Node 2 won't boot from USB — boot drive issue
What happened
Node 2 from the home-lab project is refusing to boot from my UNRAID usb flash disk. In the past I used this client as my daily to run windows 10 but when I attempt to boot from the removable disk it won't even acknowledge it's a removable disk.
node-2-refusing-to-boot-from-flash-disk
Root cause
SanDisk Drive issue
After all my attempts to boot from this drive my final test before trying on a different device was installing the UNRAID boot files onto another USB stick that was a different brand. It turns out that the newer SanDisk drives (and new usb drives) depending on the make/brand aren't supported as with older systems like my Node 2 which was a mid 2010s HP pavilion.
I thought to try this early on but I didn't think it was the issue because I used the same drive to install proxmox on my node 1 and it worked flawlessly, but I shouldn't have used that as a comparison as my Node 1 and Node 2 a different branded devices with very different ages.
The fix
Replace with a different branded flash disk
I had an old 4gb Samsung USB flash drive lying around and used the UNRAID usb creator to attempt to boot from that. As soon as I plugged it in and booted my Node 2 it booted straight into the setup process and UNRAID and ready to start.
Prevention
Check documentation on flash disk and hardware for compatibility and include this in all future node planning.
Tests/Debugging
Below are all the tests I ran to attempt to fix this issue and my documentation
All of these tests, made some changes but overall they made changes to the results.
Unplugging all extra accessories
Summary
Once I owned a razor mouse that disrupted my PCs boot process. This is an OLD PC which a lot of new devices connected to it, so I'll start debugging that.
Test
Remove all accessories that isn't power, graphics, keyboard or boot related including PCIE and Sata drives.
Result
No change. Still receiving boot issues.
Disabling Secure Boot
Summary
Sometimes on systems they're set to secure boot which specifically look for certain version of windows or certain files inside the boot sequence.
Test
Once again I entered my BIOS and disabled secure boot and attempted to boot from the F9 menu.
Result
I got the same screen from before, "Missing operating system" and "No boot disk has been detected"
Booting from windows 10 drive
Summary
I remembered prior to setting up this system I removed an old HDD which I remembered had an old version of Windows 10 on it and I wanted to see if it was my system having an error when booting or if it was a detection issue.
Test
I opened the case and plugged the old usb hard disk into one of my SATA ports and restarted my node.
Result
When I booted my node again it opened straight into windows, and I was going to try and see if my removable flash disk was detected inside my windows but that system was so old I forgot the password to get in. If my next few tests won't work in going to attempt to install windows 10 on my removable disk to test if it's an UNRAID issue or another issue I haven't come across yet.