TFTP Boot Recovery on Readynas X6/600 Rev A

You don't need TFTP for RevA, swapping the CF card gives the same affect.

You can try 15 second reset button (Tech Support Mode) and see if one of the agents on here will take a look at it.

chirpa wrote:
You don't need TFTP for RevA, swapping the CF card gives the same affect. You can try 15 second reset button (Tech Support Mode) and see if one of the agents on here will take a look at it.

I believe I had it working at one point but it was running super old firmware which was probably the original firmware when the item was new. I tried to update it to the current firmware and the machine is now in this frozen state with an unresponsive power button. I figured that maybe the current firmware was too big for the old compact flash card.

Do you know if there are any known issues with a " Transcent compact flash 1GB 80X( I assume this is speed?)" because that is what I'm using to replace the stock compact flash card.

I don't suppose there is a copy of the super old firmware available for download or email? At this point, I will try anything.

P.S. There is no data on the machine so there is nothing to worry about in that regards.

chirpa wrote:
http://www.readynas.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=171825#p171825 viewtopic.php?p=223119#p223119

Holly molly, it worked! I am now up and running on Firmware: RAIDiator™ v2.00c1-p5 [1.00a122]. The power button will respond now and turn off normally and Raidar software will see the unit with IP address and everything.

Ok, now is there a safe method to move from 2.00C1-P5 to the current latest version of the firmware?

one strange thing is the model number is showing " --"

Anyway, this is a lot better than before.

Thanks

You can't upgrade direct from RAIDiator 1 to RAIDiator 4.

Now that you've loaded 2.00c1-p5 you could try updating to the latest firmware again.

mdgm wrote:
You can't upgrade direct from RAIDiator 1 to RAIDiator 4. Now that you've loaded 2.00c1-p5 you could try updating to the latest firmware again.

I want to start out and say that I am extremely grateful for everyone's help.

I followed the advice and it worked!!!

Now I am up and running however I did have to change the Compact Flash card to a larger card. I think it was too small to keep the full firmware and the web based admin would not work.

Now that I change the compact flash drive to one with more space, I now see everything working!!!

You guys should really add a topic to your help section on upgrading an extremely old version of the firmware and keep the bridge firmware needed " 2.00c1-p5". That was the key to getting the machine up and running.

There is just one thing that does not make sense, when I was having the problem I

1. Did a factory reset and manually wrote the firmware to a new compact flash card installed with the latest firmware) Following the instructions online
2. Did a USB firmware restore with a USB flash drive( containing the latest firmware), following the instructions online
3. Connect a new hard drive which was never used in a raid system before for a fresh start.

Using these extreme measures, why did the latest new firmware not take in the system? I would think these steps would fix anything?

Does it have to do with updating the bios for the motherboard or something to prepare the hardware for the new firmware?

Thanks.

The boot loader changed back in the v2-era to support different encryption on the flash. If you skipped that version, this would happen.

chirpa wrote:
The boot loader changed back in the v2-era to support different encryption on the flash. If you skipped that version, this would happen.

The boot loader is separate from the software on the compact flash card or the hard drives in the system?

Thanks.

The boot loader is separate but it is used to load the initrd on the compact flash card. If the boot loader can't read the initrd the NAS can't boot.

The firmware is designed to fit on a 64MB CF card. However if too many sectors have failed then it won't fit. Anything bigger than 64MB would be plenty.

Most users would have moved on from RAIDiator 1 long ago so best to probably deal with issues like this on a case by case by case basis.

You should also ensure you have at least 256MB RAM in your system. 128MB RAM isn't really enough for RAIDiator 4

mdgm wrote:

The boot loader is separate but it is used to load the initrd on the compact flash card. If the boot loader can't read the initrd the NAS can't boot. The firmware is designed to fit on a 64MB CF card. However if too many sectors have failed then it won't fit. Anything bigger than 64MB would be plenty. Most users would have moved on from RAIDiator 1 long ago so best to probably deal with issues like this on a case by case by case basis. You should also ensure you have at least 256MB RAM in your system. 128MB RAM isn't really enough for RAIDiator 4

It is probably more common than you think. I alone has encountered this same problem twice! The first time was in a vacation place I have which I only visit a few weeks a year. I got so frustrated that I buried the readynas in the closet and forgot about it. I am guessing it had the same issue as the one I just experience today.

Here is the thing, people data is not replaceable and so very valuable that they probably don't want to risk losing the data with updating the firmware. Maybe I am just old fashion, I don't use twitter or facebook. My last apple product was an Apple 2GS with dot matrix printer :)

So is the boot loader basically stored on the RAM stick? Is that the part that needed to be updated so the newer firmware would load?

So all the factory reset, direct Compact flash updates, USB stick recovery were ineffective until the unit was loaded up with the version 2 of the firmware thus updating the boot loader so it could read the RAIDiator 4's updated encryption initrd or something to that effect?

Well, I am glad you guys stuck with me and helped me get the unit up and running. You Jedi are alright!

Thanks again