Network failure - general failure, DS207+

[tschaggelar]

Out of the blue, my DS207+ lost connection to my notebook where it was a shared disk. On the DS207+, the LAN light was dark, also on the LAN switch. Changing the Ethernet cable didn't help changing the switch port neither. Usually the DS207+ switches of when the power button is pused for a few seconds. Not this time. Since the disks appeared idle, I pulled the power cord. After a few seconds I pugged it in again. And the DS207+ was switched on again. The network light was lit and the LAN switch recognized it as LAN device. But there was no connection to the windows. After a bit of trying the LAN light vanished and the LAN switch went also dark on that port. Again powering down required the power cord be pulled. And now after powering up, the blue light is blinking. The installation guide doesn't mention this, but I'm sure to have read about such details... still investigating...

Firmware is presumably the latest, updated a few weeks ago.

According to
http://www.synology.com/enu/support/hel ... p?q_id=366

... I need a new motherboard, what a bummer. Well then.

[Franklin]

Greetings tschaggelar


Another cause for the Blue LED blinking is a corrupted OS/HDD, which can be greatly aggravated from repeated unsafe shut downs. To verify which condition you have, perform the following

Ensure your system is powered off
Remove all peripherals connected to the DS
Remove DS cover
Disconnect power cords to the HDDs
Power up the system
After two ~ five minutes, the Blue LED will either be solid or blinking

If it is solid, you have a corrupted OS, please tell me what kind of RAID are you using so I give you additional instructions

If it is blinking after the five minutes, please contact online support for further information. Be sure to forward this conversation to our support team so they know what has been done. The link is in my signature.

[tschaggelar]

Thanks franklin,
I disconnected the disks and the blue light kept on blinking after power up. For how long I have no idea, much longer than 5 minutes. Anyway, due to the above article 366, I sent it back for repair. Warranty exchange. It arrived back here today, but without the cables. I'll get cables after easter, I hope. So we'll see then.

I have no raid yet, a second disk yes, it is there but not mounted as RAID yet. I'm lacking the confidence yet, as this is a one way step.

The OS is on Flash I assume, so how can it be corrupted ?

You mention unsafe shutdown... What is the recommended procedure when the blue button doesn't respond anymore and the disk doesn't seem to be busy ? An EXT3 partition, if implemented properly, recovers from that, that is at least what the Linux guys tell me. What other way to switch off is in case the network adapter isn't working anymore ?

Rene

[Franklin]

Greetings tschaggelar

Good to hear that your case is on the way of being resolved, with regards to your questions, the Linux Kernel is stored on the EEPROM, while the rest of the applications, databases is stored on the HDD.

Either of these files can become corrupted if many unsafe shutdowns should occur.

With regards to the HDD, if there is OS data that is placed in the HDD cache, and the system does not flush the cache, and it loses power, then the data is lost. And this can result in data corruption on the HDD. If you wish to avoid using the cache, you can disable "Write Cache" under the HDD management menu. Please note that disabling Write cache can result in a performance loss of fifty percent.

With regards to the EEPROM/motherboard, it is more resilient than the volatile memory of HDD cache, however, the sudden power down, power up, can expose the EEPROM/motherboard to unsafe/unstable power, which may affect the integrity of the data stored on the EEPROM or the overall health of the motherboard.

Hope this answers your questions, have a good day.

[tschaggelar]

Thanks Franklin,
I received the DS207+ with the motherboard replaced as well as the missing screws. I first checked the LEDs on power up without a disk connected. They made sense, it booted and I was able to shut down. Then I connected the disks and the network. The network light was lit, the DS207+ booted, but was not found on the network. I guessed this to be because of the motherboard change that the fixed IP was gone. So I started the Assistant, which should find it on the network. It didn't. Then at a closer look the network light was dark. On the DS207+ as well as on the switch. Changing the switch port didn't help. And odd enough, the power switch doesn't make the DS207+ switch off. I fear I'm back where I started. This time convinced that the OS is very much dependent on the disk content, which appears to be damaged. At least what the settings to run the DS207+ concerns.
Is there a way to boot the DS207+ without this damaged disk content ? To create a new settings ? If possible without loosing the content of the rest of the disk.
To start with, how do I switch it off ?

Regards

Rene

Edit : I've seen pages where a reset is done and a backup is recommended - without actually telling how to do a backup...

[Franklin]

Greetings tschaggelar

Given your current state, if you are using a single drive or RAID-1, you will need to pull the data off of the HDD before you can start using it. Please use explorer2fs to pull your data off of the HDD, and then delete the partitions on the HDD.

Then install the HDD back in the DS207+ and use the Synology Assistant to reinitialize the system. Hope this helps.

[tschaggelar]

Thanks Franklin,
You mean i should connect the disk to a windows system and read it with the Explore2fs. Ok. There are two questions remaining. How do I switch the DS207+ off when it is stuck and how do I prevent it from becoming stuck ? I have little intention to repeat the process on a regular basis.

Regards

Rene

[tschaggelar]

Franklin,
I had to pull the power cord to switch it off. No Reset button combination did anything at all either. Meaning it was stuck. I took another disk, booted and had the orange status light blinking. I reseted the box. The assistant found it and I uploaded first the 524 firmware, which ended with : Errors occurred while configuring Synology server. A reboot at least made the assistant tell me that I now could configure the server. Somehow the password was always wrong.
Afterwards I downloaded the 590 firmware and repeated the process. The same : Errors occurred while configuring Synology server. The difference now is that after a reboot & reset, the assistant tells me to reload the firmware. I do that again then. After the 590 firmware is loaded, the orange light is now blinking, but it is appearing on the browser... we're a step ahead it seems. The new web pages are colored and slick. I pull my hat off.
Ongoing .... I now try to mount the previous first disk with the content as second disk. That would be faster than having a PC in between.

I get the feeling we're still a bit away from a stable and reliable operation. That the power button responds in a way is not a feature request, but a must. Unconditional, I'm afraid.

Rene

[Franklin]

Greetings tschaggelar

That's good to hear that you were able to reinitialize your system with firmware 590. Please note that the assistant error that you have observe can happen if you are using an older assistant, while attempting to use/manage newer firmware.

Hope this helps

[tschaggelar]

Thanks Franklin,
I first tried to have the original disk as second disk in the dual disk configuration, to no avail. Then I connected it to a PC and used the Explore2fs to read the disk. It worked. The disk is readable. While I'm copying the disk, I cannot stop wondering why the DS207+ is not able to read this disk as second disk ? It told me that it required initialization, which I assume is a reformat. Besides, that it wrote the disk, I can only assume that you didn't have the time yet to look into this subject. It is hardly more than a few bytes in a file. When will that be possible ?

Rene