Ready NAS Ultra 2 power supply issue and out of support

[SpeedyGeek]

Hi all,

I have a readynas ultra 2 which I purchased in 2011. Looking at the support site this is now EOL: https://www.netgear.com/support/product/RNDU2000%20%28ReadyNAS%20Ultra%202%29.aspx

Its getting, what seems a fairly common problem "V+12 power is out of normal range [expected: 12.00 current: 11.14]."

Disks seem ok, well one is deffo OK, not sure about the other, but not a big deal as it could be rebuilt or restored from a backup.

I have changed the (external) PSU and that has no effect, I still get the same problems; the other cause mentioned in the threads is "chassis problem" - contact support.

I cant really contact support as its out of warranty (and they would charge me money just to tell me, "yes sir, its out of warranty")

I am trying to avoid buying a new NAS, so is the only option "chassis repair" and does anyone have any ideas where I could get that done in the UK, the cost and if its actually worth it or not

Many thanks

Chris

[SpeedyGeek · Accepted solution]

I didnt mention it on the previous post because I wasnt sure if it was significant or not, but I "hoovered" out by NAS as well just before putting the second dsik back in.

So maybe we have the cause of the problem ... DUST !!!

Thanks for all your help on this one.

[mdgm-ntgr]

Do you have an up to date backup?

We don't offer a service to repair faulty units. We replace defective units with refurbished units if there is warranty entitlement.

[SpeedyGeek]

yes I have an up to date backup (the NAS is not actually the master data source), but its backed up to USB. I have loads of backups!

Is there anywhere in the UK that would look at a repair, or is it not feasable?

Thanks

[Sandshark]

I'm not in the UK, so couldn't help anyway.  But without schematics, it would be a guessing game as to how to go about fixing it. 

One possibility is that it's just the measurement that's wrong and the voltage is OK.  If you remove one drive (reducng the 12V load), does that make a difference?

You could also measure the voltage at the back side of the SATA backplane.

[mdgm-ntgr]

It seems we were perhaps a bit overly cautious in RAIDiator-x86 when it came to the range we accepted. It is possible to manually override the acceptable range to make it a little bigger.

[SpeedyGeek]

It seems to be holding steady on 1 disk at the moment, but i really need two in it.

how do i set the range manually?

[mdgm-ntgr]

I have sent you a PM.

[Sandshark]

OK, the one drive test was to see if it's real or not.  With the reduced load, it appears that the voltage does rise, so it's likely a real condition.

The PSU connects into the SATA backplane and to the CPU board from there via a connector.  A poor connection is a possibility.  A failing supply is another.  You can change the limit, but if the supply is failing, it will likely continue down that slope to actual failure.  So keep your backup up to date.

There are threads on replacing the supply you might want to have a look at.  You can use a standard ATX supply externally with an adapter cable to see if that's the problem.

[StephenB]

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@Sandshark wrote:

There are threads on replacing the supply you might want to have a look at.  You can use a standard ATX supply externally with an adapter cable to see if that's the problem.

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Doesn't the ultra-2 use a power brick?  The OP said earlier he already tried replacing it.

[Sandshark]

Yeah, I was thinking Ultra 4, but he did say 2.  I've never had a Ultra 2 but on the other 2-bay units I have, the power connector is right on the CPU board, so no inner connection that could be bad.  Unless there's a cracked solder joint, which seems unlikely.

[SpeedyGeek]

Thanks all for the repies so far.

Yes, I replaced the power brick and that had no effect - still got lots of messages; i went back to the original power.

I left it running with one disk for a few days and didnt get any messages. I then put back the second disk which synced up and NAS seemed generally happy.

Since going back to original power, 1 disk, then 2 disks - I have not had a single occurance !!! - totally bizarre; I am back with the same setup as before and no messages.

I will try and put some load on it over then next few days and see if it throws any problems.

[marsh_66]

I had similar problem on my Ultra 2 Plus running fine on unsupported  OS 6.5.2  .

I suddenely started to get these V+12 messages and numerous HD resync occurences after power downs . I swapped out the PSU brick for a similar one albiet a slight increase in grunt - 5.5 amp capable . However this had no effect . I then took the complete  chassis apart including  all daughter boards  which was surpisingly easy .  I then blasted everything with compressed  air to remove a fair amount of dust .

Put it all back together and system now back to normality ( touch wood ) with no more of these reports after a week . Perhaps 3 years of dust effected the sensor - dunno , but seems to have worked for me .

[SpeedyGeek · Accepted solution]

I didnt mention it on the previous post because I wasnt sure if it was significant or not, but I "hoovered" out by NAS as well just before putting the second dsik back in.

So maybe we have the cause of the problem ... DUST !!!

Thanks for all your help on this one.