7 red blinks after replacing old HDDs for new ones. LS421DE

[DeathMetroll]

Hi everyone !

So my problem is simple, I had two 2TB HDD in my Linkstation that I wanted to replace for two 4TB.

So I switched off the LS and replaced the old HDDs for the new out of the box 4TB and switched on.

After a few seconds the red light blinks 7 times. I thought I should format them so I plugged them in my computer and format both of them as GPT but it didn't change anything... it still blinks red 7 times !

I'm pretty sur I've made a mistake but witch on ??!!!

What can I do ?

Thank you

Alex

[1000001101000]

That model has an easy way to install the firmware from the built in flash:
https://www.buffalotech.com/knowledge-base/Initial-Setup-of-LinkStation-421DE-or-441DE-Diskless-Enclosure

I beleive you want to start with completely blank drives so you may need to remove that partition table tou just created.

Heres a link to more info about that device including other (harder) methods to load the firmware:
https://buffalonas.miraheze.org/wiki/Linkstation_LS421D

[DeathMetroll]

Hi, thank you very much for your reply !

"I beleive you want to start with completely blank drives so you may need to remove that partition table tou just created."

I can I do that ?

At very first I tried with the HDD directly installed after unboxing with no resuslts (I mean the 7 flashes) that's why I formated them.

Thank you.

Best regards.

Alex

[1000001101000]

The guide starts off suggesting two blank drives:

For best results use two blank new drives

I have seen this fail to work for reasons I was not able to identify. If you are unable to get the built-in process to work you can do it manually with this process:
https://buffalonas.miraheze.org/wiki/Restoring_Stock_Firmware_without_TFTP

[DeathMetroll]

Hello,

I've done every step from link provided but with no results...

1. Obtain the boot files for your device (see Extract Boot Files from Stock Firmware)
           
             -Did it with success I got the 2 files for a total of approx 25mb, names are the same as mentionned on the web page.

2. Prepare the hard drive create a partition table, mbr seems to work for all devices most newer ones also accept gpt create partition1 format partition1 ext3 mount it and copy initrd.buffalo and uImage.buffalo to it
           
            - Formated it as GTP as said before and prepared as EXT3 with a tier software, it took about 3h (4TB) !
            - I booted on an UBUNTU flash drive so I can access the HDD and copy/paste the 2 files from step 1

3. connect the drive to the device and boot it up, after a few minutes it should be in em mode.
           
            - That's where it's stuck, I plugged the HDD in, boot up, it white blinks for a few seconds and then it red blinks 7 times...
            - Because of that issue I can't get to next steps !


What can I do ? I'm becoming mad on that problem !!!

Thank you.

Best regards.

Alex

[1000001101000]

make the partition small, like 1gb, the updater will reformat/repartition so the details aren't important.

I don't know the exact limit but the bootloader won't be able to handle a large partition like that, certainly not larger than 2tb.

Try doing the format from ubuntu this time too, mkfs.ext3 should only take a few seconds to do the format.

[DeathMetroll]

Hello,

I've set a partition to a 100mb using the windows disk manager and set it to EXT3 using EaseUS Partition Master 13.0 it did the job but as I said before the LS421DE didn't boot up...

So I 'd like to do it the way you explained but I don't know how to format with UBUNTU I've searched with no reasult... and I don't know what mkfs.ext3 is, is it a software ? for windows or UBUNTU ?

I'm not very use to LINUX environment. I use it for very simple tasks.

Thank you.

[DeathMetroll]

I've found the way to format using UBUNTU ! But the only option available is EXT4 I tried all te same but still 7 red blinks...

UBUNTU version 18.04.1 LTS

[1000001101000]

mkfs.ext3 is the command to format a partition as ext3. It should be there in an ubuntu live environment. Ext4 will not work.

mkfs.ext3 is an alias for mke2fs -t ext3, some documentation can be found here:
https://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/artful/man8/mkfs.ext4.8.html

[DeathMetroll]

Hello,

sorry for being so long to reply but I was away for work.

I succeded in formating/"refirmwareing" the LS421DE !

But the issue I got now is it loose connexion while i'm transfering files on it... it happens through WIFI 5G, the computer is 5m away from the 5G modem (ASUS DSL3100) so it's not a problem of distance.

What can be done ?

Thank you.

[1000001101000]

Good to hear!

Your moving into more generic network troubleshooting at this point and that limits how helpful I can be. Generally speaking you'll want to narrow down where the issue could be.

You can try running ping tests between your pc and the NAS as well as the router and other devices on your network. Assessing whether you're losing packets and what the latency looks like will give you an idea of whether you're having connectivity problems.

You can try plugging your PC in via ethernet and see if the problem goes away. This could narrow it down to the wireless network or just your PCs wireless adapter/drivers.

You can try from another PC to narrow it down to issues related to your PC.

etc etc etc

[DeathMetroll]

Ok,

so I don't need your help anymore !

Thank you very much you were very helpful and reliable.

I'll try to solve this issue by myself.

Thank again !