How Bricked is this unit - SOLVED - bad memory

Just to confirm this is a 2100 (4-bay rackmount)?

Hi

Yes it is.

Thanks

Bullfrog

The blue power LED is still blinking? (edit: if it is this suggests it is stuck very, very early in the boot process I think before even the NAS attempts to boot from the internal flash).

Do you have disks installed? If so, can you access the boot menu if you attempt to boot with no disks installed?

If not, is the LED pattern any different? Can you see it in RAIDar?

Edit: Can you check to make sure the memory DIMM is properly seated in the NAS? It's possible it may have come loose in shipment.

Also can you check with the seller if the unit was working before it was sent to you? Was the seller able to access Frontview etc.?

mdgm wrote:
The blue power LED is still blinking? Do you have disks installed? If so, can you access the boot menu if you attempt to boot with no disks installed?

Tried with no disks installed and with a disk installed.
Same sequence of lights on the front. I should maybe point out that the disk 1 light LED blinks once extremely briefly before disk 2 LED comes on, it's hardly perceptable and not long enough for me to surmise that it's a deliberate act.

mdgm wrote:
The blue power LED is still blinking? If not, is the LED pattern any different? Can you see it in RAIDar?

This is the only pattern that has ever appeared. Raidar cannot see it , neither can the network switch.

mdgm wrote:
The blue power LED is still blinking? Edit: Can you check to make sure the memory DIMM is properly seated in the NAS? It's possible it may have come loose in shipment.

I had previously looked at the simm and it appeared fine, however just for good measure I've removed and re-installed it.

mdgm wrote:
The blue power LED is still blinking? Also can you check with the seller if the unit was working before it was sent to you? Was the seller able to access Frontview etc.?

The seller only claims that lights came on when he powered it up, he claims to have been unable to test it further.


I'm guessing that I'll not be able to call tech support for assistance on the basis that this is a second user item, and also I can't get into it to register, is my thinking correct here? However as we do have quite a few other readynas products purchased from new and also sell them would that go in my favour perhaps?

That testing by the reseller is poor, but pretty typical. Buying second hand is a bit like tossing a coin, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. It is quite risky. If they sold it to you as is and if you are not protected by laws in your country in this situation then I don't think there's much you can do.

I don't think support would help you with a system purchased second hand.

You could perhaps check if installing a different memory module with the same specs allows the NAS to boot further.

To Bullfrog,
Can I ask that you insert a single blank disk and Factory reset.
Does RAIDar find the NAS? Can you ping it?
If not, then 2100 chassis is 'bricked'. As a 2nd hand unit, it would not be covered
by warranty.

Regards, Marto

Marto73, bullfrog has already said that he can't get access to the boot menu. The light pattern he mentioned suggests it is probably getting stuck before the NAS has booted far enough for the boot menu to be used. This suggests a hardware issue (thinking it could be the memory DIMM might be wishful thinking but replacing it could be worth a try). I think for the boot menu to be usable, attempting to boot normally the blue power LED should go on solid before the boot process gets stuck.

Most likely the unit is bricked.

Hi

Yes I'm pretty sure the unit is bricked too, clearly Marty hasn't read my previous posts, and no one was ever suggesting it was covered by warranty.

I've videoed the light sequence for a working bootable 2100 which I'll give in a moment, I suspect either the processor is not actually running, or my flash memory is totally corrupted. The only glimour of hope is that there is a brief flick of light from the LED associated with disk 1, so there is a marginal change in led output.
Interestingly enough the scenario above listed by Marty, can you see it with Raidar or ping it, if the answer is no, then it's bricked. Um there are other conditions that would prevent that from working if you have a faulty cat5 cable or no cable inserted that would also prevent those 2 functions working, so it wouldn't necessarily be bricked.

Here is the correct lighting sequence for a working 2100 in case it is ever useful to others.

Press power button

Act comes on
Disks 4,3,2 come on
Network 2 comes on and the blue power light comes on
Act, Disks 4,3,2 go off, blue power light goes to full brightness
(At this point only the power light is on solid and network2)
Disk 2 comes on
Network 2 goes off
Blue light goes off
(at this point only disk 2 is on)
Blue light comes on (as it's now going on and off every 3/4 video frames it's clearly flashing)
Network 2 light comes on
Disk 2 goes off
Act light comes on
Disk 4 comes on
Disk 4 goes off - Blue light now remains on solid
Act light goes off
(we are now roughly 14 seconds into the boot)
Act light flicks on briefly
Act light flicks on briefly
Network 2 goes off
Network 2 comes on
Network 1 comes on
We now have flashing activity on networks 1 & 2
The act light comes on and now flashes randomly( we are roughly 23 seconds into the boot)
Act light goes off again
disk 1 comes on
disk 2,3,4 and act come on
(we are roughly 33 seconds into the boot)
Act light goes on and off showing activity.
Boot process is now well established.


As you can see from the above, the light sequence of my faulty unit never appears above.
So I suspect it is actually trying to convey an error code.

I've also discovered if i hold in the power button the unit will also turn off, so there is some intelligence still present in the unit.

I don't have a suitable memory dimm to hand, however I have found a procedure for recovering from partial flash corruption using a USB memory stick, as I've nothing to lose, I'll try that.

Thanks

Bullfrog

Hi

Just bringing you up to speed. I had a readynas NVX kicking around , I was able to borrow the SO Dimm from it, it's the same make/part number as the one in the 2100. The 2100 boots successfully.

Tried again with original SO Dimm , same fault code on the front. Incidentally with no SO Dimm fitted this is the same fault code.

So result - well happy. New Dimm ordered.

If USB and Drive 2 lights are stuck on with all other lights off with blue power light flashing, with no other response from switch on, suspect duff or missing SO Dimm in a readynas 2100. Perhaps someone could update the FAQ's so that this sequence is recorded somewhere more accessible.

Thanks to mdgm for his help.

mdgm 1 tech support nill

Bullfrog

It just goes to show that if the NAS is getting stuck in the BIOS boot process that it is worth checking the memory.

The NVX, 1500 and 2100v1 all use very similar CPUs. So it's not surprising that they would use the same memory.