How to downgrade firmware from 6.4.0 to 6.2.5 on RN104? Please help!

[ChristopheD]

Well, I think it is best to not describe the disappointment of FW 6.4.1.

Had to revert back to 6.4.0 in a hurry. But that does not fix the back up issues. Everything was running fine in 6.2.5 and I want to go back to it.

How do I downgrade the firmware? When I tried, the process stopped, as it detected an older version.

Please help. Thank you.

[Charge · Accepted solution]

Like so many many many many... other people, I did the upgrade to 6.4.0 a while ago, then had a few lock ups, then lots of lock ups, then total lock up where I had to boot into read only mode, then the excitement of finding 6.4.1, then more lockups, until I really had no choice but to downgrade to 6.2.5.

After reading many many many posts and wasting many many many hours, I used the instructions from ifixdevices  as a guide to reset both my RN104s back to 6.2.5.

Specifically, I copied everything off (many many many hours).

Downloaded 6.2.5 and prepped a jumpdrive.

Power down NAS (at this point that was unplugging it 🙂 ) insert the jumpdrive.

Power up while holding Backup button, release once "Booting from USB" is displayed, wait for it to power down.

Find the hidden Reset button, boot into Factory default mode.

At this point I was back at 6.2.5 for both units and just have to wait through one more resyncing...(many many many hours)

Slowly copying everything back and so far no issues.

Thankfully  my RN102 wouldn't install 6.4.0 or I'd still have one more to do.

[Charge · Accepted solution]

Like so many many many many... other people, I did the upgrade to 6.4.0 a while ago, then had a few lock ups, then lots of lock ups, then total lock up where I had to boot into read only mode, then the excitement of finding 6.4.1, then more lockups, until I really had no choice but to downgrade to 6.2.5.

After reading many many many posts and wasting many many many hours, I used the instructions from ifixdevices  as a guide to reset both my RN104s back to 6.2.5.

Specifically, I copied everything off (many many many hours).

Downloaded 6.2.5 and prepped a jumpdrive.

Power down NAS (at this point that was unplugging it 🙂 ) insert the jumpdrive.

Power up while holding Backup button, release once "Booting from USB" is displayed, wait for it to power down.

Find the hidden Reset button, boot into Factory default mode.

At this point I was back at 6.2.5 for both units and just have to wait through one more resyncing...(many many many hours)

Slowly copying everything back and so far no issues.

Thankfully  my RN102 wouldn't install 6.4.0 or I'd still have one more to do.

[StephenB]

Netgear doesn't recommend downgrading at all.

ifixidevices provided a procedure that worked for him here: https://community.netgear.com/t5/ReadyNAS-Beta-Release/Downgrading-from-6-4-0-to-6-2-4-with-a-Pro-Pi...

Though it is specifically talking about the pro pioneer, others have used this procedure to downgrade RN100 series.  Note it requires a factory reset.

We are hearing that some additional fixes are likely coming soon.  So if the NAS is stable (with antivirus turned off) you might want to wait a bit longer before going through the factory reset pain.

[ChristopheD]

Charge: thank you very much for your response, it was very clear. I certainly appreciate the help.

Question : if I back up my configuration, could I then, after the factory reset, restore the configuration (ie, shares, users, etc...) or am I hooped?

[ChristopheD]

StephenB : thank you for your comments on the solution.

Do you have an idea of when the bug fixes are going to come?

On the one hand I am tempted to wait, because having to reconfigure everything for all the users is a lot of work, but on the other, I am tempted to just go ahead and implement Charge's solution because the last two releases of FW have shown that the testing done on it was, well, very lacking.

[StephenB]

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@ChristopheD wrote:
 ...Do you have an idea of when the bug fixes are going to come?

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I have no inside information, I am just seeing some posts from Netgear folks saying that some fixes are in the works for the performance issues and antivirus.

FWIW, 6.4.0 created some initial issues for me, but 6.4.1 beta (and release) resolved them.

[Charge]

You're welcome.

I haven't used the backup config function so can't say for sure, but if you have a good 6.2.5 backup seems worth a try.