NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
RN104-Gumboe
May 22, 2020Aspirant
RN104 automatically powering on
Hi, my RN104 auto powered up the other day while not being plugged into the ethernet switch. It's happened a few times previously but it was plugged into a Netgear 16 port unmanaged gigabit switch w...
Sandshark
May 22, 2020Sensei - Experienced User
Thje default condition after a power interruption is on. Is the NAS on an UPS? If not, you likely had a short power fluctuation that caused it. If it is on an UPS, you may have an issue with it. Or, the power brick may be having a problem (though that is unlikely with the NAS unpowered).
There is one other possibility, and it's not a good thing. Internally, the NAS creates the necessary voltages from the input 12V. One of them is called +5VSB. That is the StandBy voltage, and remains on even when the NAS is off. That's because it powers the on/off circuit and the LAN port (so WoL works). If that voltage is failing, then this can also happen. It is not a repairable condition.
RN104-Gumboe
May 22, 2020Aspirant
Thanks, it's not plugged into a UPS. And most of the time it's not even switched on. It probably gets switched on about a dozen times a year. The power brick and the ethernet cable are always plugged in although for the last couple of months the switch end of the ethernet cable has been left unplugged. Power blips, hmm, not sure. We've got some picky kit here that I would expect to also show signs of an outage no matter how brief and I've not had a power blip here since before I got the RN104.
Are there any logs which I could find by SSHing onto the unit which would help to track down what this might be definitively?
Not sure about the power issue you mentioned so I'd better make sure I've got good backups. Just in case.
If the unit did die, what do you think would be my chances of getting the data off the drives either with or without a replacement RN104 from ebay? The drives aren't reporting any issues.
- SandsharkMay 23, 2020Sensei - Experienced User
RN104-Gumboe wrote:Thanks, it's not plugged into a UPS. And most of the time it's not even switched on. It probably gets switched on about a dozen times a year. The power brick and the ethernet cable are always plugged in although for the last couple of months the switch end of the ethernet cable has been left unplugged. Power blips, hmm, not sure. We've got some picky kit here that I would expect to also show signs of an outage no matter how brief and I've not had a power blip here since before I got the RN104.
I can understand not having a UPS with so little use. But it does make a power droop #1 on my list of suspects. If there is a nearby UPS, you might want to plug it in there, even if the NAS is not set up to monitor it. If the problem goes away, you've found the culpret.
Are there any logs which I could find by SSHing onto the unit which would help to track down what this might be definitively?
Unfortunately not. The NAS has no idea of what awakened it.
Not sure about the power issue you mentioned so I'd better make sure I've got good backups. Just in case.
That's always a good idea, anyway. If you start having problems turning the unit on or off or with the Ethernet connection, then those are other signs of this issue.
If the unit did die, what do you think would be my chances of getting the data off the drives either with or without a replacement RN104 from ebay? The drives aren't reporting any issues.
Very high likelyhood of recovery by just moving the drives to a new ReadyNAS. But not high enough to risk important data by not having a backup unless the NAS already is just a backup (as opposed to sole archival)). The +5VSB isn't used for anything that's likely to take down your volume. If it did go poof during a file transfer, the currently transferring file would likely be corrupted, but that's aboiut it. If it was the whole power brick, then the volumne could be corrupted. But that's not high on my list of suispects.
- StephenBMay 23, 2020Guru - Experienced User
Sandshark wrote:
I can understand not having a UPS with so little use. But it does make a power droop #1 on my list of suspects. If there is a nearby UPS, you might want to plug it in there, even if the NAS is not set up to monitor it. If the problem goes away, you've found the culpret.FWIW, my RN102 is also not on a UPS (it has no data on it, I only use it for occasional testing). Power droop is a possibility, though I haven't seen any correlation with power glitches I've noticed.
- RN104-GumboeJul 16, 2020Aspirant
It's odd, I really wondered if there was a way I could enable SSH, then SSH into the unit and find a log file, syslog or something like that which might shed some light on the situation. I even wondered if the unit was responding to a WOL request but from one of the previous responses it seems as though it's a complete mystery and there's no way to tell what's happened or what I can keep an eye on. I did wonder whether it was possible the unit had somehow been infected with some malware that set a date and time for a power on and then start dumping data somewhere.
Can you imagine coming downstairs early one morning and finding your TV or washing machine on and having to shrug it off with 'oh well that's one of those things'.
Related Content
NETGEAR Academy
Boost your skills with the Netgear Academy - Get trained, certified and stay ahead with the latest Netgear technology!
Join Us!