Terastation Pro Died, tried a new chassis. Looking for next step suggestions.

[joseftl]

Hi everyone,

My TeraStation Pro (TS-1.0TGL/R5) died and it won't power up. I spoke with Tech Support and they suggested buying a used chassis and giving that a try (they did say there was a 50/50 chance it would work). I got the new chassis today and here is where I'm at:

• The new chassis powers up
• Link light comes on green
• Screen powers on slowly until full lit, but nothing displays on it
• Drive access lights power through green in sequence a couple of times until they start flashing rapidly in unison for about 5 seconds. Then the go dark for about 1 second and start flashing rapidly again. This repeats without stopping.
• Fail lights are dark
• Message light under power light is orange
• Error light under Message is dimly lit, I think it's actually not lit but instead reflecting from the other lights
• I can't see the drive on the LAN from my Windows PC
• I can't reach the drive via a browser using it's assigned IP address

Below is a photo I took of the new chassis. Please note that the one single access light on is because they flash so fast that this is what the camera captured.



I know my drive was on the latest firmware because I regularly updated it until the last one Buffalo deployed in 2016.

I've seen some posts about doing testing via Unix, but I'm not a programmer so I don't think I can go that route. Another idea I had (I'm not a programmer but I'm handy!) was trying to move the power unit from the new chassis into the old one in the hopes that was what went bad. I wonder if that would work...

Any thoughts or suggestions on what I can try next are sincerely appreciated.

Jose

[joseftl]

Hi everyone,

I have an update. I let the NAS sit there overnight. It is not longer flashing! Now I have:

- Solid power light
- Solid Link light
- Access lights flash once in sequence every 5 seconds or so

Message light is no longer lit. Fail lights are not on either. Unfortunately the screen is still blank.

Also, I still cannot see the NAS on my LAN. Here's what I've tried:

- Doubleclicking on the old Windows Explorer shortcut
- Tried to access the control panel via a browser and the NAS's LAN IP address
- Looked in my router's DHCP to see if I saw it connected and the router doesn't have it listed
- Tried Windows / Run and typed \\terastation and also tried \\archived which is the NAS's hostname
- Tried pinging via command line and I got back: Destination host unreachable.

Any thoughts on what I can try next?

Thanks

Jose

[1000001101000]

I'm not familiar with these old PowerPC devices but assuming they work similarly to the later ARM-based model....

Other than the screen being blank and lack of network that sounds a lot like it booted, did a disk check and finally came up normally.

If you moved to new hardware you will have a different MAC address. This means that it will not get the same address from DHCP and subsequently that everything you checked except "Looked in my router's DHCP" wouldn't work. If you use MAC filtering or similar security features you may need to add an exception for the new device.

You could also try using NasNavigator and see if it can find the device. If it doesn't work in your normal network configuration you can try with it connected directly to the PC.

[joseftl]

Thanks Debian! I appreciate the reply.

I'm going to try NasNavigator and/or connecting the drive straight to my PC.

Do you know if the displays are easy to swap? I still have the old chassis, I could use move that display onto this one if it's not soldered on.

Regards,

J.

[1000001101000]

I've never done it but they appear to be connected with a ribbon cable and attached with screws. Take proper precautions since the power supply inside the device is fairly dangerous.

I imagine by either swapping LCDs or power supplies you can end up with a working device.

If you'd be interested, you could send me what's left of the other one when you are done and I can see about getting Debian running on it (I've been asked about this a couple of times). I think the last version to support PowerPC was Debian 8 so it wouldn't be the latest and greatest but it would be an interesting challenge.

[joseftl]

I'M IN!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-) OMG OMG! LOL!

Ok so I used NasNavigator like you suggested and found the box. It had an IP address that was different than my LAN range. Mine is 192.168... and the box had 172.10... I tried changing the box's IP address but couldn't because it kept telling me that I had the incorrect password.

I did a bit of research online and found an article with Buffalo's default login (user: admin pwd: password). That still didn't work. But the article said to open the door and under the display was the reset button, to hold it for 20 seconds and that the NAS would reset the login to factory settings. It said that it would also put the machine in DHCP mode. So, not having much to loose I went for it!

When the box came back I could immediately see it in NasNavigator with a 192.168 IP. I opened a browser and was able to get in with the default login! A few changes to the configuration and I'm up and running.

Thank you for your suggestion. I was using the old TeraStation Pro for archived files. I just bought a new LinkStation and I'm gonna start moving stuff there. It's time for this baby to retire -- or better, to find a new life running Debian! I'll PM you shortly.

Have a great weekend everyone!

[1000001101000]

Nice!