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May 06, 2013

NV+ won't boot - firmware error - USB recovery not working

What HAPPENED BEFORE:
ReadyNAS NV+ system would intermittently reset (once every 5 to 15 minutes). To try to correct the issue it was updated to RAIDiator-V4.1.10. System continued the reset issue after the update. All hard drives were replaced with new drives.

What is HAPPENING NOW:
After welcome, system says Booting, Please wait... (no drive LEDs are on) stays in this mode for about 90 sec.
Then the fan quiets down and the LCD screen says:
Booting... (for about 10 seconds), then on the second line it says:
ERR: Bad firmwar
then,
LED 1 and 2 blink, then all four LEDs blink, then the sequence repeats.

I downloaded the image file: ReadyNAS_USB_Flash_Recovery-4.1.10.img
I wrote it to three different USB sticks using NTRawrite in Windows CMD mode
All writes were successfully verified.
I inserted each USB stick into the NV+ front USB slot (rear slots are empty) and tried the following boot procedures.

Powered on NV+ while holding the Backup button. The LCD showed:
Boot Diag
Please wait...
then,
Booting... (fan slowed) for a few seconds, then back to:
ERR: Bad firmwar

When I hold the Backup button a while longer during power up, NV+ displays:
User Diag
Please wait... (for about 60 secs)
then, back to Booting..., ERR: Bad firmwar

When I just use the Power button and hold it for 20 secs for USB boot, the screen displays
Bios info
USB Init (I can see the USB key flashing indicating the NV+ is accessing it)
then,
Welcome, then,
Booting
Please wait... (for 90 secs)
then,
Booting...
ERR: Bad firmwar (alternating 1&2 and all four LEDs)

I'm totally lost as to how to proceed...

>>>>> PLEASE HELP ! <<<<<<< :(

Booting

24 Replies

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mdgm-ntgr
NETGEAR Employee Retired
Jul 11, 2014
Could be a bad disk or a bad slot.

Check the disks e.g. using SeaTools if SeaGate disks.
zenandjuice
Aspirant
Jul 11, 2014
I ran SeaTools on each of the 4 drives (Basic Test) and everything checked out.

I tried booting the ReadyNAS with one drive removed, once per slot, and still the same error.
mdgm-ntgr
NETGEAR Employee Retired
Jul 11, 2014
Perhaps run the memory test boot menu option a few times and longer SeaTools tests.
zenandjuice
Aspirant
Jul 21, 2014
Sorry, I have been out of town for the last week, but I will try those things today. Thank you!
zenandjuice
Aspirant
Jul 21, 2014
Memory test checks out OK.
mdgm-ntgr
NETGEAR Employee Retired
Jul 21, 2014
Sounds like maybe a bad disk or a hardware issue with the NAS.
zenandjuice
Aspirant
Jul 22, 2014
It's curious. If I put in a different drive, and do a factory reset, everything works.

Inserting the old RAID causes the error. Even if I boot it with only one drive, I get that error. I've even tried booting it with only one drive at a time... the likelyhood of all 4 drives going bad at once is very low, and the NAS does work with another single drive in the same slots.

Any other ideas? Would there be any chance of data recovery via tech mode, or via TFTP?

Thanks again,
Chris
mdgm-ntgr
NETGEAR Employee Retired
Jul 22, 2014
Have you contacted support?
zenandjuice
Aspirant
Jul 22, 2014
Not yet, but I will.
arjoseph1
Tutor
Jul 23, 2014
Yes I also recommend that you contact support because the problem could be related to corrupted raid superblocks. Make sure that you always keep a backup of your data.