March 31, 201016 yr I think a power surge has wiped out my unraid server. I had rigged up an Acer Aspire Easystore H340 (along with a Sans Digital external sata enclosure) as my server and though I'm getting lights flashing and beeps the server won't respond to network commands and isn't even showing up in the client list on my router (which is a replacement router, the previous one probably felled by the same surge). The big complication is that the server is headless- so I can't log in and see a console. There is no video out, I've been doing all admin remotely. Though I'm totally kicking myself for the stupidity of neglecting a surge protector since having installed the server a few months ago (especially knowing that I had one in the basement and never got around to hooking it up) I need to move forward and advice on where to go from here. I'm hopeful that the data on the drives is intact. Obviously if it isn't I'm really hooped. I can grab an older PC from work with sata support and probably pick up a sata card as well, but before I start moving drives around I was hoping to get some pointers on what I need to keep in mind. Will I risk corrupting the data by plugging the drives into a new tower? Is there some order of operations I need to follow? I assume the procedure is the same for simply upgrading the computer unraid is stored on (I'm sure this is relatively common) but couldn't find a guide on this. Any help would be appreciated.
March 31, 201016 yr You should first try adding a video card and monitor to see if anything useful is displayed. I assume the procedure is the same for simply upgrading the computer unraid is stored on (I'm sure this is relatively common) but couldn't find a guide on this. Guide is at: http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php?title=FAQ#How_do_I_move_my_existing_unRAID_array_to_a_new_system.3F
March 31, 201016 yr Author Unfortunately the server only has a half-height PCI-e x1 slot so a video card isn't really a viable option. Thanks for the url/guide. One immediate complication I can think of is that since I can't log into the server, I can't tell which is my parity drive with 100% certainty. It looks like that is critical. Either way I'd like to dig a little further before I throw this machine out. The behaviour is really strange- I get network activity blinking as well as hdd lights, the system beeps when I unplug the network cable and then plug it back in, so presumably unraid is doing *something*. I've tried going to a bare bones network config but that doesn't seem to help. Is there a way to get unraid to dump a bootup system log on the flash drive to further investigate what is going on during boot that is causing me to not be able to connect to the network?
March 31, 201016 yr I'm getting lights flashing and beeps the server won't respond to network commands and isn't even showing up in the client list on my router (which is a replacement router, the previous one probably felled by the same surge). The big complication is that the server is headless- so I can't log in and see a console. There is no video out, I've been doing all admin remotely. You are probably going to have to plug in a video card and monitor to that. It's not uncommon that a surge can travel along the ethernet cable and kill only the network card leaving the rest of the computer in tact. Sense your router that the unraid was connected to was killed this is probably what happened. Actually, you should hope this is all that has happened, then you can just plug in a new network card and be on your way.
March 31, 201016 yr It does sound like it boots. If you cut the end out of the PCIe x1 slot you should be able to install any low profile PCIe graphics card. The cards will negotiate x16 or x8 speeds so I expect they can do x1 speed too if stuck in a x1 slot. The trick is just physically getting them into the x1 slot. Alternatively, you could use something like this. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161280 You might be able to find a cheaper one if you look around. Peter
March 31, 201016 yr Is your new router configured the same way as your old router? Is its DHCP server assigning IP addresses in the same network range as the old one?
March 31, 201016 yr Author Hi Purko, No, the new router is assigning addresses in the 192.168.1.* range, while the old one used 192.168.0.*. That being said, DHCP is enabled on the router and I edited network.cfg to retrieve an IP through DHCP rather than manually. I gather there is no way to have unraid dump a boot log onto the flash drive as it boots? Then I could at least see what is causing the problem. Lionel/Xamindar- Granted I made a poor choice with this box (I had it lying around, so it's what I used, and it's quite compact which fits well into a corner) but there is only one PCI-e slot, if I use it up with a video card (even if I could find one locally which I haven't been able to do so far) then I will lose access to the s-ata enclosure I have, because I'm using the expansion slot for a s-ata external card. I suppose unRaid wouldn't boot properly if 2/6 drives aren't detected anyway. Does anyone know if unRaid supports any particular USB network cards? That seems like a decent option if it really seems like it's the network card that died. Given that my router died and the server seems somewhat responsive I'm hopeful that is the problem.
March 31, 201016 yr No, the new router is assigning addresses in the 192.168.1.* range, while the old one used 192.168.0.*. That being said, DHCP is enabled on the router and I edited network.cfg to retrieve an IP through DHCP rather than manually. Then how do you know where to look for your server? How do you know what IP has been assigned to it? I gather there is no way to have unraid dump a boot log onto the flash drive as it boots? Then I could at least see what is causing the problem. That's easy. Add the following lines to the 'go' script. mv -f /boot/syslog.current /boot/syslog.last 2>/dev/null cat /var/log/syslog > /boot/syslog.current echo "*.debug /boot/syslog.current" >> /etc/syslog.conf /etc/rc.d/rc.syslog restart Note: After you fix all your problems, you should remove that from the go script. Normally you don't want to tax your flash key with constant writes to it.
March 31, 201016 yr Author Then how do you know whenre to look for your server? How do you know what IP has been assigned to it? Two ways, one is that the name of the server should be the same "tower" and I can't ping "tower". It also isn't showing up in the DHCP client list of my router. That's easy. Add the following lines to the 'go' script. mv -f /boot/syslog.current /boot/syslog.last 2>/dev/null cat /var/log/syslog > /boot/syslog.current echo "*.debug /boot/syslog.current" >> /etc/syslog.conf /etc/rc.d/rc.syslog restart Note: After you fix all your problems, you should remove that from the go script. Normally you don't want to tax your flash key with constant writes to it. Awesome, I will give this a go when I get home and report back.
April 1, 201016 yr Author Ok, I've been able to extract some logs from the server as it boots up. I can't see anything in these logs indicating that the nic has failed or that anything is wrong at all, but obviously something is- it still won't respond to pings or any network connections. Here are a couple of logs: http://pastebin.com/xDBkXdJb http://pastebin.com/DSuu8RjF The second one is interesting to me- because the green lights were glowing nicely on my external SATA enclosure (2 discs inside). The green lights have been orange on every other attempt to boot I've made since this fiasco began. I wonder if something is actually different between the two boot attempts? The system is not being shut down gracefully- as I can't log in remotely, I'm forced to hold down the power button. That obviously ain't healthy... Any thoughts would be helpful.
April 1, 201016 yr Apr 1 01:14:58 Jewnas kernel: sky2 eth0: Link is up at 1000 Mbps, full duplex, flow control both Apr 1 01:14:58 Jewnas ifplugd(eth0)[1305]: Link beat detected. Apr 1 01:14:59 Jewnas ifplugd(eth0)[1305]: Executing '/etc/ifplugd/ifplugd.action eth0 up'. Apr 1 01:14:59 Jewnas ifplugd(eth0)[1305]: client: Polling for DHCP server on interface eth0: Apr 1 01:15:00 Jewnas logger: /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1: /sbin/dhcpcd -d -t 30 -h Jewnas eth0 Apr 1 01:15:00 Jewnas kernel: sky2 eth0: disabling interface Apr 1 01:15:00 Jewnas kernel: sky2 eth0: enabling interface Apr 1 01:15:00 Jewnas dhcpcd[1828]: broadcasting DHCP_DISCOVER Apr 1 01:15:03 Jewnas kernel: sky2 eth0: Link is up at 1000 Mbps, full duplex, flow control both Apr 1 01:15:30 Jewnas dhcpcd[1828]: timed out waiting for a valid DHCP server response Why don't you start by disabling DHCP in the "network.cfg" on your flash key? Just give it a static IP, and we'll figure it out from there there. USE_DHCP=no IPADDR=192.168.1.222 NETMASK=255.255.255.0 GATEWAY=192.168.1.1 HWADDR= DHCP_KEEPRESOLV=no DNS_SERVER1= DNS_SERVER2= DNS_SERVER3=
April 1, 201016 yr Author Thanks purko, gave it a shot and no go: http://pastebin.com/KgXJGtga is the latest log
April 1, 201016 yr Author One more thing, from another log when I tried unplugging and plugging the network cable back in while the system seemed up and running (still not responding): Apr 1 03:59:13 Jewnas kernel: sky2 eth0: Link is down. Apr 1 03:59:13 Jewnas ifplugd(eth0)[1324]: Link beat lost. Apr 1 03:59:16 Jewnas kernel: sky2 eth0: Link is up at 1000 Mbps, full duplex, flow control both Apr 1 03:59:17 Jewnas ifplugd(eth0)[1324]: Link beat detected. Apr 1 03:59:30 Jewnas kernel: sky2 eth0: Link is down. Apr 1 03:59:31 Jewnas ifplugd(eth0)[1324]: Link beat lost. Apr 1 03:59:34 Jewnas kernel: sky2 eth0: Link is up at 1000 Mbps, full duplex, flow control both Apr 1 03:59:35 Jewnas ifplugd(eth0)[1324]: Link beat detected.
April 1, 201016 yr Thanks purko, gave it a shot and no go: http://pastebin.com/KgXJGtga is the latest log OK. Next step: Eliminate the router! You mentioned it's a new one, so, it's an unknown. Connect your unRAID server directly to your desktop computer. No routers, no switches inbetween. You will need to assign a static IP to your desktop too, as it is now not going through the router. See if the ping will go through. Report the result. BTW, are you using good network cables? (CAT5e or CAT6)
April 1, 201016 yr Author http://pastebin.com/ArBdUc8a is the latest - tried making my laptop 192.168.1.1 but still no go hooking the two up directly (should I be using a crossover cable?) I've tried a few network cables and just lugged the server into another room to make sure it couldn't be the jack itself in the wall (my home is networked through the router). No luck...
April 1, 201016 yr http://pastebin.com/ArBdUc8a is the latest - tried making my laptop 192.168.1.1 but still no go hooking the two up directly tried making your laptop 192.168.1.1? Or made your laptop 192.168.1.1? What OS is your laptop runing? If it's winOS, what does it show when you type ipconfig in a dos box? (should I be using a crossover cable?) Not necessarily. Most Gigabit NICs can detect the type of cable correctly and deal with it. But if you have a crossover cable handy you can give that a try too. I've tried a few network cables ... Is there anywhere on the cable that's written either CAT5e or CAT6?
April 1, 201016 yr Author http://pastebin.com/ArBdUc8a is the latest - tried making my laptop 192.168.1.1 but still no go hooking the two up directly tried making your laptop 192.168.1.1? Or made your laptop 192.168.1.1? What OS is your laptop runing? If it's winOS, what does it show when you type ipconfig in a dos box? Tried and succeeded in making it 192.168.1.1: Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::ec67:43a2:a255:d8ca%12 IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0 Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0 (it won't let me set the gateway as the same IP as the computer itself) (should I be using a crossover cable?) Not necessarily. Most Gigabit NICs can detect the type of cable correctly and deal with it. But if you have a crossover cable handy you can give that a try too. I've tried a few network cables ... Is there anywhere on the cable that's written either CAT5e or CAT6? Yeah, brand new cat5e is what I just swapped to in order to run this test. Still running up against a wall.
April 1, 201016 yr Tried and succeeded in making it 192.168.1.1: Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::ec67:43a2:a255:d8ca%12 IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0 Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0 (it won't let me set the gateway as the same IP as the computer itself) You said earlier in the thread that your original setup used 192.168.0.X numbers. Why are you still using 192.168.1.1? Gateway doesn't matter so don't worry about that. From your logs your unraid is looking for a dhcp server to provide the ip so if the router wasn't providing the number to unraid your computer sure isn't going to, Windows is not a dhcp server. Is your new router dishing out ips to other computers on your network? If so, then the problem is your unraid nic. No amount of plugging it into other things or different cables will fix your unraid NIC.
April 1, 201016 yr Tried and succeeded in making it 192.168.1.1: Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::ec67:43a2:a255:d8ca%12 IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0 Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0 (it won't let me set the gateway as the same IP as the computer itself) You said earlier in the thread that your original setup used 192.168.0.X numbers. Why are you still using 192.168.1.1? Gateway doesn't matter so don't worry about that. From your logs your unraid is looking for a dhcp server to provide the ip so if the router wasn't providing the number to unraid your computer sure isn't going to, Windows is not a dhcp server. Is your new router dishing out ips to other computers on your network? If so, then the problem is your unraid nic. No amount of plugging it into other things or different cables will fix your unraid NIC. We are way past that. He connected the two computers directly, with Static IPs both on the same subnet, and with good network cables. If he can't get a ping through this way, he won't get it any other way. I am sorry to say, but all signs point to a fried NIC. Take your disks out of there, and throw the H340 out the window.
April 1, 201016 yr Author Ok, I think I am prepared to do all that. Two quick (revived) questions: 1) Is there a usb gigabit nic unraid is compatible with? If it's the nic, a new one would do the trick. 2) Assuming no to #1, and I have to move to another server- is there a way to determine with certainty which of the drives is the parity drive through those logs? I am pretty sure I know which one (there are only 2 1.5tb drives) but I'd like to know with 100% certainty before I plop the drives into another tower...
April 1, 201016 yr 2) Assuming no to #1, and I have to move to another server- is there a way to determine with certainty which of the drives is the parity drive through those logs? I am pretty sure I know which one (there are only 2 1.5tb drives) but I'd like to know with 100% certainty before I plop the drives into another tower... Just DON'T assign anything in the parity slot in the new server! Once you see all your disks and your files normally, what's left is the parity disk. (if you put the parity disk in a data disk slot, it will show as "unformatted". DON'T press the format button. Unassign it, and try another disk)
April 1, 201016 yr Author 2) Assuming no to #1, and I have to move to another server- is there a way to determine with certainty which of the drives is the parity drive through those logs? I am pretty sure I know which one (there are only 2 1.5tb drives) but I'd like to know with 100% certainty before I plop the drives into another tower... Just DON'T assign anything in the parity slot in the new server! Once you see all your disks and your files normally, what's left is the parity disk. (if you put the parity disk in a data disk slot, it will show as "unformatted". DON'T press the format button. Unassign it, and try another disk) Cool, can do. Any advice on a usb nic? Is it possible either of these would work? http://www.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=281799 http://www.trendnet.com/langen/products/proddetail.asp?prod=240_TU2-ETG&cat=32
April 1, 201016 yr We are way past that. He connected the two computers directly, with Static IPs both on the same subnet, and with good network cables. If he can't get a ping through this way, he won't get it any other way. Sorry, I missed where he was able to plug in a video card and configure a static ip on his unraid.
April 1, 201016 yr 1) Is there a usb gigabit nic unraid is compatible with? If it's the nic, a new one would do the trick. There's a bunch of USB NICs listed on newegg. Most of them advertise speeds of up to 200Mbit/s, but can hardly give you 100Mbit/s performance. Bad reviews all around. Plus, I've never heard of anyone try such a device with unRAID. If you have a local store nearby, you could get one and experiment.
April 1, 201016 yr We are way past that. He connected the two computers directly, with Static IPs both on the same subnet, and with good network cables. If he can't get a ping through this way, he won't get it any other way. Sorry, I missed where he was able to plug in a video card and configure a static ip on his unraid. He didn't need a video card for that. He edited the network.cfg on his flash key, and the static IP showed on the subsequent syslog.
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