NV+ disk failure now "Booting..." (#17985870 & #18056010)

[irussell]

Unit had a failed disk and froze without sending an email notification. It did not respond to any input. I powered off the unit and tested each of my drives (keeping them in order) with Seatools. One of the drives failed a self test so I removed it and replaced it with a new disk (from the HCL). Now it simply shows "Booting..." on the front panel and never boots. I have tried removing the new disk as well and just attempting to boot with the 3 good disks. It does the same thing. I'm not sure how to proceed. Any help would be much appreciated!

Edit: I've tried the USB boot process as well. It didn't seem to change anything. It does the root FS check, then a very quick FS check, then goes to "Booting..." and just sits there for hours. I've seen some other posts from some with similar issues but those usually involved multiple HDD failures. I hopefully only have 1 failure at the moment and just want to get it booted so I can offload my data to a second backup.

[irussell]

First reply from Netgear Support:

Thank you for choosing NETGEAR. My name is Simbhu and I am your support engineer today.

I understand that you are experiencing a problem with your NETGEAR ReadyNAS device . We apologize for this inconvenience. Because we are doing this online, it might require a few email exchanges to resolve the issue. Rest assured that we will do our best to resolve your case quickly.

Here are the troubleshooting steps we recommend you try. Please click on the Url given below and check the HDD list.

Url: http://www.readynas.com/?page_id=82

Please do visit http://support.netgear.com for any technical queries regarding NETGEAR products.

A notice will automatically be sent to your email address when we have responded to your inquiry. Please DO NOT REPLY to that email. Instead, to add additional information to your case, click No to the question "Was your problem resolved with the information provided by the NETGEAR representative above?"

If you click YES, your case will be closed and a separate email containing a survey link will be sent so you can share with us your customer support experience.

Thanks again for choosing NETGEAR. Have a great day!

They referred me to the HCL. Not sure what help that is.

[PapaBear]

If the URL on the e-mail is a no-reply, then it is just the boiler plate telling you who the case has been referred to and a reminder to check that the disks you are using are on the approved list. You should wait for an e-mail directly from the support engineer. If you have not heard from him in a few days, go back in, check your ticket number and see if you can contact them to escalate it.

[irussell]

Online technical submission: view case

Case #: 17933910
Problem: Reliability
Cause: ReadyNAS - Hard Drive
Status: Open
Notes:
2/18/2012 3:15:00 AM
MAC address: 00:0d:a2:01:51:a5
Unit had a failed disk and froze without sending an email notification. It did not respond to any input. I powered off the unit and tested each of my drives (keeping them in order) with Seatools. One of the drives failed a self test so I removed it and replaced it with a new disk (from the HCL). Now it simply shows "Booting..." on the front panel and never boots. I have tried removing the new disk as well and just attempting to boot with the 3 good disks. It does the same thing. Please assist.
2/18/2012 5:43:00 AM
From Agent ID:1084
Case ID: 17933910

Dear Isaac,

Thank you for choosing NETGEAR. My name is Simbhu and I am your support engineer today.

I understand that you are experiencing a problem with your NETGEAR ReadyNAS device . We apologize for this inconvenience. Because we are doing this online, it might require a few email exchanges to resolve the issue. Rest assured that we will do our best to resolve your case quickly.

Here are the troubleshooting steps we recommend you try. Please click on the Url given below and check the HDD list.

Url: http://www.readynas.com/?page_id=82

Please do visit http://support.netgear.com for any technical queries regarding NETGEAR products.

A notice will automatically be sent to your email address when we have responded to your inquiry. Please DO NOT REPLY to that email. Instead, to add additional information to your case, click No to the question "Was your problem resolved with the information provided by the NETGEAR representative above?"

If you click YES, your case will be closed and a separate email containing a survey link will be sent so you can share with us your customer support experience.

Thanks again for choosing NETGEAR. Have a great day!

Sincerely,

Simbhu
Technical Support
NETGEAR, Inc.
http://my.netgear.com

***NOTE: Your case will autoclose after 7 days of inactivity.***

Did you know that NETGEAR provides support for all your home networking devices and PCs? We can provide a one-stop solution - no need to call multiple vendors* for support. If you would like to learn more about the NETGEAR GearHead services, go to http://gearhead.netgear.com/

2/18/2012 7:07:00 PM
Why did you refer me to the Hardware Compatibility List? I''ve already tried the USB boot procedure listed on the Wiki site. I''m not sure what else to try. Thanks.
2/19/2012 10:25:00 PM
Expert ID: 41036
Case Number: 17933910

Dear Mr. Russel,

Thank you for choosing NETGEAR, my name is Jen from 2nd Level Technical Support.

I have read your case and understand that you are experiencing some problems with one of the drives of your NETGEAR storage product. I apologize for the inconvenience you have experienced. Since we are doing this online, it may require a few e-mail exchanges before we can resolve the issue. Rest assured that I will do my best effort to help resolve your case in the least amount of time.

Please send the serial number and date of purchase of you NETGEAR product. If possible, have it registered at http://my.netgear.com when you log in. I need to know first the exact model of your NETGEAR product for me to provide the appropriate steps or recommendations to the problem you are experiencing.

I will need to get some additional details from you to be able to assist you further. I have summarized my questions below:

1. What is the brand name and model of the drives inserted to the storage device?
2. What is the firmware version of the device?
3. How many drives are inserted?

For NETGEAR KB server, please visit the link below:

http://kbserver.netgear.com/

To Reply Or Answer Or Close This Case

A system generated e-mail will be sent to your e-mail address to inform you that I have responded to your inquiry. Please DO NOT REPLY to the e-mail sent to your e-mail address. Instead, If you want to reply to the message above and have additional query, please click “NO” when the system ask you “Was your problem resolved with the information provided by the NETGEAR representative above?”

When you select “YES”, your case will be closed and a separate e-mail containing a survey link will be sent to you to measure your customer support experience.

Thanks again for choosing NETGEAR. Have a great day!

Sincerely,

Jennifer Caballes
Level 2 Technical Support
NETGEAR, Inc.
http://support.netgear.com

NETGEAR Support Contact Information:

Call Toll Free 888-NETGEAR or with email support cases, update your case through the portal by visiting our web site at http://my.netgear.com/myNETGEAR/support.asp

For the latest updates to our manuals, drivers, and software, visit our web site at http://support.netgear.com/app/home

NOTE: International customers please use the below listed link to find the help desk number for your location:

http://gearhead.netgear.com

2/20/2012 1:08:00 AM
Model: Infrant ReadyNAS RNV2-S2-0000
Serial: Original 000DA20151A5. Was replaced with a refurbished unit on 6/30/2008
Purchased: Original 5/30/2007

1. What is the brand name and model of the drives inserted to the storage device?
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST31000528AS
2. What is the firmware version of the device?
RAIDiator 4.1.8
3. How many drives are inserted?
Four. One tested bad with SeaTools so I''ve tried to boot with all four or just the three good ones.
2/20/2012 5:22:00 AM
Expert ID: 41036
Case Number: 17933910

Dear Mr. Russel,

Please remove the new disk then boot the NAS, if it succefully boots up and you are able to access the files, hot plug the new disk and see if same problem.

Also, I would like to inform you that this model has been announced as discontinued product long time ago so there will be no replacement that can be processed. However, we will try our best to get it resolved.

I apologize for the inconvenience.

Sincerely,
Jen
NETGEAR support
2/20/2012 3:48:00 PM
I''ve tried removing the new disk and just booting with 3 good disks. That does not change the issue.

I have also tried the USB boot procedure. It successfully completed the USB process but did not change the behavior. It still hangs on "Booting..." after completing the root FS check and a very short FS check.
2/21/2012 3:45:00 AM
Expert ID: 41036
Case Number: 17933910

Dear Mr. Russel,

Thank you for the update. Unfortunately since this product has been announced as discontinued, replacement cannot be processed anymore.

The best thing you can do is check the drives by using a disk utility. Please see link below:

http://www.readynas.com/kb/faq/hardware ... isk_is_bad

If all drives are good, then it is best to have the producy replaced.

I apologize for the inconvenience.

Sincerely,
Jen
NETGEAR support
2/21/2012 4:36:00 AM
Is there any way to diagnose this via logs or the tech support boot option via telnet? I need to know if it is a hardware issue with the NAS itself or a software/firmware issue or an undiagnosed disk issue. I don''t want to keep booting and shutting down without having a course of action because I don''t want to risk causing errors on the 3 remaining good disks.

What can I do to troubleshoot this? I wasn''t looking for a replacement per se. Thanks.

Any confirmation from the gurus here? Is my best course of action to just purchase another enclosure and move the drives into it? Can I just swap the old drives into the same bays on a new unit and preserve my data?

Edit: I went ahead and ordered this unit for $199 on Newegg, given the good deal. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822122010 I'm hoping this will be compatible for a drive swap.

[mdgm]

When did you purchase the ReadyNAS? Was it purchased on/after Aug 21, 2007? If so it should still be under warranty. Discontinuation of a product doesn't effect the existing rights you have for a product under warranty.

Also the NV+ v1 was only recently discontinued. It appears you have an older NV+ model. If you purchased before August 21, 2007 then the unit would be long out of warranty. Now there was a problem with some NV+ units where the PSU may fail prematurely (your unit is in that range) but if you were having a PSU problem the unit probably would be completely dead with no response to an attempt to turn it on?

Did you test all the drives with SeaTools running both short and long tests?

Have you run the memory test a few times (bad memory is a cause for the system not booting)?: http://www.readynas.com/kb/faq/hardware/is_there_a_way_i_can_verify_if_my_memory_is_good

Are you able to power down, remove disks (label order) and insert a spare disk (must not be from your array) and see if the NAS will boot?


As for migrating the disks you can swap them into that unit. However the migration procedure clearly states that the volume must be redundant (i.e. no disk failures) for this to work. See http://www.readynas.com/kb/faq/boot/how_do_i_migrate_disks_over_from_an_existing_readynas_to_another).

So if we can verify that the old unit can't be fixed then with the help of support you should proceed to attempt migrating to the new NAS. With the purchase of the new NV+ (v1) they should be able to help you.

[irussell]

I have a unit that was purchased in May 2007 and was replaced via RMA in 2008.

It was a PSU problem that prompted the replacement in 2008.

Drive 1 is the failed drive. It failed the Short DST, the Short Generic Test, and the Long Generic Test. Drives 2-4 all passed all 3 tests. I just reran them to confirm a second time.

I have ran the memory test and it passed OK twice.

Yes, the unit will initialize a new disk (used one of the 2TB ones I bought to replaced the failed drive) and create a new volume, booting fine.

The new NAS is scheduled to arrive today. Though I'm not sure it's my answer. I've found this thread (http://www.readynas.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=59746&p=335992#p335992) that seems to replicate my problem. Except I'm not sure how to confirm if any of my other disks were reporting reallocated sectors.

Tech support is requesting I send them the logs from Frontview, but I don't see a way to get there until the unit boots. I watched it while booting in RAIDar just now and the drive lights reflect drives 2-4 solid while doing the FS check, but as soon as it moves to "Booting..." the drive column changes to "Not Available". I just can't wrap my head around what it is doing at this "Booting..." step after the FS checks.

Thanks for the help! I'll be happy to send a donation your way if we can figure this out.

[mdgm]

So it's probably not the NAS chassis that's the problem at all but rather one of the disks. To try to look at the logs they'd need to remotely access your unit. If they decide it's necessary to do that they can give you instructions on how to give them access.

Keep us informed on the forum of your progress.

[irussell]

2/21/2012 4:36:00 AM
Is there any way to diagnose this via logs or the tech support boot option via telnet? I need to know if it is a hardware issue with the NAS itself or a software/firmware issue or an undiagnosed disk issue. I don''t want to keep booting and shutting down without having a course of action because I don''t want to risk causing errors on the 3 remaining good disks.

What can I do to troubleshoot this? I wasn''t looking for a replacement per se. Thanks.
2/21/2012 6:13:00 PM
From Expert ID: 41064
Case Number: 17933910

Dear Mr. Russel,

This is John from NETGEAR Level 2 Technical Support and I am responding in behalf of Jen.

Please download the full system logs of the NAS and attach to the case or upload via http://www.filetolink.com.

1. Access frontview.
2. Go to Status > Logs > Download full system logs.

The NETGEAR expert who is handling your case submission is currently out of office and will be not be available to respond to your update today. Nevertheless, Jen will be informed of your update the soonest as possible to provide feedback to your case submission. Please give us some ample time to get back to you; we apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you.

NETGEAR FAQs is available at:

http://support.netgear.com

To Reply or Answer or Close This Case

A system generated e-mail will be sent to your e-mail address to inform you that I have responded to your inquiry. Please DO NOT REPLY to the e-mail sent to your e-mail address. Instead, If you want to reply to the message above and have additional query, please click “NO” when the system ask you “Was your problem resolved with the information provided by the NETGEAR representative above?”

When you select “YES”, your case will be closed and a separate e-mail containing a survey link will be sent to you to measure your customer support experience.

Thanks again for choosing NETGEAR. Have a great day!

Sincerely,

John Tracy Ochoa
Level 2 Technical Support
NETGEAR, Inc.
http://support.netgear.com

NETGEAR Support Contact Information:

Call Toll Free 888-NETGEAR or with email support cases, update your case through the portal by visiting our web site at http://my.netgear.com/myNETGEAR/support.asp

For the latest updates to our manuals, drivers, and software, visit our web site at http://support.netgear.com/app/home or http://www.netgear.com

NOTE: International customers please use the below listed link to find the help desk number for your location:

http://support.netgear.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/984

Did you know that NETGEAR provides support for your home networking devices and PCs? One-stop solution! No need to call multiple vendors* for support. If you would like to learn more about the NETGEAR GearHead services please go to:

http://gearhead.netgear.com

2/23/2012 12:24:00 AM
The unit does not progress to a stage that I can access Frontview. Once it completes the FS check, it moves to whatever the next step is and shows "Booting..." in both RAIDar and on the LCD. It isn''t accessible via Frontview.

The only way the unit will boot is if I remove the current array of disks 2-4 (drive 1 is the drive that failed), then put in a new, blank disk. It will then initialize the new disk and create a new volume. It will also boot in tech support mode.

I have ran the memory test and it passed OK.

I have tested drives 2-4 in SeaTools for both short and long generic test and they passed.
2/23/2012 3:58:00 AM
I have purchased a new ReadyNAS NV+ enclosure and attempted a boot with these drives and came out with the same result. Can you remotely access my device and download the logs to help ascertain what is going on?
2/24/2012 3:26:00 AM
From Expert ID: 41036
Case Number: 17933910

Dear Mr. Russel,

This is Jen again from NETGEAR support.

Please have the ReadyNAS NV+ registered and open a ticket under its registration so we can have a look and have a product engineer check it. I do apologize but we strictly do not provide escalation to product engineers when device is an EOL or discontinued.

Regards,
Jen
NETGEAR support

I've now opened a new support ticket under the new unit I have purchased. Hopefully an engineer can help out.

I found it odd that I was not given the option to purchase paid support for this product. This last response seems contradictory as well. If the NV+ is EOL/discontinued (as they stated previously) and they do not escalate for EOL products how will they then escalate for the new NV+? Does this only apply to units already out of warranty I suppose?

[mdgm]

Your old unit was purchased prior to August 21, 2007 (I think from your forum join date) so it would be out of warranty. Continue to update in this thread how you get on with support.

[irussell]

13 days into this. I've opened the new ticket and booted into tech support mode 48 hours ago. The L2 tech confirmed he had access 18 hours after that, but no word yet on a resolution.

[irussell]

The latest response was to inform me that disk 1 was dead as I have stated from the start. Their solution after 14 days was to attempt to boot without drive 1. If you've been following along at home, you'll know that was the first thing I tried. Quite frustrating.

I booted again in that mode anyway after they had finished and monitored the NAS in RAIDar while booting. I can see that disk 2, even though it has passed multiple short tests and 2 long tests, is reporting 2 ATA error counts. Could this be related to the issue found here? viewtopic.php?f=24&t=59746&p=335992#p335992

I called phone support yesterday and they advised they would re-escalate the ticket to L3 for remote access. I expressed my dissatisfaction with the time it is taking to get any information on this and they assured me that there would be a follow up to my online case within an hour or so. They confirmed they had access remotely at 3PM yesterday (27 hours ago) and I haven't heard anything since.

I have called phone support again tonight and opened another ticket for phone support #18056010. I'm currently on hold with them while they review the case. I have edited the subject to reflect the currently open cases.

[irussell]

Finally received an update this morning:

3/4/2012 7:15:00 AM
Hi Isaac,

I have checked your nas and I was able to mount your data volume. Your data as of the moment are intact. I also found that disk3 has a lot of re-allocated sectors. Kindly reboot the nas and perform skip volume check. Turn off the nas, hold the power button for five seconds, until you see the disk light blink once and let go. Once the nas boots up, check of you can access your data and the frontview. If they are accessible, please plug a new disk in bay1 while the nas is on. Once it is done syncing, remove disk3 and plug a new drive as a replacement for it.

Regards,
Armand

I had tried skipping the volume check before, to no avail. But this time it worked!! He doesn't mention what he did and I've responded back asking him for details. I do notice that the logs seem to have been cleared and Frontview reports it is running RAIDiator 4.1.7. I know I had 4.1.8 on it before (because I run Lion and now can't access my shares via AFP). I will update once I hear back on what was the problem.

[StephenB]

Though you shouldn't wait on replacing disk 3.

[irussell]

I plan to replace it as soon as the array is redundant once more. I'm actually purchasing 2 more of the 2TB disks and am planning to replace all the disks in this array and use the RMA'd 1TB disks to form a backup array on the old NAS.

[irussell]

Response back from engineer's notes are below. Looks like there partitions on drive 3. No idea how they got there since I installed these new and did a factory reset to upgrade to 4k sectors a year or so ago. Good news is the volume is now redundant. I'm going to be upgrading to 4.1.8 (again) to avoid any issues since the drives were at 4.1.8 before this issue. Then I'll be swapping out the rest of the drives.

Any ideas on the cause of the errant partitions?

3/4/2012 10:18:00 PM
From Expert ID: 41036
Case Number: 17985870

Dear Mr. Russell,

Thank you for your response. My name is Jen and I am following up your case in behalf of John.

The NETGEAR expert who is handling your case submission is currently out of office and will be not be available to respond to your update today. Nevertheless, John will be informed of your update the soonest as possible to provide feedback to your case submission. Please give us some ample time to get back to you; we apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you.

We are pleased to know that the problem has been resolved. Below are the notes from product engineer:

- disk1 only has 2 ATA error counts, while disk2 is ok
- disk3 has 529 re-allocated sectors
Device Model: ST31000528AS
Serial Number:
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 088 088 036 Pre-fail Always - 529
- I found that disk3 (/dev/hdg) has partitions in it, which is the parity drive
- Parity drive should not have partitions in it, so I removed the partitions in disk3 and started the raid
- I was able to mount data volume and all his data were intact

sh-2.05b# df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/hdc1 1.9G 195M 1.6G 11% /
/dev/c/c 2.7T 2.7T 62G 98% /c
sh-2.05b# du * -sh
16k aquota.group
16k aquota.user
135M backup
52G documents
630G home
16k lost+found
1.5T media
180G software

- I suggest that you reboot the nas to normal mode and perform a skip volume check
- Once the nas boots up, please hot-plug a new disk in bay 1
- please also replace disk3 after the new disk1 sync

To Reply Or Answer Or Close This Case

A system generated e-mail will be sent to your e-mail address to inform you that I have responded to your inquiry. Please DO NOT REPLY to the e-mail sent to your e-mail address. Instead, If you want to reply to the message above and have additional query, please click “NO” when the system ask you “Was your problem resolved with the information provided by the NETGEAR representative above?”

When you select “YES”, your case will be closed and a separate e-mail containing a survey link will be sent to you to measure your customer support experience.

Thanks again for choosing NETGEAR. Have a great day!

Sincerely,

Jen
Level 2 Technical Support
NETGEAR, Inc.
http://support.netgear.com