I have lost all communication with my unRAID server for the 2nd time in 3 days. This time I can not even view the folders through windows explorer. I was moving 4 episodes of 24 over to the series folder on unraid, and this were going very fast compared to past transfers, (62-67 MBs) then part way into the fourth episode it stopped, then a popup said can not find tower. I rebooted the PC still nothing, so I tried another PC nothing. (I tried using Putty and still no luck.)

 

 Sunday morning it did this, but I was able to go through windows explorer to network and see things.

I went down and checked, the server, and it is running. (At least the lights are on, as well as the fans.)

I don't want to force a shut down as it will prompt a parity check again. 30 hours every couple days is not worth it. Last parity check showed no errors.

I really like the concept of unRAID, but right now it is nothing but trouble.

 

 I have built over 50 PC in the past 11 years including the 5 I own, and the unRAID server. I know I should have did more research before buying the parts for the server, but in hast I jumped the gun going on what a well respected guy over at avsform.com recommended. And I overlooked a few things.

I may buy a new motherboard and ram (Does unRAID support more them 4 gb or ram? If so, would it be beneficial?)

 

My Server specs are:

 

  Case: NORCO RPC-4020

  PSU: Corsair TX750W

  CPU: Athlon II X2 240 ADX240OCGQBOX 2.8GHz AM3

  Stock Cooler

  Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-MA785GT-UD3H AM3 AMD 785G chipset ATX

  Memory: G.SKILL F3-12800CL9D-2GBNQ DDR3-1600 2 x 1GB Kit

  Graphics: Radeon HD 4200 (integrated in the chipset)

  HBA: Supermicro AOC-SAT2-MV8 8-port SATA Controller PCI-X Card

  OS:  unRAID 4.5.3 on a preconfigured 2 gig pen drive (Lime-Tech)

  Parity drive:  2TB Seagate ST32000542AS (5900rpm)

  Storage drives: six 1.5TB WDC WD15EARS (5900rpm)

  four 1.5TB ST31500341AS (7200rpm) (Pulled from a NAS)

 

 My network specs are:

 

 D-Link DGL-4100 Gamer-lounge 4-Ports Gigabit Router

 D-Link DGS-2208 8-Port Gigabit Switch

 Cat-6 cabling throughout

 Everything is brand new and tested with the exception on 4 1.5TB ST31500341AS hard drives.

I never a a single issue until I added the 4 old hard drives, and the new networking.

(I've tried using a different cable, with no luck!) right now the server is connected directly to the router.

 

With having no GUI or windows explorer communication with the unRAID server is there a way to reboot it without a hard shutdown?

I leave for work in about an hour and a half, will letting it chill until I get home tomorrow morning be any help?

 

 My 5 PC's are all 64 bit with 8GB-12GB DDR2 or DDR3 1066 or higher MHz ram, 4 have intel Core 17 920's 1 has AMD Phenom 9600 CPU, 7200 rpm hard drives at least 640 GB (All have at least 2 HD's)  Either ATI 4000, 5000 series or nVidia 9000 series Graphics, Corsair 650+ Power Supplies monitors are all 47" or larger Samsung flat panel TV with the exception of one that uses two monitors, 58" Plasma, and the second TV being a 28" off brand

 

 Thanks for any help or advice!

 

Have you run an overnight session of memtest?

Have you performed SMART tests on the drives?

Have you tried logging in via console keyboard/monitor and issuing "tail -f /var/log/syslog" then looking to see what's on the screen when the system is unresponsive?

 

 

 

  I did run memtest for 24 hours before any hard drives were added, I run a burnin on all the hard drives before data was added.

I have not run SMART.

As for running the terminal, The screen is blank on the server monitor, so I can do anything there.

 

 

Have you run an overnight session of memtest?

Have you performed SMART tests on the drives?

Have you tried logging in via console keyboard/monitor and issuing "tail -f /var/log/syslog" then looking to see what's on the screen when the system is unresponsive?

 

Typically the console screen will be blank until you hit a key on the keyboard. It uses screen blanking to prevent image burn-in on monitors. Next time try hitting the spacebar to see if it unblanks and displays something.

I typed in root, and my password, and it did not wake-up. I also hit several other keys afterward, still nothing.

I typed in root, and my password, and it did not wake-up. I also hit several other keys afterward, still nothing.

 

Was there a login: prompt?

When you press keys, do they echo to the screen?

No echo could be a hardware lockup.

 

I add this line to my /etc/syslog.conf file.

Note fields are separated with tabs.

 

*.*                                                    -/dev/tty12

 

 

Then do

kill -1 $(</var/run/syslogd.pid)

tail /var/log/syslog

 

you should see

Apr 13 14:52:27 unraidservername syslogd 1.4.1: restart.

 

 

This writes all syslog messages to /dev/tty12

 

Pressing ALT-F12 will switch you there.

 

You may be able to see if there is an issue with the server or running out of ram.

 

Could it be a dhcp issue? I know sometimes my dhcp server does not respond and unraid falls off the network until I restart it.

 

Does this problem only happen when you are copying files over from Windows to UnRaid Server? I had similar problem when I try to copy some 30 gigs files over to my server but it happens randomly. When it happens, I lose connection to Unraid. I can't go to tower or telnet to it. In fact, hitting the keyboard from UnRaid box does nothing. Althought you know it's running but it's not responding. After many hair lost, it turns out that my motherboard's ethernet was having problem. I replaced it with a cheapo ethernet card and the problem is gone.

 

If you want to know more about my horror ethernet story, you can read this post. http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=4187.0

 

Wish you luck. :-)