# Lacie Ethernet Disk RAID cannot initialize / boot



## ralloux (Sep 28, 2007)

Hello,

I have a Lacie Ethernet Disk 2TB and it was working fine for 9 months now. I have assigned a dedicated IP Address, as I have done to any computer on the network. But since yesterday, when I try to turn it ON, the System Status LED keeps blinking green and never stops. So I cannot connect, either ping or anything.

Problem History: 
Yesterday I tried to enter through the Web-Manager but I could not: I was landing on page home_mainF.cgi but it was a blank page. I tried to see the Lacie Storageserver from the Storage System Console and though it found the LacieServer, on the System Information it was displaying Version 0.0 (as if no firmware or anything was installed). 
During all this time, I could access all folders and files on this server with no problem. I just couldn't access the web-manager.

I read the troubleshooting section of the manual, and it said that if you cannot access the web-manager you should turn off the system and try again. So, I shut down the system (using the power button). After that I cannot turn it on again. The Power LED is OK (solid green), the HDD LEDS are solid green, but The System Status LED (second from the right) is blinking GREEN all the time. Nothing else is on or blinking.

So, now, I cannot have access to it. Pinging is not working and the system console cannot find it.

I would really appreciate any help.

Thank you in advance,
ralloux

(Using XP Pro)


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Sounds like it's broken. Have you tried resetting it to factory defaults and reconfiguring the networking? That shouldn't damage the data on the disks.


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## ralloux (Sep 28, 2007)

JohnWill said:


> Sounds like it's broken. Have you tried resetting it to factory defaults and reconfiguring the networking? That shouldn't damage the data on the disks.


How can I reset it to factory settings? I cannot access the system at all in the first place.

Here is a quote from the users manual describing the turn on / first time initialization procedure:

"Once you have connected the power cord, press the
power button on the front (see in Fig. 3.2.).

The System Status LED light will blink green while
the Ethernet Disk RAID is booting up. When the system
has finished booting up, the *System Status LED
and Disk Status LED will remain green.*

The System Status LED will turn solid yellow when
you power up the system for the first time, indicating
the hard drives are not configured with a RAID level. It
will remain yellow until the drives are configured then
the Status System LED will turn solid green."

What I have here is neither of these situations: The System Status LED is blinking and I cannot connect / access the system at all.

Do you have any ideas?


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## Wanderer2 (Jan 29, 2008)

contact Lacie support. should still be under warranty.


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## ralloux (Sep 28, 2007)

I have already contacted support 10 hours ago, via their support form and still no reply...

and I was hoping someone of you guys have faced and solved the same prob.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Unless this is a very unusual device, there will be a recessed reset button somewhere on it, you hold this for 15 seconds or more with power on the unit. Of course, the exact model would be useful, as well as a pointer to the manual on the manufacturer's site.


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## ralloux (Sep 28, 2007)

Thank you for pointing this out to me.

The exact model is: Lacie Ethernet Disk Raid Gigabit Ethernet 2TB
and the link to the product is:
http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?pid=10877

the users manual is :
http://www.lacie.com/download/manual/ethernetdiskraid_en.pdf

it is based on the SS4000-E system that intel has introduced as entry level NAS 
the box and utilities on the cd and everything are exactly the same as:
http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/server/ss4000-e/

I don't seem to find any reset button.


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## ralloux (Sep 28, 2007)

I must be blind...

there IS a reset button...

i will try it and come back to you with news ...

thank you again


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## ralloux (Sep 28, 2007)

Reset Is doing nothing. No change at all.

I mean it does not understand the reset action. 
The power is still on, the status led is still blinking green and I can only shut it down not by the power button but by shutting down the ups that it is connected on.

by the way, still no response from the lacie support team!!!


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

I'm going to guess it's broken, since holding the reset for three seconds or more should have reset to factory defaults.

From the user's manual:


> *Reset Button - Press the Reset Button for three seconds to revert the unit to the system defaults.*


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## Wanderer2 (Jan 29, 2008)

Unit has a 3yr warranty. Call them Tel: (503) 844-4500


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## Mambo88 (May 5, 2008)

Ralloux - did you get a solution to this? I am having exactly the same problem with exactly the same unit. I have dropped an email to LaCie to see if they can give me a solution but curious if you managed to find one.


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## ralloux (Sep 28, 2007)

Unfortunately the problem is really serious.
Here is the feedback and the final outcome from this.

A summary of what I am going to analyze below is this:
No, I didn't find a solution.
I lost all the data stored there.
I got a brand new unit, with brand new disks from Lacie Representative in Greece.
I am happy it was our secondary backup storage and not the one and only storage system.
The problem must have been with the controller.

Some more details:
Since we are located in Greece, I contacted Lacie International Support and NEVER got an answer. 
I managed to find the local representative and thank God they were suppliers of our company in other hardware as well. So, I had a good support from them.

The thing is: After sending them the unit (along with the disks) they did various tests and tried to place all disks to another set. Nothing was working. The RAID-set was not recognized from another unit, and the new unit was asking to format/build a new RAID.

One thing I had noticed, (before powering the unit off for the last time and when it was still accessible) is that for some unknown reason it had lost the firmware. If you go to the SystemStorage Console you can see what firmware it has. Our unit did not show any firmware at all. (of course Mambo88, now that you cannot turn it on again, it is too late)

To make a long story short: We lost everything that was stored in the unit. They said it was a problem with the *controller*. And if you have a problem with the controller, you can never retrieve the RAID-set unless you have exactly the same controller.
I could agree to take all the 4-disks and send them to some retrieval service, and then wait until I could get it back, and then send the unit (with the original disks) back to Lacie-representative, who then would send it back to LACIE and then LACIE would decide what to do with it and me...

Finally, we decided to forget all the 1tB we had there (I had made a RAID-10 set) and tell them to proceed as soon as possible with a solution. After 10 days we received a brand new unit, with new disks and that was it...

What I learned from this:
*It is not a reliable solution if you are planning to have it as your only storage.
*
Since we are an advertising company we have a lot of files and we need lots of storage capacity AND reliability.

So, for now we have 3 storage systems.

1. main 
2. backup
3. backup of the backup....

By the way, the main server is now a new Linksys NSS4000. It seems faster than the Lacie and the Intel-SE-4000.

*Good Luck Mambo88* with your quest... I hope you will not lose your data as well.

p.s. TRY to COLD-shut it down as few times as possible. It makes things worse.
Don't unplug etc. unless it is necessary.

ps. 2: *Mambo88* - keep me posted, I would like to know how it turned out with you... because we still have the new unit here and you never know...


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Remember: Data you don't have at least two copies of is data you don't care about.

Note that RAID of any level is NOT backup...


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