TeraStation Pro v1 Not Responding, Can't Update

[johnsalomon]

   

Hi there,

 

I recently bought a secondhand TeraStatino Pro v1 TS-1.0TGL/R5.  It worked fine until last week, when it ceased responding to anything but pings.  The display alternates between the usual "HD 1_2_3_4, Link 1000Mbps" and two parallel lines 

 

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There are no diagnostic lights except for a sporadically (ever 2-5 seconds) flashing link/activity light, and no diagnostic codes.  Until last week, it functioned OK, except for very slow initial directory listings when I mounted shares under MacOSX 10.5 and with mount_smbfs under FreeBSD 6.0.  Currently I cannot access the NAS via web, ftp or file share.  The firmware was version 1.04 (official.)

 

Last week, I attached a 1TB USB 2 external WD drive to back up the NAS before replacing the included drives with 4x750GB disks.  The drive was recognized, and I could share it and access it.

 

I decided to remove the USB assignment via the web interface before removing the drive (assuming that this was the right thing to do, like unmounting it) and did so; after a subsequent reboot, the TS became unresponsive.  

 

I was never able to find it with any of the updater or NAS navigator tools, either on a local network, in EM mode, after a hard configuration reset, via local crossover cable or over a hub.  I have tried the updaters included with all official and community/hacked firmwares, with no luck.  Prior to the failure, I had tried with the Buffalo-supplied updaters for version 1.01, 1.03 and 1.04.  I have also tried all language combinations, setting debug = 1 in the nasupdater.ini file, etc.  

 

I found a java tool called ACP commander and get limited connectivity -- I can reboot the device, and set it to reboot into EM mode, but that's about it.  When I reset to default configuration and boot into EM mode, the TS is reachable at its default IP at 192.168.11.150 for a limited time; after about 5 minutes it re-sets itself to 192.168.1.150.  I do not see a reboot of any kind.

This is utterly mysterious and I would appreciate any help at all.  I do not care about the warranty, so any instructions on opening the box or unofficial firmware are welcome; however, none of the official Buffalo tools worked before the failure.  The data on the box is important, but not crucial -- if I have to lose it, that's not terrible.

 

Thanks for any advice.

[davo]

   

How did you replace the internal drives? If you replaced them all at once then there is no boot image for the TS to load from. If you have the original drives put them back in and reboot the TS. Once done verify that you can access the GUI etc.

 

After this replace HDD1 with the new disk and restructure the RAID array (this will take hours) Once this has completed, replace drive 2 with the new drive and again restructure the RAID array. Do this with all 4 drives and once the last drive has been restructured then it will show the new size.

[johnsalomon]

   

Hi davo,

 

unfortunately I was unclear -- I have not replaced the drives at all. 

 

I detached the USB drive to see whether I could mount it under MacOS 10.5, but did not have time to find a functioning XFS driver.  I had intended to verify whether the NAS had backed up OK to the drive before swapping out the internal drives.

 

It still contains all the original drives -- I did not open the case at all yet.  

 

What puzzles me is that I was never able to even see the NAS on a local network with any of the update or management tools, even though ACP commander, when given its IP address, was capable of connecting to it with limited functionality (after it stopped responding otherwise.)

Message Edited by johnsalomon on 11-11-2008 07:03 AM

[johnsalomon]

   

I've solved the problem.  It turns out that the problem was how I was running the updaters -- I started them in Parallels under MacOS X.  Apparently Windows XP does not properly understand broadcast traffic when it is bridged over another interface. 

 

I was able to find a Windows Vista machine, and run the updater natively -- they found the NAS and I could flash the firmware.