Readynas Ultra 6 (RNDU6000) After Memory Test and rebooted Error " No Disks Detected"

[thekidbass]

One question I forget ask you previously, is the HDMI port in the back of the unit functional? I've never used it myself. If it is, I can connect to a monitor from there. 

[Sandshark]

There is no HDMI port on an Ultra6 or any other legacy NAS.  There is a punch-out into which you can mount the VGA cable, once installed.  Note that a USB video adapter will also not work, in case you were considering that.

[thekidbass]

My mistake about the HDMI port on the Ultra 6. I was thinking about the other NAS. I also have a Readynas RN316, which does have a HDMI port but not sure if it is functional. I never used it. In the photo below of the Ultra 6, do you know what that 4pin connector that's above the USB port is for?

The VGA header you mention that is on the motherboard, is it the one that StephenB circled on the photo I uploaded? (courtesy of another member) I'm still not sure.

The 2nd photo is my array of two Readynas and two extension Chasis (EDA500)

[Sandshark]

That 4-pin connector is a UART port -- essentially RS-232 protocol at 5V levels (3.3V on some other models).  I don't believe it can be used to get into the BIOS, but it can be used to see any error messages during boot.

Yes, the header @StephenB circled is the VGA header.  This is the kind of cable you need: https://www.ebay.com/itm/184609738277 .  Note that I have no knowledge of that particular seller, it just came up when I searched.  Oh, and he's labeled the IDC connector pins wrong in the photo, too.  If you choose another source, be sure you get one with a 16-pin dual-inline (IDC) connector (with one pin possibly blocked, corresponding to the missing pin on the header), as there are other versions around.

[thekidbass]

Thank you for the information. I'll search for another seller. At least now I know what it looks like. LOL

[thekidbass]

I revisited my Netgear Ultra 6 after weeks of re-uploading my media to the RN-316. I removed the two side panels and rechecked the connections again. I found the cause of the Readynas not detecting the hard drives installed. The circuit board from the drive bays was not inserted fully on the connector on the main MOB. When I rebooted the Readynas, the hard drives were now detected and I selected "factory reset". It re-installed the firmware and went into "resync" mode. After completing resync, the front display showed channel #5 "on life support". I then shutdown the NAS and removed the hard drive and connected it to my PC and ran the WD diagnostic software and it scanned the HD and the results failed the S.M.A.R.T. test with error code 7. I ordered a new replacement WD Red Plus HD. But aside from that, while it was originally resyncing, the front display also showed "no network link". Is that because of the failed HD while it was resyncing or is it because of another issue? Never had a problem with the ethernet ports. Any thoughts, ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.

[StephenB]

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@thekidbass wrote:

But aside from that, while it was originally resyncing, the front display also showed "no network link". Is that because of the failed HD while it was resyncing or is it because of another issue? Never had a problem with the ethernet ports. Any thoughts, ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.

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Likely another issue.  You could try powering up diskless, and see if RAIDar can find it.

[thekidbass]

I'll try that now. Thank you. I'll post an update.

[Sandshark]

Be sure to try both ports, and also try swapping connectors on the router/switch and the cable.

[thekidbass]

Booting  it "diskless" does not give me the info on the "network link" status, since it does complete the boot process and only displays the message "error: no disks detected. I inserted one HD in bay #1 and rebooted the nas. But it is still displaying "no network link" and "no data volume" since the drive is unformatted.

[thekidbass]

This photo with only one HD in bay #1, unformatted. Still displays "no network linl"

[thekidbass]

I'll try that now. Thank you. Will post an updated.

[thekidbass]

 I connected the ethernet cable to the other port and rebooted. It did successfully aquire a IP address. After receiving the replacement failed Hard drive later this afternoon, after formating the drives in the RAID I select, I want to upgrade to OS6, following Stephen B's link on another post I saved. Thank you Sandshark and Stephen B for you assistance and expertise.

[StephenB]

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@thekidbass wrote:

Booting  it "diskless" does not give me the info on the "network link" status, since it does complete the boot process and only displays the message "error: no disks detected.

Which is why I suggested RAIDar.  It normally will detect the NAS on the network, and also show you the "no disks" status.  So you can check the ethernet status that way (which has the advantage that the OS on the NAS disks is taken out of the equation).

[thekidbass]

I thought that since there was no IP address assigned to the Readynas when I initially booted it, that the RAIDar would not recognize it.

[thekidbass]

 I previously posted that one HD failed . After removing that drive and I factory reset the NAS, prior to re-installing the FW, it scanned the disks. Three more drives showeld disk failure. A total of 4 out of the 6 drives. Granted, 5 out of the 6 WD 3TB Red Plus drives are from 2015. Just found that extremely odd and of course frustrating to say the least.

[thekidbass]

I have currently 3 drives in the Reaynas. After scanning the disks, it didn't give any drive errors until it went into resyncing mode and that's when the 4th drive showed a failure on the RAIDar GUI.

[StephenB]

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@thekidbass wrote:

I thought that since there was no IP address assigned to the Readynas when I initially booted it, that the RAIDar would not recognize it.

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RAIDar "finds" the NAS using broadcast packets - which can work even if the NAS network interface is misconfigured, or if the NAS doesn't get an IP address from the router.

[thekidbass]

Thank you for that info. I learn something new everyday from the experts, like yourself.

[StephenB]

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@thekidbass wrote:

 I previously posted that one HD failed . After removing that drive and I factory reset the NAS, prior to re-installing the FW, it scanned the disks. Three more drives showeld disk failure. A total of 4 out of the 6 drives.

Part of the puzzle is that often disk drives don't discover anything wrong until you try to read or write the section that has bad sectors.  Since a lot of my files aren't read very often, that can result in not detecting issues until long after the failure. 

If you convert your Ultra to run OS-6, you can schedule periodic disks tests which can help uncover such issues earlier.  If you enable ssh, you can also run these tests manually with 4.2.x firmware using smartctl.

With OS 4.2.x, you can schedule RAID scrubs.  The scrub exercises the full disks also, so it can serve as a diagnostic. 

You can also schedule file consistency checks - they don't read the full disk, but are worth running.

[thekidbass]

Yes, I just went through the entire settings and this time around I did enable both those two features. Thank you.

[thekidbass]

I created a volume with 3 disks and selected FLEX-RAID Level 0 but when it rebooted and completed the resync mode, it created the volume in FLEX-RAID Level 5. I tried deleting the volume via Front View by clicking on the "delete volume" to add the additional replacement drives that I ordered and create a single volume with the 6 Hard Drives but nothing happens. Screenshot attached. Is there another method to change the FLEX-RAID Level to 0?

[thekidbass]

This is the message I get when I try and delete the Volume.

I don't know how to delete that because I don't have iSCSI enabled.

[thekidbass]

I rebooted the nas and was able to delete the volume. I added the 3 disks again and was able to select FLEX-RAID Level 0. One question I have is, when I receive the 3 additoinal Hard drives and install them, will the volume expand automaticallly or will the NAS have to resync all the drives again?

[StephenB]

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@thekidbass wrote:

 One question I have is, when I receive the 3 additoinal Hard drives and install them, will the volume expand automaticallly or will the NAS have to resync all the drives again?

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Neither. RAID-0 isn't expandable, and has no RAID redundancy.  So there is no syncing.  The only option you'd have is to create a second volume.

Not sure why you didn't just use the default X-RAID, as it is expandable and would have been simpler to set up.