

 

Also for info i plugges the drive into the back using a usb extension cable so that i could also use the keyboard. The drive was also detected as a hub using the usb extension cable. So it only seems to work when i plug the usb directly in the port. Maybe there is a problem with the way i setup the drive?  I am using 64 bit but not sure if that matters

 

Actially just recalled something. My keyboard is also a hub, so now that i think of it the headers are not seeing the drive as a hub they are seeing the keyboard which is also a hub. So i guess the headers are not seeing it at all

 

Wonder if theres some bios settings i need to tweak

Another thing that i thought was odd was that there was no indication of enabling USB boot in the BIOS... and yet it worked when the usb is plugged directly in the rear port, however its not working using the pin header adapter.  under boot options, there is really only the option to select 'boot from network'.  However I guess boot from usb is enabled as it works direct from the port, however i can't see where its enabled.

 

makes me think that either the pin headers are not enabled, are fried, or else the adapter is faulty.  will try to buy another adapter today and try

 

another option, although not ideal, is to plug the flash into the keyboard (the keyboard has a built in usb hub).  the problem with that is then the keyboard is 'fixed' to the new server, whereas i sometimes connect it to the old server.  if i forget that the flash is plugged in, and i unplug the keyboard, i assume this would crash the new server, as well has having two unraids now plugged into the old server!

 

another option, although not ideal, is to plug the flash into the keyboard (the keyboard has a built in usb hub).  the problem with that is then the keyboard is 'fixed' to the new server, whereas i sometimes connect it to the old server.  if i forget that the flash is plugged in, and i unplug the keyboard, i assume this would crash the new server, as well has having two unraids now plugged into the old server!

 

Most of the time a USB Flash drive will not work when plugged into a keyboard because of too much power draw by the Flash Drive.

 

But i am defintely up for any other suggestions. I dint think ive destroyed the controller but i guess i should not have Reversed it. It is still being recognized as a hub just as it was initially.

 

 

I don't know the answer. I know I am using a usb mobo header that looks exactly like yours and booting from it just fine.

 

What is confusing to me is that these headers are usually keyed in such a way that you can't really reverse them. I can't recall how mine is keyed, but it's suprising to me that it would work that way.

 

Additional note, I think it could be a bios issue because your bios not giving a boot from USB option is pretty unusual IMO.

 

But i am defintely up for any other suggestions. I dint think ive destroyed the controller but i guess i should not have Reversed it. It is still being recognized as a hub just as it was initially.

 

 

I don't know the answer. I know I am using a usb mobo header that looks exactly like yours and booting from it just fine.

 

What is confusing to me is that these headers are usually keyed in such a way that you can't really reverse them. I can't recall how mine is keyed, but it's suprising to me that it would work that way.

 

Additional note, I think it could be a bios issue because your bios not giving a boot from USB option is pretty unusual IMO.

 

mine is very reversible!  its just 4 holes in a line, and these slip onto 4 pin headers.  two of the headers have four pins, and two of the headers have five pins, however according to the manual one of these is not used.  there is definitely nothing preventing having it forwards, or backwards, or on the unused pin as well.  you are just pluggin 'four holes in a row' onto 5 pins in a row.  absolutely nothing physically preventing reversing

 

I agree about not seeing anything about usb booting in the bios.  i'm sure with my other server, that was an option.  on this one, it have looked through every single option.  there is an option to boot to something called 'nvidia boot assist' or something like that.  in case, usb boot must be enabled, because it will boot to the flash if plugged into the rear usb ports.

 

there may be some confusion because there are adapters that are nine holes, which cover the four usb, and the five usb right next to them.  these are not 'reversable'.  however, mine is just a four hole unit, so it could be physically plugged in using many configurations (just physically, doesn't mean they would work!).  i am using the four pin model in my other server

tried a few more things, including buying a second female to header adapter.  no love

 

bought a different flash drive, one that allows me to plug the flash and the keyboard in at the same time.  Up and running on unraid 6- server number 2!!!

 

bummer that i couldn't get the internal usb to work.  yes maybe i fried them, or maybe they never worked.  My server is tucked away in a room where it would be very unlikely to have the flash bumped or taken, so it should be okay.  i supposed the risk is when i unplug the keyboard to move to the other server.... i may end up bumping the drive myself.  i'll have to be careful

 

thanks for the suggestions

 

 

 

i supposed the risk is when i unplug the keyboard to move to the other server.... i may end up bumping the drive myself.

I bought a KVM switch at a junk bin at a computer store for $5 to solve that problem.

Great idea will check that out