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Products => Storage => : aharrop October 01, 2016, 07:29:43 AM

: Blue flashing lights on ls-qvl/r5 - cannot access via Nasnav or Updater
: aharrop October 01, 2016, 07:29:43 AM
Guys,

I have a ls-qvl/r5 which has had a checkered existence. It has bricked over firmware a number of times and has been saved. It has been resurrected due to drive failure and EM issues multiple times, mainly through following others' advice on this forum, and some luck.

I hope someone can assist.

Complaint is the same as in this solved thread here http://forums.buffalotech.com/index.php?topic=17553.0, blue flashing power light, however I cannot gain a steady blue light as instructed after resetting using the function button. In the past this, and just restarting, has corrected the issue. I was experiencing it dropping out and freezing for up to 2 weeks, but now it is stuck.

Here is what I have tried.

1) Power off NAS (only way is to cut power by pulling cord).

2) Hold function button, power on. I gain flashing function LED light.

3) Release function and NAS powers up (cannot get it to power up without releasing).

4) Hold function button again for 10 seconds (nothing changes).

The NAS just sits with flashing function and power LEDs in blue. The device cannot be seen by NAS Navigator 2 (Sep 2016). It was running firmware 1.71 (up to date) which I have downloaded again, and cannot see the device when plugged in directly to my Mac through ethernet.

Any suggestions, as I have spent hours trawling forums over this hardware and cannot find anything to take me forward?

Thanks!
: Re: Blue flashing lights on ls-qvl/r5 - cannot access via Nasnav or Updater
: flooreus August 15, 2018, 05:20:53 AM
Hi,

I would like to try and resurrect this thread, as I am having the same problem. I was running the exact same firmware version, and this post describes exactly my issue and what I have tried to do to resolve the issue. This occurred when I tried to update the firmware through the web UI. This means it was my NAS' own attempt at upgrading its firmware that caused this, and not mine!

Can someone please help, I am at my wits end with this.
: Re: Blue flashing lights on ls-qvl/r5 - cannot access via Nasnav or Updater
: davo August 15, 2018, 09:20:03 AM
How many disks are you using? What RAID mode and do you have a backup?
: Re: Blue flashing lights on ls-qvl/r5 - cannot access via Nasnav or Updater
: flooreus August 16, 2018, 04:21:31 AM
Not sure how this is relevant, but I am using 4 x 4TB drives in RAID1+0 and no I do not have a backup. I was in the process of purchasing an 8TB external HDD when this happened, in fact, grrrr!
: Re: Blue flashing lights on ls-qvl/r5 - cannot access via Nasnav or Updater
: davo August 16, 2018, 05:13:29 AM
Its completely relevant actually, try removing one disk at a time and rebooting the unit to see if it appears in the NAS Navigator.
: Re: Blue flashing lights on ls-qvl/r5 - cannot access via Nasnav or Updater
: flooreus August 16, 2018, 05:18:58 AM
Hi,

OK I will try this now for each drive, but can you tell me why? The issue is that I attempted a firmware upgrade through the Web UI and, once it rebooted after installing, it will now not boot into the kernel. This isn't a drive issue so not sure why I'm doing this.
: Re: Blue flashing lights on ls-qvl/r5 - cannot access via Nasnav or Updater
: flooreus August 16, 2018, 05:48:00 AM
OK I tried pulling them 1 by 1 and booting but nothing worked, the power light still blinks rapidly blue and doesn't boot into the kernel. NAS Navigator2 doesn't show anything.
: Re: Blue flashing lights on ls-qvl/r5 - cannot access via Nasnav or Updater
: flooreus August 19, 2018, 12:33:46 PM
Does anyone have any advice for me on this? My NAS is currently unusable due to something it did to itself. My Plex setup relies on this storage, and so I've lost my primary media platform. It was my primary photo backup and I'm scared I may have lost all of my photos from way back. Can someone please suggest something that may help?
: Re: Blue flashing lights on ls-qvl/r5 - cannot access via Nasnav or Updater
: oxygen8 August 21, 2018, 05:05:45 AM
My tested way is to delete the demaged firmware.
This is on the second partition an any drive as raid1 (mdadm)

My german example with 2 drives from a duo:
http://forum.nas-hilfe.de/buffalo-technology-nas-anleitungen/blaues-blinken-raeparatur-einer-beschaedigten-linkstation-duo-ls-wvl-ls-wxl-t2014.html
: Re: Blue flashing lights on ls-qvl/r5 - cannot access via Nasnav or Updater
: flooreus August 23, 2018, 01:31:56 PM
Thanks. I have now manged to remove the old firmware, but now the system is boot looping. I was expecting I'd be able to get the device to boot using TFTP, or I'd be able to use LSUpdater.exe to flash new firmware....how do I get the device into EM mode? It is booting so far, then after realising there's no firmware it shuts down and reboots.
: Re: Blue flashing lights on ls-qvl/r5 - cannot access via Nasnav or Updater
: oxygen8 August 23, 2018, 02:03:32 PM
then after realising there's no firmware it shuts down and reboots.

maybe one first partition is not clean


mount the first partition from one drive
if this is ok, unmount it and try the next drive

please check the SMART values from all 4 drives
: Re: Blue flashing lights on ls-qvl/r5 - cannot access via Nasnav or Updater
: oxygen8 August 23, 2018, 02:17:01 PM
also sdX1 is used with mdadm!

:
md0 : active raid1 sda1[0] sdd1[3] sdc1[2] sdb1[1]
      1000384 blocks [4/4] [UUUU]
: Re: Blue flashing lights on ls-qvl/r5 - cannot access via Nasnav or Updater
: flooreus August 24, 2018, 05:46:02 AM
also sdX1 is used with mdadm!

:
md0 : active raid1 sda1[0] sdd1[3] sdc1[2] sdb1[1]
      1000384 blocks [4/4] [UUUU]

I noticed there was basically a full Linux installation on /dev/sdx2 so I deleted the files from there. You're looking at md0, and not md1. I'll bet md0 is the boot sector. I didn't think I'd have to clear this also. I'll take a look.
: Re: Blue flashing lights on ls-qvl/r5 - cannot access via Nasnav or Updater
: oxygen8 August 24, 2018, 07:06:14 AM
Mache bitte nur, was da steht:

maybe one first partition is not clean


mount the first partition from one drive
if this is ok, unmount it and try the next drive

please check the SMART values from all 4 drives

Sollte das Dateisystem defekt sein, kannst du es nicht mounten.
Sollte eine Festplatte den SMART-Test nicht bestehen, musst du sie tauschen.



(Ich nutze nun lieber meine Muttersprache, da du mein dürftiges englisch nicht zu verstehen scheinst.)


I noticed there was basically a full Linux installation on /dev/sdx2 so I deleted the files from there.

Hast du das mit allen 4 Platten gemacht?
: Re: Blue flashing lights on ls-qvl/r5 - cannot access via Nasnav or Updater
: flooreus August 24, 2018, 09:23:22 AM
Oxygen8

Thanks for your reply. I do understand your English I just hadn't reorder to your questions. The SMART status of all 4 disks is fine, and yes I did do the removal of all partition 2 data from all 4 drives. Partition 2 on all 4 is completely blank. I checked again to confirm.

Is there anything I have to do with the boot partition as well? Currently it is still boot looping.
: Re: Blue flashing lights on ls-qvl/r5 - cannot access via Nasnav or Updater
: oxygen8 August 24, 2018, 10:23:35 AM
you have to check all 4 boot partitions

with each drive start the raid1 with only one drive
now try to mount the degraded raid

if this is possible, this drive is ok
unmount it, shutdown the computer an check the next drive

one drive should not be able to start the raid device or to mount the filesystem
: Re: Blue flashing lights on ls-qvl/r5 - cannot access via Nasnav or Updater
: flooreus September 23, 2018, 10:00:03 AM
Hi,

I have taken each drive, and stopped the RAIDs:

mdadm --stop /dev/md0
mdadm --stop /dev/md1
mdadm --stop /dev/md2


Then, to be sure md0 is partition 1:

mdadm --assemble --run /dev/md0 /dev/sdb1

I then mounted it and checked it. It mounted fine and there were no files there.

I did this for each drive, but each one mounted fine and was blank (as per your initial guidance).
: Re: Blue flashing lights on ls-qvl/r5 - cannot access via Nasnav or Updater
: flooreus September 23, 2018, 12:57:45 PM
I found the following post that basically says you can start from scratch with the new drives by removing all the partitions.

http://www.herzig-net.de/prog/?page=unbrick_ls-wxl

Of course I don't want to lose all of my data, so this is not an option for me. However, I would expect that formatting both the boot partition and linux partition (partitions 1 and 2) would cause the device to be in EM mode so I can then re-install the software. This is not the case with mine, it's just boot looping. How do I get the damn thing into EM mode so I can start from scratch?!?!
: Re: Blue flashing lights on ls-qvl/r5 - cannot access via Nasnav or Updater
: flooreus September 28, 2018, 04:43:08 AM
Does anyone have any answer to this? My NAS won't boot at all after it BROKE ITSELF DURING A FIRMWARE UPDATE!!!

I have tried:

1. Removing drives 1 by 1 and booting - This causes constant blue flashing light but nothing happens (failure to load firmware)
2. Removing all data from only the boot partitions and booting - Causes boot looping
3. Putting boot partition data back and removing all data from only the linux partitions and booting - Same effect as 1
4. Removing all data from both partitions and booting - Same effect as 1
5. Booting into EM mode - Holding the function button either before or after booting does nothing. I've held it for 5/10/15 seconds both before and during boot, and also tried both before AND after, but nothing happens. It just continues trying to boot and then flashes blue constantly.
6. TFTP booting to push the firmware to the NAS (not possible with LS-QVL from what I can see) - I downloaded the latest firmware from the Buffalo website, and used the TFTP boot software for LS-QTL (TFTP Boot Recovery LS-QTL 1.04.exe) from https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B_oFnRRMAwk0SkYtdGpSdTNKTk0, where someone on the post http://forums.buffalotech.com/index.php?topic=10185.0 had luck with on the same model as me (LS-QVL). This didn't work. I tried linking my laptop directly to the NAS (using straight/patch cable, not crossover)

I am tearing my hair out here. I know my data is fine but the goddamn machine broke itself and then stopped working. How can there not be a failsafe in place for this?!?!
: Re: Blue flashing lights on ls-qvl/r5 - cannot access via Nasnav or Updater
: oxygen8 September 30, 2018, 04:28:47 AM
:
4. Removing all data from both partitions and booting - Same effect as 1
i can not believe that
one partition on one drive is not clean
you should get E06
try to backup you data with the ufsexplorer
: Re: Blue flashing lights on ls-qvl/r5 - cannot access via Nasnav or Updater
: flooreus October 02, 2018, 12:31:32 PM
Thanks for replying. I have been able to mount all the partitions on all drives and access them fine. There are no files in both boot and Linux partitions. Out of interest, how will UFS Explorer help me? There is no data to back up. Or is there another use for UFS Explorer that I'm not seeing?

The only thing I can think of to do is to back up my data and remove the partitions, then just boot it and re-install the firmware but I really want to get this fixed without having to do that.
: Re: Blue flashing lights on ls-qvl/r5 - cannot access via Nasnav or Updater
: 1000001101000 October 16, 2018, 08:51:49 AM
I'm writing up a guide for dealing with this type of situation, I've posted a short version to a couple of threads and so far it seems to work for everyone who's tried it.

It's posted at:
https://forums.buffalotech.com/index.php?topic=25358.msg90493#msg90493

I've done it on the LS-QVL and confirm that it works for that model.