Ultra 4 unresponsive after 10 minutes case#18114989

Be advised that moving your disks from one brand of NAS to another will result in total loss of the data as the drives will be wiped, initialized and the volume set up. This is also true when moving from one platform to another (ReadyNAS currently has 3, Sparc, x-86 and ARM). The only way to preserve your data is to solve the problem or move the drives into another chassis of the same platform.

At noon on Mar 11, you thought you had solved the problem and then moved it back to it's normal position at which point you again lost connection. If this were mine, I would either go back to the connections and conditions you had in place then, or do a direct connection. At that point if you recover access to the unit I would first update your backup of all the data. This will at least give you something to fall back on.

The direct connection is a basic diagnostic test. You eliminate all the network components except for the single cable connecting the PC to the NAS. You will need to use a known good cable or if the direct connection does not seem to work, several different cables.

I had a problem with a brand new NVX over a year and a half ago. I had a network configuration that worked just fine with my NV+ and I added the NVX. I could copy files to it, but it would not allow me to copy files back. As the result of assistance of several members (including mdgm as I recall) I set up a direct connection and determined there was absolutely nothing wrong with my NVX. I had purchased a gigabit switch when I had the NV+ to increase the throughput, replacing a Netgear FS105. Once I removed the gigabit switch and restored the FS105, I could copy and retrieve files just fine (although at reduced speed because of the switch limitation). I ordered and currently have a Netgear GS108 switch in that position and everything is good.

You have a number of switches in your network and unless you have a lot of devices, six switches seems like a very complex arrangement. If you have that much equipment, you must have a lot of cables as well. Once you solve your problem, you might want to invest in a cable tester. You can get one for around $20 from Newegg. Cables can and do go bad. Break one of the 8 small wires as it comes out of the plug and it will not work.

mdgm

Large file transfer worked with a direct connection but then so did doing the same via the network - sometimes! Was not asked to run a low level disk or memory test - just make a few changes, wait for crash and then send back the logs. Best suggestion yet was to leave it running over night and see if it is better in the morning :( Maybe I should have given it a couple of Paracetamol and a hot water bottle.

If the NAS had been out of warranty then all this support would be laudable but a good service centre knows when the customer experience has crossed the line from being acceptable and should act accordingly, quickly and responsibly. In this case they just kept bumping into the wall possibly in the hope my warranty would expire before they needed to take decisive action. Maybe they are right about a network issue but one failure out of 23 attached devices suggests otherwise. Besides the cost of sending out another unit to eliminate the possibility would have been a sensible move. In fact I notice they did that with someone who posted a few days ago - new network card, then new NAS although he still had the problem in that case. Maybe support in the US is better than in the UK?

Papabear

I have gradually removed or swapped the cables and switches and got the NAS down to a very simple arrangement and it still fails. This was a working system as of a week ago and the Ultra has performed flawlessly for 10 months using all the existing network. Currently is is going through one Linksys SR2016 switch and it still fails although I also tried a HP Procurve 8G and Netgear 5 port switch and the results were the same. The network covers three buildings so I moved the Ultra to the main one and sat it next to the big switch. As regards data loss the Ultra has taken care of that by itself. Folders and data within the 'media' share have all gone but the NAS reports 24% of the disk space has been used which is weird. Rebooted and it started to do another 6 hour re-sync. All my data is backed up anyway.

Edit: Just tested all cables (thanks for the suggestion) with a LAN tester and everything was OK. Also been running Overlook Fing, Look@LAN, Radmin Advanced IP scanner and Softperfect Network scanner and all report a healthy system and no IP clashes.

Try renaming the media share and renaming it back again. This should give you access to the media share again. The data is still there. There is a bug in the 4.2.19 firmware that is fixed in 4.2.20. The issue will not reoccur on the beta firmware.

I'll try and take a look at your case tomorrow when I get in the office and see if I can give you a hand.

Well, after 8 (working) days dealing with Netgear support I have been upgraded to 'Level 3' (at least I assume this is an upgrade and not a downgrade :roll: ). I decided to pull the disks from the Ultra, put them in an NV and place it in the exact same spot the Ultra occupied. So it has the same cable, switch, HDD's, UPS and network as before and I transferred the same 1.3TB of data across with no problems whatsoever. So it seems the only point's of difference are the Ultra processor, firmware and network card. I have formally requested an RMA citing the Sales of Goods act and that the Ultra is not of merchantable quality after only 10 month's of use. This prompted the "ooh, err" response from support and the passing of the buck to LEVEL 3 :shock: I did however get a final Level 2 support email plaintively asking me was the link to the Ultra over Wi-Fi?

Considering I bought the NAS to prevent data loss in the event of a HDD failure I am still stunned to find that if the box itself fails nobody at ReadyNAS seems to give a toss. Appalling service!

Sorry I didn't get a chance to go over your case sooner. I went ahead and pulled in into my queue just now and given what you've already posted on the forums I'll go ahead and issue you an RMA. You should be receiving an email from our system detailing the process.

By the way, is this an Ultra 4, an Ultra 4+ or a Pro 4? It's registered as a Pro 4 in our system, if it's not I'll have to re-do the registration and the RMA real quick.

It is an Ultra 4+ RNDP400U.

Regards

David

I went ahead and fixed up the registration and created an RMA. Check your email, you should be receiving an email from our RMA system on how to proceed (RMA #1089341). Let me know if you run into any problems.

An update to this issue. I returned my Ultra as an RMA and received a new one. Installed four brand new compatible 2TB disks, set the whole thing up and, I am embarrassed to say, the Ultra hung again :oops:

So it was obviously not a ReadyNAS Ultra plus issue, at least not directly. I decided on radical action and replaced all switches with Netgear Prosafe Giganet switches but the problem remained. All that was left was the BTHub 3 so I decided to connect the Ultra and other network links directly to the BTHub's ethernet ports and leave everything else isolated. For some inane reason BT has decided to include three 100mbs ports and one 1000 mbs port - how mad is that? :roll: However despite the slow network speeds the Ultra worked perfectly but as soon as I connected the BTHub to the rest of the network the Ultra crashed.

I then bought a Netgear 750N cable router which I have just installed in place of the BTHub3 and so far the entire network is up and running, and so is the Ultra! So it seems the Ultra was hyper sensitive to something the BTHub3 router was doing but whatever it was doing was not enough to upset the other 23 devices on the network including an NV. So finding a fix has cost me a fair bit of time and money but I have to say the Netgear 750n is superb in terms of functionality, stability and performance.

Only question that remains is why the Ultra+ is so sensitive to network conditions?

Anyway, thanks to all those who responded with ideas and Steve for arranging the RMA.