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ReadyNAS 6bay - blue flashing light - no boot
I have owned my ReadyNAS about 7 years. It has performed flawlessly. I have it configured for Raid 6 (for double disk failure protection). Recently I lost the boot sector on my Dell tower (ugh!) an...
The original delivery "window" was Friday through next Wednesay. It arrived on Saturday.
I began the process of replacing the old power supply on Saturday and finished it today (Sunday).
!. It did not have a protruding fan. Other than that, the physical dimensions seemed to be exactly the same.
2. The supplied cables were more than long enough (actually a bit longer than the original).
3. Once done, it seems to have resolved my issue (Yes!). Although I have NOT done a full diagnostic, the
unit booted, and stayed ON (with no flashing blue light).
Path forward: I really need to purchase a 2nd unit and (as a minimum) make a copy of all files on the original.
Thank you for all of your assistance and suggestions.
jpooler wrote:
As I had mentioned. My desktop system took a dive... and with it went RAIDar. So, no telling what it might read.
You can't install RAIDar on the laptop???
If there anything on the NAS LCD panel?
Also, did you ever convert your NAS to run OS-6? Or is it running 4.2.x firmware (which the Ultra 6 Plus would have shipped with)?.
Normally the power light is blinking when the NAS is booting, and solid when it is running. There might be some diagnostic patterns if the boot fails, but I don't know off-hand what they would be.
StephenB,
The saga continues...
I did install RAIDar on my laptop. Version 6.5.0
While I was doing the install, I noticed that the power light was steady.
After a bit, RAIDar was able to find the ReadyNAS and reported:
Firmware Version 4.2.22
All drive (6) "Healthy"
With a small on my face, I walked away. When I returned (30 minutes later) the ReadyNAS is back
to blinking the blue power light (and the small amber light below it with a button and label "Backup").
Now RAIDar says: "RAIDar could not find any NETGEAR storage on your network."
Could it be:
A. One (or more) of the drives is slowly failing... issuing intermittant failure codes?
B. Network problem?
C. The box (and internals) might be in the process of failing after seven (7) years?
John
Not sure what's going on. Maybe try rebooting and see if you can capture logs from the web ui. It likely is hardware (failing disk, failing PSU, or perhaps failing memory???). But maybe also check that the power cord isn't loose.
The firmware is out-of-date (4.2.31 is current), but I'd leave that be until you figure out what is happening.
StephenB,
I had a thought last night (rare, but they do occur).
Maybe the unit is overheating, and the "thermal overloads" (if they exist) are taking the unit off-line.
With the unit plugged in, it seems to "wake-up" for a few minutes, then goes "back to sleep" (where
the blue power light starts slowly flashing, and the unit is unresponsive over the network connection).
This morning, I took out the disk drives and, with an air compressor, blew out all of the dust.
Unfortunately, I got the same result. (It was worth a try).
Question: If I purchased a new six bay chassis (say a RN526 or RN626. Can I pull the drives from
my 600U and plug them into the new chassis WITHOUT LOSS OF DATA?
My concern is that the new chassis might decide to reformat the drives.
John
No, you cannot just move the drives from a NAS running OS4.2.x to OS6 and use them as-is. There is a method of using the OS6 NAS to recover data, which you may need if you can't keep the Ultra6Plus up running long enough to do a complete backup. But you will have to start the system fresh, with either the same drives (wiped, after you've backed up the data) or new ones.
Normally, a thermal overload will shut down the NAS, not lock it up, and there will be warnings in the log before that occurs that should survive the reboot. So check the log as soon as you can after the next power-up and download the log .zip package, too.
My first guess on what's up with your system is the power supply. Check the log for voltage warnings. Your NAS is at the age where that often occurs, and a too low, but not dead, voltage can cause unusual problems. If you have a "spare" standard ATX12v power supply, you can use that externally to see if that's the problem. Then, you can either just use it that way to transfer the data, or look into a replacement. It uses a standard SFX (aka micro ATX) supply (except most need a cable extension), so it's not hard or overly expensive to find a replacement. And since you are rebuilding a PC, you clearly have the skills (though it's not really hard).
It could be a drive, but those don't typically heal themselves when cooled down, where power supplies can. But testing the drives with a PC (your laptop with a USB dock will work) wouldn't hurt.
A RAM problem is an outside chance. But you can run that test from the boot menu. If it similarly locks up in the memory test, that could also be a clue (though not necessarily that it is a memory issue).
Of course, there are any number of other potential hardware issues, but I've covered most of the repairable ones. But the Pro6/Ultra6Plus (and, really, all ReadyNAS) are built pretty tough. Lots of units much older than yours are still going strong, though many do have replacement power supplies (which, all things considered, still last a long time, but aren't going to last forever).
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