Help getting machine to boot - almost out of hair

[TeleFragger]

I have had a computer running Server 2022 with an HBA and extender. Running stablebit drive pool with an ssd pool and sata pool.
Random drops on drives that has been frustrating me. I have upgraded to Server 2022 a few months ago.
I didnt really "upgrade" but I boot off of a thumb drive and installed server 2022 from scratch. Nice and clean install.

few days ago, I needed to power the machine off to move it off of a desk it was on. I moved it and it was working just fine.
I am getting my 10gb network up and running again so I powered it off to add my 10gb nic back in as I pulled it a while ago.

Power machine on and it goes through the bios post, cycles power and reboots. Kept doing this over and over.
I can get into the bios and it will stay up and running without rebooting so it is not a hardware issue.

I hit f12 for boot menu and select the hard drive and it just reboots.
I decided to try booting off the thumb drive again and it does the same...will not boot off of the thumb drive.

I put the thumb in another machine and all is well so thumb drive is good.

I just dont have a clue what to even try at this point as the boot menu sees both the hard drive and also the thumb but wont boot them.

I can throw a video together and put it on youtube if that helps as this is such a weird thing.

Case: Corsair 750D with 6x3 5.25 bay cages, 4 internal 2.5 bays and 3 icy dock 6x 2.5 bays
OS: Server 2022
CPU: Intel i5-6600k
MoBo: Gigabyte GA-Z170XP-SLI
RAM: 4x8gb ddr4
GFX: Nvidia Quadro k620
PSU: Corsair HX 620W


i think if i can figure out why it wont boot thumb drive, my actual hard drive will boot....

 

[zachj]

Remove everything except a single stick of ram and the gpu and cpu. Boot to usb

if that doesn’t work then on same config as above clear cmos and try again

if that doesn’t boot then on same config try disabling everything in bios that can be disabled. Disable the nic. Disable the sata. Disable the thunderbolt. Disable everything possible except a single usb controller and try to boot.

if that doesn’t work then on same config above take the motherboard out of the case and put it on a cardboard box and try to boot outside of the chassis (to rule out a short to ground).

if that doesn’t work then bang head on keyboard

 

[Tech Junky]

add my 10gb nic back in as I pulled it a while ago

Lots of things come to mind but, this seems to be the only physical change that could impact both drive types. Pull the NIC and attempt a boot.

If there's anything else dangling around the NIC that could have gotten pulled off while messing with it check them as well.

 

[TeleFragger]

i know this isnt it but swapped power supplies out, went to onboard video..
has to be something in the bios. resetting to factory didnt do it.

will give those disable everything and try to reset bios again...

 

[itronin]

Is it possible your motherboard factory reset settings during the move? Motherboard battery okay? check your uefi/legacy bios settings in the slots you are using. If your machine is booting uefi then make sure that is the setting for the slot and vice versa.

 

[TeleFragger]

Is it possible your motherboard factory reset settings during the move? Motherboard battery okay? check your uefi/legacy bios settings in the slots you are using. If your machine is booting uefi then make sure that is the setting for the slot and vice versa.

it wont even boot off of a thumb drive for os install... sees my drive in bios and on boot menu...

 

[TeleFragger]

Is it possible your motherboard factory reset settings during the move? Motherboard battery okay? check your uefi/legacy bios settings in the slots you are using. If your machine is booting uefi then make sure that is the setting for the slot and vice versa.

WOAH!!! I GOT IT!!!!

totally still at a loss of why but here goes...

decided to flash the bios overtop of itself. Well initially I chose the first option, forget what it is but I believe it total flash and resets. Did not change anything.
Went back in and flashed again but chose "Intact" and now it flashed and booted!!!!
just powered down and put 4 drives back to the motherboard to test small...

next nvme back in, 18x sata and 18x ssd!