Author Topic: Linkstation Pro LS-XHL 1.0TB red light blinking 6 times after trying to erase all data  (Read 17788 times)

HansJorgen

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I tried to erase & format the internal hard disk using web access. It started doing it but now it seems to be stuck(?) as it's just flashing red light (6 times in a row). Not sure if it's actually still doing the erase or not. Should I wait or try to abort it somehow? If I should wait - how long should it roughly take to erase 1 TB drive (it has now been doing that 3 hours)? If I should stop it - how should I do it so that I dont end up with a drive I can not connect to?

 

Needless to say I can not access it at all at this stage (it even told me that would happen once I committed to erase operation). It should have said it takes SEVERAL HOURS.

 

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

(edit) Is there anyway to see what the drive is doing or how it's progressing. It showed me some bars when it started but now I have no access to it with anything not even ping. I suppose what I'm asking is - Is this normal ?


HansJorgen

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Thanks for the instructions BUT after some fiddling I finally got to the point where the updater tried to do the firmware update but it says "Could not confirm whether the partition exists. Cannot update the firmware. Firmware updating is aborted".

 

What could I try next?

I googled and apparently according to this thread http://forums.buffalotech.com/t5/Solved-Storage-Threads/cannot-update-firmware-stuck-in-EM-mode/td-p/23480? somebody (different HW though) changed something in .ini file and got it working.. Is thisd what I should do also?


Jotin

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Yes, you will have to change the .ini file so you can format it and once you enable formatting the update will format the unit and hopefully fix the issue so that the unit will come back up.


HansJorgen

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Thanks for info. I did the change in .INI file and now (after I some problems which apparently were due to NASNAVI running at the same time I tried to do the update. It kept changing my LS's IP to 169. something. Finally tried it with NASNAVI closed when I start the update and now its doing the firmware update.. First 1/4 went blazingly fast but now its crawling .. but still progressing. Hopefully it finishes and I get back online :-) It's half-way through right now.


HansJorgen

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Well well well.. It was doing the firmware installation and I guess it was verifying it (up to 90%) when it disconnected and complained something. I will do it again and try to see what the exact message is. It seems to transfer the boggest part of firmware for quite some time (moren than 240MB). After that it does some verification or checksumming and I think it died doing that. When I rebooted the device it just gives me back the 6 red blinks... Now I'm trying to do it again (this time I also turned off all possible firewalls with proper reboot and UAC). Let's see.


HansJorgen

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The problem is that LS IP keeps changing back to 169.254.xxx.xxx while I have my laptop set at 192.168.11.1. They are connected to each other directly. I can't understand why the Linkstation's IP keeps changing back to 169.254x.x Any ideas?


HansJorgen

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Nothing seems to help. Im still stuck with those annoying red blinks. :smileysad:

If I take the disk out - can I format it easier connecting it to PC, Linux whatever (if my problem even is related to HDD.

I know firmware is one of the problems but I dont know what else I could try. Maybe earlier firmware version?


Jotin

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I would try removing the drive, delete all the partitions and then put it back in the unit and try again. If it changes the IP again try removing your static and rebooting the unit to see if it comes back up to continue flashing the firmware.


HansJorgen

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Thanks for tips.. I did remove the HD from my Linkstation Pro LS-XHK 1.0 TB. Seems to be WD Green 1TB. I emptied it of all partitions using Windows Disk Management - plugged it in and tried to flash it. No change.. it tries to write the firmware (biggest) it only goes maybe 10% then reboots the Linkstation (at that stage I may or may not have my TFTP running - doesn't make a difference). After the reboot it sometimes goes to blink the amber lights for a few minutes maybe and then reboots to 6 red blinks again. If it doesnt give me the amber blinks it gives me the red blinks straight after the reboot. Maybe there is a specific order using DEBUG when flashing that I should do it.. I mean maybe build partition tables first and then something... drives me crazy. Right now I removed it once again - now formatting it to NTFS and running scans for hard disk to see if it can spot anything wrong with it. 

 

My Linkstation was bought from Finland - would that make a difference - TFTP version? Firwmare versions? At least the firmware version I took from UK site but it doesn't work any better. TFTP Im not sure about as it wasrecommended to me at previous post.

 

If I don't get it working by Monday I must order some new solution for me. :-(


HansJorgen

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Something wicked is going on!

 

Now - as a sort of final try I once again (must be my 30th try at this) try to flash the firmware. This time I try the latest BETA firmware which I have tried earlier also. This time I started my laptop PC in "safe mode with networking" and ... well it's different.. I noticed writing the firmware almost stopped when it was maybe 80% done. It CRAWLED after that .. right now it's "waiting for writing of firmware" about 70% done... It has NEVER went this far before so Im getting excited...:smileysurprised:

 

It has been "updating" (I hope) it now for maybe 30 minutes...

 

Finished! BUt immediately I got "couldn't confirm a response from LS-XHHL...". After this I quit update process shutdown LS. Start LS and still I get the red blinks ARGH!!!!


HansJorgen

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I got it working!!!!!!!! Finally.

 

Thanks for tips. I'm now runniong Beta firmware and it seems to work. I will do some additional tests because Im not feeling too confident at the moment.

Anyway what seemed to have helped was :

- LS started with looking for 192.168.11.1 as it was supposed to but for some reason it kept assigning itself a new address from 169.254.x.x. This was solved by changing my computers static IP to subnet then the update would work.. somewhat it still kept c:ashing though

- I booted Windows  to safe + networking and did the update there - this helped but what really seemed to have helped was probably the thing I overlooked as I wasnt sure what were the explicit instructions for Linkstation LS-XHL update concerning this:

---- I copied the two named files from firmware to TFTP folder according to instructions - yes I suppose they were in one of those FAQs. After that IT WORKED - I got the Japanese version via Web Access. Now I have rebooted it and still it comes up ok.

 

Me so happy but need to do more testing though to be able to trust this.


dynacon

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Hello,

I have the same issue.

Have removed the drive and killed partitions however can't seem to access the location for the TFTP Boot Procedures, I have tried 2 different browsers (IE & Chrome) both on a Windows 7 PC keep getting webpage cannot be found, is there an alternate location.

I am going to try another PC to see if its just something with Windows 7, as I am getting that for webpage cannot be found on any link I click on from within the forum.

Thanks

davo

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Hello,

I have the same issue.

Have removed the drive and killed partitions however can't seem to access the location for the TFTP Boot Procedures, I have tried 2 different browsers (IE & Chrome) both on a Windows 7 PC keep getting webpage cannot be found, is there an alternate location.

I am going to try another PC to see if its just something with Windows 7, as I am getting that for webpage cannot be found on any link I click on from within the forum.

Thanks

Link is working fine for me:

http://forums.buffalotech.com/index.php?topic=10185.0
PM me for TFTP / Boot Images / Recovery files  LSRecovery.exe file.
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