ReadyNAS Ultra 6 not booting - screen shows ReadyNAS and backup light fixed

[PeterMNZ]

Hi

I have a ReadyNAS Ultra 6 with 6x3TB HDDs. I upgraded to OS6 about 3 years ago and everything has been running OK, except every now and then the NAS become inaccessible via the network and I have to manually reboot it.

A couple of months ago, it got stuck showing ReadyNAS on the LCD with fans going 100%. I powered it down and then it would not power on again. I assumed the power supply had gone and it has taken me several weeks to get a replacement, after an issue with the supplier sending an incompatible model.

I have put in an Apevia 400w power supply and it is powering on again, but the LCD still just shows ReadyNAS and the backup light is on. I tried, but am unable to access the boot menu using the Reset button.

From reading the forum, I assumed the flash may be corrupted, so I tried to create a recovery usb, but the USB recovery tool would not start under Windows 10, so I created one manually. I tried two different 16GB USBs with the R4toR6_6.9.5.bin and also the latest OS 6 IMG file , renamed to bin, but nothing happens. One of the USBs has an access light and it blinks once at initial power on but not again after that so it appears the NAS is not attempting to boot from it.

Am I missing something? I have seen the suggestion of getting a VGA adaptor to see if that will tell me anything, but I cannot get one locally so that will be another couple of weeks of downtime waiting for it, so I am open to trying other stuff in the meantime.

There is over 10GB of data in the RAID array and I would like to be able to recover it, if ai can.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[StephenB]

Try removing the disks (labeling them by slot as you remove them).  Then power up the NAS, and let us know if it shows a "no disks" status (or not).

[Sandshark]

Legacy models can be very picky about the USB drive you use.  I find an older 8GB or smaller one to be best -- something you can get really cheap on Amazon.  >32GB will definitely not work, nor will USB3.

Have you upgraded the RAM to at least 2GB?  With the 6.10.x release, some have reported issues with legacy units having only the standard 1GB since all native OS6 intel units shipped with at least 2GB.  Unfortunately, you may have a corrupt volume, so you are finding this out late, but let's not jump top that conclusion yet and follow the suggestion given by @StephenB so we can see just what the issue is.

[PeterMNZ]

Hi. I have attempted this now and it made no difference. 

For the USB recovery, I tried another couple of USB sticks I had, one 8gb and one 16gb, but still didnt get any success.  I will see if I can pick up another 8gb today to try.

[PeterMNZ]

I haven't upgraded the RAM, so it is still on the original 1GB.  I have been looking at getting a 2gb stick, so could try that.

[Nobaker96]

I coincidentally posted the exact same issue today. I have 6 - 6TB drives in a 316 with 2GB of RAM. I am following and will post back If I learn anything

[PeterMNZ]

Just an update. I have tried with an old 4GB USB and still can't get the recovery process to work. The USB light just comes on and stays on once the unit power up, regardless of whether a stuck is plugged in.

I have bought 2x2gb ram sticks and that will hopefully arrive next week. I have also ordered a VGA ribbon cable to see if that output can give me some idea of the issue.

[PeterMNZ]

Hi

In case anyone is interested, I acquired some old USB sticks and some new ram and the VGA ribbon cable. I am unable to boot to recovery with the USB sticks and I get no video output signal. Unless there is some other thing I can try, I guess I have to assume the motherboard has failed.

Thanks anyway for the suggestions.

[Sandshark]

Is this an Ultra6 or Ultra6 Plus?  They are actually quite different.  I ask because the Ultra6 Plus uses the 4-pin 12V CPU connection from the power supply and the Ultra6 doesn't, and some have forgotten to connect that when replacing the power supply.  If that's not it, I have to agree with you that the motherboard has likely failed.

Now you have a big decision to make.  Do you have a backup?  If so, you will likely want to move to another brand of NAS.  If not, you have to add the cost of data recovery to the cost of the NAS.  With another ReadyNAS (which can be a native OS6 unit, BTW), you won't need data recovery unless the hardware failure resulted in a corrupted volume. 

P.S.  If you move fast, there is a very cheap Ultra6 on eBay right now.  Says untested, but shows "no disks", which is usually a good sign it works.