Re: ReadyNAS 104 froze now will not boot msg btrfs_merge_bio_hook+a0

Davexyz2 · ‎2015-12-03

Readynas 104 2*6TB Reds +2*4Tb Reds. this is from 4 * 4TB. Firmware 6.4.0

Machine completely locked up overnight I had recieved a message that it had completed a balance. no ping, no ssh access no network access, would not turn off from front panel

So "no choice" but to unplug. Will now not boot, tried os install after checking that base unit was ok with a "scratch disk. Re-inserted the 4 discs (in the correct order) which may have worked but on boot message on lcd panel now reads btrfs _merge_bio_hook+a0. So from this cryptic message I believe that the unit cannot see the "additional" Raid 5 layer which was created from the expansion with the 2 6Tb discs

I had just restored this from a number of usb disks which have now been cleared to backup my other 104s before they have the same issue.

Is this retrievable or am i going to throw these units away and move to Synology. Can the the data be recovered by Netgear or do I have to get a specialist recovery company to attempt recovery,which I will obviously have to pay for. As I am sure I will get the "have you an update etc" replies Which frankly after over 7 restores on a number of units is not good enough.

This is the 3rd time that this particular unit has frozen since I installed the 6.4.0 update . I am frankly now disgusted and at the end of the my tether to put it mildly with this update and Netgear. This is not the first time that firmware updates cause major issues there were major errors with the NV+ V2 firmwares however the disaster that is OS 6.4.0 is basically unbelievable. How a company can release such an update which causes so much "damage", wasted time and disatisfied customers. People/companies have paid Netgear for WORKING UNITS and then to ease out of responsibility is amazing. I have 2 other units that I am currently restoring due to this debacle from netgear and I have 7 units in all. I am now basically terrified of turning these things on let alone the expense of replacing these with working equipment from an alternative supplier. What is the point of the marketing hype of 90 day service support if a couple of years down the line an update supplied by the manufacturer wrecks your equipment

So can anyone help here

JennC · ‎2015-12-03

Hello Davexyz,

Were you able to boot the NAS when you updated to 6.4.0 or this happened after updating to 6.4.0?

Regards,

Davexyz2 · ‎2015-12-03

I updated to 6.4 withthe 4*4*tb disks from 6.25. Got about 80% full then the machine froze. would not respond to ping ssh network or power off from front panel. Had to pull power. on reboot Got message volume inactive all discs were red. So factory reset, reinstall data. Worked for a while i I think about a week then it froze as described above. Had to remove power. Tried OS install . Install os from USB, Boot to read only etc, nothing doing so Factory reset, reloaded data again eventually and the unit seemed ok. I then added the two 6Tb disks allowing each to resync. just in case it was to do with the machine being full even though there was about 1 Tb free on the unit.

the machine ran a balance got the message that the balance had completed OK but overnight the machine completley froze. And now I am left with the situation as decribed above once again. enough is enough.

What can be done please. It is sitting here with this message and the power light flashing doing nothing

JennC · ‎2015-12-04

Hello Davexyz2,

I am sorry for the inconvenience you are experiencing. I guess the best people you can contact in this case is support center as they can escalate your case to an L3 expert who will remote in to see what's going on to your ReadyNAS.

You can also try sending PM to AlexP or mdgm, maybe they can help. Get the logs ready, if can't get to the admin page, use RAIDar 6.0 as it has an option for you to download the logs.

Regards,

Davexyz2 · ‎2015-12-04

the unit does not ping or present on the network with raidar 6 , v 4 or anything, so this is no-go as i stated earlier. So can you come up with another solution which involves the discs being in a linux box for recovery. As far a remote in etc the box is dead just this message and the blinking blue power light.. So I assume that I can junk all my devices as they are plainly not fit for purpose. I am even more annoyed now

mdgm-ntgr · ‎2015-12-06

@Davexyz2 wrote:

So "no choice" but to unplug. Will now not boot, tried os install after checking that base unit was ok with a "scratch disk. Re-inserted the 4 discs (in the correct order) which may have worked but on boot message on lcd panel now reads btrfs _merge_bio_hook+a0. So from this cryptic message I believe that the unit cannot see the "additional" Raid 5 layer which was created from the expansion with the 2 6Tb discs

This is a critical kernel message.

@Davexyz2 wrote:

Can the the data be recovered by Netgear or do I have to get a specialist recovery company to attempt recovery,which I will obviously have to pay for.

Whether data recovery would be possible would require some diagnosis

@Davexyz2 wrote:

How a company can release such an update which causes so much "damage", wasted time and disatisfied customers.

For most users things go smoothly when installing a firmware update. For some (and these tend to be the most vocal) things don't go smoothly. In such cases often it isn't a problem with the firmware upgrade, but rather a pre-existing issue (e.g. a poorly maintained system) becoming more evident.

@Davexyz2 wrote:

What is the point of the marketing hype of 90 day service support if a couple of years down the line an update supplied by the manufacturer wrecks your equipment

If you run into issues as a result of a firmware update then in some cases we may make an exception to the support policy. This is at our discretion.

Btw our business class products (300 series and up) come with lifetime online chat support.

Note data recovery is not covered by the support warranty for any of our products. Exceptions to support policy that may be made would be for what we would normally charge per-incident-support or an ordinary support contract for. Important data should always be stored on more than one device. There are rare problems such as multiple disk failures, fire, flood, theft etc. that can happen.

The data recovery that we do is software only and may be unsuccessful. We can clone disks for a fee (we can provide instructions on how to clone them if you would rather do that yourself) if cloning is necessary, but if a disk requires physical repairs then a 3rd party service is the only option.

@Davexyz2 wrote:

the unit does not ping or present on the network with raidar 6 , v 4 or anything, so this is no-go as i stated earlier. So can you come up with another solution which involves the discs being in a linux box for recovery. As far a remote in etc the box is dead just this message and the blinking blue power light..

You said in a previous post that you tested the unit using a scratch disk and it was fine. We have more than one way to remotely examine systems and one of these is useful in most cases where a system fails to boot normally. Assuming the disks, array and volume are fine then data recovery using an x86 Linux box would be straightforward. However if there is a problem with any of these then it can be a lot more complex.

I have sent you a Private Message.

MrTAZ · ‎2015-12-25

Hi,

May be too late but did you do in techsupport mode :

btrfs check --init-extent-tree /dev/md127

Regards.

MrTAZ · ‎2015-12-25

Before btrfs check you must :

mdadm -A --scan
mount /dev/md0 /mnt
mount -o bind /dev /mnt/dev
mount -o bind /dev/pts /mnt/dev/pts
mount -o bind /sys /mnt/sys
mount -o bind /proc /mnt/proc
chroot /mnt/
swapon /dev/md1
(if not installed) apt-get install -y screen
screen bash
(if you want ssh) service ssh start
(for recovery screen) screen -Dr

Davexyz2 · ‎2015-12-26

Thanks It is never too late for info on how to deal with these units.

I took the disks out about 4 days ago and am in the process of recovering the data via alinux box and restoring over the network.

Then oly 3 hours ago another of my 104's ends up in the same situation. 4*4TB WD Red 3.5TB ree in the middle of a video iso being transferred it freezes with the message on the front panel "ward" soemthing or other. Will not repond to off button , network or ssh so pull ot power plug and yes you guessed it front panel comes up with

"btrfs_merge_bio_hook+a0"

These machines are a bit of a disaster zone al least for me. I am sure that Netgear stand by these units and it is the users/customers to blame fro putting to much data on the machine, using them too much, forcing the units to do two things at once etc etc. Oh I forgot having no backup!

mdgm-ntgr · ‎2015-12-27

Which firmware is the other unit that ran into this running? Is it also 6.4.0?

There is a 6.4.1 now and also 6.4.2 Beta 1.

Davexyz2 · ‎2015-12-28

firmware 6.4.1

mdgm-ntgr · ‎2015-12-28

Can you open a case and let me know the case number please?

Davexyz2 · ‎2015-12-29

The reference number is 26244986

I am waiting for the other machine to finish the recovery about another 3-4 days at current progress it is slow over the network and then I was going to manually recovery this unit.