NAS 104 locking up

panoramic wrote:
Ditto - for not much more you can have the ReadyNAS 314, also with a 1.2GHz dual core Atom and 2GB RAM. Shame, because the Ultra4, Ultra6, 516, and the 2100 and 2120 (rack mount) ReadyNAS units I've also used have all been really impressive. Seems that Netgear have put together a "cheap" unit, that's just had too many corners cut. :(

The 314 does not fix the problem. I have the exact same issues with my 314 as I do my 104's.

mdgm wrote:
The next firmware 6.1.5 should have some improvements. It would be recommended to backup your data, update to 6.1.5 (once it is released), verify update is successful, do a factory default (wipes all data, settings, everything) and then restore data from backup.

Thanks for the info but that doesn't help all of us that are currently beating our heads against the wall because our systems keep crashing. Also it's pretty damn difficult to back up that much data in general (if you have a 16 TB RAID array set up, where the hell are you supposed to find 16 additional TB to store that data? Spend a few hundred bucks on hard drives just so you can update your firmware?), not to mention the horrible performance of this model. If it took me two days to transfer a Terabyte, there's no way in hell I would be able to transfer 16 TB in a reasonable amount of time. I had a hell of a time trying to back up my data which was on two separate 3 TB drives and a 1 TB drive. I first had to find room on my remaining drives that would fit as much as possible and then delete whatever else I couldn't fit just so I could put a bare drive in the NAS then begin the arduous process of transferring all of that data back to the drive it came off of.

Obviously the crashing problem is real, and I hope it will be solved soon.

But even if the system isn't crashing, you need a backup. I understand it is expensive, and not always convenient. But if you trust your data to a single device, you will lose it at some point. It is just a matter of when.

I Agree with stephen with a little difference.
There are some data you can't afford to lose, I advise to back them up in at least two different physical locations (the more and the farther from one another, the better).
But there are some data you actually can afford to lose. I mean I have ISO of every software I own (since I have MSDNAA, it means a lot ;) ) on my NAS, I can easily get them back but it will take several hours of download, I also have temporary data. This I can lose.
But when it comes to photos, official documents, work documents NEVER take the risk, BACKUP. Who knows what could happen ? House fire ? flood ? theft ? power surge ? multiple disks failure ?

Actually I think xeltros and I are on the same page.

I agree that replaceable data doesn't necessarily have to be backed up. Though I've personally chosen to back up everything for several reasons -
(a) even the replaceable stuff can take a lot of time and labor to get back
(b) Some amount of irreplaceable stuff always gets mixed into the same folders as the replaceable stuff.
(c) There are several scenarios that require rebuilding RAID arrays from scratch, the issue with 6.1.4 lockups is only one.

In any event, despite the disk cost, I maintain 3 copies of all data at home, and also use crashplan cloud backup for disaster recovery. My main store is 13.5 TB (5x3TB+1x1.5TB single redundancy). Most of it is automated, though I manually do weekly backups of our laptops.

I may have found a fix, for mine at least. :D


I've been having the same locking up issues. It started right away after I got it, it would lock up maybe twice a week in the beginning. Then it stopped and was working fine for several months. So I assumed maybe a firmware update fixed it, but it started locking up again.

One day I noticed that one of the drives had failed so the mirror was reporting that it was "degraded". Well that isn't that big a problem since I mirrored them so my data was safe on the good drive. I ordered a new drive and just figured I'd use my data off the good drive until the new drive came in, since being able to access your data even with a drive failure is kind of the idea behind redundancy. I could access the data but it would lock up shortly after so I would have to power cycle it again multiple times a day if I needed to use it. It was locking up way more frequently now in the "degraded" state. I got the new drive, it in and it rebuilt itself like you'd expect without too many problems. To my surprise it only locked up once during the rebuild but it picked up where it left off after I cycled the power, so no big deal.

I was hoping that maybe the new drive in there would solve the lock ups after it was done rebuilding but it didn't. It seemed to be locking up many times a day now. I saw that someone on here mentioned updating the CC24 firmware on their Seagate drive and that's the firmware I had on one, so I updated it and it still didn't fix it. I noticed that when I pulled the drive out to update it that it was WAY hotter than I would have expected. After the firmware update didn't fix it I looked at the performance tab and noticed the temperatures were higher than I would have imagined, even with the front door to the box open. There is plenty of space on all sides of the box. The closest thing to it is the wall behind and that's probably 4 inches away. So theres tons of room all around for circulation. I found an old small, maybe 2" x 2", heatsink fan I had laying around. I hooked up some power to it and put it right infront of the 4 drives blowing air into the unit with the door still open. It's been about a day and a half now without a single lockup. Before the fan I was cycling the power multiple times a day. I wonder if the heat is what has not only caused the locking up but that harddrive failure I had too.

Just that small little fan made a huge difference in the temps. These are the differences without changing anything except the addition of the fan.

Pre-Fan Temps
CPU: 142degrees
Harddrives: 100-113degrees

Post-Fan Temps
CPU: 113degrees
HD's: 87-91degrees


Like I said it's only been about a day and a half but before that was more than enough time for it to have locked up many times.

If you're having the problem it might be worth it to point a fan in there and see if it solves your problems too.

I'd contact support - the unit shouldn't be that hot.

Unless you're are speaking in farenheit degrees (in which case CPU is 62°c and disks 33°c (which seems normal, even cool to me) and you wouldn't worry I guess), that's way too hot.
My CPU never did go above 80°C. My disks never go over 45°C no matter what. Let's say CPU to 90°c and disks to 50°c under really heavy load could be normal (and I took high values), but you are way above that. I'd see with the support too.

My old computer graphic card froze at 125°c (had a problem with the fan), so imagine a CPU which is normally cooler than graphic card when playing games at 142°c that's crazy. If you want to, check if the NAS' fan works, try to switch off the NAS and unplug the electrical outlet, that way you'll be sure it will do a proper boot and check every component while booting (I believe ARM devices also have POST, not sure of that but would seem normal).

gsarickie- what make/model drives are you using?