Hi, I'm new here and I'm not particularly computer literate.
I bought a Linkstation Live a couple of weeks ago so that I could stream my movies to my BD player downstairs easily and do away with my massive DVD collection. It has been working like a dream. Until tonight.
I have it set to turn on at specific times. When it started up tonight, the blue light just flashed and flashed, like when it is booting up. It didn't stop. I did the whole reset thing and both lights just kept flashing.
The NAS navigator can't see it and neither can my PC. Nothing has changed, there haven't even been any updates as I didn't use my PC today until I saw the device wasn't working.
So I read on this forum about it and it seemed like a good idea to reinstal, so I did. The setup didn't complete. It said the device didn't return the ip address.
Since that was done, the device flashed an orange light at the top. It kind of goes flaaash, flash. A longer then a short one, then repeats. I can't make head nor tail of the codes in the manual, but I would think the NAS is telling me the same. The bottom light flashes quickly, continually.
I've now read on here that perhaps I should do a special boot up, but it looks dangerous... when I went to get the firmware, it said if I use the wrong one it will ruin the device. I think mine is v2 as the link navigator CD says 'for LS-CHL ver.2.1.0' but I don't know if the version number is the program or the device. The whole process seems very long-winded and technical. Not happy!
I've only had the thing for two weeks and it has already failed.. What should I do? And am I to expect to have to have to do this kind of technical nursing often?
Help please, guys!
Or should I just return the device to where I bought it and ask for another?
There are loads of films on there too, which too ages to put on!
Thanks in advance.:smileysad:
Hi - same problem here.
Device: LS-CHL 1TB - Router: Linksys Wireless G 2,4Ghz - Cablemodem: Webstar (Scientific Atlanta) Lenovo Laptop U350, 4GB, 1,4 Ghz with windows XP Professional servicepack3 installet and fully updated.
Just bought Buffalo about a month ago - everything working fine, easy installation, but then yesterday it popped up with message EM-tilstand (EM-state) - i cannot in any way get in contact with my device after restarting, resetting and deactivating all firewalls and antivirus programs etc.
On my computer NasNavigator2 finds my NASdevice and show the following information:
IP: 192.168.1.101, and
Subnet 255.255.255.0, and
Defaulkt gateway: 192.168.1.1, which is all ok, and as usual, BUT what it does not find is my workgroupname - it says UNKNOWN
In my DHCP Active IP table it says: LS-CHL-EM7DB with IP: 192.168.1.101, and Mac: 00:24:A5:00:B7:DB, which is all correct.
So - please - what is the problem? And please, if i need to update firmware or anything please guide me because i did not yet find a way to get in contact with my device at all. It is just so *********** irritating, because as the other one stating - i used hours to upload content to this NAS, and all my private digital media from various vacations stored in this NAS. I really do need to get in touch with it ASAP.
Thanks in advance.
Can't be anything to do with the PC as mine runs independently most of the time...
No - i have made no changes at all - it just stopped working - nas was online, but suddenly it popped up with this EM state error and no acces to either files or even admin interface.
And what is worse - i wanted to download newest firmware - even if i do not se why that should help as i did not make any changes at all - but to be able to download i must type my serial number - hmm, i do not know but i do not seem to be able to find a serial number anywhere on my device, and i was not able to find any help anywhere telling me where to find it.
I have been reading around the internet - and for what i can read it seems to me that quite a lot of people having problems with Buffalo NAS - and bad support as well - i think it is extremely frustrating not beeing able to find any answers, and the guide on errors is totally wrong and tells nothing about anything as far as i can see - and one more thing - i think it would be just a little bit polite if moderators of this forum would be so kind to send reply back when beeing contacted - or would that be to much to expect from a moderator??
If i am not getting any answers in this forum very soon, and still not able to find any answers on the internet - well, i think i must just accept that i have bought a poor product with very little value to me as a consumer - as i see it - i may be should have spend a little bit more money and bought a quality product in stead.
I really do think that alone the fact that a customer to fix problems with product will hav to be quite a computer geek is a fatal error from Buffalo - i nfact i think that Buffalo do not answer correct on putted questions as it seems to be answer like this:
well, you could try this, or you could try that or a third thing - that is not the way a customer is supposed to deal with a bought product.
In fact i am afraid that Buffalo hardware and software is just to bad quality.
So - please - a reply for god sake. Bought a product - not working = expecting answers to solve problem ASAP
Well, to be honest...it is the middle of the evening. Nobody working I wouldn't think at the moment. I'm sure they will reply as soon as they can.
Mine has serial number on the bottom on a strip label. Also on the original box.
If this forum can't help, I'll be returning the product to get a replacement. Reviews of this are very good. Perhaps we just have bad ones. People who have problems are the ones which get noticed... It's a good product, I think.
Any help gratefully received, Buffalo!
Hmm - maybe you are right in some of your points - but if you do visit different sites and different newsgroups you will find quite a lot of people having problems.
And - the message sent to an moderator is now several days old - still no reply at all, and as you see with your own eyes noone answered our questions in this forum either.
And finally - it just cannot be right that you have to be a computer geek to be able to use a bought media for storage - so i still do belive that it is a bad product, and if not a bad product then it is were bad and not well tested software used in units.
It just cannot be correct that so many people have a problem with this NAS.
And - still as mentioned - no answers to questions.
By the way now my NAS either flashes quickly blue or 6 red flashes. Just after restarting it it starts to flash red 6 flashes - then i hold the button in for about six seconds and the quick flashing bluelight begings - and it never ends - just flashes.......................
And i am not sending in my unit, because i want to keep the harddisk and find a way to get my data back, and if i send it in i guess i get a new NAS back and then for sure all my data has gone.
As you proberbly can read from my writings, i am not the least impressed by this product, and the support given, and i expect no answers because of what i have been writing - well, all i can say is ok, no problem. I bought my last product from Buffalo - that is for sure!
jezperrott:
The constant flashing blue light means that the unit is not fully booting up. This could be due to either HDD failure or a lost boot image. The first thing to do is troubleshoot the latter:
http://forums.buffalotech.com/t5/Storage/FAQ-3-of-3-TFTP-boot-procedure-please-read-this/td-p/11015
After you get it to boot into em mode you can flash the firmware.
Pedellen:
You have a different issue entirely. It sounds like it is just booting the firmware off of the ROM (em mode, where jez is trying to get). You will need to flash the latest version of the firmware and you should be good to go.
Well, hello again - i just did what was written in this article: http://forums.buffalotech.com/t5/Storage/FAQ-3-of-3-TFTP-boot-procedure-please-read-this/td-p/11015 - and succeded in this - BUT after this it just keeps flashing the blue lights and do not reboot to EM mode as mentioned - so as i see it i am not getting any further - right?
So what to do now? If i disconnect power and restarts my NAS it simply starts up with 6 red flashing lights - pause and 6 red flashing lights again.
When i press the reset button it starts blinking blue flashes - and just goes on with blue flashes.
So - can anyone tell me what my problem is? How do i get on from here?
As i do make an ipconfig /all i get my NAS IP as 169.254.213.170, and also possible to see the NAS mac - but is there any way i can acces without using the navigator software that came along with my NAS?
I had the same problem with my LS-CHL. I had the six red flashes and managed to update the firmware with tftp and now im stuck with some other leds (red/blue flash at startup) and can't see any of the files on the drive that i had uploaded.
If it wont boot after reflashing the firmware then you have HDD failure and would want to contact support for a replacement (assuming the units under warranty)
yeah, yeah - just send it in - but that is just no good because i have all my back ups on this nas, AND it is only one month old - very early failure i think? - so i decided to take out my harddisk from the nas and connect it as a second sata drive on my computer - after setting it up in bios it recognized the second harddrive but obvious this nas uses another fileformat so a normal 32 bit system cannot see the harddrive at all. Hmmmm - what then?
I tried to surf the net - still not finished searching for at solutiion, but one solution i know will work - but pt. not possible for me is to attach the sata harddisk to another computer running vista and 64 bit - then you can read data and take backup without any problems.
But as mentioned - i run 32 bit xp pro so this system do not recognize and accept the fileformat from the buffalo nas hd - when trying you get a message stating: This harddisk is in GPT-protection system - no drive letter is assignet, but stating the disk is ok showing 931,51GB available space.
So - no my harddisk is ok - it is simply the software running the buffalo nas that is not working ok - so i gave up and will solve my problem and getting my data back other way - one way or another i will fix this - and as mentioned before - i will NEVER ever be the owner of a Buffalo product - worked for one month and i spend hours and hours trying to get it up running again with only new problems to solve.
First it started up in EM mode - not able to flasjh it at all - then it turned from EM mode to blue flashing mode, then it turned to red blinking mode, then it turned to yellow/prange blinking mode - so my conclusion will be - keep away from Buffalo NAS products - they are no good and equipped with very bad both software and hardware. Good bye from me - i will work my way out of this and finally i will succed getting my data back - after that i will convert GPT to MBR and use the sata harddrive as drive number 2 in my computer.
I am just so disappointed about the lack of support and the lack of ideas to solve problems - my conclusion will be that to use buffalo products you will have to be sort of a computer geek - if not keep away................. and as before, i do not expect any answers to my post - because the answers given so far are no good at all and only got me other problems after doing as described.
Really disappointed guys. This is my second Buffalo purchase - first was a 500gb a couple years ago. Both are for PC support clients of mine. This new one, the 1.0TB LCH, was purchased a week ago and installed at client location. After one week of service - I have this very same problem you guys have been describing in this thread, and hits all over google searches about others with same issue.
The "fix" I've read so much about, by Buffalo support, is a FREAKING JOKE. How often am I supposed to do this? How can any "regular" customer possibly be expected to follow this very technical support procedure?? The fact that you guys KNOW this problem exists and SOLD this product with this DEFECT is almost criminal. I thoroughly instructed my clients NOT to consider this device a sole-storage location, and they thankfully they listened.
I'm trying to decide if I should figure a way to format the data off the product before returning it to the store for a full refund, or just hand the p.o.s. over and figure it will be thrown away by Buffalo when they get it from the store.
How often does this FAILURE occur in these products? Once a month? Twice every three months? Or twice a week and my client got lucky?
I can't possibly expect my clients to pay me to fix a poorly designed and supported piece of equipment on a regular basis.
I'm having the exact same problems as well, My network drive is about 2 months old, I backed up everything to this drive before doing a clean install for Windows 7. It worked for few weeks after, but now keeps flashing Blue.
I'm not tech savy at all, so when I read about flashing it goes over my head. I sure hope Buffalo publish step by step guide for average Joe, as how to fix this.
Sam
This:
http://forums.buffalotech.com/t5/Storage/FAQ-3-of-3-TFTP-boot-procedure-please-read-this/td-p/11015
is our step by step process for a unit that isn't booting up (which yours isn't because the power light should be solid). If you have any questions about the process please ask and I will be happy to clarify anything for you.
How do I do this for a mac operating system? Please help...
You cannot do this on a Mac you can only do it from a PC.
I've got same problem with the em-state. I'm just a normal guy without special skills in computer stuff. Could you please tell me what "flashing the firmware" means. I guess its upgrading it. Not sure though. Could you also give a link to the exact firmware I need. I have a LS-CHL-V2 NAS that is made in China. I read somewhere that country of origin hade an influense on what firmware to download. How do I download the firmware to the NAS? I think that buffalo really have a bad troubleshooting site. I am totally lost without help from you guys.
All help will be appreciated very much.
Go to the home page of our website and click on the map in the upper right hand corner. Then select your region. Go to support then downloads and download the firmware for your unit to the desktop of your computer. Extract the file (right click > extract all) and run the LSUpdater, then click update. Make sure that you are hardwired (not wireless), all of your firewalls are disabled and that the NASNAVI is closed out.
Hi PcPiranha
Thanks a lot for your guidance. I did what you wrote and now I have contact with my NAS again without the EM-mode :smileyhappy: Thanks again for your support.
I have the same issue...have been reading through the forums and tried the tftp procedure but it didnt work...the blue light is continously flashing and i have no contact whatsoever with the drive...directly via ethernet or via the router...
Most people seem to get an error message but mine doesnt show up at all on the pc...
1. what should the ip setting on my pc be to connect to the drive?
2.i may have had a static ip before this happened...i cant remember what it was set to...is there any way to trace it back?
3. if the tftp procedure works, will i lose all my data?
ive had this drive for less than a month before this issue....really frustrated!
"I have the same issue...have been reading through the forums and tried the tftp procedure but it didnt work...the blue light is continously flashing and i have no contact whatsoever with the drive...directly via ethernet or via the router."
The TFTP procedure is the only solution we have for a unit that won't boot.
"1. what should the ip setting on my pc be to connect to the drive?"
It should say in the FAQ, 192.168.11.1
"i may have had a static ip before this happened...i cant remember what it was set to...is there any way to trace it back?"
Not that I know of
"3. if the tftp procedure works, will i lose all my data?"
No.
My router is able to detect the drive on IP 192.168.0.2
I connected the drive directly via ethernet to my pc and was able to ping it on the same address....but the nas navi still doesnt detect it... this means i cannot even proceed witht the tftp method...you mentione E04, E06 like error codes...i havent received any of those...it simply says there is no linkstation found...and still continously flashes blue lights.... any suggestions?
Is it the power light or the function light? If its getting an IP address then its booting up. So can you see it with the NASNAVI?
Both lights are continously flashing blue...the nasnavi does not detect the drive...but my pc is able to ping the drive...
i have tried the tftp method and the drive is not sending the tftp requests...
Did you hold down the function button as you turned the unit on? If its getting an IP then it should show up with the NASNAVI. Then again this is the first time I have ever heard of a unit constantly flashing blue and getting an IP
Sorry about the late response but i got really frustrated with it and didnt bother with it...now i need some data back...so im at it again...
both power and function lights still flashing blue after booting while holding the function button...connect to pc and get a message of "limited or no conncetivity"
nas navi cannot detect the drive....
tftp does not send any requests...
is it running a scandisk?
please help....
cheers
I had the same problem with flashing blue lights with my LS-CHL. Mine started after I had people in the house doing work with the electricity. They turned it on and off continuously over the course of the day...
I could not make the LS-CHL boot to EM mode by pressing the Function key as instructed in the FAQ here.
I was however able to make it boot to EM using this method.
Now the firmware update worked up until it prompted me for a password.... its not the default password!!! Use the password that you changed it to before and you should be fine.
Even if you dont enter the password at the end of the update process, the update goes through. I could access the webadmin interface and look through the settings even when the updater was stuck on the password screen.
In short it was the disconnect power every 75 seconds thing that made it work again .... archaic...
/Mattias
Look no futher, I have been trying for 24hrs without sleep.
Finally, get it working,
Power cycle for 75sec, if power blue lights stay on at 65sec, if not power cycle again until power blue led stay on permanetly. after which, flash the firmware using Buffalo LS-QL updater Ver.1.11 in debug mode.
http://forums.buffalotech.com/t5/Storage/LS-CH1-0TL-Password-Reset/td-p/8102/highlight/true/page/12
Frankly saying, I am in Electronics design sector, NAS is supposed to be stable to store critical information with RAID1/5 config.. apparently not!!!
Do keep in mind that flashing your unit with firmware designed for another model may impede functionality of your device and may result in a non-functioning unit.
We do not support flashing units with other model's firmware.
Thanks and noted that my model is LS-QL/1D.
I am referencing the solution from LS-CH1.0TL thread, as no clear instruction for LS-QL/1D from "EM Mode boot procedures" for my model.
I have the same blue flashing light issue. Would using a firmware from a different region but the same model be a problem? I bought mine in Japan but would prefer to download from the North America site so that the instructions will be in English.
By the way my unit wont turn off even if I switch it off, it just keeps blinking. Would it still be ok to power cycle it while blinking?
Fknandrew, your unit seems to not be booting. I would try resetting it and see if you get any kind of error codes. You might have to try FAQ 2 of 5 or 3 of 5. You could try different firmware from different regions if you do the force udpate procedure, but I would not recommend it and cannot support it.
Yes, flashing firmware from the incorrect region (i suspect) caused my LS-CH500L to become inoperational. It was only functional again after tftp booting and forcing a firmware reflash (with correct EU firmware) with a drive reformat.
Hi Jotin,
I have after upgrade to version 1.56 the same problem constantly flashing blue lights and the nas can't start up.
I hear the HDD start en stop wile the blue light ( both) flashes.
I think he can't boot and i can't access the nas by nasnavi or web.
what can I do to access the nas or resetting.
Thanks
Ferry
Mine too. But the failure symptom is different from described.
Basically got mine for about a year. No issue in performing firmware update etc. Was able to copy, download, upload, stream etc with no real problem.
But just yesterday, the unit just fail to turn ON. The fan was still functioning, but the blue LED just won't light up. It can't be detected in the network as well.
Very dissappointed as most of my photo and documents are in the drive.
Anyone faced same situation. Any remedy?
Hi, the link above is no longer active. Has it been moved elsewhere? I dropped my drive for about a 30cm height and the light is flashing blue continuously.
Hello PCPiranha,
I am also experiencing difficulty in booting my LS-CH1.0TL and in reading through this thread, I found your link to a step by step guide in recovering the NAS. However, clicking on the link does not take me to the guide. Could you please advise on how I could get this guide.
Thanks
suren60
Yup I`m another that is experiancing the flashing blue light. Seems that buffalo have really really bad support structureds for people havign problems. 5 times i have tried to contact support. and every one failed. so i tried this. The links are missing and there is no real answer to any ones questions. next NAS i buy wont be a buffalo. IF any one out there does know how to solve this problem i would consider them a god.
Anyone wanting to get into the mysical EM mode do the following. with the NAS off press and hold the button on the front and turn on to auto. the button will flash. it will then connect in EM or Emergency Mode
I am wasted on this site. lol. OK. full methodology for removing this problem.
boot your linkstation in EM mode by booting up while the front button is depressed.
If you havent got it installed. get the NAS Navigator installed on your PC. Interrogate this to get the details you need for the rest of this. Download the respective Firmware Update for your NAS.
Disable firewall and AV software as well as any anti spyware to be safe.
Unpack and run the Firmware Update Software.
Go and make your self a caffine based hot beverage
Take Vallium
Wait some more.
make more coffee.
Become a master of origami snowballs.
Check to see if it was successful. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES Do not turn off the link station. it will flash orange 2 long 5 short then flash blue for quite a while.
GL in your quest. Takes a bow *thats how you post a solution*