DX4000 ROM update needed?

You are actually using diskpart to clean the drive?  Followed these steps and are not marking it Active?

diskpart → list disk → select disk # (replace # with the correct disk number) → clean → convert gpt → create par pri → format quick → assign → exit → exit.

yep, those are the steps indeed.

it is interesting that it will automatically create a MSR partition with an offset before the primary partition.

DISKPART> clean

DiskPart succeeded in cleaning the disk.

DISKPART> convert gpt

DiskPart successfully converted the selected disk to GPT format.

DISKPART> create partition primary

DiskPart succeeded in creating the specified partition.

DISKPART> format quick fs=ntfs label=“ext4GB”

  100 percent completed

DiskPart successfully formatted the volume.

DISKPART> assign letter=E

DiskPart successfully assigned the drive letter or mount point.

DISKPART> list partition

  Partition ###  Type              Size     Offset
  -------------  ----------------  -------  -------
  Partition 1    Reserved           128 MB    17 KB
* Partition 2    Primary           3725 GB   129 MB

del par 1  ?

I have a 3tb disc somewhere.  Let me play

that’s a possibilty… have’t thought of that yet lol… i’ll tinker more after dinner haha.

You cant delete it.  Mine is doing the same, but I have not tried booting yet

I think if you force an override? 

select partition #

delete partition override

that’s off the top of my head…  i’ll have to go look

well… i also just figured out that it will not automatically create the MSR if you specify an offset for the primary… odd.

create partition primary offset=1024

… but yet, still won’t boot.  the external USB is blinking at me and laughing… :angry:

well, after much chagrin, I have lost this battle.  :flushed:

would there be any hope to gain IPMI access…  I’ve been digging through the Intel SYSCFG guidelines, and I’m failing to find a match for this unit.  Any hope Obi-Wan Kenobi?

[edit]

hmmmph… after thinking about this, i’m not so sure this would be a good solution even as if I were to access ROM via IPMI, and disabled the USB boot, i would surely be in a ditch if I actually did need to boot with USB.

So, I guess it just goes back to the ROM needing an update to exclude perhaps USB port 2 in the search for boot loader… if the magic button is depressed, launch from port 1…

I don’t know, just thinking out loud while typing haha.

this is interesting…

I just rebooted, and left the system at “startup  initializing…” with the usb3 drive plugged in and it was blinking.  Went to make some coffee, started dinner… and came back a little later.

the system had booted…

no intervention at all.

so, I rebooted it… sat and watched it.  same thing, “startup initializing…”, usb3 drive blinking… and at ~12minutes, the LCD changed to “Initializing Ok, searching …” still blinking, and ~8 minutes later… “loading os…”.  booted.

:neutral_face:

Well I will leave mine and see
But mine actually hangs shutting down with the 3tb attached

No problems either up or down with a 2tb mybook

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say gramps,…

is this you?  :smileyvery-happy:

gramps.png

Good looking am I not LOL

Surely you have some work you could be doing

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always… haha.

Coming to this conversation late, but:

I have a Sentinel DX-4000 & I have no trouble booting with 2 Seagate usb3 external drives.

Further, I wonder where that AMI screen comes from.  My unit has no access to anything that controls the unit except for the Dashboard program.

What am I missing?

I believe the cause is due to a few factors… one being the size of the storage (4TB), and second the disk firmware (probably not a typical use case for the type of drive I’m using).

I also have Seagate externals; although smaller in size, but they do not have this issue…  seems this WD drive, and external enclosure combo produce this strange side-affect.

as for the AMI screenshot…   you’re not missing anything… that is from my adventures in dangerous waters… just ignore it.  seriously.  /waves hands, producing clouds of smoke… disappearing.

have you tried typing ‘xyzzy’ while booting?  :slight_smile:

When I first got my DX4000, I wanted to be able to boot from CD because I wanted to be able to use Symantec System Recovery which, for image restore, requires booting from CD.  I was (and still am) quite disappointed.

These manufacturers put so many obstacles in the way of many.  They want you to use their hardware only for the inteneded purpose.  WD wanted me to use it as a small data storage device while I wanted to use it as a _________________.

it’s interesting though when I plug my XBOX PC controller into the USB port 2 and during bootup press “AAZUAG” the unit jumps pretty high…  not sure what’s that about.

:dizzy_face:

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while I know this thread got a bit off-topic…  the boot-up delay is still alive and well with this drive attached.

I was hoping that this could be addressed somehow…  still a lingering issue, and I have undoubtedly tried everything in my efforts to work-around it to no avail.

so, just as a final update to this… while I was never able to resolve this issue completely.  I will note two things:

* If you shutdown the system, with the USB 3.0 4TB drive attached and running, and the activity light on the external device turns off too… I have no startup delays, as long as I leave the power on the device and it has its’ activity light off.  However, if I reboot the system, which doesn’t seem to disengage the activity light on the external device, there will be a very long startup delay.  I’m guessing it is scanning the device for a boot loader. Fails (after 20 minutes), then proceeds to boot normally of the EFI partition on the DX4000 array.

* I switched external drives, and put in a Seagate Expander drive (2TB) USB 3.0 drive, and the system works normally in any scenario.

In conclusion, it believe the problem has either to do with the firmware on the larger 4TB external drive (it is a western digital ), or the AMI ROM seems to have problems quickly resolving the lack of an EFI partition on the larger drives.

I’ve saw this problem happen with computers also. You are correct in that the system is recognizing the attached device and trying to boot from it. The only way to get aroud it is the way you describe or disconnect the drive from the Sentinel before rebooting or powering up. I personally have one drive that causes this problem on my system.

Sometimes it is just a specific combination of the type of BIOS the system has and the type of chipset or drive that the enclosure uses.

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