RN516 1 Drive Bay shows as empty - how do I troubleshoot/fix

[doubleos]

My 516 has 1 drive bay that shows as empty although there is a perfectly good drive in the bay.  This has been verified by moving drive between bays.  The problem is in bay 4.  The blue led light is on, just like the other 5 leds.  Any suggestions on how to troubleshoot/fix this problem?

thank you,

doubleos

[StephenB]

Try powering down the NAS (disconnect it from main power for a bit), and then power back up on again.

If that fails to change anything (likely it will), then you should check your warranty status (5 years for original purchasers).  If you are covered, then Netgear will RMA your NAS via my.netgear.com.

[doubleos]

Hi Stephen B,

thank you for your responce, but unfortunatelly rebooting doesn't fix the problem and I don't have warranty support.

[StephenB]

If you did purchase new, the hardware warranty is 5 years (so all the original purchasers are still covered under the warranty).

If you purchased used, then you are on your own.  It might be possible to replace the SATA backplane in the NAS.

[Sandshark]

Have you looked closely at the connector to see if there is something wrong there?  Contamination, perhaps?  Another forum member reported a similar issue and that was the problem.

I do find it odd that the LED lights yet the system does not see the drive.

I purchased a legacy 4-bay system with two dead bays as a paets machine and, while I did determine it was a backplane issue, I never did get to root cause.  There is not much on the SATA backplane to go bad.  But without a schematic, I couldn't figure it out.  Of course, I did have a NV I could steal the backplane from, so I didn't test exhaustively.  Unfortunately, Netgear does not make parts available.  I have not looked to see if the SATA backplane for the 316 is the same as the 516, but I suspect it is.  Still, buying a 316 in hopes you can use parts from it to fix your 516 is quite risky considering the price.  It may not be the backplane that's the issue.  And the unit does still work with just 5 bays.

[doubleos]

Thanks Stephen B and Sandshark for your responses.  Sandshark, do you remember how the contamination problem was fixed?  Anyone have an almost useless 516 (being used for parts) which might have a good backplane?

[Sandshark]

That particular user just had to use canned air, I believe.  Some contact cleaner and a brush designed for such cleaning (needs to be small but stiff non-metalic) might also be required (done with power off, of course).

Since most (maybe all?) 516's are still under warranty, the only ones you are likely to find for parts are ones that were physically damaged.  The backplane is probably one of the more vulnerable parts to damage from dropping.

[StephenB]

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@Sandshark wrote:

Since most (maybe all?) 516's are still under warranty...

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They were launched in 2013, and have a 5 year warranty - so all units in the hands of the original purchaser are still covered. 

Of course some have been resold, and the warranty is non-transferable.  I'm assuming that must be the issue here.