unRAID 6.2 in a reboot loop

[ned.stark]

Hi all,

 

New to UnRaid. Downloaded and prepped USB with 6.2 (latest from downloads page). No matter how many times I right-clicked and selected "run as administrator", the batch file wouldn't run and give me the error that it needs admin privileges (I am admin). Got tired and removed the code from the batch file that validates admin privileges. Ran the utility and the make boot completed.

 

Inserted the USB into my machine, adjusted the boot sequence to boot from USB, started the system. UnRaid came up and loaded fine. It landed on the shell with "Tower login:" and above it the IP. I used my other machine and opened the dashboard using IP. All good!. Clicked on the "system info" icon to check my config. Noticed that "vt-d" is not enabled and is needed for VMs. Went to the UnRaid terminal, and logged in as "root" and issued the "reboot" command.

 

The system rebooted, went into bios, and enabled vt-d, restarted the system. The UnRaid boot menu came up and after 5 secs saw the following text:

 

Loading /bzimage...ok
Loading /bzroot...ok

 

and than it rebooted. I thought maybe it was updating its config as it might have noticed that "vt-d" is enabled. So went through the reboot and came back to menu, 5 secs, and again reboot and continued the cycle until i shut it down.

 

So at this point my next steps are:

- use another USB drive to configure UnRaid on and try again (this I will, but still wanted to share my issue).

and

- get support from here to figure out what is going on and has anyone else experienced the above?

 

Thanks,

Ned

[trurl]

Try cold booting (powered down) and see what happens.

[ned.stark]

No luck with that; I did finish prepping another USB and will try with it to see what happens.

[garycase]

A couple other folks have experienced "reboot loops" very similar to this.

 

Try selecting the GUI mode boot from the console -- in the other cases the system boots fine in this mode.

 

If that works, you may want to change to the "Mainline" release channel and install 6.3.0-RC1, which has apparently resolved that issue.

 

See here for details on how to get the Mainline releases:  http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=52532.0

 

[ned.stark]

Just tried that (bzroot-gui), and got

 

Kernel pani - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)
CPU: 3 PID: 1 Comm: swapper/0 Not tainted 4.4.23-UnRaid # 1
Call trace:
dump_stack+0x61/0x7e
panic+0xc2/0x1da
? printk+0x43/0x4b
....
---[end Kernel panic....

and a blinking cursor on the screen.

[garycase]

Does v6.1.9 work okay on this system?

 

[ned.stark]

I haven't tried that version; since this is the latest stable release I assumed it would be working. Are there issues with this stable release that would raise the question about a previous version? I am brand new to unRaid and 6.2 is the first first I have tried.

 

I also tried with a second USB and same issue.

[limetech]

Something about the linux kernel in 6.2.x doesn't work well with your h/w.  First try running memtest.  Maybe check for bios update for your m/b.  You can try unRAID 6.3.0-rc which uses a newer kernel.

[ned.stark]

My mobo bios is up to date; i just updated it about 3 days ago when I completed this build; RAM is brand new - all 64GB of it; Nonetheless, I will run memtest and see if it gives any insights.

 

I will follow the previously posted link to see how I can get 6.3.0-rc. Is that stable enough for me to test and configure a new unRaid system?

[ned.stark]

Just tried with the 6.3-rc1; same results; stays in boot cycle when using regular bzroot and has an error when using bzroot-gui.

[ned.stark]

Here is my hardware info, if anyone wants to know:

 

Asus z710-a mobo (vt-d enabled), BIOS date 8/26/2016

i7-6700k - it is oc'ed (not that it should matter)

64gb RAM

Windows 10 pro installed on SSD (this would get reformatted and become cache drive and windows 10 would get installed on it. I did disable it to see if it was having an impact on the booting).

2 GPUs - GTX 1080, Radeon HD 4670 + onboard intel graphics

One IBM M1015 raid controller

7 sata devices: 6 HDDs + 1 M-Drive (blueray, dvd, cd player/burner)

 

I have now tried 3 different USB devices, from various USB ports (case, mobo) with the same results. What is odd is that it booted fine the first time when vt-d was disabled in bios but after enabling vt-d I haven't been able to boot into it. I don't think that can be the cause but I will give it a go later in the evening.

 

If i can't get this to work, I guess i won't have a choice but to stick with windows storage spaces...

 

[limetech]

Did you set the volume label on your USB Flash device to UNRAID during formatting?

[garycase]

Pull two of your memory modules and see if that has an impact.  4 16GB modules in an unbuffered memory system is a VERY high load on the address and data buses, and will cause a very distorted signalling waveform.

 

See if that change allows it to run in the GUI boot mode.

 

I'd also try both 6.1.9 and 6.3.0-RC1 => reformat the flash when creating those just to be certain it's a clean boot attempt.    But definitely try them with only 2 installed memory modules.

 

 

[ned.stark]

Did you set the volume label on your USB Flash device to UNRAID during formatting?

 

Yes, I did that.

 

Pull two of your memory modules and see if that has an impact.  4 16GB modules in an unbuffered memory system is a VERY high load on the address and data buses, and will cause a very distorted signalling waveform.....

 

I don't think this would be it; nonetheless to entertain the theory I removed 32gb; still no go; GUI mode stuck at kernel error.

 

non-gui mode: keeps looping. I just can't phantom it.

 

I also disabled 'vt-d' to see if that would allow me to get back in. Nope. No go. So that can be ruled out as well.

 

I am just baffled; it worked the first time fine and now after reboot it just won't work... truly strange.

 

Any insights are appreciated.

[ned.stark]

So I was monitoring another thread about the reboot loop issue in 6.2 and the user their mentioned having success with USB2.0 controller. That gave me the same idea.

 

I created a fresh disk using 6.3-rc1 from downloads page. Inserted the flash into the USB 2.0 port. Set the boot order. Landed on unRAID boot menu, fingers crossed, it booted!! So now I am gotten it to finally boot again; i will give it a trial and see how it goes.

 

At this point, I must say I am not very confident and extremely nervous about what would happen if I restarted the system. A part of me wants to do that just to test and another part of me is saying don't. I probably will play around and become familiar with the UI features this tonight and restart it tomorrow and see what happens ...

 

 

[ned.stark]

Took the plunge this afternoon and rebooted the system after having played with it last night and configuring a windows 10 vm. So far so good;

 

If I go into a loop again, I will post back to this thread.

 

I do plan on moving the usb to an internal usb 2.0 header on the mobo. Hopefully that won't trigger the loop again (fingers-crossed).

[garycase]

Very unlikely that will matter => the issue is that you're using the USB 2 controller instead of the USB 3 controller on the board -- which specific port definitely shouldn't matter [although I learned long ago to "never say never"  ]