ReadyNAS Duo Fails to boot (ticket #18908239) SOLVED

[cabwav]

My DUO (RND2150v2) is not booting anymore. It has the blinking blue light, and Raidar can't find it. It all started when one of the disks (#2) was reported as defective (WD10EADS). Re-syncing didn't help. Pulling one disk did, after that I could access the DUO with Frontview. I have tried several times to fix the problem by rebooting, resyncing, inserting one disk, and then the second disk etc and for some reason either disk 1 was reported as faulty while disk 2 seemed to be OK, or the other way around. The SMART log did not show any ATA errors, but I have never been able to get both disks working again.

I then decided to put in two brand new disks (ST31000524AS). At first I was able to get both drives up and running, and even write and read data to it. So I thought I had fixed the problem, and that it was a defective drive after all. In order to move the DUO to it's normal location I had to power it down with Frontview, but after that it failed to boot: blue light blinking for hours, no green lights. It is not even booting with one disk.

The fan is running at high speed, but once every five seconds or so, the speed drops, apparently when there is disk activity. I had it running for over 24 hours now, but no change. The fan speed is still fluctuating, as if the power supply is struggling to maintain the required voltage levels.

Does anyone have a suggestion on what to do next? I haven't tried a factory reset yet. Should I try that?

[mdgm]

When did you purchase the Duo? The Duo has a 3 year warranty.

There was a batch of Duos that had a faulty power supply. I would suggest contacting online support (http://www.readynas.com/support) to see if your unit is in that batch. If it is then depending on what region you are in it's possible they might do a RMA replacement even if the unit is out of warranty.

Edit the thread title (i.e. subject of first post in the thread) to include your case number.

[cabwav]

Hi mdgm

Thanks for the reply. I purchased the DUO in March 2009 (registered @ Netgear Support on March 23, 2009). According to the Product Warranty Information the Power Supply Warranty expired on March 23, 2012.... I'll contact online support to check if a RMA replacement is possible.

Update: Although it is out of warranty, Netgear Support requested a Proof of Purchase so they can analyse and maybe RMA the device. Will keep you posted.

[cabwav]

Update: I got a phone call from Netgear support yesterday and although is was out of warranty, they offered to RMA the whole device. The support rep politely explained the procedure, and told me that the device would be picked up at my home address by a courier, and that they would send me a replacement device in a couple of days.

Thank you Netgear, Great Service!!!

[cabwav]

Update:
I received a replacement unit a couple of days after my own unit was picked up by the courier. Unfortunately, the problems that I had before still persisted. After I put in a new service call, the support engineer suggested that I checked the disks to make sure that they were OK. I ran the manufacturers disk check tools and both disks turned out to be OK. That only left the external power supply. The support engineer called me on the phone, and we agreed that he would send me a replacement for the power adapter. On the same day I got a call from a L2 support engineer to check if my case was handled correctly, and he offered additional help in case the problems persisted. I received the new power supply two days later, and I'm happy to report that my DUO is now up and running again

I would like to say that I am very content with the way this case was handled by Netgear. They responded quickly, and both L1 and L2 service engineers were very polite and really did their best to help. I am aware of the fact that Netgear didn't have to replace the unit and power supply because they both were out of warranty, but they did it anyway. THANK YOU NETGEAR!