October 13, 201015 yr I originally posted this question on the 4.5.6 announcement thread, but it was suggested I should post here instead... Background: I've been running 4.2.4 (and earlier versions before that) on an unRAID server without a Graphics Card installed, or any keyboard etc. connected. This was done via setting the BIOS to ignore any errors on boot etc. This has been working perfectly, providing a power efficient solution, only rarely requiring me to temporarily install a cheap graphics card / connect a keyboard if there were ever any BIOS / Setup issues following hardware changes / hard drive upgrades etc. Running without an unnecessary display card installed simply saves power and reduces heat (even the cheapest passively cooled display card I could buy, still has a heatsink that gets very hot too touch!). All good... until I decided to upgrade from 4.2.4 to the latest stable 4.5.6 (to ensure I stay current). Problem: After upgrading to 4.5.6 (no changes other than simply copying over the new bzroot/bzimage files), my server will no longer boot-up if I do not have my Display Card installed! Basically, without the display card installed I see no disk activity, and I cannot network connect, as the ethernet interface has presumably not been initialized at the point the boot appears to fail / freeze. With the display card installed all works fine, except I now have a toasty hot display card unnecessarily wasting power and generating additional heat. I'm not sure how to diagnose this, as when the system refuses to start up without the display card, so I have no way to capture a log to see where the boot process has stopped. Any ideas on what to do next, or what may have changed since 4.2.4 that now seems to require a Graphics Card to be present for successful unRAID server boot? Thanks Greg
October 13, 201015 yr Does the disk boot at all? It almost sounds like the drive order may be getting shuffled and the system may not be trying to boot off of the unRAID USB any more. This is a frequent occurance when you add a new disk to a machine. The system may be trying to show you a message saying invalid boot device. I would not think that inserting or removing a video card would have that affect, but it could. But my old motherboard would periodically shuffle all the drive assignments on me and force me to go into BIOS and fix it. This wasn't a huge deal as I leave the machine on 24x7, but still was a PITA. This is only a guess. Have never seen anyone complain that in one version headless works and in another version it doesn't.
October 17, 201015 yr Author Thanks @bjp999. I'm aware of this issue, and I'm confident this is not the problem. As noted, their were no hardware or config changes whatsoever in upgrading, other than simply copying over the new bzroot/bzimage files to the flash drive. In summary, these were the steps taken: 1. System booting fine under 4.2.4 (with no Graphics Card). 2. New 4.5.6 bzroot/bzimage files copied across to the flash drive (via the \flash share). 3. Initiated system reboot - unRAID server not come back up! (none of the normal boot up disk activity was noted / unable to connect via network). 4. Forced power-down via power button (my only option). Tried power-on boot up again. Same result (so forced power-down again via power button). 5. Installed Graphics card (to allow me to see boot up progress). Powered up - unRAID booted successfully for first time under 4.5.6! Woohoo! NB: The array was normal (ie. no parity re-build necessary), which also confirmed that unRAID had not started-up when I had to force power-down (earlier). 6. Shutdown. Removed Graphics Card. System once again failed to start up (required forced power-down via power-button again). 7. Re-installed Graphics card - everything OK again (proving absence of Graphics Card is definitely what is stopping successful boot up). Based on the above sequence, this is not a BIOS issue (there were no hardware changes involved for the initial unRAID 4.5.6 upgrade). Also, I have confirmed that my BIOS is correctly setup to only boot from the USB drive. Note that I also was previously able to boot 4.2.4 (and prior unRAID versions) either with or without the Graphics Card installed. As the failure to boot without Graphics Card / forced power-down does not result in a parity rebuild, I'm assuming that the OS boot perhaps stops on some graphics card initialization failure, prior to actually firing up unRAID itself? ie. Something changed between the 4.2.4 image and 4.5.6, which now requires a Graphics Card for the OS boot? Greg
October 17, 201015 yr Thanks @bjp999. I'm aware of this issue, and I'm confident this is not the problem. As noted, their were no hardware or config changes whatsoever in upgrading, other than simply copying over the new bzroot/bzimage files to the flash drive. In summary, these were the steps taken: 1. System booting fine under 4.2.4 (with no Graphics Card). 2. New 4.5.6 bzroot/bzimage files copied across to the flash drive (via the \flash share). 3. Initiated system reboot - unRAID server not come back up! (none of the normal boot up disk activity was noted / unable to connect via network). 4. Forced power-down via power button (my only option). Tried power-on boot up again. Same result (so forced power-down again via power button). 5. Installed Graphics card (to allow me to see boot up progress). Powered up - unRAID booted successfully for first time under 4.5.6! Woohoo! NB: The array was normal (ie. no parity re-build necessary), which also confirmed that unRAID had not started-up when I had to force power-down (earlier). 6. Shutdown. Removed Graphics Card. System once again failed to start up (required forced power-down via power-button again). 7. Re-installed Graphics card - everything OK again (proving absence of Graphics Card is definitely what is stopping successful boot up). Based on the above sequence, this is not a BIOS issue (there were no hardware changes involved for the initial unRAID 4.5.6 upgrade). Also, I have confirmed that my BIOS is correctly setup to only boot from the USB drive. Note that I also was previously able to boot 4.2.4 (and prior unRAID versions) either with or without the Graphics Card installed. As the failure to boot without Graphics Card / forced power-down does not result in a parity rebuild, I'm assuming that the OS boot perhaps stops on some graphics card initialization failure, prior to actually firing up unRAID itself? ie. Something changed between the 4.2.4 image and 4.5.6, which now requires a Graphics Card for the OS boot? Greg If you cannot boot the 4.5.6 image it is highly likely you simply need to install a newer version of syslinux on the flash drive. The older versions of syslinx are unable to deal with the larger size that "bzroot/bzimage" files. If you did not get to the screen where you could choose the memory test or to boot unRAID then I'd try that first. Download the newer syslunx. Unzip it to your PC and run it giving it the drive letter of the flash drive. You do NOT need to reformat or reload the flash drive. You only need type syslinux -ma x: where x: = the drive letter of your flash drive. If on Vista or on Win7 you'll need to open a cmd window as administrator first to be able to run it with the correct permissions.
October 23, 201015 yr Author If you cannot boot the 4.5.6 image it is highly likely you simply need to install a newer version of syslinux on the flash drive. The older versions of syslinx are unable to deal with the larger size that "bzroot/bzimage" files. If you did not get to the screen where you could choose the memory test or to boot unRAID then I'd try that first. Download the newer syslunx. Unzip it to your PC and run it giving it the drive letter of the flash drive. You do NOT need to reformat or reload the flash drive. You only need type syslinux -ma x: where x: = the drive letter of your flash drive. If on Vista or on Win7 you'll need to open a cmd window as administrator first to be able to run it with the correct permissions. Hi Joe. Thanks, but please note from my post above that unRaid 4.5.6 does boot happily - when I have my display card installed. unRaid only fails to boot with the display card removed. The issue is that I was able to boot 4.2.4 with or without the display card installed. Now requiring a display card to be present with the 4.5.6 image just adds unnecessary additional power consumption and heat generation to my installation. I tried your syslinux update suggestion (to be sure), but still same result. I can only boot with the (otherwise unnecessary) display card installed. Greg
October 23, 201015 yr Booting unRaid follows these steps ... 1 - The machine (BIOS) goes through its POST process. 2 - The machine transfers control to the bootable device (USB stick) 3 - The bootable device takes control and begins to execute (unRAID boot menu is displayed) 4 - Control passes to the "preloader" (my term). The bzroot/bzimage files are uncompressed (the long series of dots is displayed) 5 - Control is transferred to the unRAID Slackware Linux (an almost instantaneous step just before step 6) 6 - unRAID loads (fast scrolling series of log messages, with a few pauses and a couple of beeps) If you can boot an older version of unRAID headless, the problem cannot be with steps 1, 2, or 3. None of those steps are dependent on the unRAID version. Step 4 - The preloader is likely a common module that does not change from version to version. But, as I understand it, this logic IS a part of the new image and IS a possibility). Step 5 - The handoff is part of the preloader, but the reception is clearly a part of the new Slackware OS. (very much a possibility) Step 6 - The scrolling of log messages is when all of the drivers are loaded, and the most changes occur relative to the new version. (unRAID could get hung up at any point in this process.) Without a display, figuring out where in this process the boot is being stopped is going to be very difficult. And knowing where is a far cry from fixing the problem. The only ideas that come to mind is to hook up a display, and boot the new unRaid. Start a stopwatch at the same time. Log everything that is observable (beeps, hard disk lights flickering, sounds, etc.) and note where in the boot process (looking at the display) these events occur. (BTW, if you're computer does not have an internal speaker - get one. Beeps are your friend during boot!) Reboot a couple times to confirm the ones that happen on every boot. Once you feel that your log is accurate, remove the display card and reboot. Compare the boot behavior with your log. The first unobserved behavior might give you a clue. Some USB disks have an access light that shows when the stick is being accessed. If yours has one, that would likely be a valuable source of information here. If not, you might get one or try incorporating a "kicker" disk (look here) into your boot process. I have never done this, but some users have problems getting unRAID to boot from the USB stick, are able to use a different boot device (hard disk, CD (?), floppy (?)) to begin the boot process, but once unRAID starts to boot it will see the USB stick and complete boot from there. Signs of the kicker disk being accessed (disk lights, sounds, etc.) will be observable vs a USB stick with no light. It might help get some increased visibility into where the system is in the boot process. And who knows, depending on what the problem is, might just fix the problem. The last thing that comes to mind is that there are situations under which you can connect something to the serial port and view activity remotely. I wonder if there is a way to hook up a laptop running an old fashioned telecom software to watch parts of the boot process. Maybe some of the hard core unix guys could comment here. Hope this helps. Clearly this is frustrating you, and hope you can at least isolate the problem. (Speaking of future versions, did you try 5.0 beta 2?) Let us know how it goes. Good luck!
October 25, 201015 yr Hi, I have the same issue with the v4.5.6. I have never needed a video card previously. Regards Dave
October 27, 201015 yr I had that problem before and solved it by removing the MB battery, wait a while and then putting it back.
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