I believe it was in EM Mode because NASNavi2 V2.24 told me it was. Here is the chain of events ...
- Friday 7/29: around 8AM PST I ran an executable from the Linkstation (LINKSTATION1) on one of the networked PCs. It worked fine.
- Some time around 11AM PST, I got a popup (running Win7 Home Premium) stating that there was an issue communicating with LINKSTATION1, to check NASNavigator for more detail
- I checked NASNavigator which (I guess) queried LINKSTATION1 (whose name, somewhere in this chain of events, got changed to `©Õ¾La ). NASNavi returned with a red bar across the LINKSTATION1 icon announcing it was in EM Mode. Meanwhile, LINKSTATION2 (a Quad) was fine, and remains good (turned off, but good).
- So, I started casting around the net to what EM mode was since it was not covered in the documentation. I found many vague references to it being "Engineering Mode" and "Emergency Mode" and a lot of not-very-clear information as to what it really meant or what to do about it.
- I also searched the Buffalo Tech forums and really did not find much, so I posted a question in the Storage forum (LS W2TGL/R1-V3 in EM Mode) . After posting it, I continued searching and found this thread, and started asking questions here as well - thank you for taking the time to answer.
- Based on what I was told and what I found out, I attempted to flash the firmware around noon PST today, with the results as indicated in the above post.
The device is now apparently non-addressable, as it has disappeared from the network. NASNavi2 V2.24 cannot find it; Windows cannot find it; and since I discovered it in "EM Mode" I have not been able to shut it off using the power switch on the back.
So, in truth, it was in EM Mode, but I have no idea why or in what mode it is now. I will do as you suggest above: install the latest version of NASNavi and see what it can make of the situation. But at this point, I am not holding up much hope. I will post back what I find... but I'm not holding my breath.
I did come across the UFS Explorer referenced in your post during my "travels" - didn't look into it too deeply given that I was looking more for a solution to resurrect the Linkstation itself. But I will have a closer look based on your suggestion, after I update NASNavi and see what it can do.
And yes, I bought the NAS in 2009, I believe, so no warranty. I'm not adverse to pulling out the drives if there is a way to grab the data myself, I am quite up to the task.
Also --- what can I do about powering it off. At this point, the only thing that appears will work i spulling the plug. And I don't want to do that until either someone tells me it'll be OK, or we've reached the end of resurrection attempts and it is time to start pulling disks.
I'll be back!
Thanks
Marty