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Re: Readynas ultra 6 dead motherboard

PETROV
Tutor

Readynas ultra 6 dead motherboard

My Ultra 6 is not booting any more,

 

After turning on the power the blue light goes on, disks start spinning, and i get readynas on the display.

 

But it does not boor or the network lights on the back turn on.

Reset does not work ....

 

i have tried all the possible ways to reset the device, do a usb boot or tech support. No disks, new disk, replace memory

Nothing works.

Warranty is over and gone

 

So i assume the mother doard is dead,

So I would like to replace it but do not get this information

where can i find a new board

Message 1 of 18
mdgm-ntgr
NETGEAR Employee Retired

Re: Readynas ultra 6 dead motherboard

We don't sell replacement motherboards.

 

if you purchase e.g. a 316 we do have a procedure for you to attempt to recover your data. You would need somewhere that you can backup your data to.

Message 2 of 18
PETROV
Tutor

Re: Readynas ultra 6 dead motherboard

I understand Netgear does not repair boards , but it would be nice to receive information as of where i could find a replacement board.

As far as i can see they are not custom made boards, so who is manufactoring these board where can i get a new one

 

That bould be a great help

Message 3 of 18
mdgm-ntgr
NETGEAR Employee Retired

Re: Readynas ultra 6 dead motherboard

They are customised.

 

We don't sell replacement motherboards.

Message 4 of 18
Sandshark
Sensei

Re: Readynas ultra 6 dead motherboard

My first suspect would be the power supply -- specifically the CPU 3.3V.  You can use a standard ATX supply mounted externally to determine if it's the power supply, and replacements are available (though not from Netgear).  A motherboard going bad is certainly a possibility, and you have already eliminated many others.  But the power supply is a known sore spot for early failure.

Message 5 of 18
PETROV
Tutor

Re: Readynas ultra 6 dead motherboard

The power supply is good,
I have tried a new ATX supply as sugested, same result, you can power on and off the device, disk starts spinning, Readynas shows in the display then nothing

 

is there an other board i can try

 

 

Message 6 of 18
mdgm-ntgr
NETGEAR Employee Retired

Re: Readynas ultra 6 dead motherboard

You could try sourcing a motherboard from another unit, but that may be in questionable condition itself. This is assuming the motherboard is the problem.

 

At this point I would think it would be better to get a new ReadyNAS (e.g. 316/516) and to follow the special procedure for attempting to boot off the disks taken from the Ultra 6.

Message 7 of 18
Sandshark
Sensei

Re: Readynas ultra 6 dead motherboard

The Ultra6 does have a VGA header on the motherboard (at least, it's labeled as such and has the right number of pins), though I have never connected to it and do not recall seeing confirmation here tht it is of standard configuration.  But Netgear tends to be pretty consistent, so I suspect that it is (as it is on the 6-bay Pro models).  With a proper cable, you could look for BIOS messages during boot-up to try and diagnose further.

Message 8 of 18
Peetvv
Aspirant

Re: Readynas ultra 6 dead motherboard

Pluged a VGA connector , but it as well remains black no signal, so really the board is broken, i am sorry to say but it nust be possible to get e new board, they must have been mass produced

 

so the question remains where to find a replacement board where have they been manufactured

 

 

Message 9 of 18
PETROV
Tutor

Re: Readynas ultra 6 dead motherboard

I have measure al the voltages on the board and they seem normal, are there simulr problems with this board is the an other way to try to repace the firmware, I have tried to boot from USB

 

 

Message 10 of 18
Andlier
Tutor

Re: Readynas ultra 6 dead motherboard

Did you find a way to fix the issue or find a replacement motherboard? I have exactly the same symptoms after this course of events:

Have a readynas Ultra 6, been stable and fine for 6 years almost. Have been running OS6 for a long time, had 6.2.4 without any issues whatsoever since that release came out.
Then I updated to 6.4.2 by clicking update in the webgui. Update went fine, restarted, did a disk scrub and expanded the xraid2 from 5-6 disks. This all went fine without errors.
Turned unit off.

Had the unit configured to power up on itself a few days later. 

Unit could not power up, it was stuck with Readynas on the display with a moving slider below. Stuck for at least 24 hours before I held power-button to power off.

Tried to power up again and it is always stuck with only Readynas on the display. Disks spin up and the powerlight is constant blue.

Can not access boot menu.

Can not perform USB-boot, the memory-stick works fine to boot from in other computers.

I tried hooking a serial-cable up to the serial-port, hoping for some console-action, but nothing seems to be printed there.


Waiting for VGA-cable to see if I can debug some more, access BIOS etc. 

Also waiting for another ATX power-supply to try that instead of the one in the unit. 

 

I'm hoping it is just a dead power supply, but after some rudimentary measurements it seems to be fine, also under load. Next step is to hook up an oscilloscope to see how stable the voltages are.

 

Also measured the BIOS-settings-retention-coincell on the board, 3.15V and no significant drop under small load (100uA), so it should be fine.

 

Questions: 

Is there any way to hook up a beep-speaker to the motherboard to get BIOS POST-messages? which connector?

Can the 6.4.2 firmware update cause the BIOS to somehow get corrupted?

What is the correct pinout/voltages for the serial-port on the board? TTL, 3V, 5V or rs232 ?  googling I've found references to both of those for different readynas systems.

Anyone have experience debugging these motherboards?

 

Any help appreciated!

 

Message 11 of 18
Sandshark
Sensei

Re: Readynas ultra 6 dead motherboard

Just FYI, the display will say "ReadyNAS" simply with the application of power.  So a bad processor, RAM, just about anlything can be the issue and it will still say that.  I've replaced two power supplies in old Pro models -- one I bought in non-working condition and one I'd had for a while.  On both, it was the 4-pin 12V connection that had the issue.  Coincidence or design flaw, I don't know.  There are two separate 12V busses in the power supply, so make sure you check them both.  I see you did test under load, so good one on that.

Message 12 of 18
Andlier
Tutor

Re: Readynas ultra 6 dead motherboard

I did some more testing with an oscilloscope. With the readynas motherboard hooked up to the supply, all rails from the powersupply are looking clean and good. Also opened the supply and looked for funky caps and such, but it looked as clean as new inside. Since this is an ultra6 unit, the 4-pin 12V is not used. After about 5 minutes of having power applied and probing around with the scope on the motherboard itself I noticed that both the southbridge and the heatsink on the cpu was getting too warm to touch. I could not see much activity on any of the pins or serial-ports I could find along the edge of the board. All power-rails on the motherboard looked stable and fine. All crystal-oscillators I could find were running, and at power-up there was some traffic going to a winbond-flash-chip, but the main-cpu and southbridge was getting so hot I had to turn off again and I'll now consider this motherboard a paperweight/coaster.

 

Kind of a sad end of the relatively long life of this ultra6. I'll keep the psu as a spare for my other ultra6. And I don't dare to update the other one to 6.4.2... Frustrating that I still have no clue what killed this one.

 

Message 13 of 18
RichardGravener
Aspirant

Re: Readynas ultra 6 dead motherboard

Hey there!

I am aware that Netgear doesn't really replace motherboards, but it would be helpful to know where I might be able to locate a new motherboard. They don't appear to be tailored boards, so who is making them and where can I get  somebody?

Thanks

Message 14 of 18
Sandshark
Sensei

Re: Readynas ultra 6 dead motherboard

It very much is a Netgear-specific board, and they have never been available separately.  Your only solution if you need to retain your existing volume is another (used) ReadyNAS.  If you converted the Ultra6 to OS6, that includes other 6-bay legacy units that have been converted (or you can convert) as well as native OS6 units.  But if you are still running OS 4.2.x, then you'll need another Ultra6, an Ultra6 Plus, a Pro6, a Pro BE, or a Pro Pioneer (assuming you've got all 6 bays full).

 

There are other options to just recover the data, but they all entail having to connect at least 5 of the 6 drives (assuming RAID5) to a Windows or Linux computer.  And that the data is recoverable depends on whether or not the volume was damaged when the hardware failed.

 

Message 15 of 18
mdgm
Virtuoso

Re: Readynas ultra 6 dead motherboard


@Sandshark wrote:

  But if you are still running OS 4.2.x, then you'll need another Ultra6, an Ultra6 Plus, a Pro6, a Pro BE, or a Pro Pioneer (assuming you've got all 6 bays full).


You can use an OS6 x86_64 ReadyNAS. It’ll boot 4.2.x with the volume mounted read-only so you can copy the data off, then factory reset (wipes all data, settings, everything) and copy the data back on. You would need somewhere to copy the data to to go with this option.

Message 16 of 18
Marialopez321
Aspirant

motherboard 22111

I'm sorry to hear about the issues with your ReadyNAS Ultra 6. If you suspect that the motherboard is the cause of the problem, and you are out of warranty, the best course of action would be to try and source a replacement motherboard.

Here are a few steps you can take to find a new board for your ReadyNAS Ultra 6:

  1. Manufacturer Support: Reach out to the manufacturer, NETGEAR, and inquire if they can provide you with a replacement motherboard or guide you to authorized resellers who may have it in stock.

  2. Online Marketplaces: Check reputable online marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay, or Newegg for replacement motherboards. Use specific keywords like "ReadyNAS Ultra 6 motherboard" to narrow down your search.

Message 17 of 18
Sandshark
Sensei

Re: motherboard 22111

The recommendation you source a replacement motherboard is way off base.  They simply are not available and never have been, even when the NAS was new 10+ years ago.  I sold just a motherboard and SATA backplane to a forum user because he was in a country where the shipping of a complete working unit was going to add a lot, but I basically charged him for a caddyless complete unit.  There are few sellers who would do that (and I don't have an Ultra6, so can't).  Sourcing a used "for parts" system in hopes it has a working motherboard is a big risk.

Message 18 of 18
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