[SOLVED] unRAID boot only in GUI mode

[vin]

Hi 

This is my very first time trying unRAID and I built new system with Pentium G4560 with 8GB DDR4. I also attached 2x4TB Segate Drives. 

I downloaded unRAID 6.3.5 version and installed on brand new Samsung 32GB pen drive. 

As I remember I managed to boot it only once, and after that, I had to restart the machine since I need to move it near my network router. 

Now I can only boot with GUI mode only.

 

If I select first option in boot menu it stuck at loading ../bzroot. Even if I select Safe Mode (no GUI) it stuck at the same step. However, if I select a boot option with GUI mode then I can continue to the completion and can access unRAID dashboard.

 

Initially, I thought USB files might be corrupted so I re-imaged it again and tried but the same result, then I re-imaged on another USB drive and tried to boot with option 1 but it hung at the same step as before.

 

Can anyone help me on this? should I try lower version other than 6.3.5?

 

Thanks a lot

 

Edited August 29, 2017 by vin

[JorgeB]

This happens with some motherboards to some users, i.e., another user with the exact same model may not have any issues, Supermicro X11 series was some of the most affected, sometimes a bios update can help.

[vin]

I did reset my BIOS and boot again and this time it started with the first option (unRAID OS) for the first time, and then I restarted and it stuck at the same place. Can't understand why it works for the first time and even with GUI mode but not default. Does unRAID modify BIOS settings once loaded? I really wanted to try unRAID hence I built this new machine. Looks like I have to try with different NAS OS

 

Since it can load in GUID mode I don't see the issue with MOBO or BIOS. What's the downside of running GUI mode on?

Edited August 28, 2017 by vin

[itimpi]

There is no significant downside that I know of in booting in GUI mode even if you have no monitor attached.   A minor downside might be that gui mode needs slightly more RAM to run but this is unlikely to be an issue if you have 2GB or more of RAM and any modern system has at least that.

 

Quite why this works for some people where the non-gui mode does not work is not at all clear.   It feels like it must be some sort of race condition deep inside the Linux kernel level and the gui mode changes the timing enough for thins to work.

[vin]

Thanks @itimpi for the reply, I just tried 6.3.4 and it's giving me the same issue, GUI mode fine but console mode just stuck at the same step. Yeah I have 8GB DDR4 2400 attached so I guess it won't be a problem in memory wise, but it just makes me bit nervous when thinking something is not right somewhere. Who knows what else come up after getting the license and playing with VM, docker etc. I don't know what else to do as I already tried whatever possible. I even tried upgrading MOBO BIOS but it is already with the latest version. (AsROCK B250M Pro 4)

 

Have you seen many others facing the same issue? where only the GUI mode works?

Edited August 29, 2017 by vin

[Frank1940]

2 hours ago, vin said:

Have you seen many others facing the same issue? where only the GUI mode works?

Yes, see here for a couple of people with issues:

As I recall, one reason that the GUI is not the default mode and folks were discouraged from using it is that the browser is Standard Firefox.  It will not only display the unRAID GUI interface but it can be used to browse the entire Internet!  This can be a security hazard as unRAID has basically zero protection as far as this type of exposure goes. 

 

I believe it will also prevent that video card/chip assigned to the GUI from being available for use in a VM. 

[vin]

Thanks, @Frank1940, if that is the case then, at least it is a relief, for now I also changed the default boot mode to GUI so I don't need to manually select it when the machine is starting up. I'm not going to use internal Firefox browser so I guess then no problem there.

 

Quote

"I believe it will also prevent that video card/chip assigned to the GUI from being available for use in a VM." 

However, I don't get this one because even if we load in console mode it will still use a graphic card/chip I guess, regardless whether it loads GUI or not - am I correct?

 

Thanks anyway, I will play with BIOS settings and update if I get it sorted out.

 

 

[Frank1940]

8 hours ago, vin said:

However, I don't get this one because even if we load in console mode it will still use a graphic card/chip I guess, regardless whether it loads GUI or not - am I correct?

The last time I heard, unRAID will run without any video card/chip.  You just don't have a command line.  I am not real sure but you might be able to get around this by plugging a VT-100X into an RS-232 port.  (I can remember Teletype model 33's connected to minicomputers. You wanted those beasts in a soundproof room...)

[JonathanM]

7 hours ago, Frank1940 said:

The last time I heard, unRAID will run without any video card/chip

This is still true, AFAIK.

However... only some motherboards will complete POST and start booting without video. Many will not. It's not exactly a common scenario.

And if there is only one video output available, unraid will use it for the console, making it difficult if not impossible to use for a VM without significant workarounds.

[Squid]

23 minutes ago, jonathanm said:

only some motherboards will complete POST and start booting without video. Many will not.

I would say most will, and only rare ones won't  (Check for BIOS settings for halt on errors for those that won't).

 

And even the ones that won't, its real simply to get them to do it:  http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Computer-Laptop-VGA-to-TV-AV-RCA-S-Video-Converter-Adapter-Box-Composite-Switch-/142485237847?hash=item212cc83057:g:lxkAAOSwImRYPNYs which while it performs a different function is a cheap way of fooling any video card into thinking there's a monitor connected.

 

Truth though about the OS making it difficult to use the only video as passthrough to a VM.  But, personally I think that any user that passes through the only video to a VM is shooting themselves in the foot.  You ALWAYS should have an output for the OS.

[vin]

Hi All

 

Good news I managed to boot unRAID in non GUI mode successfully, I tried now it few times to make sure it's fine as when I was first trying it only happened once (after CMOS reset) and all subsequent (non GUI mode - defailt) boot failed as I shown in the attached image.

 

What I did was 

1. Changed the default boot mode to GUI at the time of creating USB stick, by modifying syslinux.cfg

default /syslinux/menu.c32
menu title Lime Technology, Inc.
prompt 0
timeout 50
label unRAID OS
  kernel /bzimage
  append initrd=/bzroot
label unRAID OS GUI Mode
  menu default
  kernel /bzimage
  append initrd=/bzroot,/bzroot-gui
label unRAID OS Safe Mode (no plugins, no GUI)
  kernel /bzimage
  append initrd=/bzroot unraidsafemode
label unRAID OS GUI Safe Mode (no plugins)
  kernel /bzimage
  append initrd=/bzroot,/bzroot-gui unraidsafemode
label Memtest86+
  kernel /memtest

2. Reset/Clear my CMOS 

3. So now it comes to the GUI mode by default - so I let it to run GUI mode for the first time and then reboot again and then select the first option (non GUI mode) manually from the menu and then it went fine - didn't stuck at /bzroot as in the previous case. I tried this few times to make sure and it worked fine.

 

Yes, i know it is one additional extra step now to select the first option before it continues with default GUI mode, but I don't care since the plan is to keep it running once booted.

So as @itimpi mentioned it could be due to some race condition. I assume now it has overcome it just because the default order is changed - i might be wrong but good news is I'm happy

 

Thanks all.

 

P.S. Anyone knows how to update the topic header with (SOLVED), I don't see any option to edit the title of the thread? 

 

 

 

Edited August 29, 2017 by vin

[JonathanM]

2 hours ago, Squid said:

I would say most will, and only rare ones won't  (Check for BIOS settings for halt on errors for those that won't).

 

And even the ones that won't, its real simply to get them to do it:  http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Computer-Laptop-VGA-to-TV-AV-RCA-S-Video-Converter-Adapter-Box-Composite-Switch-/142485237847?hash=item212cc83057:g:lxkAAOSwImRYPNYs which while it performs a different function is a cheap way of fooling any video card into thinking there's a monitor connected.

I was referring to booting with no video at all, not the lack of a connected monitor. Many motherboards will just do the beep codes for no video card and halt.

[JonathanM]

55 minutes ago, vin said:

P.S. Anyone knows how to update the topic header with (SOLVED), I don't see any option to edit the title of the thread? 

Edit your first post in the thread, you can change the title on that post.

[vin]

Thanks @jonathanm updated

[Mortumus]

Thanks for the tip on how to change the default menu to GUI mode. 

I've had the same problem since upgrading to 6.2.3 (I think it was). I always upgrade to the latest version. I was hoping this would be fixed in subsequent versions, but no, it persists.

The biggest headache this caused was if I needed to reboot the system remotely it would never boot back up. It would just cycle around trying to boot into non-GUI mode (default), fail, then cycle again .. it was a pain.

At least now I can reboot into GUI mode remotely, but also select non-GUI mode when I'm local to the machine.

Thanks heaps.

UnRaid rocks!