Need Advice - First NAS Build


GregPS

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CPU-AMD Ryzen 5 3400G

Motherboard - Asus ROG Strix X570-E

RAM - Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 2133 MHZ -16GB

PSU - Corsair HX-850

Storage - WD Red+ 10TB drives x 6 (Cache Samsung 970 EVO plus NVMe M.2 2TB x 2)

 

I have two questions

1. In the BIOS (2606 x64) I see all but one of storage hard drives, I played around with different SATA cables and ports and power connections but this one particular drive is not seen in the BIOS however when I load unraid it is visible to unraid (array not set up yet).  I am curious if this is normal or something to even worry about.

 

2. The computer boots up just fine, no signs of issues, when I am in BIOS there is an A9 code which I believe is not an issue in BIOS but when I loaded unraid I did notice an FF code prior to configuring the array.  Is this normal at this stage?  I believe it stands for fault found, but wouldn't that fault found be found even at the BIOS stage?  Is it possible that it has something to do with unidentified drive?  Or does it have something to do with the fact that my PSU did not come with 24x8x4 power connections only 24x8.

 

Any insight would be appreciated as this is my first build and configuration.

 

*** Update when the drive that wasn't visible in the BIOS was selected in unraid it disappeared and was no longer visible.  Also one of the M.2 drives had a high temperature alarm

Edited by GregPS
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6 hours ago, JorgeB said:

Please post the diagnostics after doing this but before rebooting: Tools -> Diagnostics

I had turned the machine off before I read this response. I  booted it up this morning and the exact same thing happened drive was showing until I tried to assign it then it disappeared again.  M.2 doesn't have a temperature warning this AM (M.2's are at 30C and 34C all other drives at 24C).  Attached is the Diagnostics.  I appreciate any support in advance.

sunas-diagnostics-20200903-0722.zip

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53 minutes ago, JorgeB said:

There are issues with that disk since early on the boot process, swap cables with another one (power + SATA) and see if it makes any difference, also and IIRC that model is susceptible to the 3.3v issue.

Before I even attempted to run unraid I tried  different SATA cables, power supplies and ports. New ones or swapped ones from other drives. Always never visible in bios. 

 

Seeing if it was visible in unraid was just a curiosity, when it was I was surprised and then disappointed when it disappeared. And then really disappointed when I saw the FF code on the motherboard. 

 

I am a relatively techy guy built several computers over the years however have never heard of the 3.3 v issue. 

 

What could it mean to this situation and what do you make of the FF code? Are they or could they be related? 

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39 minutes ago, ChatNoir said:

Not sure your are right about the FF code on the MB.

 

For me, FF is the last available value with 2 hexadecimal digit. I think it means that the boot is complete, not that there is a fault.

 

My Supermicro board stays at FF all the time once the boot is done.

I found the fault found reference after a quick google, the more I look into it the more I am starting to doubt it as well.  Asus FAQ said it was reserved for future error messages.  So does anybody know for sure this is nothing to worry about?

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3 minutes ago, GregPS said:

Purchased all 6 from a reputable location all at the same time.  All had the same packaging and looked to be the same.

So all drives are retail then.

 

Did you try to connect that drive in question to a different sata port?

If yes and it is also not visible then in bios I would think you got a bad drive.

One thing I would try if possible is to connect that drive to a different computer and see if it pops up there.

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2 minutes ago, Kevek79 said:

So all drives are retail then.

 

Did you try to connect that drive in question to a different sata port?

If yes and it is also not visible then in bios I would think you got a bad drive.

One thing I would try if possible is to connect that drive to a different computer and see if it pops up there.

I tried different cables, power supplies connections, I swapped with other visible drives and no matter what combination all the visible drives were visible and this one drive was not.  I have been thinking it was a bad drive or unconfigured in some way or another, but when I saw it in Unraid I wasn't so sure.

 

So likely my next course of action should be to stop worrying about FF code and exchange the drive and start configuring my array :)

Edited by GregPS
did not finish everything I wanted to say
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56 minutes ago, GregPS said:

So likely my next course of action should be to stop worrying about FF code and exchange the drive and start configuring my array :)

I checked again on the Web and it seems each BIOS provider and board manufacturer has its own quirks and FF is not consistenlty an error or a good boot...

 

On the manual of your board, it is as you said from the FAQ : FB-FF    Reserved for future AMI error codes    not so helpful since it is appearring on your board. 🤷‍♂️

 

In any case, I would RMA it. Do you have a USB to SATA docking station ?  It might help your RMA procedure if you can try the drive on a Windows computer and maybe run some diagnostics with the WD tool. But it might not be visible either.

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2 minutes ago, ChatNoir said:

I checked again on the Web and it seems each BIOS provider and board manufacturer has its own quirks and FF is not consistenlty an error or a good boot...

 

On the manual of your board, it is as you said from the FAQ : FB-FF    Reserved for future AMI error codes    not so helpful since it is appearring on your board. 🤷‍♂️

 

In any case, I would RMA it. Do you have a USB to SATA docking station ?  It might help your RMA procedure if you can try the drive on a Windows computer and maybe run some diagnostics with the WD tool. But it might not be visible either.

I do have a docking station I could try it out on, but it will be just as easy to take it back to the retail store and get a new one.  I can ask Asus about the FF code and if it is something to worry about.

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I have the same board.

The manual indeed says: FB-FF  >  Reserved for future AMI error codes

My board runs flawlessly and shows FF

 

CPU: AMD Ryzen 3900X

RAM: 64GB

GPU 1: old nvidia GTX745

GPU 2: nvidia GTX1050TI

Disks I have attached:

  • USB: unraid boot (Kingston DT 101 G2)
  • SATA 1: Array disk 1 (WD Red 4TB)
  • SATA 2: Array disk 2 - (WD Red 4TB)
  • SATA 3: parity disk 1 - (WD Red 4TB)
  • SATA 4: Cache-1 btrfs raid (MX500 1TB)
  • SATA 5: Cache-2 btrfs raid (MX500 1TB)
  • SATA 6: UD for virtual machines (SanDisk SSD PLUS 480GB)
  • SATA 7: old Samsung SSD for alternate boot with Windows (boot from SSD)
  • SATA 8: empty
  • LSI 9211-4i IT Mode Port 1: UD for Backup (WD Red 6TB)
  • LSI 9211-4i IT Mode Port 2: UD for security cam videos (old WD Green 2TB)
  • LSI 9211-4i IT Mode Port 3: empty
  • LSI 9211-4i IT Mode Port 4: empty
  • NVMe 1:  empty
  • NVMe 2:  empty

Never gave attention to FF 😬

 

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