After a clean power down, now my NV+ v2 refuses to boot, it automatically goes into the Boot Menu where I can only select "Normal" However, after choosing this option it won't actually boot or do anything else. This occurs without pressing the reset button to get into the boot menu, although the results are exactly the same if I do press the button. It happens with disks in the unit, with disks out of the unit, or with new disks in the unit. Power to the unit seems fine, all the expected lights are on, the fan spins, the displays are active.
I am running Raidiator 5.3.12 or .13, not sure exactly which one, but I cannot access the unit to check. I have disks 1 and 2 as RAID-1, and disks 3 and 4 as a separate RAID-1. The disks appear to be ok, I can see the partitions, volumes and files in Linux when individually hooked up directly to a PC. (the beauty of RAID-1)
In the linked discussion, the user was able to resolve the problem using a USB recovery key, but the URL to the recovery key file no longer works. I'd like to download and attempt a recovery using the key, if it is available. Thank you.
Thanks for the recovery key files. Unfortunately I am not having success like the poster I referenced above. When I power up while holding the backup button, that button will flash continuously but nothing indicates that it is booting from the USB key. The LED is blank. I tried with a disk in slot 1 and without. I tried 2 different USB drives. I let the READYNAS unit run for a long time. The README is quite limited. The USB itself (after using the tool) has just 3 files on it. Any obvious things I might be doing wrong? Thank you.
Thanks very much for your help but the unit does not respond to the USB recovery key. The LED stays blank and the "backup" button flashes quickly but that's it.
I pulled logs raw off the system partition of the first drive, zipped them up and emailed them to nsbu_logs@netgear.com as indicated in your signature. I'm hoping with the logs, somebody can help determine what may have happened between a clean shutdown and the unit brick-ing upon the next boot. I've read dozens of threads and can't find an actual solution that works and I can replicate.
I tried 2 USB flash drives and 1 desktop hard drive via IDE-to-USB connector. All were formatted and prepared with the USB recovery tool. None had any effect. If I hold down the "backup" button while powering on the NAS, the LCD display stays blank and the backup button flashes quickly. This happens whether or not a USB is connected. If I power on the device without holding down the "backup" button, the LCD will display "Boot Menu," except my only option will be to get to "Normal" at which time the device becomes entirely unresponsive, no ability to boot, power off, or select a different boot menu option. This happens whether or not a hard drive is installed in the unit, and whether or not I hold down the Reset button.
I assume I am doing the recovery process correctly, I am following the OS6 instructions, because there are no instructions for OS5.
Very frustrating! A perfectly fine unit with all drives healthy just decided to brick itself? I sent the logs in case there is some clue buried there. Hoping to get a response.
The unit does not get to the point where it requests, or is assigned, an IP address from the router. I don't think there is any way to connect to the unit to view, save or monitor any consoles.
If it did, how would I view the serial console? I previously emailed all of the logs I could find, essentially the entire /var/log directory and a few more. I don't believe there are any log files written since the last shutdown. In other words, with or without the USB recovery key, the unit currently "freezes" prior to making any new log entries, and also prior to getting an IP address. There's also no way to turn the unit off, other than pulling the power plug.
Have you extracted the data from the drives (while you had them mounted in the linux system)?
If so, you might try zeroing one of the drives (or some other scratch drive). Vendor tools can do that (both Seatools and WDC's Lifeguard), and of course you can also use dd on the linux system.
Then power down, put that zeroed drive in the NAS (with no other drives installed). Then power on the NAS and see if it does a factory install.
You could also try booting the system into tech support mode, and see if that gives you an IP address.
Thank you to the people who have offered some help here.
I have taken a totally empty, unformatted disk -- I deleted all partitions and used a utility to wipe the entire disk -- and inserted it by itself into slot 1 and restarted the NAS. No change. How do you boot into tech support mode? If it is part of the boot menu, I cannot access that option.
The NAS itself has just locked up without any prior issues or any other distress. The drives that were in there are all still fully intact, no data loss, easy to mount and copy files with mdadm on a Linux system (thanks to using simple RAID-1). This is not an issue of data corruption or RAID failure. Only the NAS itself, its ability to boot, has failed. While I understand the unit is past its warranty date, I would still think a NETGEAR rep with a bit of pride about the products they make, would join the discussion to at least provide some advice, or even offer an option to somehow get the firmware re-installed by hand, to get the unit to boot again, by a professional at their facility.
I have taken a totally empty, unformatted disk -- I deleted all partitions and used a utility to wipe the entire disk -- and inserted it by itself into slot 1 and restarted the NAS. No change.
That suggests that the issue is either the NAS chassis or the power adapter.
Hi, can you provide any more guidance on how to get this info? The previous link regarding serial console was for a different model unit. What is the U-Boot console and environment?
My NV+ v2 boots directly into the boot menu. I can press "backup" once and the LED changes from just "Boot Menu" to "Boot Menu: Normal". After that, it does not respond to additional button presses, it will not boot, it will not power down (except for pulling the plug, obviously). It's the same whether or not there are drives in the unit or not. With that said, the power seems fine, the fan rotates, all expected lights are on, etc.
I managed to make a serial connection, after a lot of trial and error.
In case someone else needs to do the same, I used a USB-to-TTL cable with 4 strands that I purchased on eBay, it shows up in Windows Device Manager as "Prolific USB-to-Serial Comm Port." Make sure you look at which COM port it assigns, you'll need this. On the READYNAS unit (again, lots of trial and error) from Right-to-Left, I hooked up black (ground), green, white, and left the red (power) wire unconnected.
The serial connection setup is: 115200 baud, 8-bit data, parity: none, stop: 1 bit, flow control: none. You will need to set these parameters in both Device Manager and in Putty or TeraTerm.
The ouput is at https://justpaste.it/5xhow There isn't any indication of a failure, it just goes into the Boot Menu without really explaining why.
You could have a problem with your reset button. It could be stuck in or a problem inside the case leading to the system thinking the reset button is pressed when it's not.
If you boot holding down the ESC key on a USB keyboard you should get into the u-boot console. From there you should be able to see if the u-boot environment is intact (but don't make any changes unless you know what you're doing).
Have you tried doing USB Boot Recovery with the serial console connected?
