Cant boot into Unraid

[danimal86]

Yesterday i precleared 3 drives to add to the array, and everything went fine, and unraid was working perfectly.  I added them to the array, and it said unmountable file system (something like that).  I read that i may need a reboot, so i did a reboot through the gui, and nada.  I cant get back into the gui.  So i went over to the server and pressed the power button (didn't have a monitor connected at the time).  I hook up a monitor and fire it up, nada, just a cursor in the top left that blinks a couple times, disappears (for a split second) and comes back to cursor.  

I'm able to get into the bios for the asus z270-A and everything seems normal, and i can see the flash drive in the bootable devices.  

 

I made a fresh unraid flash drive from the Unrad USB Creator and that would do the same thing, just a cursor.  I've tried different usb ports and have it in a usb2 motherboard adapter.  

Any ideas?  

[danimal86]

Holy shit....i got it back to a fresh version of unraid.  I tried everything that i could think of to get it to boot including removing the cpu to make sure its seated.

I had been using a freebie crap usb drive for unraid.  i bought a couple of usb2 kingston metal drives and those weren't booting either.  I found and old plastic HP usb drive and threw a fresh copy of unraid on it and it booted right up!  WE ARE GETTING SOMEWHERE!

 

Now, how do i get all my shares/settings back?  I have the old pos flash drive plugged into my windows machine and i can see all the files, but i tried coppying them to my desktop and its not doing anything.  

I was having docker errors 4 days ago and i copied the files from the appdata backup (i used the ca plugin). i installed 4 new drives but they needed to be formatted i think to be on the array).  Can i just copy that over to the new HP flash drive?  Here's what the copy of my backup looks like:

 

 

[trurl]

All your settings are in the config folder on flash, so you can copy the backup config folder to a new install and everything should be good assuming the backup is up-to-date. Not entirely clear from your description, does your backup have the current disk assignments?

[danimal86]

 

7 minutes ago, trurl said:

All your settings are in the config folder on flash, so you can copy the backup config folder to a new install and everything should be good assuming the backup is up-to-date. Not entirely clear from your description, does your backup have the current disk assignments?

Ok, so i'll just replace the config folder from the backup i made a copy of 4 days ago onto the fresh install on the new flash drive?

As for the disk assignments, yesterday i precleared 3 new drives and added them to the array.  I thought that was it i had to do, but those new drives said something like "unmountable: no file system".  I read that an error could be fixed by a reboot.  So i did....and it never came back.  I'm not sure if this will effect anything?

 

I tried to recover the flash drive using chkdsk and it says Unrecoverable error in folder /config

 

[trurl]

1 minute ago, danimal86 said:

yesterday i precleared 3 new drives and added them to the array.  I thought that was it i had to do, but those new drives said something like "unmountable: no file system".  I read that an error could be fixed by a reboot.

Clear drives must be formatted in the array before they will have a filesystem. And in general, unmountable is unlikely to be fixed by reboot. If you ever get an unmountable disk that has data on it, be sure to ask for help.

 

If your backup didn't have those new disks assigned then you will have to add them again (and format them). Not entirely sure Unraid will still consider them clear or not but if they weren't formatted them maybe so.

[trurl]

Also, you will have to transfer your license to your new flash drive.

 

[danimal86]

24 minutes ago, trurl said:

Clear drives must be formatted in the array before they will have a filesystem. And in general, unmountable is unlikely to be fixed by reboot. If you ever get an unmountable disk that has data on it, be sure to ask for help.

 

If your backup didn't have those new disks assigned then you will have to add them again (and format them). Not entirely sure Unraid will still consider them clear or not but if they weren't formatted them maybe so.

Ok.  How do i format those?  Is it the check box next to the start array button (just going from memory)? 

I tried moving the config file over from the backup and i went back to a flashing cursor.  I'll try to go back to a clean install of 6.8.3 and see if i can get back on the gui

 

edit: i'm not sure whats going on.  I just tried a fresh install of 6.8.3 and 6.8.2 and it wont boot to unraid.  That flash drive was working a few min ago, now its not.  

I did notice that when it DID boot into unraid, it was really fast, almost like it skipped the avago (lsi card) splash screen.  strange.  

i let it run for a second, and unraid is back.  phew.  Ok, now i need to get that config file to work.  

Edited May 13, 2020 by danimal86

[danimal86]

So i coppied the config file and its up and running.  None of my shares are there, and all the disks are Unassigned.  it does say "too many devices" at the bottom, is that because my license isn't linked?  If so, once i link it, i should be able to assign all the drives back and its GTG?

[trurl]

2 minutes ago, danimal86 said:

coppied the config file

I am guessing you meant the config folder here. But the rest of your post suggest there was some problem with that, since your disk assignments should have been part of that config folder. Of course you have no shares since you have no disks for them to be on yet. Do you know how your disks were assigned?

[danimal86]

23 minutes ago, trurl said:

I am guessing you meant the config folder here. But the rest of your post suggest there was some problem with that, since your disk assignments should have been part of that config folder. Of course you have no shares since you have no disks for them to be on yet. Do you know how your disks were assigned?

Yes, i meant the config folder.  I gave a quick look through the gui and my plugins (minus ones i installed a day ago) are there, so it makes me think that it took the settings. 

 

what do you mean how they were assigned?  meaning which one was in which disk slot?  I'm hoping it says "drive xxx" is missing and i can just select it?  if not, then all i know is which of my drives is parity 1 & 2 (i put a piece of tape on them)

 

also, to register the license, do i just do what i did before and paste the key address from the limetech email in the "key file URL" area?

Edited May 13, 2020 by danimal86

[trurl]

The disk assignments are in the file config/super.dat on the flash drive. If you got a good copy of that file from your backup then all your drives should already be assigned, or at least all the drives that were assigned when the backup was made. If you have to assign them yourself then Unraid doesn't remember how they were assigned because config/super.dat is missing or unusable.

 

For example, if you click on any of those dropdowns for your disk assignments, it will probably allow you to choose any attached disk. If you are sure you know which disks are parity then make note of their serial numbers so you can assign them correctly. The main thing you want to avoid is assigning any data drive to a parity slot since the data would be overwritten with parity.

 

Also in the config folder is your license .key file. When you boot up with the .key file for the old flash, then it is going to make you get a new .key file for the new flash on the Tools - Registration page.

 

Also, since it seems you may still be having some issues with flash, make sure you are booting from a USB2 port.

 

Before taking any further action though,

 

Go to Tools - Diagnostics and attach the complete Diagnostis ZIP file to your NEXT post.

[danimal86]

2 hours ago, trurl said:

The disk assignments are in the file config/super.dat on the flash drive. If you got a good copy of that file from your backup then all your drives should already be assigned, or at least all the drives that were assigned when the backup was made. If you have to assign them yourself then Unraid doesn't remember how they were assigned because config/super.dat is missing or unusable.

 

For example, if you click on any of those dropdowns for your disk assignments, it will probably allow you to choose any attached disk. If you are sure you know which disks are parity then make note of their serial numbers so you can assign them correctly. The main thing you want to avoid is assigning any data drive to a parity slot since the data would be overwritten with parity.

 

Also in the config folder is your license .key file. When you boot up with the .key file for the old flash, then it is going to make you get a new .key file for the new flash on the Tools - Registration page.

 

Also, since it seems you may still be having some issues with flash, make sure you are booting from a USB2 port.

 

Before taking any further action though,

 

Go to Tools - Diagnostics and attach the complete Diagnostis ZIP file to your NEXT post.

They are not automatically assigned.  I was hoping this was because i dont have a valid key (cant you not start the array until you register a key?)

I do know which of the drives is parity 1 and 2, so those shouldn't be too bad, but as far as the others, i dont know.  You are right that when i click on the dropdown it shows me all the drives.  Do they need to be in order, or can i just select the ones that were on the array yesterday (that aren't the parity)?

i dont think my mobo has any usb2 ports, and the little motherboard adapter i dont think works well (i have boot probelms whenever i try to use it)

 

The diagnostics is attached (i haven't assigned any of the drives yet)

 

edit: it looks like i purchased my key on the 7th and the appdata backup was done on the 9th.  here's what my regisistration page looks like  i dont see a replace key option:

 

edit2: i'm not 100% sure i know which is parity 1vs2.  I know which disks are the parity's but not sure which one was in parity disk 1 and parity disk 2.  does it matter?  

I'm crapping my pants over here about the possibility of loosing my data.  

tower-diagnostics-20200513-1322.zip

Edited May 13, 2020 by danimal86

[danimal86]

2 hours ago, trurl said:

The disk assignments are in the file config/super.dat on the flash drive. If you got a good copy of that file from your backup then all your drives should already be assigned, or at least all the drives that were assigned when the backup was made. If you have to assign them yourself then Unraid doesn't remember how they were assigned because config/super.dat is missing or unusable.

 

 

I'm looking at my bakup folder from the 9th and i see that my super.dat file in the "config" folder says "super.dat.CA_BACKUP".  Could this be why its not picking up my disk assignments or is it supposed to have the ".CA_BACKUP" there?

[trurl]

3 minutes ago, danimal86 said:

super.dat.CA_BACKUP

I think that might be it. The backup plugin probably names it that way so it doesn't get used accidentally. There have been cases of people using an old backup from before they changed parity drives and reused parity as a data disk. Since super.dat said that data disk was parity it overwrote the data.

 

I was preparing a much longer response before you posted that. It is below:

 

 

I just reviewed your post history, and found this one from just after you added parity2:

 

https://forums.unraid.net/topic/92158-docker-fatal-error/

 

The diagnostics in that post will make it easy to assign your disks as they were, except for any you added since that time.

 

Here are the important lines from syslog:

May  7 20:26:07 Tower kernel: md: import disk0: (sdc) WDC_WD2003FYYS-02W0B0_WD-WMAY02808875 size: 1953514552 
May  7 20:26:07 Tower kernel: md: import disk1: (sdh) ST2000DL001-9VT156_5YD61CB9 size: 1953514552 
May  7 20:26:07 Tower kernel: md: import disk2: (sdi) ST2000DL001-9VT156_6YD1825K size: 1953514552 
May  7 20:26:07 Tower kernel: md: import disk3: (sdd) WDC_WD20EFRX-68AX9N0_WD-WMC300536978 size: 1953514552 
May  7 20:26:07 Tower kernel: md: import disk4: (sde) WDC_WD20EFRX-68AX9N0_WD-WMC300542396 size: 1953514552 
May  7 20:26:07 Tower kernel: md: import disk5: (sdg) WDC_WD20EFRX-68AX9N0_WD-WMC300684093 size: 1953514552 
May  7 20:26:07 Tower emhttpd: import 30 cache device: (sdb) OCZ-VERTEX2_f08a40351
May  7 20:26:07 Tower kernel: md: import disk29: (sdf) WDC_WD30EFRX-68AX9N0_WD-WMC1T2997291 size: 2930266532 

disk0 is parity and disk29 is parity2. Note that it is the serial numbers that are important and not the device letters (sdX). Those device letters can change but Unraid keeps track of your disk assignments by the serial numbers.

 

After reviewing your post history, I am concerned about the problems you are having with flash. Until you get that resolved you won't make much progress on getting your system stable. You had said you started with a POS flash drive. Is that the one you are replacing now, or had you already replaced it and are still having trouble?

 

Is the motherboard in your sig correct? The specs say it has 6xUSB2 ports on the board.

[danimal86]

5 minutes ago, trurl said:

I think that might be it. The backup plugin probably names it that way so it doesn't get used accidentally. There have been cases of people using an old backup from before they changed parity drives and reused parity as a data disk. Since super.dat said that data disk was parity it overwrote the data.

 

I was preparing a much longer response before you posted that. It is below:

 

 

I just reviewed your post history, and found this one from just after you added parity2:

 

https://forums.unraid.net/topic/92158-docker-fatal-error/

 

The diagnostics in that post will make it easy to assign your disks as they were, except for any you added since that time.

 

Here are the important lines from syslog:

May  7 20:26:07 Tower kernel: md: import disk0: (sdc) WDC_WD2003FYYS-02W0B0_WD-WMAY02808875 size: 1953514552 
May  7 20:26:07 Tower kernel: md: import disk1: (sdh) ST2000DL001-9VT156_5YD61CB9 size: 1953514552 
May  7 20:26:07 Tower kernel: md: import disk2: (sdi) ST2000DL001-9VT156_6YD1825K size: 1953514552 
May  7 20:26:07 Tower kernel: md: import disk3: (sdd) WDC_WD20EFRX-68AX9N0_WD-WMC300536978 size: 1953514552 
May  7 20:26:07 Tower kernel: md: import disk4: (sde) WDC_WD20EFRX-68AX9N0_WD-WMC300542396 size: 1953514552 
May  7 20:26:07 Tower kernel: md: import disk5: (sdg) WDC_WD20EFRX-68AX9N0_WD-WMC300684093 size: 1953514552 
May  7 20:26:07 Tower emhttpd: import 30 cache device: (sdb) OCZ-VERTEX2_f08a40351
May  7 20:26:07 Tower kernel: md: import disk29: (sdf) WDC_WD30EFRX-68AX9N0_WD-WMC1T2997291 size: 2930266532 

disk0 is parity and disk29 is parity2. Note that it is the serial numbers that are important and not the device letters (sdX). Those device letters can change but Unraid keeps track of your disk assignments by the serial numbers.

 

After reviewing your post history, I am concerned about the problems you are having with flash. Until you get that resolved you won't make much progress on getting your system stable. You had said you started with a POS flash drive. Is that the one you are replacing now, or had you already replaced it and are still having trouble?

 

Is the motherboard in your sig correct? The specs say it has 6xUSB2 ports on the board.

So i should just shutdown, pull the flash drive and remove the ".CA_BACKUP" and see what it does?  if not i can do it from the log you found from my other post?  (thanks for that by the way)

 

Edit: here's the board i'm using:

https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/PRIME-Z270-A/

Edited May 13, 2020 by danimal86

[danimal86]

So i removed the .CA_BACKUP and fired it back up using the 4-pin usb 2.0 mobo adapter and got it fired up into unraid.  (it did the blinking cursor for a moment, but ended up firing up)  Here's the disks that it auto populated.  The parity drives are not correct though, there should be two 3tb ones in there.  Can i switch the parity drives to the ones you listed above and fire up the array?
 

 

edit: so this backup must have been made before i loaded the second parity drive (3tb disk29) but hadn't replaced the 2tb disk0 yet with a new 3tb drive.  If i change those parity drives to the correct ones that were current as of yesterday afternoon to the correct 3tb drives, we should be good?

edit: this is how the parity drives should be as of yesterday afternoon:  those error worry me 

Edited May 13, 2020 by danimal86

[danimal86]

42 minutes ago, trurl said:

After reviewing your post history, I am concerned about the problems you are having with flash. Until you get that resolved you won't make much progress on getting your system stable. You had said you started with a POS flash drive. Is that the one you are replacing now, or had you already replaced it and are still having trouble?

 

Is the motherboard in your sig correct? The specs say it has 6xUSB2 ports on the board.

So i started out with a crap drive because that's the only one that i could get unraid's installer to not hang up on (now i figured out the rename trick).  Now i'm on a better HP usb 2 drive (for some reason it doesn't like my kingston 2.0 metal one i bought just for unraid).  

Here's how booting up my server goes: Asus splash screen, Avago (the lsi card) loading screen, Asus splash screen, then blinking cursor for 1m05s (i timed it).  Does that sound normal?  I never kept a monitor connected, and i would just keep refreshing the gui page until it started up.  

[trurl]

9 minutes ago, danimal86 said:

The parity drives are not correct though, there should be two 3tb ones in there.  Can i switch the parity drives to the ones you listed above and fire up the array?

The drives I listed above were exactly those, except for parity2 was not in that backup. And parity2 I listed above is 3TB, but parity is that same 2TB in your screenshot.

 

Here is the inventory from the diagnostics you posted today, with (notes) of where they go:

May 13 10:51:32 Tower emhttpd: WDC_WD2003FYYS-02W0B0_WD-WMAY02808875 (sdg) 512 3907029168 (old parity)
May 13 10:51:32 Tower emhttpd: WDC_WD30EFRX-68AX9N0_WD-WMC1T2997291 (sde) 512 5860533168 (parity2)

May 13 10:51:32 Tower emhttpd: ST2000DL001-9VT156_5YD61CB9 (sdk) 512 3907029168 (disk1)
May 13 10:51:32 Tower emhttpd: ST2000DL001-9VT156_6YD1825K (sdl) 512 3907029168 (disk2)
May 13 10:51:32 Tower emhttpd: WDC_WD20EFRX-68AX9N0_WD-WMC300536978 (sdh) 512 3907029168 (disk3)
May 13 10:51:32 Tower emhttpd: WDC_WD20EFRX-68AX9N0_WD-WMC300542396 (sdi) 512 3907029168 (disk4)
May 13 10:51:32 Tower emhttpd: WDC_WD20EFRX-68AX9N0_WD-WMC300684093 (sdj) 512 3907029168 (disk5)

May 13 10:51:32 Tower emhttpd: OCZ-VERTEX2_f08a40351 (sdb) 512 195369455 (cache)
May 13 10:51:32 Tower emhttpd: Force_MP500_17127956000123380552 (nvme0n1) 512 234441648 (new disk, cache or UD)

May 13 10:51:32 Tower emhttpd: WDC_WD30EFRX-68AX9N0_WD-WMC1T2906580 (sdd) 512 5860533168 (new disk)
May 13 10:51:32 Tower emhttpd: WDC_WD30EFRX-68AX9N0_WD-WMC1T2905903 (sdf) 512 5860533168 (new disk)
May 13 10:51:32 Tower emhttpd: WDC_WD30EFRX-68AX9N0_WD-WMC1T2916287 (sdc) 512 5860533168 (new disk)

One of the new disks listed at the bottom must be parity, do you know which? Don't know what you intend for the old parity and the other 2 new disks, or for the new nvme.

[danimal86]

18 minutes ago, trurl said:

The drives I listed above were exactly those, except for parity2 was not in that backup. And parity2 I listed above is 3TB, but parity is that same 2TB in your screenshot.

 

Here is the inventory from the diagnostics you posted today, with (notes) of where they go:

May 13 10:51:32 Tower emhttpd: WDC_WD2003FYYS-02W0B0_WD-WMAY02808875 (sdg) 512 3907029168 (old parity)
May 13 10:51:32 Tower emhttpd: WDC_WD30EFRX-68AX9N0_WD-WMC1T2997291 (sde) 512 5860533168 (parity2)

May 13 10:51:32 Tower emhttpd: ST2000DL001-9VT156_5YD61CB9 (sdk) 512 3907029168 (disk1)
May 13 10:51:32 Tower emhttpd: ST2000DL001-9VT156_6YD1825K (sdl) 512 3907029168 (disk2)
May 13 10:51:32 Tower emhttpd: WDC_WD20EFRX-68AX9N0_WD-WMC300536978 (sdh) 512 3907029168 (disk3)
May 13 10:51:32 Tower emhttpd: WDC_WD20EFRX-68AX9N0_WD-WMC300542396 (sdi) 512 3907029168 (disk4)
May 13 10:51:32 Tower emhttpd: WDC_WD20EFRX-68AX9N0_WD-WMC300684093 (sdj) 512 3907029168 (disk5)

May 13 10:51:32 Tower emhttpd: OCZ-VERTEX2_f08a40351 (sdb) 512 195369455 (cache)
May 13 10:51:32 Tower emhttpd: Force_MP500_17127956000123380552 (nvme0n1) 512 234441648 (new disk, cache or UD)

May 13 10:51:32 Tower emhttpd: WDC_WD30EFRX-68AX9N0_WD-WMC1T2906580 (sdd) 512 5860533168 (new disk)
May 13 10:51:32 Tower emhttpd: WDC_WD30EFRX-68AX9N0_WD-WMC1T2905903 (sdf) 512 5860533168 (new disk)
May 13 10:51:32 Tower emhttpd: WDC_WD30EFRX-68AX9N0_WD-WMC1T2916287 (sdc) 512 5860533168 (new disk)

One of the new disks listed at the bottom must be parity, do you know which? Don't know what you intend for the old parity and the other 2 new disks, or for the new nvme.

Yes the WMC1T2905903 is the parity (1?).  I plan to add the other drives to the array (including the old parity), the nvme i was keeping as an unassigned drive that i had plex's appdata on, and the ocz is my cache until i get a bigger/better one.  

Here's how i have it, if i start the array (i still dont have the "replace key" button on registration page), i wont loose any data?  will it just rebuild the parity drives or will it be just gtg?

(edit: updated screenshot to show entire Main page)

 

Edited May 13, 2020 by danimal86

[trurl]

The only way you might lose data is by assigning a disk with data on it to a parity slot so if you're sure you got parity right you should be good.

 

It is going to (re)build both parity when you start the array. I put (re) because Unraid doesn't know either of those disks ever had parity based on the old super.dat. Probably just as well then you will know parity is indeed valid. Then you can do whatever with those other new disks and the old parity(1).

 

10 minutes ago, danimal86 said:

(i still dont have the "replace key" button on registration page)

Do you have a license .key file in the config folder on the new flash?

[danimal86]

12 minutes ago, trurl said:

The only way you might lose data is by assigning a disk with data on it to a parity slot so if you're sure you got parity right you should be good.

 

It is going to (re)build both parity when you start the array. I put (re) because Unraid doesn't know either of those disks ever had parity based on the old super.dat. Probably just as well then you will know parity is indeed valid. Then you can do whatever with those other new disks and the old parity(1).

Gotcha.  Not really any doubt about what were the data drives, so we should be good.

12 minutes ago, trurl said:

Do you have a license .key file in the config folder on the new flash?

It looks like its still the "trial.key" .can i just paste the key address from the limetech email in the registration area?

Edited May 13, 2020 by danimal86

[trurl]

4 hours ago, danimal86 said:

to register the license, do i just do what i did before and paste the key address from the limetech email in the "key file URL" area?

I have never needed to deal with keys since before there was a Registration page.

 

Go to Tools - Registration and post a screenshot.

[danimal86]

3 minutes ago, trurl said:

I have never needed to deal with keys since before there was a Registration page.

 

Go to Tools - Registration and post a screenshot.

let me know if those guid numbers should be redacted.  
 

 

 

[trurl]

4 minutes ago, danimal86 said:

let me know if those guid numbers should be redacted

I don't see how it could matter but I have deleted the screenshot. I can look at the edit history if I want to see it again.

 

Can you go to the emailed URL directly in your browser and download the key instead of pasting it into that page?

 

 

[danimal86]

11 minutes ago, trurl said:

I don't see how it could matter but I have delete the screenshot. I can look at the edit history if I want to see it again.

 

Can you go to the emailed URL directly in your browser and download the key instead of pasting it into that page?

 

 

Yep, i clicked the link, downloaded the key from the email, removed the "trial.key" and replaced it with "plus.key".  I guess i just have to hit "replace key"?