I have upgraded my Ultra 6 to OS 6,9.5 and the 6.10.10 and everything was fine until I deleted volume to reduce number of disks by replacing them with bigger ones. So, I screwed it up and it looked quite dead.
I managed to get it back to life by USB recovery 4,2,31 with R4toR6_6.9.5.bin.
It seems to be fully operational when it comes to getting IP address, syncing disks, adding disks etc. but it's inaccessible. Admin page shows up and tries to redirect to the wizard but after a couple of seconds shows "Communication Error" and goes no further. I did USB recovery with ReadyNASOS-6.10.10-x86_64 with the same result Is it possible to fix?
I'll appreciate any help as this old ReadyNAS was very reliable while relatively new QNAP can never be trusted.
The corrupted model and serial number mean that the VPD file in flash got corrupted. The NAS will not properly boot without a valid VPD file, and there is currently no way being made available to re-create it, as it's an encrypted file and only Netgear knows the key. It's not really common, but does happen often enough when upgrading a legacy NAS to OS6.10.x to be wary, and you did that several times.
Since the serial number is no longer important because there is no support and ReadyCloud is no more, perhaps some kind sole will share his Ultra6 VPD with you. Instructions for getting to it are here: Backup-and-restore-of-VPD-file-for-legacy-ReadyNAS-running-OS6
Thanks for your reply but I don't think this is the case. I had TLS 1.0 problem before upgrade to OS6 and solved it by using old Firefox. At that point browsers refused to connect to admin page. Now the page is accessible, I can see initial screen with version 6.9.5, but it shows Communication Error freezes there. Same with old Firefox.
In fact I wanted to return to the beginning and did usb recovery to 4.2 but NAS did not boot. Then I recovered to 6.9.5 and it worked. The admin page of 6.9.5 is loaded but it couldn't start wizard. NAS files couldn't be accessed from LAN either.
Next I recovered to 6.10.10 which was loaded before crush. Result was the same as with 6.9.5. After every recovery I reset to factory default.
The corrupted model and serial number mean that the VPD file in flash got corrupted. The NAS will not properly boot without a valid VPD file, and there is currently no way being made available to re-create it, as it's an encrypted file and only Netgear knows the key. It's not really common, but does happen often enough when upgrading a legacy NAS to OS6.10.x to be wary, and you did that several times.
Since the serial number is no longer important because there is no support and ReadyCloud is no more, perhaps some kind sole will share his Ultra6 VPD with you. Instructions for getting to it are here: Backup-and-restore-of-VPD-file-for-legacy-ReadyNAS-running-OS6
Please see RAIDar screen in attachment. While RAIDar reports volume 2 100% full, display shows 99% free. And there is only one volume.
The inactive volume suggests that you didn't successfully do a factory default.
I'm also concerned about the garbled serial+model number, which suggests a problem with the VPD.
You could try the factory default again - or perhaps zero one disk, and boot up with only that disk installed. That would do a factory install on that disk. Since there is no RAID array sync needed with one disk, that process should be pretty fast.
@Sandshark, @StephenB, thanks for your help. I'll try what you suggested but I feel it's lost. Can you suggest a decent replacement which would be at least as good as ReadyNAS. QNAP is out of question, I had enough troubles with it.
@StephenB based on your recommendation I've tried the following:
1. Removed all disks
2. USB recovery of 4.2.31
3. Factory default - NAS restarted and hanged at creation of X-RAID as expected
4. Shut down, inserted 1 formatted disk
5. Factory reset
6. Power up,
NAS created volume and booted but not completely:(display shows only IP address, fan full speed and power button works only for forced shut down). Admin page 4.2.31 (judged by TLS 1.0) continuously requests password and is not loaded.
However, on the bright side the shares are accessible from LAN and file exchange works. This didn't happen with 6.9.5
Model is still scrambled in RAIDar (attached) but the rest looks good compared to 6.9.5 where NAS boots well but is completely offline. I have a feeling that there is a struggle between 4 and 6 deep inside.
I have no experience with 4.2.x and an invalid VPD file. I had assumed it would have a similar problem as with OS6, but it seems it may not since you've gotten farther with it. At least one of the issues with OS6 and an invalid VPD is the OS not knowing what hardware the NAS has. I had assumed there was also some intent in the encryption to prevent the use of the ReadyNAS OS on non-Netgear hardware. But maybe the encryption is really mainly to keep one from changing the serial number and being able to masquerade as another unit in ReadyNAS Remote or later ReadyCloud. So OS4.2.x may have another way of determining which NAS it's running on, which would allow it to complete booting.
Native OS6 Intel based units use the DMI to ID the model and serial number. I've found that will also work on at least some rack-mount legacy units. But I worked remotely with another forum user with a VPD issue on an Ultra6 and either we could not figure out the correct entries for an Ultra6 or that doesn't work on all models. He ended up buying a replacement unit, at which point we gave up. It may only work on rack-mount units because that's how OS6 can tell the difference between an RN4200V2 and an RD5200, which have the same motherboard but different drive attachment methods. ReadyData OS obviously also used the DMI, as the RD5200 has no VPD but can be converted to ReadyNAS OS6.
Admin page 4.2.31 (judged by TLS 1.0) continuously requests password and is not loaded.
The default admin password for 4.2.x firmware is netgear1.
The workaround for TLS 1.0 is to use Firefox. Set security.tls.version.min to 1 (browse to about:config and search for the setting). Then install this add-on to get TLS 1.2 support:
The VPD must be for a unit with the same basic architecture. There is no unit with similar architecture to the Ultra6, so only an Ultra6 VPD will work. While the Ultra6Plus is the same architecture as the Pro6, the Ultra6 is unique.
