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I bought this Ultra 2 in May 2012, and it's been working fine. I disconnected it two days ago and reconnected it today, and now it will not power up while the disks are loaded. It powers on briefly for a couple of seconds, then powers off, then tries again, indefinitely.
I took out the disks and it powers up just fine.
I tried using the reset button for normal boot, but pressing it while pressing the power button gave no effect, it still powered on, then immediately off while the disks were inserted.
Re: Ultra 2 will not power up while disks are loaded
That sounds very much like a power suppply that is incapable of providing sufficient current to spin up the drives. If not the supply itself, then maybe somthing wrong with the conector on the NAS.
Re: Ultra 2 will not power up while disks are loaded
Correct, the Ultra won't power up at all. Back-up? Well, in my ignorance(?) the two disks in the Ultra are mirrored copies, but those are the only copies as well...
Re: Ultra 2 will not power up while disks are loaded
Do you have a spare scratch disk (with nothing on it you care about)?
If so, you could try removing both disks (labeling by slot), and doing a factory install to the scratch. If that works, it suggests the NAS hardware itself is ok.
Re: Ultra 2 will not power up while disks are loaded
Could find a scratch disk anyware so bought a new one today, installed it and pressed the power button... same reaction as before; starts, stops, starts, stops.
I suppose this is a good thing, though, as there might be hope that the disks aren't corrupted?
A few questions comes to mind;
Any suggestions to what the problem might be, having eliminated the disks?
Can I borrow someone elses NAS, insert my old disks and access/extract my data, or do I have to buy a new one, should mine be beyond repair?
Would any NAS suffice to access the data (i.e. from whichever producer), or does it have to be a NetGear NAS?
If needing to get a new one, any suggestions on what to get as a good replacement for the Ultra 2 (for example Netgear ReadyNAS 102 RN10200)?
Re: Ultra 2 will not power up while disks are loaded
Hello Tors_Hammer,
Can you access the boot menu with only the scratch disk inserted?
If the ReadyNAS does not power on that it keeps on powering off by itself with even the scratch disk that does not have any data then it is possible that the chassis is faulty. You may try checking this with the support center if it still has warranty to get it replaced, they will have to perform hardware check first.
Re: Ultra 2 will not power up while disks are loaded
Hi JennC,
I'm unable to access the boot menu with the scratch / new disk inserted, so it is looking increasingly plausible that we are talking about hardware / chassis error.
It is no longer under warranty (expired mid-May this year), but consumer rights here are up to 5 years (regardless of warranty), so there might still be hope of replacement. However, I wanted to explore any avenues of troubleshooting before I raised a ticket.
Is the hardware check an online or a physical check?
Any suggestions to what the problem might be, having eliminated the disks?
Can I borrow someone elses NAS, insert my old disks and access/extract my data, or do I have to buy a new one, should mine be beyond repair?
Would any NAS suffice to access the data (i.e. from whichever producer), or does it have to be a NetGear NAS?
If needing to get a new one, any suggestions on what to get as a good replacement for the Ultra 2 (for example Netgear ReadyNAS 102 RN10200)?
1. Maybe a failing PSU? There are multiple possibilities.
2. Provided it is another x86 ReadyNAS unit then yes.
3. Has to be a NETGEAR NAS. You can of course use an ordinary x86 Linux machine
4. The 102 is ARM and not an appropriate replacement. Get e.g. the 312. We have a procedure that can be used to attempt to recover the data using an OS6 x86 NAS (you would need somewhere your data can be backed up to e.g. a USB disk) such as the 312.
Note for moving the disks to another NAS to be a solution that will work it assumes that the problem is only with the chassis. The OS, config and volume is on the disks. If the problem is with a disk or with what's on the disks then that will move across to the new chassis.
Re: Ultra 2 will not power up while disks are loaded
Thank you for all the help and the detailed answers, mdgm.
I have sent a claim for repair or replacement to the vendor of the Ultra 2, hoping that I'm still covered by local legislation even though the warranty is expired.
The 312 costs about three times what the Ultra 2 did, and what its current counterpart does (pity NetGear doesn't deliver x86 on its smaller NAS' anymore), so I'm going to wait with that purchase until I have had a reply on the claim.
In the meantime, I'll see if I can't locate another NetGear NAS or an x86 Linux machine to actually test the disks, hopefully during the weekend, and I'll let you know any findings.
Re: Ultra 2 will not power up while disks are loaded
That sounds very much like a power suppply that is incapable of providing sufficient current to spin up the drives. If not the supply itself, then maybe somthing wrong with the conector on the NAS.
Re: Ultra 2 will not power up while disks are loaded
Thanks, Sandshark.
I believe you are right, and I am still waiting for a reply on my claim in order to have the unit looked at and perhaps repaired.
Last night, I was able to run tests on the two disks and fortunately they work perfectly. We were able to extract the data and back it up to another disk.
A surprising issue, though, was that the software utilized to read and extract data from the disks recognized the setup as RAID-5.
I didn't believe the Ultra2 could/would run other than RAID-0 and RAID-1? Not that it matters, as long as I am able to retrieve my data.
I'll post the findings if and when the chassis gets repaired.
Re: Ultra 2 will not power up while disks are loaded
Hi StephenB,
The evidence points towards me having set the NAS up to be Flex-RAID, although I was under the impression I had set it up to be "RAID for dummies", as NetGear says in its white paper, i.e. X-RAID. To be quite honest I don't recall (I have not done anything to the NAS since I got it in May-12, other than the occasional dusting).
Is it possible, provided the NAS was at RAID-0 or RAID-1, that having tried the new/scratch disk, thus "using" 3 disks, the NAS changed its RAID level to 5?
Regarding the firmware, I had not yet upgraded to V4.2.28, but believe I had upgraded to the previous version.
Is it possible, provided the NAS was at RAID-0 or RAID-1, that having tried the new/scratch disk, thus "using" 3 disks, the NAS changed its RAID level to 5?
No, that is not possible. The RAID information is on the drives (as well as the OS partition).
The evidence points towards me having set the NAS up to be Flex-RAID, although I was under the impression I had set it up to be "RAID for dummies", as NetGear says in its white paper, i.e. X-RAID. To be quite honest I don't recall (I have not done anything to the NAS since I got it in May-12, other than the occasional dusting).
I am wondering if flexraid might be the explanation. Possibly (back in 2012) you managed to select RAID-5 with flexraid. The underlying linux tools will let you create it with a 2-drive array. There are some other unusual RAID modes that could be chosen - three-drive RAID-1 being one.
However it happened, you have access to your data - which is the important thing.
