ReadyNAS RN214 "No IP Address" message

This sounds like the same issue seen in these two unresolved threads:

Here I will document everything I've done. If anyone has any suggestions to fixing this issue that would be great, but it looks like I need to find a secondhand compatible device to get my data back.

I am using a ReadyNAS 214 running firmware 6.10.4.

Earlier in the day I was using my NAS and everything was fine. There have been no power outages, and it's connected to an UPS. Then later in the evening I noticed I could no longer connect to it. The status window on the device shows "No IP Address".

My router was showing the DHCP leases for both NICs on the NAS were active. I could not ping it at their assigned addresses.

I tried restarting the NAS to see if that would fix it. On shutdown, it displays "do_exit+4d8" and does not power down. I have to manually remove the power cord to turn it off. When it comes back up, still shows "No IP Address". Then the fan starts spinning fast. I don't think I've ever heard it get this loud before. It's a pretty low-traffic device, and the disks spend most of their time sleeping and, presumably, not generating much heat. After maybe 15 minutes or so (I didn't time it) the fans finally turn off.

I restarted the router. No change. I restarted the NAS again. Same shutdown error. Still "No IP Address".

ReadyCloud cannot find it. (Though I wouldn't expect a webapp to be able to find it if my router can't. But maybe I don't know what this is doing..?)

There is a light on the NIC connectors that is always illuminated when the device is on. When I plug a cord into the top one, another light turns on and starts to blink. The bottom one does nothing. Related, the status light on my router turns on and blinks for the top connection, but not the bottom one. This seems to indicate that at least one NIC is dead. Since both had active DHCP leases in the router, I assume they were both functioning earlier in the day.

I removed the DHCP leases for it on my router. They never showed back up in the DHCP list after many restarts of both the router and the NAS.

Other things I've done, all with the same "No IP Address" error:

Unplugged and replugged all cables, and restarted devices
Used a new ethernet cable and different router, and restarted the NAS
Removed all disks
Booted into Tech Support mode
Unplugged it and walked away for a few hours

I have not tried putting in a dummy disk yet, but will probably do that tomorrow. I think I have one kicking around somewhere.

Are there any diagnostic steps or additional knowledge I'm missing here?

stevenvi
Aug 23, 2022
Is RAIDar seeing the NAS?
I didn't try using RAIDar because I've always had trouble trying to get Java to work properly in macOS. And I wouldn't expect a piece of software to be able to see something connected to the router which the router cannot.

The "connect cable after boot completes" solution didn't seem to work for me either. So it seems this device is, at the moment, unusable.

But I have solved the problem of getting access to my data ReadyNAS uses standard off-the-shelf Linux Software RAID -- at least it did with the RAID-5 configuration I was using. So with a desktop computer that has adequate SATA ports, you can easily access your data. What follows is a bit technical, and if you don't have experience with Linux you'll want to find someone who does to help you as I'm just going to gloss over a lot of the finer details here.

What I did:
Connected all four hard drives from the NAS to an old retired desktop computer
Booted with a Knoppix boot thumb drive that I already had sitting around
At boot, everything will be auto-detected. This model of ReadyNAS had three RAID partitions:
/dev/md0
/dev/md1
/dev/md127
md127 is where your data is. I mounted it read-only to verify that everything was working well, then I proceeded to set up this machine as my new NAS. So I:
Removed all hard drives and connected a spare drive as the new main drive.
This isn't required, but I didn't want to make any mistakes and accidentally clobber one of my data drives. Technically I could have used one of the other partitions for the OS, similar to how the ReadyNAS was doing it, but again, I didn't want to risk making a mistake. The data was worth more than the spare drive to me.
Installed a fresh copy of Debian
Set up SSH for remote access
Installed mdadm to work with the RAID
Disabled auto-suspend
Re-attached data drives (when powered down)
Verified I can mount the RAID as expected
Added the RAID to /etc/fstab to auto-mount on boot
Installed and configured Samba so I can access my data as network shares
I haven't yet investigated a solution for notifications on disk errors, but that should be possible to configure as well. I wasn't running any apps on my ReadyNAS, so I didn't have anything to migrate over for those, though you can install a Plex server on this new device as well if you like.

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StephenB
Guru - Experienced User
Aug 20, 2022
stevenvi wrote:

Since both had active DHCP leases in the router, I assume they were both functioning earlier in the day.

Did you normally have both NICs connected? If so, were you using bonding/link aggregration?

stevenvi wrote:

Are there any diagnostic steps or additional knowledge I'm missing here?

Instead of the dummy disk, I suggest powering down and removing the disks. Then power up diskless and see if you get an IP address. Label the disks by slot as you remove them.
- stevenvi
  Aspirant
  Aug 20, 2022
  StephenB wrote:
  Did you normally have both NICs connected? If so, were you using bonding/link aggregration?
  They were both normally connected, yes. As for bonding/link aggregation, I do not recall. I would use both addresses on the LAN to be able to have two SMB connections open simultaneously in Windows. Does that imply they were not bonded?
  StephenB wrote:
  Instead of the dummy disk, I suggest powering down and removing the disks. Then power up diskless and see if you get an IP address. Label the disks by slot as you remove them.
  Yep, I tried this. It still does the same thing. "No IP Address". Only difference is that rather than showing the name I gave the NAS, it shows (I believe) the last 3 octets in the primary NIC's MAC.
  
  (Edited for formatting.)
  - Sandshark
    Sensei - Experienced User
    Aug 20, 2022
    Unfortunately, this appears to be a too common problem with the 214. I purchased (very cheap) one in that condition :for parts" but also to see what's going on, though I had my suspicion. The issue, as I originally suspected, is the +3.3VSB, which powers the NIC and power on/off circuit. When you turn it off, you get to that "do_exit+4d8" because it was supposed to shut down before it got there. Since 3.3VSB stays on, even when the NAS (including the fan) is "off", I suspect that the root cause is something getting too hot when the unit (including the fan) is off and ultimately being permanently damaged. That you were using both NIC ports may or may not have aggravated that.
    
    Without schematics, I was unable to determine where a repair might be made.
    
    The one I have will occasionally acquire an IP address if you power it on with the LAN disconnected and then connect it after boot is complete. Once going, it seems to be OK till the next power cycle. So, you can try that.