Ultra 2 won't shutdown -- reboots instead

That's very odd.

What's the output of the following?:

ls -laR /var/spool/frontview

Disconnect network cable from Ultra2 then try power down from front panel. Any USB devices connected? Maybe disconnect those as well.

Also are you able to download the logs (Status > Logs > Download all logs), extract the contents of the zip file and post the contents of bios_ver.log?

Along with the information that has already been requested, I highly recommend you open a support ticket and have a Netgear Support Expert view your unit - http://support.netgear.com/

Can you try it on another power outlet in the house? Just want to make sure theres no issue with the grounding.

Thanks for all the advice! Sorry I haven't been able to reply until now, I've been busy painting my new apartment. :)

Here's the spool directory:

# ls -laR /var/spool/frontview
/var/spool/frontview:
total 16
drwxr-xr-x 4 admin admin 4096 2012-06-23 07:52 .
drwxr-xr-x 7 root root 4096 2012-06-22 23:11 ..
drwx------ 2 admin admin 4096 2012-06-22 23:11 boot
drwx------ 2 admin admin 4096 2012-06-22 23:11 shutdown

/var/spool/frontview/boot:
total 8
drwx------ 2 admin admin 4096 2012-06-22 23:11 .
drwxr-xr-x 4 admin admin 4096 2012-06-23 07:52 ..

/var/spool/frontview/shutdown:
total 16
drwx------ 2 admin admin 4096 2012-06-22 23:11 .
drwxr-xr-x 4 admin admin 4096 2012-06-23 07:52 ..
-rw-r--r-- 1 admin admin 194 2012-06-22 23:06 00_Downgrade
-rwx------ 1 admin admin 4060 2012-05-31 14:42 080_Poweron

And bios_ver.log has this:

09/08/2010 ReadyNAS-ProUltra2 V1.4

Does that suggest anything?

I did open a case with netgear support (18832887). They suggested performing an OS reinstall.

So I think my plan is to:
- Try claykin's suggestion of unplugging the ethernet cable and powering down from the front panel.
- If that doesn't work, try support's suggestion of reinstalling the OS.

There is a BIOS update available for your NAS: http://www.readynas.com/download/addons/x86/4.2/BIOS_Update_Package_0.5-x86.bin

It can be installed via Add-Ons > Add New in Frontview.

boezeroen wrote:
my bios_ver logfile before update shows: 09/08/2010 ReadyNAS-ProUltra2 V1.4 After update: 11/02/2011 ReadyNAS-ProUltra2 V1.8

No luck --- unplugging the ethernet cable while powering down didn't help. Reinstalling the OS didn't help either. My Netgear still won't shut down. :-/

(I have no USB devices connected. I could try moving it to another outlet, but I'd have to do an "ungraceful" shutdown... and then I might as well just unplug it and move it to my new apartment and worry about it later.)

Any other ideas?

Seems like frontview is doing the right thing, since system.log says "powering off device", "shutting down for system halt", etc. So why... isn't it actually shutting off? Hardware fault??

Jun 22 23:22:38 dpeng-nas chronyd[2614]: Selected source 209.249.181.22
Jun 23 07:51:22 dpeng-nas RAIDiator: Please close this browser session and use RAIDar to reconnect to the device after it is powered back on. System powering off...
Jun 23 07:51:22 dpeng-nas RAIDiator: Powering off device
Jun 23 07:51:32 dpeng-nas shutdown[26827]: shutting down for system halt
Jun 23 07:51:32 dpeng-nas init: Switching to runlevel: 0
Jun 23 07:51:33 dpeng-nas kernel: ata1.00: configured for UDMA/133
Jun 23 07:51:33 dpeng-nas kernel: ata1: EH complete
Jun 23 07:51:33 dpeng-nas kernel: sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write cache: disabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
Jun 23 07:51:33 dpeng-nas kernel: ata2.00: configured for UDMA/133
Jun 23 07:51:33 dpeng-nas kernel: ata2: EH complete
Jun 23 07:51:33 dpeng-nas kernel: sd 1:0:0:0: [sdb] Write cache: disabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
Jun 23 07:51:35 dpeng-nas avahi-daemon[2568]: Files changed, reloading.
Jun 23 07:51:35 dpeng-nas avahi-daemon[2568]: Service group file /etc/avahi/services/mt-daapd.service vanished, removing services.
Jun 23 07:51:35 dpeng-nas avahi-daemon[2568]: Got SIGHUP, reloading.
Jun 23 07:51:36 dpeng-nas exiting on signal 15
Jun 23 07:52:27 dpeng-nas syslogd 1.4.1#18: restart.
Jun 23 07:52:27 dpeng-nas kernel: klogd 1.4.1#18, log source = /proc/kmsg started.
Jun 23 07:52:27 dpeng-nas kernel: Initializing cgroup subsys cpu
Jun 23 07:52:27 dpeng-nas kernel: Linux version 2.6.37.6.RNx86_64.2.4 (jmaggard@calzone) (gcc version 4.1.2 20061115 (prerelease) (Debian 4.1.1-21)) #1 SMP Mon May 21 16:00:40 PDT 2012
Jun 23 07:52:27 dpeng-nas kernel: Command line: initrd=initrd.gz reason=normal BOOT_IMAGE=kernel
Jun 23 07:52:27 dpeng-nas kernel: BIOS-provided physical RAM map: