It seems a power failure (even though the NAS was turned off) has broken my device. I found it having turned itself on saying 'boot menu' with the power button flashing.I took out the disks (and labeled them), but that made no difference. Pressing the backup button shows 'boot menu - normal', and that's as far as it goes. It is the exact same as when I try to initiate a reset by holding the reset button and pressing backup. I tried updating the firmware. I started with 6.10.10 (which turned out impossible, but at that time I didn't know I was still at 6.2.4), which got the NAS stuck at IP:TELNET. That is when RAIDar finally recognised the device (and when I found out the firmare version), with 'Model: None' and 'Serial: N0NE00200000'. Hoping that I could get it fixed just like skmax did, I tried updating to 6.2.5, followed by 6.5.2. In both cases the NAS said "update succesful" (or something like that, I cannot remember the specific wording), but when booting without a boot img on the stick (to get it in the TELNET mode) RAIDar tells me it is still at 6.2.4. I'm close to accepting it is dead, but not completely willing to give it up just yet, so... help! And if it is dead, assuming the disks are still ok, would putting them in a different RAID5 device work, or would I need to find a different way to save the data?

Not sure how far you can get, given the broken serial number. But if you can get into tech support mode without the USB recovery image, then you can try to manually mount the OS partition and the data partition. You could then copy the data off to USB disk(s). It is also possible to trigger a firmware update from tech support mode. But getting the data off the NAS first is the best approach. gdekker wrote: And if it is dead, assuming the disks are still ok, would putting them in a different RAID5 device work, or would I need to find a different way to save the data? It is possible to manually mount the disks from a normal linux system.

How did you attempt the original update to 6.10.10? By USB recovery? That would be a bad thing and specifically what Netgear warns against doing, presumably for a reason. And I suspect that reason is that something changes in UBOOT. Of course, your UBOOT may have sustained damage, not just be corrupt. But if USB recovery to the same version that is already in the unit doesn't fix it, it's likely nothing can short of manually wiping and restoring the UBOOT (which I have no experience with, but do recall seeing a post here about) will fix it, and that's assuming there is no damage to it. If you want to move the drives to another ReadyNAS, I'm not sure if the old OS will create an issue or not since it will update your OS on the drives to whatever version it has and going back to 6.2.4 on the replacement isn't something you should do. On an Intel based machine, I don't think it would matter. But on another ARM system, I just don't know because I don't know the reason for the update warnings.

gdekker wrote: StephenB wrote: It is also possible to trigger a firmware update from tech support mode. I just noticed that when booting from USB without an image on it, RAIDar detects the nas in 'Tech Support Mode', although it doesn't detect (the absence of) any disks). How would I trigger the firmware update from that? You'd first log into the NAS via telnet (using the back door password), and then mount the OS partition. From there you would copy the firmware image to /etc/.flash_update and reboot the NAS. If you want to try that, I'd suggest installing 6.2.4, as that seems safer than trying to go forward.

First see if it is already mounted. Just type mount - that will show you all the mounted drives on the system. If it doesn't show up there, then we need to find the drive letter. Enter fdisk -l - that will list all the drives. Normally the internal disks will be first (sda, sdb, sdc, sdd), followed by the USB drives Once you know the drive name (lets call it sdX), you can mount it to /mnt using mount /dev/sdX1 /mnt Note the number at the end is the partition number. The internal drives have 3 or more partitions - 1 is the OS, 2 is for swap, and the remaining ones for for the data volume.

StephenB wrote:Not sure how far you can get, given the broken serial number. But if you can get into tech support mode without the USB recovery image, then you can try to manually mount the OS partition and the data partition. You could then copy the data off to USB disk(s). It is also possible to trigger a firmware update from tech support mode. But getting the data off the NAS first is the best approach.It is possible to manually mount the disks from a normal linux system. Alas, pressing the backup button doesn't cycle through the options, but stops at 'Boot Mode - Normal'; Tech support mode doesn't seem like an option. Copying the data would be a problem in itself as it is a half full 4x3TB RAID5, but I'll deal with that later, I'm not too worried that I might lose the data (but it would be nice to be able to fix the NAS in stead of having to find a big enough storage space to copy the data, get a new NAS and copying it back again.) Sandshark wrote:How did you attempt the original update to 6.10.10? By USB recovery? That would be a bad thing and specifically what Netgear warns against doing, presumably for a reason. And I suspect that reason is that something changes in UBOOT. Of course, your UBOOT may have sustained damage, not just be corrupt. But if USB recovery to the same version that is already in the unit doesn't fix it, it's likely nothing can short of manually wiping and restoring the UBOOT (which I have no experience with, but do recall seeing a post here about) will fix it, and that's assuming there is no damage to it.Indeed, by USB recovery (there was no other option), and trying to update 6.10.10 from 6.2.4 may have made the problems worse..? However, I did some troubleshooting and that seemed like the only option. I feel like Netgear didn't do too good a job warning against it. Sure, the USB Recovery Tool Page says to only use it at the "recommendation of Netgear Tech Support", but that's about as serious a warning as Samsung telling me not to install LineageOS on their device, so it never seemed like that big a deal. It's not like I haven't done dozens of similar things on differents systems. Also, the download page doesn't mention not to install 6.10.10 on 6.3.x or older (that's merely mentioned in the release notes), that, to me, seems like a pretty big thing to omit. Anyway, on topic: I understand plugging the disks in a different NAS would most likely not work, so even though I'm still hoping on a little miracle that will fix my NAS, I will start thinking of a way to copy the data.

RN104 stuck at 'boot menu', flashing power button

19 Replies

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StephenB
Guru - Experienced User
May 19, 2024
Not sure how far you can get, given the broken serial number. But if you can get into tech support mode without the USB recovery image, then you can try to manually mount the OS partition and the data partition. You could then copy the data off to USB disk(s).

It is also possible to trigger a firmware update from tech support mode. But getting the data off the NAS first is the best approach.

gdekker wrote:

And if it is dead, assuming the disks are still ok, would putting them in a different RAID5 device work, or would I need to find a different way to save the data?

It is possible to manually mount the disks from a normal linux system.
- Sandshark
  Sensei
  May 19, 2024
  How did you attempt the original update to 6.10.10? By USB recovery? That would be a bad thing and specifically what Netgear warns against doing, presumably for a reason. And I suspect that reason is that something changes in UBOOT. Of course, your UBOOT may have sustained damage, not just be corrupt. But if USB recovery to the same version that is already in the unit doesn't fix it, it's likely nothing can short of manually wiping and restoring the UBOOT (which I have no experience with, but do recall seeing a post here about) will fix it, and that's assuming there is no damage to it.
  
  If you want to move the drives to another ReadyNAS, I'm not sure if the old OS will create an issue or not since it will update your OS on the drives to whatever version it has and going back to 6.2.4 on the replacement isn't something you should do. On an Intel based machine, I don't think it would matter. But on another ARM system, I just don't know because I don't know the reason for the update warnings.
- gdekker
  Aspirant
  May 19, 2024
  StephenB wrote:
  Not sure how far you can get, given the broken serial number. But if you can get into tech support mode without the USB recovery image, then you can try to manually mount the OS partition and the data partition. You could then copy the data off to USB disk(s).
  
  It is also possible to trigger a firmware update from tech support mode. But getting the data off the NAS first is the best approach.
  It is possible to manually mount the disks from a normal linux system.
  
  Alas, pressing the backup button doesn't cycle through the options, but stops at 'Boot Mode - Normal'; Tech support mode doesn't seem like an option. Copying the data would be a problem in itself as it is a half full 4x3TB RAID5, but I'll deal with that later, I'm not too worried that I might lose the data (but it would be nice to be able to fix the NAS in stead of having to find a big enough storage space to copy the data, get a new NAS and copying it back again.)
  
  Sandshark wrote:
  How did you attempt the original update to 6.10.10? By USB recovery? That would be a bad thing and specifically what Netgear warns against doing, presumably for a reason. And I suspect that reason is that something changes in UBOOT. Of course, your UBOOT may have sustained damage, not just be corrupt. But if USB recovery to the same version that is already in the unit doesn't fix it, it's likely nothing can short of manually wiping and restoring the UBOOT (which I have no experience with, but do recall seeing a post here about) will fix it, and that's assuming there is no damage to it.
  Indeed, by USB recovery (there was no other option), and trying to update 6.10.10 from 6.2.4 may have made the problems worse..? However, I did some troubleshooting and that seemed like the only option. I feel like Netgear didn't do too good a job warning against it. Sure, the USB Recovery Tool Page says to only use it at the "recommendation of Netgear Tech Support", but that's about as serious a warning as Samsung telling me not to install LineageOS on their device, so it never seemed like that big a deal. It's not like I haven't done dozens of similar things on differents systems. Also, the download page doesn't mention not to install 6.10.10 on 6.3.x or older (that's merely mentioned in the release notes), that, to me, seems like a pretty big thing to omit.
  
  Anyway, on topic: I understand plugging the disks in a different NAS would most likely not work, so even though I'm still hoping on a little miracle that will fix my NAS, I will start thinking of a way to copy the data.
  - StephenB
    Guru - Experienced User
    May 20, 2024
    gdekker wrote:
    Also, the download page doesn't mention not to install 6.10.10 on 6.3.x or older (that's merely mentioned in the release notes), that, to me, seems like a pretty big thing to omit.
    
    It is, though keep in mind that you hadn't updated the firmware in 9 years. If you'd kept up along the way, you wouldn't have run into this.
    
    gdekker wrote:
    Anyway, on topic: I understand plugging the disks in a different NAS would most likely not work, so even though I'm still hoping on a little miracle that will fix my NAS, I will start thinking of a way to copy the data.
    
    Disks can be migrated to another OS-6 ReadyNAS. You'd need to purchase one used. If you want to try this, install a test disk (not in the array) on the NAS first, and update the firmware to 6.10.9 (if you don't care about apps, you can go to 6.10.10). Make sure the NAS will boot with the test disk in every slot (powering down before moving the disk). After that, you can power down again and migrate the disks.
    
    As I mentioned above, if you can connect all the disks to a PC, you can boot up that PC using linux (using a "live" USB boot disk) and then mount the disks manually using linux commands.
- gdekker
  Aspirant
  May 20, 2024
  StephenB wrote:
  It is also possible to trigger a firmware update from tech support mode.
  I just noticed that when booting from USB without an image on it, RAIDar detects the nas in 'Tech Support Mode', although it doesn't detect (the absence of) any disks). How would I trigger the firmware update from that?
  - StephenB
    Guru - Experienced User
    May 20, 2024
    gdekker wrote:
    
    StephenB wrote:
    
    It is also possible to trigger a firmware update from tech support mode.
    
    I just noticed that when booting from USB without an image on it, RAIDar detects the nas in 'Tech Support Mode', although it doesn't detect (the absence of) any disks). How would I trigger the firmware update from that?
    
    You'd first log into the NAS via telnet (using the back door password), and then mount the OS partition.
    
    From there you would copy the firmware image to /etc/.flash_update and reboot the NAS.
    
    If you want to try that, I'd suggest installing 6.2.4, as that seems safer than trying to go forward.
gdekker
Aspirant
Jun 01, 2024
Small update, for anyone that's interested: I was expecting to have to configure all kinds of weird raid-related stuff in Linux and look up and run a plethora of commands. I downloaded Ubuntu (I went for 14.x, because of this post on Superuser) and was a bit confused when the "mdadm --assemble --scan" told me it found nothing. However, after a few frustrating and fruitless searches it turned out that the raid was auto-found and mounted and all the data was right there all along, just not where I first thought I should look.

Anyway, long story short: the raid was auto-configured (after installing mdadm) and the data is safe. (Considering the NAS now officially dead.)

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RN104 stuck at 'boot menu', flashing power button

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