We have a second-hand 4200 V1 that I've just filled with 2TB disks that are on the HCL. Turning on the unit, all the drives have the red led glowing, and then after that goes out, and each drive spins up, they all have a blue light except for drive 11, which has absolutely nothing going on.
First step: I swapped the drive out with another brand new disk, but same result.
Second step: I found a new backplane available for not much so I replaced it, and same result. (Looking back, this step is kind-of out of order simplicity wise, but oh well...)
Third step: I disconnected the original SATA cable for the drive, and temporarily used a replacement.
Fourth step: I swapped the SATA cable for bay 11 & 12 (SAS6 & SAS7 on the MoBo) and the drive 11 came alive and drive 12 went dark. (The power was off, that was just a figure of speech)
What options do I have left? Is it common for these MoBos' ports to die? Just one? It's a second-hand unit, so not under warranty. Do I have to replace the MoBo? The generic Super Micro MB is still available, but I'm guessing it has a custom BIOS, so I would have to get it from Netgear support.
I would like to say it isn't common that just 1 port is bad. Generally, we recommend that you attempt to do what you have already done (as in take off the lid and attempt to stabilize the cables, making sure that they are pushed in 100% on the questionable bay). You could, in turn, purchase a contract for your second-hand 4200 and have it replaced under contract and should have no problems with that. Contact Support in relation to PMB0334NA, OnCall 24x7 Category 4.
I just got off the phone with support, and they refuse to sell support contracts or parts for second-hand hardware, period. Not sure how it makes sense to just turn down my $$ for replacement parts. So they've left me with only one option: Try to fix it on my own.
Anyone have any idea what the hurdles would be with replacing the MoBo? Anyone try it before?
Just following up: This is definitely a sign that the Motherboard has failed. There *are* two more SATA ports available on the board, so if anyone else has this problem and is thinking of going that route, I was able to move the cable from SAS6 to one of the open SATA ports and the drive spun up and drive lights were active, etc - but I guess Frontview is coded to work with the drives configured in a certain way, because that drive was completely omitted from the list on the status page.
Also, just to follow up on my musings about replacing the MoBo on your own: Besides having a custom BIOS, the board is a special version presumably made just for the 4200V1, that doesn't appear to be available to anyone else, so even if you really got crafty and copied the BIOS to put in a replacement board- you probably won't be able to find the same board anywhere, period.
I just got off the phone with support, and they refuse to sell support contracts or parts for second-hand hardware, period. Not sure how it makes sense to just turn down my $$ for replacement parts. So they've left me with only one option: Try to fix it on my own.
