Preconfigured Key won't boot

[Arioch5]

So I've spent most of the afternoon Saturday trying to switch my free unraid system to the Preconfigured Pro USB key that I bought.  Here's the quick explanation.

 

Have a 3-disk Unraid server running from a Corsair 2GB USB key.  It's also been run off of a generic 512KB key I had at one point in time.  The computer boots if the BIOS is set to USB-ZIP.

 

I took my preconfigured flash drive, backed up everything on it and then deleted everything.  Copied the working key onto it (just wanted to get it booting then I'll add the .key file).  The computer hangs after listing all of the PCI devices.  Tried all of the USB-XXX options on my BIOS, some are the same others say "boot failure" after listing the PCI devices.  None of them work.

 

I then reformatted (FAT) the preconfigured flash drive, redid the syslinux (using -ma option), copied the working Unraid install onto it again and tried all of the motherboard options again.

I then reformatted (FAT32) the preconfigured flash drive, redid the syslinux (using -ma option), copied the working Unraid install onto it again and tried all of the motherboard options again.

I then reformatted (FAT) the preconfigured flash drive with an HP utility listed here on the forums, redid the syslinux (using -ma option), copied the working Unraid install onto it again and tried all of the motherboard options again.

Finally, I attempted to use a set of .bat files again listed here on the forums for "Make USB-ZIP combatible" which fails to run on Windows 7.  I've tried running it as administrator, and running in Windows XP compatibility mode.  The prompt always returns "Can not find specified path".

 

So 4-5 hours of screwing with this and I can boot every time off of my Corsair 2GB drive (which I like and wanted to not use as my Unraid key) and never get anything different from the preconfigured flash.  At this point I just want it working and I don't want to waste another 5+ hours on it.  What are my options?  Can I just use my already booting USB key?  I've searched the forums and I'm just posting this in hopes there's some known way to fix this that I missed before.

 

 

 

[calvinandh0bbes]

the PRO key file will only work with the USB flash drive it is constructed for, namely the preconfigured flash you bought.  using anything other than the flash drive will result in an error in terms of licensing (not sure what it will do given your setup is still within the three drive limit, so it might just boot as the "free" version).

 

you might want to list which motherboard you have so anyone with that motherboard can tell you what they used for their BIOS settings.

[Arioch5]

I got around to looking this weekend.  The motherboard is a Gigabyt GA-965G-DS3.  I believe I bought it off of the recommended list for Unraid at one point in time.

 

I also got an XP machine and tried the various "make unraid boot" scripts from it.  I didn't get "boot error" this time instead I got a syslinux error that I believe said "Unable to find the kernal: linux".

 

 

[calvinandh0bbes]

i got that error once when i copied all the files from the unraid.zip archive onto the USB stick, i apparently had missed one (and it was one of the main ones that was missing).

[Arioch5]

Thanks I did find a post suggesting that (might have been yours), but I actually copied the files over several times during the process thinking I had missed something.  I guess it's still possible I did, but I'm very skeptical that there was a file missing.

 

Anyone have any other suggestions?

Is there any benefit to unzipping and trying the latest version of Unraid?  The one I've been using is an exact copy of what's on my current USB stick, I've not wanted to change out of paranoia that I'll loose my data if I miss a config file somewhere.

[calvinandh0bbes]

i wonder if the USB stick could be bad.  Have you contacted limetech directly?  Tom seems like he's pretty good at supporting direct purchases (and not bad at stuff that doesn't directly generate $ either).

 

I can certainly understand the paranoia over potentially losing data.

[Arioch5]

Well I e-mailed the tech support via the website ([email protected]).  That was on the 9th (6-days ago) so far no response.  Can't say I'm expecting one either, my experience has been lime-tech has absolutely zero customer support.  My last attempt at support was on an order with two pre-configured systems which I suggested be purchased to insure an easy installation for my Father's contracting company.  The very first system we powered up had drive bays not installed (sliding around loose in the case) and SATA cables unplugged floating around in the system.  I had to drive 4hrs to my father's location to find this out and fix it when I received zero response to my support e-mail.  Honestly, I expected more from a company I just sent a ~$6,000 order to.  Sure made me look like a fool when the 'plug and play' system that I recommended was a complete bust.

 

So what I'm saying is... does anyone else in the community have more suggestions?  I've got zero linux background and can't figure out why one USB key would be different from the next.  Is there some way to do a low level image of the working key and push it on the pre-configured key?  It just seems that has to be an issue with the pre-configured key's formatting/partitioning.

 

[prostuff1]

Well I e-mailed the tech support via the website ([email protected]).  That was on the 9th (6-days ago) so far no response.  Can't say I'm expecting one either, my experience has been lime-tech has absolutely zero customer support.  My last attempt at support was on an order with two pre-configured systems which I suggested be purchased to insure an easy installation for my Father's contracting company.  The very first system we powered up had drive bays not installed (sliding around loose in the case) and SATA cables unplugged floating around in the system.  I had to drive 4hrs to my father's location to find this out and fix it when I received zero response to my support e-mail.  Honestly, I expected more from a company I just sent a ~$6,000 order to.  Sure made me look like a fool when the 'plug and play' system that I recommended was a complete bust.

 

So what I'm saying is... does anyone else in the community have more suggestions?  I've got zero linux background and can't figure out why one USB key would be different from the next.  Is there some way to do a low level image of the working key and push it on the pre-configured key?  It just seems that has to be an issue with the pre-configured key's formatting/partitioning.

 

 

So it is just the USB stick that is not work, the preconfigured one correct? Had it been working? when did it stop working? Can you get the free version to run from another USB stick on the same machine? If so then try doing the exact same process to the USB drive that was preconfigured (make sure to copy the .key file somewhere first). Once it is done try to boot from it.  All things being equal it should boot, if it does not then the USB drive that was preconfigured probably went bad, for whatever reason.  Once you know it boots just put the .key file back on the drive and you should be fine.  If that does not work then send another email to limetech and let them know the situation.

[Arioch5]

I have gotten two different USB keys to boot (a 2GB and a 512MB) with the free version.

 

I can not get, using the same procedure the pre-configured to boot.  The steps above are all the steps I've attempted with the pre-configured key, each time I attempt to load a copy of the Free Unraid which is booting currently.  I've tried it with out the key to see if just the free will boot but no dice.  I've also attempted to use an exact copy of the working copy WITH the .key file and it's no change.  I haven't noticed the .key file affecting anything.

 

I e-mailed support again today, letting them know that I really need support here as I don't have anything left to try.  I have noticed a difference in the error messages as stated above depending on weather I format and run sylinux or weather I use the provided scripts.  Though the errors are different neither boots.

 

Edit: I've gotten a response and will keep this updated on the solution when we get to one.

[Arioch5]

Well Tom contacted me and the drive is finally booting.  For the record here's what I saw incase someone else finds it useful.

 

Originally I received a standard "boot error" message no matter the formatting, syslinux etc.

Then after running the USB-HDD script found on the forms here (requires an XP machine will not work under Windows 7) the error changed to "can not find kernal: linux". 

Finally, doing the normal install procedure with a FAT format and syslinux recognized and booted.

 

Things of note:

• The formatting did not matter until after running the USB-HDD script.
  
• FAT32 formatting did nothing even after the USB-HDD script, it required a reformat as plain FAT.
  

 

I can't explain why that particular set of steps worked, but apparently it was a matter of getting the USB key partitioned and formatted properly.  I did start using the latest version of UNRAID for testing, though I don not believe that affected the outcome.