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Can't boot ReadyNAS 316 after upgrading to 6.4.0 firmware
Apparently this is a widespread problem so I wanted to share my experience.
1) I upgraded to 6.4.0 firmware from the admin page.
2) The unit was permanently stuck on "Booting ..." as reported by many others. I waited a day with no luck.
3) I did an OS reinstall from the boot menu. Same problem.
4) I installed the 6.4.0 firmware from USB. Same problem.
5) I installed the 6.4.1 release candidate firmware from USB. Same problem.
6) Finally, I did "volume read only" from the boot menu. Now I can access the admin screen and see all my data.
From reading other posts, it seems that the only remaining solution is to copy all your data off the box, do a factory reset, then write the data back to the box. Nothing on the Netgear website acknowledges that:
- This problem is severe and widespread.
- This problem, in many cases, renders the unit inoperable, and can only be fixed with new hardware or a factory reset.
Personally, I think they should just ship me a new (not refurb) ReadyNAS 316. Did I just see a pig fly by? 🙂
By the way, if I decided it was worth the money to just buy a new diskless 316, could I simply swap in my drives from the malfunctioning 316? (After backing everything up to my ReadyNAS NV+, of course.)
D
PS: A pox on your firstborn, Netgear, and a double dumbass on your ancestors.
Re: Can't boot ReadyNAS 316 after upgrading to 6.4.0 firmware
Eric from Level 3 tech support was able to remote in and fix the problem, which has something to do with a large amount of snapshot data on the box. He deleted the snapshots and the unit works just fine now.
Going forward, he recommended doing a defrag and balance once a week. I'm also going to reduce the frequency of snapshots on the box, just to be safe.
Bottom line, the whole thing was a big inconvenience, but at least I didn't have to do a factory reset.
Re: Can't boot ReadyNAS 316 after upgrading to 6.4.0 firmware
So I called tech support, who was actually quite helpful and knowledgable. The good news: they're escalating this to "level 3". The bad news: a new unit may not help, because (I'm told) the OS is stored on the disks. So even if I swap my drives into a new unit, I could still have the same problem.
I'm not happy at the prospect of having to transfer several TB of data, do a factory reset, then transfer it back. Fingers crossed for a better solution when I talk to the level 3 guys!
Re: Can't boot ReadyNAS 316 after upgrading to 6.4.0 firmware
In my case this was caused by the balance-process, see the full case here (german): https://community.netgear.com/t5/Allgemeine-Fragen-in-Deutsch/Readynas-104-6-2-4-gt-6-4-0-massive-Pr... . The L3-support managed to cancel it and the nas booted normally. They also told me not to start balance again since they found the cause of the problems. Since other Problems persist (lockups while large file transfers, half speed read/write than before 6.4.1, problems with usb drives etc.) I decided to go back to 6.2.5. Now everything is working again, but copying 9 TB of data 2 times wasnt really fun 😛 Hope they found a solution to this and dont release a firmware which isnt downgradeable so quick next time.
Re: Can't boot ReadyNAS 316 after upgrading to 6.4.0 firmware
Eric from Level 3 tech support was able to remote in and fix the problem, which has something to do with a large amount of snapshot data on the box. He deleted the snapshots and the unit works just fine now.
Going forward, he recommended doing a defrag and balance once a week. I'm also going to reduce the frequency of snapshots on the box, just to be safe.
Bottom line, the whole thing was a big inconvenience, but at least I didn't have to do a factory reset.
