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Forum Discussion
Ultra 2+ Powers On - No ethernet activity - Corrupt Firmware ? - USB Boot Recovery NOT Working
Any help or suggestions appreciated.
Helping a friend recover the use of his older ReadyNAS Ultra-2+ which does not boot into the NAS's system management webserver or even attempt to send ethernet ...
At Step 2 you should not be using a pre-formatted disk, erase the partition (using WD Data Lifeguard perhaps) then boot the Ultra.
At steps 4 & 5 try with another USB drive, older smaller capacity ones are best
Thank you for your reply. I will delete the WD hard drive's EXT4 partition using my Linux box so that it should appear to the ReadyNAS Ultra2+ as unformated and try that in the ReadyNAS later today and report results.
I do have another 3 USB memory sticks formated FAT32 and will try those in my step #5.
Trying booting up without disks is a good suggestion. It is possible that there's a hardware failure of some kind.
I do have some alternate files for booting off USB that can be helpful for diagnosing whether there's a hardware issue or not.
Thank you for your reply.
Yes, if it is possible to point me to alternate USB boot files for troubleshooting the ReadyNAS that would be much appreciated.
I am going to try more ways to create a firmware USB boot recovery stick, FAT16, FAT32, formatted directly in WinXP, diff (older ?) firmware images than the one I used in my step #5 above. My friend's ReadyNAS Ultra2+ exact model number = RNDP200U FW:v4.2.17 so I may try finding a copy of that older v4.2.17 firmware binary to try.
You are right in mentioning that the source problem could be defective PHY ethernet channels. I am trying to remain optimistic that fixing corrupt firmware inside the ReadyNAS might fix things, only because some users who reported inactive LAN ports and non-communicative ReadyNAS units were able to restore their ReadyNAS after various firmware repair procedures were used, which is why I wish there was more detailed information from Netgear about firmware recovery tools.
The instructions look pretty clear to me but then I'm very familiar with the process. It's advised not to try it without our recommendation to do so. Normally it would be done with the help of support who are familiar with the process and what should happen.
USB Boot Recovery is rarely the solution to a problem and can introduce additional problems. The RAIDiator-x86 models have been discontinued a long time and most would be out of warranty by now so the tool won't be updated for those. We have made some changes to the tool for new models.
USB Boot Recovery is for fixing corrupt firmware on the internal flash. Normally this isn't the problem. If you can get to to the boot menu or see the NAS in RAIDar with the disks removed then most likely it's not a problem that USB Boot Recovery will help with.
The USB key should have these files:
initrd.gz
kernel
RAIDiator-x86-4.2.31
syslinux.cfg
There's the bootloader ldlinux.sys on there as well but that file might be hidden.
The USB Boot Recovery files should be on partition 1. A common mistake is to have the USB key setup with no partition table. So the USB Boot Recovery script looks for a partition 1 and can't find it and is unable to do the recovery.
The boot recovery will fail if it can't find the firmware image on partition 1 on the USB key.
The system should automatically shutdown when USB Boot Recovery is complete. It's not a good idea to interrupt USB Boot Recovery if it's in progress so allowing more than enough time for it to complete is advisable. If the procedure to boot off USB is not followed correctly then the NAS will attempt a normal boot. This is more likely to happen on some systems where triggering the boot off USB is more tricky than on the Ultra 2+.
USB keys can contain features that render them incompatible with USB Boot Recovery. We can't test every USB key on the market so it is a bit of trial and error to find one that is compatible.
Some users have found using a 3rd party tool such as Rufus to create a syslinux bootable USB key has worked for them.
That sticker just means that it shipped with 4.2.17. Trying to put 4.2.17 on is not going to be any better than putting 4.2.31 on and 4.2.17 is extremely old firmware. We do have a warning not to try putting older firmware on via USB Boot Recovery.
What my alternate files do is boot the NAS into a state where I can remotely troubleshoot it. With my alternate files it doesn't matter whether the USB key has a partition table on it or not, so long as it's syslinux bootable and the NAS hardware is fine it should boot off it. I've sent you a PM.
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