ReadNAS DUO v2 keeps running setup

cool , thanks for the advise , do you have a link to the fix that you are refering to ?

There is a onboard battery so its gotta be assisting something, either retaining settings/config or used for frequence setting of the crystal (but I dont think they use them any more.

the discs actually seam fine , I can load data on them and read it off , if I restart it wants me to set it all up again

mdgm-ntgr's theory (a locked disk) is certainly possible, but if that were the situation then I think you wouldn't have been able to format them and transfer data in a PC either.  I'm wondering if something is going wrong at the end of the setup, so the system doesn't think the setup is complete.

You could try doing yet-another-setup, and power down.  Then look at what's on both disks in a Windows PC, using r-linux for windows ( http://www.r-tt.com/free_linux_recovery/ )  You should see the OS partition as well as the empty data volume (just the default shares).  There might also be something useful in the logs at that point.

Another thought is that you could do a factory reset with only one disk in place.  There are 4 combinations you could try - disk 1 in slot 1, disk 1 in slot 2, disk 2 in slot 1 and disk 2 in slot 2.  Setup will be relatively quick since there is no RAID resync. 

Thanks for the advise , 

I am currently rebuild the array , its been close to 10 hours so far but the sync is up to 93% (3TB drives).

I was surprised that when I clicked on download logs that I got a stack more inforamtion about the system then what was displayed on the screen. I trawlled the logs for any mention of a locked drive but couldnt see anything. There were some errors but Im not sure wht is normal and what is not (not a linux/unix guy but I have a mate who is) but I might get my mate to have a look at them. I thin kthe installing phase when for alot longer than it normally does. When the syn finishes I am going to put some data on it and reboot.

If that fails I will have a look at the drives and more than likely do a factory reset. 

I ran a few more tests ,

I booted the nas and ran setup again , installed , synced , the whole process took over 12 hours to complete.

The boot up is very delayed and the nas is not pingable for about the first hour.

I jsut attempted the factory reset but it does not appear to work. I get the really long delayed boot (not as discribed in the factory reset process) but then it wants to go through the setup process again. I never get to see the factory seset button in RAIDar. After about an hour wait I end up with RAIDar online but it tells me the system is starting up. Im currently only booting with one drive so I dont have to sync this time but it still takes several hours to get to the stage where it shows me the dashboard. Fairly sure its gona be rinse and repeat.

Im happy to send my logs if anyone is interested in look at them. I get the feeling that its an issue in the firmware or the OS ?

boots real quick with no disks, when I insest one RAIDar does not acknowledge that the disk has been added. 

I couldnt erase the disk in lifeguard but they sucessfully passed the quick  tests. Error was something about not being able to delete partitation 

The disks were locked. The symptoms you mentioned in your opening post are classic symptoms of this problem.

One can very quickly unlock them using hdparm. That's happened.

It should run setup once more, but afterwards when you reboot it it shouldn't do it again.

It'll do a few quick checks e.g. check disk health, then give you ten minutes to choose the RAID mode using RAIDar before making the choice for you.

The problem you've had is typically caused by an aborted secure erase (an option in RAIDar when doing a factory default). It could be aborted e.g. by unplugging the power in the middle of doing it. The disks are locked and then unlocked when the erase finishes. If the secure erase is not allowed to finish then the disks are not unlocked.