CASE#16885582 ReadyNAS Ultra 6 Running But Not Respoding

A factory reset only works if the disks are in the NAS and wipes all data, settings, everything. Before resorting to such a drastic step I would suggest you seek help from NetGear tech support (http://www.readynas.com/support). Please edit the thread title (i.e. subject of first post in this thread) to include your case number.

Thanks for the input. Right after I got the unit, the support team had me remove all disks from the system and do a reset using a paper clip. After it recovered I inserted the disks back in the correct order and restarted with no data loss. I'll have to try tech support tomorrow. Puzzling that the system just turn on, displays ReadyNAS and simply goes nowhere else.

Thanks again,
Rodney

In troubleshooting I have done the following.

1. Re-seated all drives and rebooted the device. No luck.

2. I removed all drives in order and booted the system. The Ultra 6 shows 6 empty drive bays and says " ERR: No Disks Found ole tested!". I turned off the system, re-seated all drives and rebooted the system with no response other than "ReadyNAS" displaying.

RAIDar shows the empty ReadyNAS with a new IP address from what it is supposed to have, i.e. it was on the network as .100 but showed as .8.

I'm wondering if the drive controller has failed or maybe disk 01 out of 06.

Will call tech support to get their input today.

Spoke to technical support and we tried getting to the boot menu with disks installed, no luck. I removed the 6 disks, pressed the reset button on the back, turned on the system and accessed the boot menu without an issue. It seems the unit is fine but the drives, or one drive has an issue. The support tech is asking engineers for input on how to possibly re-install the firmware, currently running 4.2.19.

You might want to run the vendor tools applicable to your drives on each drive. Be sure to remove the drives with the unit off. To run the vendor tools the drives need to be connected to an SATA port on the motherboard. The tools will generally not run properly if connected any other way.

I have the exact same configuration, both the NAS and capacity bought on Oct. 14 2011, and also the same problem.
But, I found the solution (at least for me).
It turned out that there is a slight design flaw. The mother board is placed slightly too close to the back panel of the unit. This makes the reset button being pressed all the time.
I opened the case (side panel closest to the reset switch), folded a piece of paper, and placed it between the end of the mother board and the back panel.
This forced the mother board away from the back panel just enough so that the reset switch is not pressed.
Problem solved ==> case closed (at least mine).

I finally resolved my issue! After many hours Western Digital diagnostic evaluations, one of the drives had failed. I did replace the drive and all is well. I have since run Spinrite on the drive and it works again, but I guess the ReadyNAS couldn't handle the failure so that it would continue booting.

It definitely pays to still have a desktop computer in the house with SATA cables!

My issue is closed.

It is better to run Data Lifeguard on a WD drive than Spinrite. Spinrite is a generic testing program and cannot do the thorough testing the vendor's own tools will do. I use Seagates so I have SeaTools on my desktop. Unless the warranty on the WD drive is expired, I would RMA it to WD rather than trust it with any data in any situation. Just My Humble Opinion.

The WD tools merely said the drive has failed and could not resolve. Spinrite moved the bad sectors and restores function as it is more thorough than any tool at the bit level. I am looking at RMA'ing it. I just can't resist running Spinrite on a drive to see if it resolves the issue. I find "If it Spins, Spinrite has a chance!" http://grc.com

Thanks so much for your input!