Hello,
I've got a TS Pro 2 (TS-H1.0TGL/R5) that is having problems booting. Originally we were getting an E04. I contacted support and they suggested a TFTP. We were having a lot of problems getting the device to connect with the FTP server, but after enough removing of hard drives and unplugging it finally began booting to an E06 instead of the E04. Currently I've got the device sitting next to me, the FTP server indicated that it did connect and download the two files.
The post about how to do the TFTP says that after the download the device will restart into EM and I can force a firmware update from there. I haven't seen the device reboot yet, so I want to post to make sure I'm going to do the right thing before I do it.
Currently it's still sitting on the E06 screen, although it's not making any noise. It was beeping until it downloaded the two files, then it stopped beeping. The power, link, and error LEDs are lit, and all 4 HDD fail LEDs are lit. HDD3 access light blinks periodically, and I can hear HDD3 trying to spin up. It seems like we have a defective drive, which we're working on getting shipped out (side question: must we install the same capacity drive? same model?). I'm not sure if the device is waiting for HDD3 before it reboots, so that's why I wanted to ask before I try to flash the firmware.
FTP server is still running but has still only served the two files. It looks like the device is still connected.
So, what are my next steps? Should I reboot manually? Should I remove HDD3 for the time being? We have a replacement SATA drive, but it's a 500GB Hitachi drive instead of the 250GB WDs in the device now.
"The post about how to do the TFTP says that after the download the device will restart into EM and I can force a firmware update from there. I haven't seen the device reboot yet, so I want to post to make sure I'm going to do the right thing before I do it."
It doesnt reboot because your unit never boot (E04 and E06 means the unit isn't booting, thats why its not accessable). It technically just boots into em mode. The only way that you can know if it did this is by looking in the NASNAVI and see if it shows up after it downloads the files. Makes sure that all of your firewalls are disabled.
" It seems like we have a defective drive, which we're working on getting shipped out (side question: must we install the same capacity drive? same model?)."
Very possible, if that is the case then you will need to replace that drive and hope it boots up. If it does you just need to restructure the disk back into the array. It is also possible that you have multiple HDD failure if it is e04-6ing. Let's hope thats not the case. Have you had and power outages recently?
"FTP server is still running but has still only served the two files. It looks like the device is still connected"
That may be all the files it needs. As long as it states something below "accepting requests" it is booting from the TFTP.
"So, what are my next steps? Should I reboot manually? "
NO!!!!! lol, just check the NASNAVi and see if it's in EM mode.
"Should I remove HDD3 for the time being"
When you remove drive 3 and turn it on do you get a different diagnostic message?
"We have a replacement SATA drive, but it's a 500GB Hitachi drive instead of the 250GB WDs in the device now."
That shouldn't be a problem, just make sure it is the same speed.
"The only way that you can know if it did this is by looking in the NASNAVI and see if it shows up after it downloads the files."
OK, I did see it listed there with a generic name, with an indication that the array was offline and the firmware version was unknown. I tried to do the forced firmware update, but the updater was not able to find the device even though it showed up in the NASNAVI.
"It is also possible that you have multiple HDD failure if it is e04-6ing. Let's hope thats not the case. Have you had and power outages recently?"
No outages, but drive 3 is definitely the odd drive out. During TS bootup it would basically just hang at the welcome screen with only the HD3 light blinking. Removing the drive would cause the device to at least go into TFTP mode. We've since removed all of the drives and have put them in USB enclosures to connect with an Ubuntu machine, and we're still seeing problems with that drive. Initially just the light for that drive wasn't coming on in the enclosure, and the USB hub indicator for that port was off (the other three drives appeared normal). I removed the drive from the enclosure and just held it in my hand while I powered it on, and I could feel the platters try to spin up twice, I heard a sound which sounded like the drive head seeking, and then it powered off. That took about 2 seconds from power on. So, the drive itself seems to be powering itself down. I see the other three drives show up in Ubuntu as /dev/sdc, /dev/sdd, and /dev/sde, but the third drive just won't communicate at all. This is pretty consistent with what I saw in the TS, on bootup while the HD3 light was blinking I could hear the same sounds, spinning up and seeking, so it seems like the TS kept trying to restart the drive after it shut itself down and it would just hang in that state, waiting for an event that wasn't going to happen.
"That shouldn't be a problem, just make sure it is the same speed."
Ahh, good call, I hadn't considered speed. I'm not sure if we can save the TS, at this point we're trying to get the data which wasn't being backed up off of the array. Most of the important data was backed up and recovered, and even though I thought we were backing up everything it turns out we weren't. I'm a little disappointed with the RAID setup though, I was under the assumption that with a RAID-5 setup we could lose any one drive and still access the array, but that's definitely not what we saw with the TS. I'm trying to follow some procedures to get everything mounted in Ubuntu and see how it looks, it wasn't automatically mounting any partitions so I'll need to do that manually it seems.
When you just replace drive three with the other drives still in the unit, and you power it on, what error message do you get?
I'll post an update in the future if we get back to working on the TS, but for now we were able to read the array with the other three drives through Ubuntu and got everything copied off of it. It was able to mount the array just fine and copy everything off. I think the boss is a bit disillusioned with the Buffalo devices, but if we do get back to trying to fix the TS I'll post an update on the progress. Thanks for the help.