Re: ReadyNAS RN102 setup issues

spock1189 · ‎2020-10-22

Hi,

Really hoping somebody can help me work out whats going on with my RN102, which is loaded with 2x500GB disks. I was looking for a basic NAS to use with Plex as a music server, and this one seemed to fit the bill, so I picked one up off eBay. I have downloaded all the manuals from Netgear. I'm fairly computer literate but not used a NAS before. I'm using a windows 10 PC on the same network.

Turning it on for the first time and looking for it using ReadyCloud/RAIDar draws a blank - the ReadyNAS is not visible. Reading the manuals I realised it could be because the unit has changed networks, so I decide to try a factory reset via the boot menu, i.e:

1. Power off... and I hit my first problem.

Can't turn it off! Pressing the power button does nothing, neither does holiding it down. Neither does pressing it twice. Only thing I can do is unplug the power lead! Anyway I do that and then...

2. Hold the reset button on the back, power back on (button works when turning on?!)

3. Wait for all the lights to come on, then release the reset button

4. Use the backup button to select factory reset (light for disk 1 on only, as per the manual)

5. Press and release the reset button.

Following this the power button light flashes a few times and then stays on, the "act" light also stays on. No further activity for 20 minutes. According to the manual I should have had all lights flashing after 5-10 mins once the disk checks are complete and then it should start formating. No idea why its not working.

I tried OS re-install option from the boot menu as well, same result. I also tried it with the drives removed - same.

Did some searching of the forums and found some threads with people having similar issues, Netgear apprently advised to do a USB boot recovery. So I did that, tried it on 2 different USB sticks, with 2 different results but none of them the result I wanted. Both times I used the front USB slot as per the Netgear instructions, and the firmware I tried to apply was 6.10.3, which was the version offered on the Netgear website for this device:

USB stick 1: Power and backup lights flash together on a quick repeat - this seems to go on forever.

USB stick 2: Power and backup lights flash together as above, but it only lasts 30s or so and then I get solid power, act and backup.

The netgear instructions say the flash process is finished when the unit powers off, this didnt happen in either case - I waited 30 mins each time (I've read it should only take a few mins if the USB stick is being read). In the case of USB stick 2, once the solid lights came on, I was able to see the ReadyNAS in RAIDar but its status was "tech support mode" and there were no options available to interact with it. When I powered the unit off and on again RAIDar couldnt see it anymore.

Please help if anyone can... at the moment I'm looking at having an argument with someone on eBay about selling me a broken NAS. Am I missing something?

StephenB · ‎2020-10-23

Start by booting up the NAS diskless. Then see if RAIDar can discover the NAS and give you a no-disks status.

Also I'd test the disks in a Windows PC with vendor tools (Lifeguard for Western Digital, Seatools for Seagate). Do the full non-destructive test, and also the full write/erase test. If both pass, you can try putting one disk in the NAS and power it up. It should automatically do a factory install. If that works (meaning you can set up the NAS using RAIDar), then try powering down the NAS and moving that disk to the second slot. Make sure the NAS boots that way.

After that you can put that disk back in bay 1, power up the NAS, and hot-insert the second disk. It should detect it, and automatically start syncing (creating a RAID-1 array).

@spock1189 wrote:

Turning it on for the first time and looking for it using ReadyCloud/RAIDar draws a blank - the ReadyNAS is not visible. Reading the manuals I realised it could be because the unit has changed networks

Actually not. RAIDar uses an ethernet discovery protocol, and it can find the NAS even if is configured for the wrong network. Internet security software can get in the way of that, and of course if the NAS NIC isn't working then RAIDar will also fail. So check the NIC leds also.

spock1189 · ‎2020-10-23

Hi @StephenB and thanks for your help. Following your response I have done the following:

Checked ethernet cable - works good.

Powered on with no disks inserted - invisible to RAIDar

Powered on with disk in slot 1 only - invisible to RAIDar; solid power and act lights, nothing happening

Powered on with other disk in slot 1 only - same result

Some further info: I have got in touch with the person who sold me the unit and they have been helpful. They assured me it was in full working order prior to sale, and said they took the disks out and erased them using their PC and disk wipe software. They say this erased the master boot record and any partitions on the drives, and can't remember if they created new ones.

So perhapsit could be the NAS not being able to read/write on the disks after that was done? Unfortunately I have no other spare disk drives apart from USB ones, so I think I need to do what you suggested @StephenB, and plug the disks into my PC and see what the score is there. Will update you when I've done it.

Thanks again.

Sandshark · ‎2020-10-23

If the NAS is invisible to RAIDar without drives, it's not the drives that are the main problem (though they may still be a secondary one). You either have no connection to the NAS over Ethernet, possibly because of bad hardware in between and possibly because something on your PC is blocking the traffic, or the NAS is broken. You can pursue checking if the drives are OK using a PC and also removing any partitions on them (the NAS can't deal with system reserved partitions created by Windows), but that's not going to fix the connectivity issue.

StephenB · ‎2020-10-23

@Sandshark wrote:

If the NAS is invisible to RAIDar without drives, it's not the drives that are the main problem (though they may still be a secondary one). You either have no connection to the NAS over Ethernet, possibly because of bad hardware in between and possibly because something on your PC is blocking the traffic, or the NAS is broken.

And you really should resolve this before you do anything with the drives.

Check the LED status on the NAS NIC and also on the router/switch (if the router/switch has LEDs). Also check your router's device list, and see if you see an IP address for the NAS.

On the PC, disable any internet security software (Windows firewall, Kasperksy, Avast), and see if that makes any difference.

spock1189 · ‎2020-10-23

Thanks again both of you. Here we go:

My ethernet cable is the only one I have, its a short cable and I've used it with another device in the last 7 days with no issues - 99.9% confident its not broken. Nobody else has touched it.

I've powered the NAS on, no drives installed and I've got a green blinking (blinking intermittently) light on the NAS ethernet port. No amber. From the manual:

Green blinking, amber off. 1000 Mbps connection speed, activity.

Green on, amber off. 1000 Mbps connection speed, no activity.

Router does not have lights on the ports (its a BT home hub). Logging into the router and looking at the device list I see nothing connected to port 2 (where the NAS should be). I tried swapping the connection for my Sonos system from port 1 to port 2, and put the NAS where the Sonos was... now the Sonos shows in port 2 but nothing from the NAS in port 1. So it looks like the router isnt recognising the NAS, but its fine if you plug something else in.

So... something in my router settings doesn't agree with the NAS?

StephenB · ‎2020-10-23

Can you try connecting the NAS directly to a PC? Then see if RAIDar (running on the same PC) can see it.

spock1189 · ‎2020-10-23

Just tried this. Connected the ethernet cable from the NAS to my PC and booted up the NAS (still diskless). The PC recognised an ethernet network and labelled it "unidentified network - no internet access" but RAIDar did not see it. I tried again, this time with my wireless connection from the router to the PC disabled, with the same result. I guess this shows that there is something being communicated along the ethernet cable?

StephenB · ‎2020-10-23

@spock1189 wrote:

I guess this shows that there is something being communicated along the ethernet cable?

Certainly the PC saw the ethernet connection, but it's not clear what else is going on.

Are you seeing an IP address on the PC (it should have defaulted to an address - likely 169.x.x.x).

spock1189 · ‎2020-10-24

Where should I look for the IP address on the PC?

spock1189 · ‎2020-10-24

A couple of things bugging me:
1. The power button works to turn the unit on, but not off.
2. With help from this forum I've established Ethernet link working but my router doesn't see it
3. Previous owner assures me it worked prior to them wiping the disks by connecting the disks to their PC
4. I can get RAIDar to see the NAS in tech support mode, but no other way
5. Factory reset and OS reinstall don't happen when I tell it to

I don't think the NAS is booting up properly, potentially crashing part way through?

StephenB · ‎2020-10-24

@spock1189 wrote:
Where should I look for the IP address on the PC?

https://www.whatismyip.com/how-to-get-your-local-ip-address-on-windows-10/ gives two ways. Note you are looking for the IP address Windows is assigning to it's end of the ethernet connection, not the IP address that the NAS might be using.

@spock1189 wrote:
1. The power button works to turn the unit on, but not off.
2. With help from this forum I've established Ethernet link working but my router doesn't see it
3. Previous owner assures me it worked prior to them wiping the disks by connecting the disks to their PC
4. I can get RAIDar to see the NAS in tech support mode, but no other way
5. Factory reset and OS reinstall don't happen when I tell it to

Obviously it isn't working for you, but I'm not sure what to conclude yet.

@spock1189 wrote:
1. The power button works to turn the unit on, but not off.

Is that also the case if you hold the power button down for ~5 seconds? Have you tried this with no disks installed?

@spock1189 wrote:
5. Factory reset and OS reinstall don't happen when I tell it to

Are you using the procedure in the hardware manual? Pages 20-22 here: https://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/READYNAS-100/ReadyNAS_%20OS6_Desktop_HM_EN.pdf

Are disks installed?

FWIW, I find it difficult to use the boot menu options on the units that don't have an LCD panel. So I assume that other folks also find it difficult, and might not be executing the procedure quite right.

@spock1189 wrote:
4. I can get RAIDar to see the NAS in tech support mode, but no other way

This is new (and relevant) information.

Was the NAS connected to the router when you saw this, or was it directly connected to your PC?
Were the disks installed in the NAS when you saw this?

You might want to see if you can run the memory test - results are described here: https://kb.netgear.com/7034/RN2120-Memory-test-analysis

spock1189 · ‎2020-10-24

@StephenB once again, thanks for continuing to help me out with this - sorry if I'm failing to communicate all the info up front. I'll try to respond to all your points in order.

https://www.whatismyip.com/how-to-get-your-local-ip-address-on-windows-10/ gives two ways. Note you are looking for the IP address Windows is assigning to it's end of the ethernet connection, not the IP address that the NAS might be using.

Thanks - so, with the diskless NAS plugged into my PC ethernet port and powered on, I go the control panel route and view the details on the ethernet connection and this is what it says - I'm not sure which is the relevant info here so I have snipped a photo.

@spock1189 wrote:
1. The power button works to turn the unit on, but not off.

Is that also the case if you hold the power button down for ~5 seconds? Have you tried this with no disks installed?

Yes and yes. Power button is completely unresponsive when trying to turn off the NAS and I have not been able to perform a "graceful" shutdown since I recieved the unit. The button worked for turning on, however because I am always unplugging the power adapter to turn off, the unit is now automatically turning on when power is re-applied (the manual says this is normal behaviour).

@spock1189 wrote:
5. Factory reset and OS reinstall don't happen when I tell it to
Are you using the procedure in the hardware manual? Pages 20-22 here: https://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/READYNAS-100/ReadyNAS_%20OS6_Desktop_HM_EN.pdf

Are disks installed?

FWIW, I find it difficult to use the boot menu options on the units that don't have an LCD panel. So I assume that other folks also find it difficult, and might not be executing the procedure quite right.

Yes I agree it is not straightforward to access and operate functions from the boot menu, however I did so with the manual open and believe I have been doing it correctly. I wait for all the lights to turn on then use the backup button to choose, press reset button to select. The option for factory reset is with "disk 1" light only, option for OS install is "disk 2" light only. From there I have waited at least 20 mins - nothing happens, the power and act lights just stay on. To make double sure I left it overnight trying to do a factory reset - nothing had happened by morning. I have tried this with both disks installed, with one disk installed (each of them), and without disks installed. Result is the same.

@spock1189 wrote:
4. I can get RAIDar to see the NAS in tech support mode, but no other way
This is new (and relevant) information.
Was the NAS connected to the router when you saw this, or was it directly connected to your PC?
Were the disks installed in the NAS when you saw this?

I did mention this in my original post, it was with the NAS connected to the router and after I had tried booting from a USB stick in the front USB port of the NAS. The power and backup lights flashed together for a while, then both stayed on, at which point the NAS was visible in RAIDar. I have done this both with, and without disks installed.

For completeness I have just tried the following:

1. With the NAS still diskless and connected to my PC, I have used the boot menu to access tech support mode. The power light is on, the PC registers the ethernet connection but RAIDar can not see it.

2. As above, but I have used the same USB stick I mentioned above and tried to boot from that (power on while holding backup button, wait 15 or so seconds, then release backup button). Lights flash for a bit, then come on solid as I explained above. Ethernet visible on PC but nothing in RAIDar.

3. I put both disks back in (the original way around) and try both of the above again - results the same.

4. Removed the NAS from my PC, plugged it into the router and did (1) again (no disks). NAS not visible in router device list and not visible in RAIDar.

5. With the NAS still plugged into the router, did (2) again (no disks)... this time it DOES appear in my router device list - the MAC code matches that on the label of my NAS see snip below. I checked RAIDar and it appears there too, see second picture.

That feels like a bit of a breakthrough but I can't say I undestand why its happening. The USB stick has firmware on it as described in my original post.

Lastly then, I am running the memory test now. Alegedly it takes 4hrs so I will report back when complete.

spock1189 · ‎2020-10-24

Second photo wouldn't post, trying again:

Sandshark · ‎2020-10-24

The OS re-install does install the OS on the drives and can fail if the drives contain certain types of partitions that the NAS does not know what to do with. So do remove all partitions from the drives and try that again.

If that still does nothing, for the moment, it may be good to assume that the seller didn't lie to you, that it worked fine when he had an OS on the drives to boot from but it does not when it has to boot to the flash and install an OS on the drives. If that is the case, it does sound like you need a USB recovery, but also that the recovery is not working. Make sure you created the recovery device correctly. If the USB device is USB3 and/or >8GB, there is a good chance it will not work. Make sure you put the firmware in the proper folder of the PC when creating the key, many miss the fact that it does not go at top level of the recovery tool folder. For the RN102, that's the ARM folder.

That you are ending up in Tech Support mode is probably a clue, but I don't know how to interpret that. Maybe that happens when an error happens with USB recovery, meaning the recovery is starting but not completing. I've only ever seen USB recovery working or not even starting, but it makes sense it could go to Tech Support on an error so Netgear support can access it.. Hopefully, one of the Netgear mods will know what might be the cause. Maybe that would happen if you created a key for the wrong type NAS instead of for your ARM one.

spock1189 · ‎2020-10-24

@Sandshark wrote:
it does sound like you need a USB recovery, but also that the recovery is not working. Make sure you created the recovery device correctly. If the USB device is USB3 and/or >8GB, there is a good chance it will not work. Make sure you put the firmware in the proper folder of the PC when creating the key, many miss the fact that it does not go at top level of the recovery tool folder. For the RN102, that's the ARM folder.

This makes sense to me @Sandshark , the seller already told me he took the drives out and wiped them on his PC, which may explain why OS install, USB boot or factory reset arent completing - I will pursue plugging the drives into my PC and see whats going on.

Does the USB boot require a disk to be inserted to work? Presumably it has to have something to copy files to?

On the USB boot, here is a snip of the folder structure I had when I created the USB. Its a 7.5GB drive; not USB-3, formatted to FAT32 like the instructions said. Can you confirm I've got this right?

Here's where the .exe file is:

And here's where the firmware is in the "arm" folder:

Also @StephenB , I did a memory test like you suggested and it finished with all the lights on, which is a pass.

StephenB · ‎2020-10-24

The serial number in your screenshots (NONE ... ) says there is a problem with the flash. That explains the ReadyCloud problem, but not the issue getting local connectivity.

Only Netgear can repair the serial number problem - and they don't provide support for used equipment. But perhaps one of the mods ( @JohnCM_S or @Marc_V ) would be willing to help.

spock1189 · ‎2020-11-05

Hello again @StephenB and @Sandshark . I finally got a SATA cable and hooked the drives that came with the NAS up to my PC via a spare port on my motherboard. I opened disk manager and saw that one of them had an existing volume on it, while the other disk was completely blank, showing as "unallocated" in disk manager.

@StephenB wrote:
Also I'd test the disks in a Windows PC with vendor tools (Lifeguard for Western Digital, Seatools for Seagate). Do the full non-destructive test, and also the full write/erase test. If both pass, you can try putting one disk in the NAS and power it up. It should automatically do a factory install.

I deleted the partition from the drive that had one (right click, delete volume). Note done this before but I was surprised because I thought this would take a while, but it was pretty much instant. It then showed as "unallocated" like the other one. I then downloaded SeaTools (they are seagate drives) and tested both drives. Both passed.

After that I took one of the drives and put it in the NAS, slot 1, then powered it on. Nothing happened, just solid power/disk1 lights, nothing on RAIDar. While I was there I tried a factory reset on the NAS, with the same results as before (i.e. nothing happened).

I wanted to see if this had written anything onto the disk, so I took it out and connected it back to my PC. There was no new volume, so clearly nothing had been formatted.

I repeated the process with the second disk, this time I went straight to factory reset, without turning the NAS on normally first. Results were identical.

spock1189 · ‎2020-11-05

@Sandshark wrote:
The OS re-install does install the OS on the drives and can fail if the drives contain certain types of partitions that the NAS does not know what to do with. So do remove all partitions from the drives and try that again.

Did this - same result as before I erased the partition.

StephenB · ‎2020-11-05

Did you try this experiment with a drive in slot 2? Or only in slot 1?

spock1189 · ‎2020-11-05

I think I'm at (and possibly well beyond) the end of the road with this. I genuinely believe the unit was sold to me with best intentions, but the seller somehow managed to brick it before putting it in the box.

Through all the various tests my conclusion is that the NAS enclosure itself will not boot properly, not enough to do a factory reset or a USB recovery, and not even enough for the power off button to work. I've been able to get my router to "see" it, but only in tech support mode and with nowhere to go from there, without spending a lot of money on support from Netgear.

I'm well and truly done - I'm off to try and get my money back.

Thanks for the support.

spock1189 · ‎2020-11-05

Only slot 1... I'll have a quick go in slot 2 now...

StephenB · ‎2020-11-05

@spock1189 wrote:

without spending a lot of money on support from Netgear.

Netgear doesn't provide support for used products. So paid support from Netgear isn't an option.

spock1189 · ‎2020-11-05

Its looking rather like the same result in slot 2.

StephenB · ‎2020-11-05

It is possible the SATA controller on the NAS has failed.

What status is RAIDar telling you after you boot up with the blank disk.