Re: RN104 Stuck In Boot Menu Mode/Normal after firmware upgrade 6.6.1

zeevi · ‎2017-08-25

Last time I logged into my RN104, it offered me a FW upgrade to 6.8.0. I accepted. Something went horribly wrong and my NAS became unusable - completely. My data's fine due to having off-site backups. But, the RN104 is toasted - sort of.

When powered on, it wants to (only) boot USB. So I prepared a USB recovery flash drive. It went through the process and powered off the NAS. I powered back on and nothing. It wants to only boot USB.

Trying multiple flash drives didn't help. But, in one of those attempts, I neglected to copy the <firmware>.img file to the USB drive and the unit dropped into tech support mode (LCD says "DEBUG $PORT $IP Recovery"). I can use RAIDar to find the unit. It says:

Model: None

Name: readynasos

Serial: NONE000200000

Status: Tech Support Mode

Firmware: 6.2.4

IP Address: 198.162.29.190 (28:C6:8E:35:20:6A)

Debug code: TELNET Mode

I can login via telnet as root, with pw infr8ntdebug.

From that point, is it possible for me to reset this whole thing to Factory Defaults or do an OS Reinstall? I have a disk drive I can use in it for this exercise (I'll upgrade to larger, real drives if it works).

How would I go about that?

Thanks!

Marty_M · ‎2017-08-27

Hello zeevi,

There is a possibility the NAS was already encountering internal problem and the firmware upgrade may just trigger the NAS to behave this way. One way to check if the NAS chassis is still working fine is to access and cycle to the boot menu option (with or without the hard drives inserted). If the boot menu is accessible then the chassis is working fine, since you have back up of the data I would recommend to go ahead and perform a factory reset and check if that would help address the concern.

Welcome to the community!

Regards,
Marty_M
NETGEAR Community Team

zeevi · ‎2017-08-27

Sadly, it won't go into boot mode. The reset button on the back seems to do absolutely nothing. 😞

Is there something I can do in debug mode to restore that?

mdgm-ntgr · ‎2017-08-27

I've sent you a PM.

Irecleas · ‎2017-09-06

I'm getting the same behaviour. Were you able to solve the problem?

zeevi · ‎2017-09-07

not yet. I'm working through some things with mdgm to see if it can be resolved.

WCar · ‎2017-09-27

My RN104 is in exactly the same state as yours. Was wondering if you had found a solution. Thanks!

zeevi · ‎2017-09-27

Sadly, no. I had some private messaging with mdgm (IIRC) and he connected to it to manually flash the 6.8.0 fw onto the unit, but it still behaves the same.

😞

WCar · ‎2017-09-27

Bummer. Well thanks for starting the thread and for trying. Looks like we're in the market for new NAS systems.

Marty_M · ‎2017-10-02

@WCar

One sign of a hardware chassis fault is the boot menu not responding with or without hard drives inserted. You might consider purchasing a new chassis if the unit is out of its warranties or contact support if the device is still under warranty.

Regards,
Marty_M
NETGEAR Community Team

zeevi · ‎2017-10-02

How would the chassis fail with a SW upgrade?

mdgm-ntgr · ‎2017-10-02

It could be coincidental.

If the system is always trying to boot off USB each boot that could suggest a backup button stuck in.

I can have another look at your system and have a look at WCar’s system.

Irecleas · ‎2017-10-02

Two may be a coincidence, but three? Unlikely. Probably many more people were affected that have not commented on this thread.

Netgear support has not been able to help me. But I do have a log of what support tried to do on the NAS through telnet. Hopefully it's helpful to someone here.

mdgm-ntgr · ‎2017-10-03

I've sent you all a PM. If you can provide remote access to your systems I'll try to check with some colleagues to see what they think.

If your systems were purchased less than 3 years ago brand new from an authorised reseller then they would still be covered by the 3 year limited hardware warranty.

Skywalker · ‎2017-10-04

It's not clear to me what "wanting to boot off USB" looks like. Can you describe the state it's in when trying to boot normally?

What is printed on the LCD display?
How long does it take to get to its final state?
What is the state of each of the LEDs?
Do any of the buttons respond?

zeevi · ‎2017-10-05

I will get this data ASAP. if I recall, the machine ONLY powers up wanting to boot USB with the power light and backup light (far right/left) blinking in an alternating, rapid pattern.

The display indicates it wants to boot from USB (whether there's a HD in the unit or not).

In 10-15 seconds, it usually fails.

With a recovery USB drive in it, it shows that it's trying to boot, but then ultimately fails.

With a "special" recovery USB drive (for getting a diagnostic port) it takes a few seconds to boot, then displays the diagnostic port number.

None of the buttons do a thing.

roen1 · ‎2017-10-06

hmmmm same here! opened a topic yesterday evening and today checking out other topics to find out yours...
It should be some kind of factory warranty 'cause the update killed the chassis, not age.

zeevi · ‎2017-10-06

That makes 4 of these that have "died" on the upgrade to 6.8.0.

😞

roen1 · ‎2017-10-06

oh sorry, it was to 6.8.1

StephenB · ‎2017-10-06

@zeevi wrote:

That makes 4 of these that have "died" on the upgrade to 6.8.0.

Out of a huge installed base (many, many thousands at least). Plus people report issues here, not generally not successes - so it's hard to draw conclusions on this.

That said, when I see something clearly trending, I make sure development is aware of it.

Nhaajuice · ‎2017-10-09

Same issue here...

roen1 · ‎2017-10-10

exactly same here

debug port recovery

rampage56 · ‎2017-10-10

My case is a bit different. I have a ReadyNAS 10400 firmware v6.1.8. I have tried to upgrade it to v6.8.1 (didnt read the documentation first) So after booting, it does not boot. Only booting.... message. If Im going to use USB recovery, what firmware version I should use? 6.2.5 or 6.8.1? So if I flashed the wrong version, whats the best option to do?

Thanks in advance guys

Skywalker · ‎2017-10-10

You should use 6.2.5 to do USB recovery if your system was previously running 6.1.8.

Skywalker · ‎2017-10-10

@roen1, Can you show the state it's in when trying to boot normally?

What is printed on the LCD display?
How long does it take to get to its final state?
What is the state of each of the LEDs?
Do any of the buttons respond?