Old Unraid server locking up. Repair or build new?

[DominicG]

This is actually my second UnRaid server. My first was, for lack of a better word was, "childish". But this second one was built with better bones and had been in service since 2014. Working off memory here, I BELIEVE that I have (3) 2TB drives [1 Parity, 2 data], I also have a "fast" NIC, and a pretty decent SATA controller. I am running version 5.05 of UnRaid and never had any problems. Additionally, the motherboard is a 32-bit so upgrading UnRaid is not possible with this configuration

 

Server Specs:

Motherboard is a Biostar M7VIT 800 with a AMD 1Ghz CPU (32 bit)

RAM: 1 GB

SATA Controller: 4 Port SATA Serial ATA PCI RAID Controller Card - Silicon Image

NIC: Intellinet Model 522328 100/1000MBps

Hard Drives: (3) Western Digital WD Green WD20EZRX 2TB IntelliPower 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive, (1) as Parity and (2) for Data) & (1) 

 

Syslog has been attached:

__________________________________________

 

I had a APC smart UPS (1500 Pro) hooked to this that recently lost it's battery. My house and the surrounding neighborhood are plagued by frequent brown outs and I have a feeling that the plug in used to properly shut down the server when the UPS comes online was not working properly. Upon replacing the battery in the UPS I noticed I wasn't able to access the server via the GUI. At first the only way to get access was through the terminal at the server itself. But recently it's been locking up after about 3 hours of use and it won't allow any input. It's totally locked and the shared drives are inaccessible. So I can't even get to the log file. I managed to get it running, run a parity check, and back up the files that were on there onto several other computers. The files don't appear to be corrupt in any way. And as I mentioned, a Parity check came up clean (for what it's worth). So I am thinking this is a mother board issue mostly exacerbated by the frequent power outages. In case it helps any I have posted a screen shot of the error message I get when the server locks up. Like I said above, if possible I will follow up with a log file if I can get the server to boot up tonight.

 

So here's what I'm looking to do and where I need some advice. I'd LOVE to get this back up and running again. But I don't know if this is possible. Therefore I need to determine what is wrong (that's where you good folks come in). I would assume that getting a log file is my first step. After that, what is next?

 

If we find that the issue is un-repairable and I can't get this server back up and running I would like to use these hard drives (and what ever components I can salvage) to build a new server and load an newer version of UnRaid on it.  My initial budget is about $250 to $300. But I don't know if this is a reasonable amount. So one again, I would request you sage advice.......

 

Thanks in advance,

Dominic

syslog-2020-01-03.txt

Edited January 4, 2020 by DominicG
added info

[trurl]

I'm a little unclear on your disk assignments. Unraid is NOT RAID and RAID isn't recommended for Unraid, it just complicates troubleshooting and other things. Perhaps most importantly for your immediate situation, it's going to complicate getting their data transferred to a new build if you can't get the older server going again.

 

Doesn't sound like there is much to salvage except perhaps the data. Probably a whole lot easier to just get the data from your backups to transfer to the new build.

 

I think your budget is unrealistic. It might be possible to reuse the disks but I don't really even recommend that.

[DominicG]

I mispoke. Perhaps I should have just said "mirrored drives" and leave it at that (because that's what they are).

 

The drives are actually pretty new and seem to be working just fine. I'd rather not trash (4) perfectly good SATA drives unless I can avoid it.

 

BUT, that being said, in your opinion what's a more realistic budget for a file server?

[civic95man]

If you don't mind used parts and you're not trying to build a blazing system then you can pick up some great deals on the second hand market (ebay).  For example:

 

xeon E5-2640 for around $25

cheap LGA 2011 motherboard for less than $100

16GB DDR3 ECC memory for around $30

 

And then its up to you to decide if you want to reuse the case and power supply.

 

Then you could throw in your old drives and start fresh.  Maybe also consider a proper HBA for around $50.

 

Just an idea

[trurl]

6 hours ago, DominicG said:

I mispoke. Perhaps I should have just said "mirrored drives" and leave it at that (because that's what they are).

 

The drives are actually pretty new and seem to be working just fine. I'd rather not trash (4) perfectly good SATA drives unless I can avoid it.

I usually recommend fewer larger disks instead of more smaller disks, and wouldn't consider buying anything as small as 2TB these days, but since you already have them, if the drives have good SMART reports then use them.

 

But I am even less clear on the idea that you don't have RAID but you have "mirrored" drives". Unraid doesn't mirror anything, except in the special case of a single data disk with a parity disk. If those 4 disks you say you have don't appear as 4 individual disks then that is not a recommended configuration. Do you have a parity disk?

[DominicG]

2 hours ago, trurl said:

But I am even less clear on the idea that you don't have RAID but you have "mirrored" drives". Unraid doesn't mirror anything, except in the special case of a single data disk with a parity disk. If those 4 disks you say you have don't appear as 4 individual disks then that is not a recommended configuration. Do you have a parity disk?

Upon further investigation I have found that I have (3) 2TB drives. One is a Parity drive and the other two are data. And that's it. No mirror, no RAID. I mispoke. 

 

Moving on, I have posted a SYSLOG file along with some info I was able to gather on my UnRaid server. I edited my original post to show these

[DominicG]

I just wanted to add that I took the access panel off and took the computer out to my shop to blow it out. It was amazingly dusty! I did find that the small CPU fan on the video card was seized up.  But since I run it headless, that should not be a problem. I put it back together and started it up. After allowing it to finish it's load cycle I was able to pull a SYSLOG and upload it to here. Hopefully some of this info can help. 

[DominicG]

7 hours ago, civic95man said:

If you don't mind used parts and you're not trying to build a blazing system then you can pick up some great deals on the second hand market (ebay).  For example:

 

xeon E5-2640 for around $25

cheap LGA 2011 motherboard for less than $100

16GB DDR3 ECC memory for around $30

 

And then its up to you to decide if you want to reuse the case and power supply.

 

Then you could throw in your old drives and start fresh.  Maybe also consider a proper HBA for around $50.

 

Just an idea

 

Thanks for the tip! I'd really prefer to use as much of the old hardware as possible. But I fully realize once I start upgrading it'll have a cascade effect and I'll be forced to upgrade some components I didn't plan on. Isn't that always the case? But I'm pretty sure I could at least use the case and power supply again.

 

Like you said, I found the Xeon E5-3640 CPU for $28.99, the LGA 2011 Mother Board for $87.87, and the 16GB DDR3 Memory for $30 on Ebay. I may go this route just so I can update the server and be able to use the latest version of UnRaid.

 

[trurl]

1 hour ago, DominicG said:

I edited my original post to show these

Just a bit of advice on using the forum. If you put new information in an old post it can often be overlooked. In this particular case, since you mentioned it I knew to look for it. And since you had in fact made a new post then the thread showed as unread. If you had only edited an old post without making a new post it's possible I would have never visited the thread again.

 

I seldom look at syslogs for this old version. I did use V5 back then but didn't try to help out much, and I may not remember some things about it.

 

One of the improvements in V6 that make it a better NAS, even if you don't intend to use any of the other features, is better diagnostics and notifications.

 

The last thing in your syslog is about unmenu restarting a couple of times. I don't know but that doesn't seem normal.

Jan  3 04:43:18 Tower unmenu-status: Exiting unmenu web-server, exit status code = 141
Jan  3 04:43:18 Tower unmenu-status: Starting unmenu web-server
Jan  3 04:43:24 Tower unmenu-status: Exiting unmenu web-server, exit status code = 141
Jan  3 04:43:24 Tower unmenu-status: Starting unmenu web-server

Have you tried it without unmenu? I think you can just comment it out of your go file.

 

Have you done memtest?

 

 

[DominicG]

I started a Memtest before I went to sleep last night and when I woke up this morning I checked and there were a bunch of failed addresses. Not a good sign I take it? I didn't see a way to get a screen dump so I just cycled it off.

 

So, I guess I'll be building that new server soon?

[trurl]

22 minutes ago, DominicG said:

there were a bunch of failed addresses. Not a good sign I take it?

The only acceptable number of memory errors is exactly zero. Everything ultimately goes through RAM, your data, the executable code, everything.

[DominicG]

Well, that pretty much gives me my answer.  Looks like I'm building a new server. On the bright side,  I'll get all the cool new features from the latest version of UnRaid.

 

And from what I understand, migrating my data isn't a huge issue. But I need to read over the documentation on this. 

 

Thanks to all who responded. 

[trurl]

47 minutes ago, DominicG said:

And from what I understand, migrating my data isn't a huge issue.

The new Unraid can read and write the data from your old Unraid. But it is recommended to convert from ReiserFS to another filesystem. XFS is usual for the array, and btrfs is required for cache pool of more than a single disk. Converting to another filesystem sounds easier than it is. You basically have to reformat, so you will have to copy the data elsewhere. You can do this one disk at a time though, since ReiserFS disks can still be used in V6 and mixed in with XFS disks etc.

[trurl]

4 hours ago, trurl said:

The only acceptable number of memory errors is exactly zero.

In fact you shouldn't even attempt to use a server with memory errors.

 

Try reseating the modules and repeat memtest.

[trurl]

Also, here is the wiki on upgrading to V6:

 

https://wiki.unraid.net/Upgrading_to_UnRAID_v6

[DominicG]

Thanks for the link to the Wiki. I tried reseating the memory and running a Memtest again. So far I'm about 2 hours in and no errors. But I'm not holding my breath! Even if it came back with no errors I am still planning on upgrading.

[Decto]

Hi,

 

If you have multiple Dimms then it's unlikely more than one has failed. Test them independantly, you may be able to get the system running which will make transfering files easier.

 

Given the vintage of the hardware, I'd recommend you update to something a little more modern so you can run the latest unraid. This doesn't need to be expensive. A dual core pentium, basic motherboard and 4GB ram will be a significant upgrade and even when bought new should cost less than $200. I'd also get a new PSU if it's of similar vintage.

 

The onboard SATA and NIC should do just fine in any recent mainboard.

 

Alternative is look out for a cheal HP N36L, N40L or N54L second hand which you could pick up for less than $100

 

 

Edited January 5, 2020 by Decto