I'm attempting to install Unraid for the first time and I'm unable to get the system to boot to the USB drive I've created.

 

Here are the things I've tried:

• Multiple different USB drives; varying sizes; both branded of high quality and unbranded of questionable quality
• The Drive Creation Utility & Manual Mode (where you need to run the Make Bootable script)
• Attempted to load a Linux ISO onto the USB drive, system booted to Linux as expected
• Troubleshooting steps here (under USB wont boot section) https://wiki.unraid.net/USB_Flash_Drive_Preparation
• Pausing the boot with the select boot screen and trying all the options (USB Drive, USB FDD, USB ZIP)
  • It should be noted that the Linux ISO would show under the +Hard Drive menu on the select boot menu, when I'm using Unraid it does NOT show under this menu.

 

The motherboard in this machine is a Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L. 

 

Its as if the USB key is not actually a boot device but it feels like this process couldn't be any easier. Insert thumbdrive in another computer, use the create drive utility from Unraid, wait, get confirmation it worked, stick in "server" boot... but the boot never does anything. No error message, it just sits there.

 

Any other suggestions would be very helpful.

1 hour ago, Xiteer said:

Troubleshooting steps here (under USB wont boot section) https://wiki.unraid.net/USB_Flash_Drive_Preparation

That is a rather long article so I don't know for sure what you tried or didn't.

 

One thing you don't specifically mention is whether or not you tried booting from a USB2 port. Did you?

20 hours ago, trurl said:

One thing you don't specifically mention is whether or not you tried booting from a USB2 port. Did you?

This motherboard only supports USB2 but with that said I have tried all of the USB ports on the board. It feels like there is just something that isn't correct in the BIOS that won't recognize the unraid USB boot device.

 

I have also confirmed that the Unraid USB key that I've created is known good -- I can boot it on another PC and it works great.

 

I'm starting to think this board is just a dud and I should bite the bullet and build a new system for this.