Please help - 6.9.4 firmware has bricked my 526X

[mark_j_wagstaff]

I would really appreciate some help with a non-functioning 526X.

I selected the 6.9.4.firmware upgrade through frontview.  I had the usual request to reboot at the end of the process.  It did not complete the boot.  The front display says "booting" but does not progress from there.  I have tried restarting it several times using the front power button but this gets to "booting" and no further.  I have tried the reset process several times but this does not achieve anything.

I have attempted the USB recovery tool but I cannot get the firmware to appear in the drop down menu (see below). I have tried the 6.9.3 and 6.9.4 firmware but that does not help.  I have tried copying the firmware to all the other folders in the recovery folder but that has not help either. I am running the usb recovery tool as admin.

Could someone please send me the folder hierarchy that they know works to create the bootable USB?  That would be a great first step.

I have also tried using rufus to create a bootable drive but that is not working for me either.

I am desperate.  This is my back up NAS (my primary ReadyNAS upgraded without problem) but I still need it working urgently.

Thanks in advance.

Mark

recovery tool does not see the fw imagefw image in the recovery folderfw image in the recovery folder

[mark_j_wagstaff · Accepted solution]

So, I tried moving the folder containing the usb recovery files and sub-folders to C: and it worked like a charm.  No idea why, is there a limit on characters on the file path I wonder.

I created the recovery drive turned on the NAS.  It booted, flashed a few times and then turned itself off.  Contrary to a few knowledge base articles, community posts, etc it was not necessary to push any buttons during the process.  Once the NAS had shut itself down, I pulled the USB out and restarted.  It rebooted as normal.

I also have a theory on the cause of the problem.  I was editing the scheduled volume maintenance tasks on another NAS that was configured identically.  I suspect a disk test was triggered half way through the upgrade process.  Netgear - pl check this and inhibit maintenance tasks, back-ups, etc during firmware upgrades.

Hope this helps others.

[mdgm]

That’s the correct directory (x86).

A syslinux bootable USB key with the initrd.gz, kernel, syslinux.cfg and firmware .img added should work. However USB Boot Recovery only helps if the problem is on the internal flash. It doesn’t sound like that kind of problem.

Does your system boot into tech support mode?

If not, what happens when trying to boot the NAS with the disks removed?

A bad disk is a possibility. A fairly full 4GB root volume is another.

[mark_j_wagstaff · Accepted solution]

So, I tried moving the folder containing the usb recovery files and sub-folders to C: and it worked like a charm.  No idea why, is there a limit on characters on the file path I wonder.

I created the recovery drive turned on the NAS.  It booted, flashed a few times and then turned itself off.  Contrary to a few knowledge base articles, community posts, etc it was not necessary to push any buttons during the process.  Once the NAS had shut itself down, I pulled the USB out and restarted.  It rebooted as normal.

I also have a theory on the cause of the problem.  I was editing the scheduled volume maintenance tasks on another NAS that was configured identically.  I suspect a disk test was triggered half way through the upgrade process.  Netgear - pl check this and inhibit maintenance tasks, back-ups, etc during firmware upgrades.

Hope this helps others.