Sigh: New Bad ReadyNAS

Return the unit to the reseller in exchange for a new one.

mdgm wrote:
Return the unit to the reseller in exchange for a new one.

Yea... it's a lemon. First piece of Netgear stuff I ever bought. It isn't encouraging.

Are their known problems with HDDs > 320G?

I managed to get the thing up and running using 4 X 320G Seagates. I then updated the firmware. That's just finished and the box rebooted with

"Your ReadyNAS device has been updated with a new firmware image. (RAIDiator 4.1.9)"

I then swapped the drives for 2 x 2T Seagates. It died with "Bad firmware" - seems to me the unit has a problem with large capacity HDDs.

UPDATE: I put the smaller drives back and It's now doing another update :? -

Cheers

New firmware 4.1.9 is problematic.

If you only can, install firmware 4.1.8 and disable automatic firmware update in Frontview.

Have the Seagates been used in any device previously?

To downgrade to 4.1.8, you need to download the firmware from here onto your PC. Then with the unit operating with the 320GB drives, open Frontview and then click on "System" in the menu on the side of the home page. (If you do not see a menu on the left side, click on the button in the lower left that says "Switch to Advanced Control" and it will appear") Then under system click on "update". When the update page appears, click on the "Local" tab. Then use the browse tab to point to the location of the downloaded 4.1.8 and then click on upload and verify image. The system will then install version 4.1.8.

Once it is finished, you should be able to install one of the new WD drives and let it boot. If you get the error message again, try a Factory Default.
Factory Default
To perform an OS Re-install or Factory Default, this is managed via the Reset button on the back of the chassis.

Locate the reset pinhole.
ReadyNAS Duo/NV/NV+: the pinhole is next to the USB port in the back.
Get a straightened paper clip and depress the hidden switch in the pinhole while the power is off, and then power on the ReadyNAS.
After 5 seconds you will get the first flash of the LED's for the OS Re-install
At 30 seconds you will get the second flash of the LED's for the Factory Default.

The Factory Default will wipe the disk of any data and set up a new empty array. You may also have a bad disk in the group. You can try a factory default with all four of the new WD disks. You should verify that they are on the Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) as not all disks will work.

For point of reference, when I first got my NV+ back in 2007 it was still Infrant. I set it up initially with two 500GB Seagates and then expanded with a 500GB Samsung and a 750GB Seagate before upgrading to 4x1TB Seagates. So no, there should not be any problem with drives > 320GB. The fact that you were able to set it up with the 320GB drive points more to a problem with the drives than the NAS. If it were a bad chassis, I would not think you could set it up with any size drive.

PapaBear wrote:
Have the Seagates been used in any device previously?

The 320Gs, yes. I created new partition tables before using them, however. I sort of managed to get a 1T seagate going (see below)

Once it is finished, you should be able to install one of the new WD drives and let it boot. If you get the error message again, try a Factory Default. Factory Default To perform an OS Re-install or Factory Default, this is managed via the Reset button on the back of the chassis.

Thanks for all the feed back.

Why do they release "problematic" updates? To make our miserable lives even more miserable? I digress...

I managed to get it to recognise a single 1T Seagate. The LED panel reports the size correctly. Unfortunately the Frontview (and Windows) says "0% of 0MB available" <sigh>

I am now unable to do a factory reset at all. The reset gets to a point where the LED window displays "IP:192.168.125.033", which is not my network. It then hangs there until my wrist can't hang on any more to the paper clip :)

Anyway, I'll play with it today but I sense I'm just wasting too much time on it. It'll probably need to be returned.


Cheers

Sorry to sound obtuse about all this, but how is the array supposed to be built? The unit now reports

"Ch 1 : Seagate ST31000528AS [931 GB] 0 MB free"

The drive is new and good.

mdgm wrote:
Return the unit to the reseller in exchange for a new one.

Yea, but the way this is going I think I'll go for a refund or upgrade to something else. And I thought the WD SHarespace was bad ... :D

Cheers

UPDATE:
I have a Seagate 1T installed in Bay 1. I added a 2T WD into Bay 2. The drives are now recognised and passed the file scan.

But there is no RAID array. How can I force it to build one?

Thanks

I have to give up; RAIDrar is reporting "C:\ The Array is Dead" - frontview gives me