ReadyNAS 3200 boot Could not find external flash device

Of course, does not do anything.

I cannot even get the reset button to display the different LED combinations.

don't worry about it, perhaps is time to get a Synology unit, they seem to be a lot faster than this unit or drop CentOS, Nexenta or similar on it.

Does the boot menu work if the disks are removed? Does it show in RAIDar if you boot into tech support mode?

If you boot with the disks removed normally does it show in RAIDar?

The 3200 is a legacy ReadyNAS model. We have newer faster rackmount units.

So no drives in the unit and the serial console display exactly the same as before:

SYSLINUX 3.73 2009-01-25 Copyright (C) 1994-2008 H. Peter Anvin
Loading kernel..........................................................
Loading initrd.gz...........................................ready.
▒Searching for external boot flash device...Could not find external boot flash!
ERROR: Could not find external flash device!!
/bin/ash: can't access tty; job control turned off

There nothing on the unit besides the USB which I have formatted as FAT, FAT32 etc and no difference on the reset menu.

I have gotten that working in the past so I don't know what to tell you. If it cannot find whatever external flash device, what and where is it looking for?

/bin/ash is a symlink to busybox so all the synlinks are there. Executing /bin/ash comes back with the same ./ash: can't access tty; job control turned off

Could it be something on the BIOS configuration, show I reset the BIOS to the default?

I guess boot from USB Key should be the only important thing, what else to check?

Thanks

Paul

I was meaning what happens when you don't have the external USB key connected when no disks are installed.

It should boot off the internal USB key inside the NAS normally.

The 3200 has a 5 year limited hardware warranty. Did you purchase this unit new? If it is still under warranty you may wish to contact support and ask for an RMA.

I have not tried removing the USB key and no drives, but I have a good feeling of what is going to happen... nada...

Yes I purchased the unit and probably short of 5 year now so I can call support I guess.

no idea what this means "ERROR: Could not find external flash device!!"?

Thanks

Paul

This happens when you try to do USB Boot Recovery but the external usb key can't be found.

With USB Boot Recovery we expect the external USB key to be connected to the front USB port.

Hmm... in the USB recovery you don't use the original USB inside the unit? If so then that is the reason as that was what I used. There is no front USB on the 3200 so I guess it should have been one of the ports in the back.

So I guess if I get a copy of the files on the original USB stick I should be good to go. Do you have them by any chance?

Thanks

Paul

Good point.

It's not just a matter of having the right files it needs to be partitioned and formatted correctly and set to be bootable.

With USB Boot Recovery you wipe the internal USB, partition it, format it and set it to be bootable and extract the firmware from the external USB you connected onto the internal flash

So anyway to get a copy of the internal USB?

Did you use the exe we provided to create the USB Boot Recovery key?

With the NAS in this state, I think the best way forward would be to RMA.