Kernel panic while booting

[gimp]

A few months ago my now year old Netgear ReadyNAS NV+ with 1GB of memory and four Seagate ST31000340NS (Firmware: SN04) drives starting failing with "Kernel panic" while booting using the front panel button. I discovered that if I removed the rear power cord, replaced it and attempted to reboot, it would boot successfully and function normally. I ended up leaving it on all the time to avoid this. A couple of weeks ago it was shutdown for week. It now always fails with "Kernel panic" while booting. This is what I've done so far:

1) Memory test has passed five times.
2) Pulled power cord. Removed drive 1 (left most). "Kernel panic" while booting.
3) Pulled power cord. Replaced drive 1, removed drive 2. Booted OK. All disk status OK. Shutdown and rebooted sucessfully a couple of times without having to removed power cord.
4) Pulled power cord. Replaced drive 2, removed drive 3. Booted OK but "Volume C: Offline, RAID Level , disks, 0% of 0 MB used". All disk status OK.
5) Pulled power cord. Replaced drive 3, removed drive 4 (right most). "Kernel panic" while booting.
6) Pulled power cord. Replaced drive 4, removed drive 2. "Kernel panic" while booting.
7) Pulled power cord. Removed all drives and set aside. Bought a new Seagate ST31000333AS (Firmware: CC3H) and installed in position 1. Booted and initialized successfully. Reliably able to power down/reboot.

At this point it appears as though the memory, backplane and power supply are all OK.

Here's my problem, although through step 5 above it appears drive 2 is bad, I couldn't reproduce that again in step 6. I'm also confused by step 4 results.

Questions
0. Safe to say one or more drive is bad?
1. Should I use seatools to check each drive? I don't have any way to do this.
2. Does using seatools destroy data?
3. Could this be a drive firmware issue?
4. Should I just do a warranty exchange on drive 2 and hope for the best?
5. Could I replace drive 2 with the new one I bought? What are the implications that the new drive has been formatted/initialized as the only drive in the NAS?

Thanks!

[dbott67]

0. Safe to say one or more drive is bad?

Excellent troubleshooting, btw. That would be my guess.

1. Should I use seatools to check each drive? I don't have any way to do this.

Yes, you can use Seatools. If you have access to a PC with SATA drives, you can burn Seatools to CD-ROM, connect each disk (one-at-a-time) and then boot the system from CD. You should be able to run all the tests (I recently did this to test a bunch of used drives I purchased).

2. Does using seatools destroy data?

No, the tests are non-destructive.

3. Could this be a drive firmware issue?

Possibly, but if the system was working fine previously, I would tend to think memory or hard drive. You have already run the memory tests and have isolated each disk, which seems to lead to disk #2 as the trouble.

4. Should I just do a warranty exchange on drive 2 and hope for the best?

Yes. RMA the disk and keep it as a cold spare in case something like this happens again.

5. Could I replace drive 2 with the new one I bought?

Yes. The 333 is the replacement for the 340 (it has 3 platters now, rather than 4).

What are the implications that the new drive has been formatted/initialized as the only drive in the NAS?

Will the system boot with just disks 1, 3 & 4 installed? If so, hot-add the new 333 disk and it should initialize & re-sync the data. In about 10 hours you should be back in business.

Good luck and keep us posted.

-Dave

[gimp]

Will the system boot with just disks 1, 3 & 4 installed? If so, hot-add the new 333 disk and it should initialize & re-sync the data. In about 10 hours you should be back in business.

Initially yes, but after attempting to boot with just disks 1, 2 & 4 installed and then with just disks 1, 2 & 3 installed, the next attempt to boot with just disks 1, 3 & 4 installed resulted in kernel panic. I'll try again, but if it won't boot with just disks 1, 3 & 4 installed, should I try booting with disks 1, new 2, 3 & 4 installed?

[dbott67]

I'm a little nervous about that because if the NAS somehow starts to boot from the new disk, it may nuke your array.

You may want to try putting all 4 original disks back in (in their original positions) and do a firmware re-installation:

faq.php#How_do_I_re-install_the_firmware%3F

If that fails, try a USB or TFTP Boot Recovery:

faq.php#How_do_I_perform_a_TFTP_Boot_Recovery%3F

faq.php#How_can_I_perform_a_Boot_Recovery_using_a_USB_flash_device%3F

The 3 methods listed above only take the firmware that's installed on the flash memory of the NAS and copy it to the disks. It does not affect your data, however, it will reset your admin password to 'netgear1' and your IP settings to DHCP.

-Dave

[gimp]

I'm a little nervous about that because if the NAS somehow starts to boot from the new disk, it may nuke your array.

You may want to try putting all 4 original disks back in (in their original positions) and do a firmware re-installation:

faq.php#How_do_I_re-install_the_firmware%3F

If that fails, try a USB or TFTP Boot Recovery:

faq.php#How_do_I_perform_a_TFTP_Boot_Recovery%3F

faq.php#How_can_I_perform_a_Boot_Recovery_using_a_USB_flash_device%3F

The 3 methods listed above only take the firmware that's installed on the flash memory of the NAS and copy it to the disks. It does not affect your data, however, it will reset your admin password to 'netgear1' and your IP settings to DHCP.

-Dave

Actually, when I had just the new drive in, after everything appeared to be working, even though the firmware was stated to be up to date, I successfuly performed a normal firmware update. I'm not sure if there are any implications with regards to the original array. I'm very confident that the firmware is ok, but I certainly can try a recovery with the original disks.

[evoblade]

I'm having a similar problem. Removing a disk to see if it boots wont cause a problem then? (disk 3 was reported dead)