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Re: ReadyNAS 2100 Running OS6 Not Communicating

Securus777
Aspirant

ReadyNAS 2100 Running OS6 Not Communicating

Good Morning!

 

I'm hoping someone can help me out of my self imposed pickle. My nas (ReadyNAS 2100, AKA RXRN4400 or whatever. Upgraded from OS4 to OS6 a couple years ago) was running great on OS 6.4 or 6.5 (Don't remember exactly). I tried to do a firmware upgrade from the upgraded popup (to OS6.9), but that failed, so I tried to upgrade via the web system setting but I downloaded the ARM version and used that mistakenly instead of the correct version, yup, super stupid. The unit restarted and the lights seem to indicate normal operation, solid blue, all drive lights lit and network acitivty lights flashing. However, the unit does not communicate over the network. My switch gives me access to a lot of information and it indicates something is plugged in, but that it's not sending or receiving anything. During a power cycle the unit will respond to pings for a very short amount of time, about 10-15 responses, and then it's gone. I've also attempted on defaulting IP of 192.168.168.168, no dice there.

 

I've attempted the following:

1. OS Reinstall via the LED menu (Disk 3 on). On this step the unit will respond to pings longer, and the RAIDar will see it as well and show it 'upgrading'. Unit will restart and I'm in the same place I was before.

2. Disabling Drive check via LED menu (Disk 2 I think? I didn't confirm as of this writing). No improvement.

3. USB Recovery. I've created 2 usb drives with the USB Recovery tool and tried in different ports but it's a bit unclear how to boot this unit into USB Recovery exactly, so I don't feel like I've done this succesfully yet. I've tried holding down the Backup button as well as the Sys button. My USB drive has an activity LED that lights up a couple times in what looks like a boot check, but never with enough activity that I'd feel it's being read from. I've seen some odd LED behavior here, where sometimes if I hold it long enough I'll only have the blue power and USB LED lit up, it seems to stay in that state forever until you press the power button. I've also seen it go from flashing blue LED and all drive LEDs, net act led, to where the blue LED isn't on at all, but the rest still are. 

 

Obviously a Factory Default is an option, but given it will wipe out all of my data I'll be saving this for very last when there is no hope left. 

 

If anyone can help I would truely appreciate it!

 

Thank you!

 

Model: ReadyNASRNRX4420v2|ReadyNAS 2100 8TB (4 x 2TB Enterprise)
Message 1 of 18
Retired_Member
Not applicable

Re: ReadyNAS 2100 Running OS6 Not Communicating

Hi @@Securus77, for what I understand from factory reset, that would not be helpful in your case. Anyone is welcome to correct me, but I observed the following, when retiring older RN104 and RN204 finally checking their status after the factory reset completed:

- All data was destroyed

- All configuration settings of the OS were reset to default.

- The firmware was falling back to the most recently installed release and did not reload something else from the very past.

 

So, if you do the factory reset in your situation, you will end up with a box running the currently corrupted firmware and also loose all the data. This result would be definitely worse compared to the situation you have now. Lets wait for some pros and cons from the community for you conducting factory reset under your special circumstances.

 

I hope, I'm wrong about this.

Kind regards

Message 2 of 18
StephenB
Guru

Re: ReadyNAS 2100 Running OS6 Not Communicating

It seems to me that the system shouldn't have let you upload/install the arm binary.

 

Is RAIDar giving you any status?  https://kb.netgear.com/20684/ReadyNAS-Downloads

Message 3 of 18
Securus777
Aspirant

Re: ReadyNAS 2100 Running OS6 Not Communicating

That's super good to know and would probably makes some sense. Thank you!

Message 4 of 18
Securus777
Aspirant

Re: ReadyNAS 2100 Running OS6 Not Communicating

I feel the same way about the unit letting me upgrade with the wrong type, but I am running an 'unsupported' setup since I upgraded it to OS6 so I don't think I can blame anyone on it. Plus I could just be wrong and that it did notice I was using the wrong thing, didn't apply it, and then broke for a different reason. 

 

Slightly more information after taking lunch trying to fix it. I read an article that on the legacy devices that started with OS4 you have to use the OS4 USB Tool with renaming the new firmware file to the same as the older firmware filename. Gave this a try and saw the behavior that I expected with using the tool, it did some activity then shutdown the unit. After that I booted the unit and RAIDar showed me 'corrupt root' for a little while, rebooted and then left me where I was before. 

 

Beyond the 'Upgrading' status I've seen once or twice and the new 'Corrupt Root' I haven't seen anything else. 

Message 5 of 18
StephenB
Guru

Re: ReadyNAS 2100 Running OS6 Not Communicating


@Securus777 wrote:

 

Beyond the 'Upgrading' status I've seen once or twice and the new 'Corrupt Root' I haven't seen anything else. 


If you are seeing corrupt root, then one idea is to remove the current disks (labeling by slot), and confirm that the system shows a "no disks" status when booted.

 

Then if you have a scratch disk, try zeroing (or unformatting) it, and put it into the NAS by itself.  The system normally will do a fresh factory install onto the disk when you do that.  If that brings the NAS back to life, then the issue is with the disk contents, and not the NAS itself.

Message 6 of 18
Securus777
Aspirant

Re: ReadyNAS 2100 Running OS6 Not Communicating

I'll give this a try once I get home in a couple hours, thanks for the idea! If it does turn out to be an issue with the disks are there any repair steps I can take at that point? 

Message 7 of 18
StephenB
Guru

Re: ReadyNAS 2100 Running OS6 Not Communicating


@Securus777 wrote:

I'll give this a try once I get home in a couple hours, thanks for the idea! If it does turn out to be an issue with the disks are there any repair steps I can take at that point? 


It would depend on what the issues are.  While the disks are removed you could test them in a PC with vendor tools (Lifeguard for Western Digital, Seatools for Seagate).

Message 8 of 18
Securus777
Aspirant

Re: ReadyNAS 2100 Running OS6 Not Communicating

Pulling out all of the disks and putting in a blank allowed the system to boot. Guess I'm stuck now on figuring out which disk(s) is bad at this point. Thanks for your help StephenB, I do appreciate it. 

Message 9 of 18
StephenB
Guru

Re: ReadyNAS 2100 Running OS6 Not Communicating

Glad I could help.

 

The good news here is that the attempt to install the arm version didn't touch the flash.

 


@Securus777 wrote:

Pulling out all of the disks and putting in a blank allowed the system to boot. Guess I'm stuck now on figuring out which disk(s) is bad at this point. 


It's best to test them.  But one thing you could attempt is to power down, and re-insert the originals in slots 2-4 (leaving slot 1 empty).  Then see if the system boots.  It's best to try this boot in read-only mode.  The system will normally boot from the first disk, and if you are lucky the "corrupt root" only affects disk 1. 

 

 

Message 10 of 18
Securus777
Aspirant

Re: ReadyNAS 2100 Running OS6 Not Communicating

I checked the disks on my main machine and they all showed up within windows without issue, no notable excess noise, and the SMART stats don't display any red flags. How do I boot it into read-only mode? I haven't seen that documented anywhere.

Message 11 of 18
bedlam1
Prodigy

Re: ReadyNAS 2100 Running OS6 Not Communicating

It is a Boot Menu option using the reset button procedure shown in the Hardware Manual

Message 12 of 18
Securus777
Aspirant

Re: ReadyNAS 2100 Running OS6 Not Communicating

Message 13 of 18
bedlam1
Prodigy

Re: ReadyNAS 2100 Running OS6 Not Communicating

It is part of OS 6, try reading page 20 

HERE

Message 14 of 18
Securus777
Aspirant

Re: ReadyNAS 2100 Running OS6 Not Communicating

Interesting. I'll have a poke at it on lunch in a couple hours here to confirm but I don't think the power led on my unit cycles as if it were a selectable option as I go through the menu options on it. I also have 4 disks and page 20 there only shows disk 1 and 2. Thanks!

Message 15 of 18
bedlam1
Prodigy

Re: ReadyNAS 2100 Running OS6 Not Communicating

It has nothing to do with the model numbers.........it is a feature of the operating system OS 6

However, since I now realise that you do not have an LCD screen we need to know, from a kind Netgear mod, what (if any) LED(s) will illuminate for Read Only mode

 

Message 16 of 18
Securus777
Aspirant

Re: ReadyNAS 2100 Running OS6 Not Communicating

Went through the boot menu again just to be sure and it seems to align with the original documention I linked in regards to options. My Power LED is not a 'selectable' option as indicate on page 20. I have Disk 1-4 LEDs and USB LEDs that light up depending on which option is selected. I assume that without Read Only mode there would be a danger of further damage if I were to seat the other 3 drives?

Message 17 of 18
mdgm
Virtuoso

Re: ReadyNAS 2100 Running OS6 Not Communicating

To use the volume read-only boot menu option on a legacy mode requires editing a boot config file on the flash or editing a config file on the root volume to add the read-only option.

Message 18 of 18
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