Hi, my RN104 auto powered up the other day while not being plugged into the ethernet switch. It's happened a few times previously but it was plugged into a Netgear 16 port unmanaged gigabit switch when it happened before, I'd previously assumed that something had sent a WOL magic packet to the device causing it to turn on. Now that it's randomly powered up while not plugged into anything other than power I'm wondering why.
It's an RN104 with firmware 6.10.3
Contains 4 x WDC WD4001FFSX-68JNUNO
Does anyone know what might be the cause of this please?
It's certainly odd, I've checked the Power on Time and Wake on LAN settings and neither are ticked.
It would be good to know if there's a log I can get to which might show what triggered the power on. I don't have anything else in the house that does this, powers on when not turned on, only my Netgear ReadyNAS. I even wondered if it somehow had some virus/malware on it but that's just speculation.
Thje default condition after a power interruption is on. Is the NAS on an UPS? If not, you likely had a short power fluctuation that caused it. If it is on an UPS, you may have an issue with it. Or, the power brick may be having a problem (though that is unlikely with the NAS unpowered).
There is one other possibility, and it's not a good thing. Internally, the NAS creates the necessary voltages from the input 12V. One of them is called +5VSB. That is the StandBy voltage, and remains on even when the NAS is off. That's because it powers the on/off circuit and the LAN port (so WoL works). If that voltage is failing, then this can also happen. It is not a repairable condition.
Thanks, it's not plugged into a UPS. And most of the time it's not even switched on. It probably gets switched on about a dozen times a year. The power brick and the ethernet cable are always plugged in although for the last couple of months the switch end of the ethernet cable has been left unplugged. Power blips, hmm, not sure. We've got some picky kit here that I would expect to also show signs of an outage no matter how brief and I've not had a power blip here since before I got the RN104.
Are there any logs which I could find by SSHing onto the unit which would help to track down what this might be definitively?
Not sure about the power issue you mentioned so I'd better make sure I've got good backups. Just in case.
If the unit did die, what do you think would be my chances of getting the data off the drives either with or without a replacement RN104 from ebay? The drives aren't reporting any issues.
Thanks, it's not plugged into a UPS. And most of the time it's not even switched on. It probably gets switched on about a dozen times a year. The power brick and the ethernet cable are always plugged in although for the last couple of months the switch end of the ethernet cable has been left unplugged. Power blips, hmm, not sure. We've got some picky kit here that I would expect to also show signs of an outage no matter how brief and I've not had a power blip here since before I got the RN104.
I can understand not having a UPS with so little use. But it does make a power droop #1 on my list of suspects. If there is a nearby UPS, you might want to plug it in there, even if the NAS is not set up to monitor it. If the problem goes away, you've found the culpret.
Are there any logs which I could find by SSHing onto the unit which would help to track down what this might be definitively?
Unfortunately not. The NAS has no idea of what awakened it.
Not sure about the power issue you mentioned so I'd better make sure I've got good backups. Just in case.
That's always a good idea, anyway. If you start having problems turning the unit on or off or with the Ethernet connection, then those are other signs of this issue.
If the unit did die, what do you think would be my chances of getting the data off the drives either with or without a replacement RN104 from ebay? The drives aren't reporting any issues.
Very high likelyhood of recovery by just moving the drives to a new ReadyNAS. But not high enough to risk important data by not having a backup unless the NAS already is just a backup (as opposed to sole archival)). The +5VSB isn't used for anything that's likely to take down your volume. If it did go poof during a file transfer, the currently transferring file would likely be corrupted, but that's aboiut it. If it was the whole power brick, then the volumne could be corrupted. But that's not high on my list of suispects.
@Sandshark wrote: I can understand not having a UPS with so little use. But it does make a power droop #1 on my list of suspects. If there is a nearby UPS, you might want to plug it in there, even if the NAS is not set up to monitor it. If the problem goes away, you've found the culpret.
FWIW, my RN102 is also not on a UPS (it has no data on it, I only use it for occasional testing). Power droop is a possibility, though I haven't seen any correlation with power glitches I've noticed.
It's odd, I really wondered if there was a way I could enable SSH, then SSH into the unit and find a log file, syslog or something like that which might shed some light on the situation. I even wondered if the unit was responding to a WOL request but from one of the previous responses it seems as though it's a complete mystery and there's no way to tell what's happened or what I can keep an eye on. I did wonder whether it was possible the unit had somehow been infected with some malware that set a date and time for a power on and then start dumping data somewhere.
Can you imagine coming downstairs early one morning and finding your TV or washing machine on and having to shrug it off with 'oh well that's one of those things'.
The NAS has no way of knowing how it was turned on, so there is no log you can examine. Is your NAS on an UPS? A power interruption, even very short, can cause your NAS to power on once power is restored if it's not held up by an UPS. If that's not it, a fault in the power-on circuit or the power to it can also cause it. The external supply could be the issue, but I think it's unlikely.
Have you scheduled any maintenance in the maintenance schedule on the volume wheel? The last time I discovered my RN102 turned on, it was doing a scrub.
I know it's unusual but my NAS is not usually turned on. 99% of the time it's off.
It's not plugged into a UPS. It just sits on the edge of my desk and I turn it on occasionally.
My PC is always on and is set to not power on after a power outage. If there had been a power blip causing the power to drop and come back and then causing the NAS to come back on then my PC would be off. So it's not that.
A practical solution is to connect the NAS to a power strip, and power down the power strip after you shut it off. A bit inconvenient, but it certainly will avoid the problem.
If the NAS generally isn't powered up for long, you could also create a power schedule to turn it off at a set time (say 6 am). Then if it does power up, it won't stay up for longer than a day.
A practical solution is to connect the NAS to a power strip, and power down the power strip after you shut it off. A bit inconvenient, but it certainly will avoid the problem.
If the NAS generally isn't powered up for long, you could also create a power schedule to turn it off at a set time (say 6 am). Then if it does power up, it won't stay up for longer than a day.
Not sure I understand why you're suggesting options for powering up and down the NAS? I don't need to do this, I'm ok with powering it on and off manually when I want.
My original question is why would my NAS power up all on it's own?
Responses so far have suggested it may be a faulty power connector, or a scheduled job. I don't believe it's either of those, I've checked and there are no scheduled jobs and wrt the power connector it's not damaged and it's not been stretched/stained. It's been inserted into the back of the RN104 maybe twice in the years I've had it.
When no one was able to suggest anything else I asked if there were any log files that I could look at by SSHing into my RN104. Reply was that the RN104 doesn't record how it's been powered on. I'm wondering if there's anything like an auth.log or syslog that I could take a look at but it doesn't look like it.
The suggestion @StephenB is making is to prevent it from powering up on it's own.
Even when the NAS is "off", there is an internal standby voltage that is always on whenever the external power is applied, as it powers the power-on circuit and WoL. By putting a switched power strip in, you remove the power from that circuit as well as the rest of the NAS. In addition to stopping the annoyance of the NAS turning itself on, that could affect the life of your NAS. Issues with the standby voltage regulation (from the 12V that comes from the power brick) or the power on circuit could be your issue. But the rub is that without knowing the root cause, it could be just as likely that adding power cycles to those circuits would reduce their lifespan as much or more than reducing power-on time would increase it.
Is WoL enabled on the NAS? Since you apparently don't use it, disabling that could help.
The suggestion @StephenB is making is to prevent it from powering up on it's own.
Correct. Using a switched power strip (or even just unplugging it) ensures that it can't power up when you don't want it to. The other idea would just make sure it shuts down reasonably promptly (in case you don't notice that it's on).
I agree with @Sandshark that w/o knowing the root cause it's hard to say how this would effect the NAS life.
Reply was that the RN104 doesn't record how it's been powered on. I'm wondering if there's anything like an auth.log or syslog that I could take a look at but it doesn't look like it.
The logs might be able to tell you why the NAS powers down. But not why it powers up. There's nothing in the system logs that can tell you that.
The suggestion @StephenB is making is to prevent it from powering up on it's own.
Even when the NAS is "off", there is an internal standby voltage that is always on whenever the external power is applied, as it powers the power-on circuit and WoL. By putting a switched power strip in, you remove the power from that circuit as well as the rest of the NAS. In addition to stopping the annoyance of the NAS turning itself on, that could affect the life of your NAS. Issues with the standby voltage regulation (from the 12V that comes from the power brick) or the power on circuit could be your issue. But the rub is that without knowing the root cause, it could be just as likely that adding power cycles to those circuits would reduce their lifespan as much or more than reducing power-on time would increase it.
Is WoL enabled on the NAS? Since you apparently don't use it, disabling that could help.
Ok thanks, I understand what @StephenB was saying now and thanks to @StephenB. I'll definitely look into getting a switched power strip.
WoL is not enabled on the NAS and there are no scheduled jobs running. I've had it power up on it's own about 3 or 4 times in the last 6 months. On one occasion it even powered up at some point after I'd gone to bed without the ethernet cable being plugged into my Netgear GS116 switch which to me implies it's something on the RN104 causing the unit to power up on it's own rather than something on my network.
The suggestion @StephenB is making is to prevent it from powering up on it's own.
Correct. Using a switched power strip (or even just unplugging it) ensures that it can't power up when you don't want it to. The other idea would just make sure it shuts down reasonably promptly (in case you don't notice that it's on).
I agree with @Sandshark that w/o knowing the root cause it's hard to say how this would effect the NAS life.
Reply was that the RN104 doesn't record how it's been powered on. I'm wondering if there's anything like an auth.log or syslog that I could take a look at but it doesn't look like it.
The logs might be able to tell you why the NAS powers down. But not why it powers up. There's nothing in the system logs that can tell you that.
