I am a novice when it comes to this, but hopefully someone can help. My current NAS is an RN516 with four WD RED 3tb NAS drives. I powered down the unit today to move it to another location, and after a quick de-dusting, powered it back up in its new home, but it was not able to boot. I get the "NETGEAR Storage Welcome" message and the purple Netgear with the "OK" button, but it is unresponsive and these just keep flashing in a repeat loop. The fan is also at maximum.
The unit will not show in my ReadyCLOUD as being online and my monitor reports no input when I plug in an HDMI. After doing some reading on the community I tried removing the drives and restarting, no change, and I tried removing the CMOD battery for 30 seconds, but that didn't help either. Hoping someone has some ideas to help.
I just tried unseating the memory and put everything back together. Now it doesn't appear to be getting any power as it won't power up. Think it may be time for an RMA
So after opening the box to check the memory and reseat the battery, I was told I voided my warranty. After several months of back and forth with Netgear, they will not accept an RMA. The unit is still stuck in a boot loop. I have tried using the reset button, but cannot get to the boot menu. I have tried using a USB Recovery tool and the drive light comes on to show that it is being accessed, but it will not do anything but flash the initial welcome message on the display and the purple "OK" on the front. I'm looking for any other ideas to salvage this unit!
So after opening the box to check the memory and reseat the battery, I was told I voided my warranty.
Your first post made it clear that you'd already opened up the box before you posted anything. I'd have given different advice on the memory seating if you hadn't done that.
FWIW, while I get that some people might do damage when they open the NAS up, IMO Netgear's policy on this is rather draconian.
I have tried using a USB Recovery tool and the drive light comes on to show that it is being accessed, but it will not do anything but flash the initial welcome message on the display and the purple "OK" on the front.
First try taking a scratch SATA disk, and zero it with vendor tools in a Windows PC (seatools for seagate, lifeguard for western digital). Then remove the existing disks (labeling by slot) and insert the scratch (test) disk. Power up the NAS, and see if it does a fresh factory install.
If that works, the boot issue is disk-related (either a disk failure, or a corrupted operating system on the disks). If that's your situation, you'd need to do some form of data recovery to extract the data on the NAS, and you'd then be able to do a factory reset to rebuild the NAS and start over.
But if it fails, it is either a chassis failure or an issue with the flash memory. In that case, the first thing to try is another USB recovery attempt with a different flash drive. It might possibly be a PSU failure (since the LCD panel will work if there is only 5 volts).
I have a new unit in place and have moved my drives over. It is up and running well. I'd like to get this unit back up and running if possible as it was an expensive piece of hardware. I am open to trying just about anything right now as I don't have to worry about voiding my warranty.
I have a brand new WD 3TB drive that I was planning on using in the unit if I got it running again. Will putting it into the unit suffice or do I need to format it first?
I have a brand new WD 3TB drive that I was planning on using in the unit if I got it running again. Will putting it into the unit suffice or do I need to format it first?
Don't format it, as that would force you to use the boot menu to do the factory reset.
With a blank disk, the system will automatically do a factory install.
Brand new drive, unformatted, installed in the first slot and when unit powered up, same issue. Looks like I'll have to try another USB Recovery Tool. I have been using the front usb port, is that correct? Also, should I use the original firmware or the latest version for the RN51600?
I have tried 5 different flash drives with no luck. All 5 were FAT32 formatted with the default allocation size prior to running the usbrecovery application and selecting the ReadyNASOS 6.9.3 x86. I am starting to wonder if this is a psu issue.
Does Netgear offer any replacement parts or have a recommended distributor to buy replacement parts? I'd be interested in getting a new psu and motherboard just to make sure I resolve the issue and don't have to buy a whole new unit.
This is one of the Negatives of buying a NAS from a company. They are custom units with custom parts, form the motherboard(s) to the power supply, etc. The only way to get them fixed is by sending the unit back to the factory under warranty. You're far from the first person to stumble upon this.
For some people, this is enough of an excuse to build your own NAS and using standard parts. In general, it's not going to be as compact or as easy to swap drives. There are ways to do things, and software designed to be used with your own built NAS. It's also more than likely going to cost you more money. On the other hand, you'd get a system that fits your needs.
I would check the voltages coming out of the Power Supply. Also, you may be able to find a replacement someplace. Maybe even FIX what you have by replacing a bad part. It all depends on your time and skills. Of course, all these companies want you to throw away what you have and buy a new one.
I've never gotten a new NAS. They've all been USED. I got my 516 at about half price of a new one. I basically turned it into a 716. I upgraded the CPU and it now has 16 gigs from the stock 4 gig's or RAM. Made a big difference for use with PLEX. I had no warranty, so why not. Even the faster CPU I got USED. It's been quite some time since I did that upgrade and have had zero issues.
