How to fix a faulty USB initBoot for your TNAS?(x.86)

[pjmaxx01]

Why not just make available a ready to burn/extract image?
Makes no sense to have to jump through all the hoops for something that can be so simple. Centos, ubuntu, raspberry and most other like op's does it. Heck I can even download a usable image for synology nas ready to go..

[titanrx8]

pjmaxx01 wrote:
> Why not just make available a ready to burn/extract image?
> Makes no sense to have to jump through all the hoops for something that can
> be so simple. Centos, ubuntu, raspberry and most other like op's does it.
> Heck I can even download a usable image for synology nas ready to go..
👍
As a Linux novice, I needed the assistance of a Linux consultant to burn the new boot USB. Based on the provided instructions the USB didn't work so he did it the way he thought it should be done and it worked.
Yes, provide current ready-to-use boot images on the TNAS download site. The OEM USB drive is very low quality and mine developed permanent errors requiring its replacement.

[pjmaxx01]

titanrx8 wrote:
> Finally had a chance to burn the new boot USB, actually a Linux guru friend
> did it for me since my attempts to follow the instructions at the top of
> the thread failed.
>
> My friend first tried using an Ubuntu virtual machine but the paths were
> getting messed up so he built a CentOs system on bare hardware. The batch
> file provided in the download package didn't work so he hand built the
> directories and loaded the components manually using the corrupted USB as a
> guide. The new USB was installed on the system board, system was
> reassembled and it booted properly.
>
> I have the OS loaded and running temporarily with an old drive just to
> check everything out before changing out the drive for a new one and
> putting the unit back in production.

Can you give a little more info on how the directories was constructed?

[titanrx8]

pjmaxx01 wrote:

> Can you give a little more info on how the directories was constructed?

Sorry, I cannot. My friend did not give me any documentation.

[pjmaxx01]

CentOS 8 uses grub2, So you need to change the make_install file to use grub 2.

#!/bin/sh
PAR=$(dirname $(readlink -f "$0"))
zImage="$1"
[ -z "${zImage}" ] && zImage="bzImage"
[ ! -f "${PAR}/${zImage}" ] && {
echo "#################${zImage} isn't exists!########################"
exit 1
}

for ele in /sys/block/sd?
do
usb=`readlink $ele | grep "usb"`
[ "X${usb}" = "X" ] && continue
blk="/dev/`basename $ele`"
df | grep $blk | awk '{print $1}' | while read line
do
umount $line
done
[ ! -b $blk ] && continue
parted -s $blk mktable gpt
parted -s $blk mkpart "primary ext4 0% 100%"

echo "#########mkfs ext4#############"
mkfs.ext4 $blk"1"
e2label $blk"1" UTOSBOOT-X86-S64
mount $blk"1" /media
echo "#########install grub###########"
grub2-install --root-directory=/media/ --force $blk

cp -a ${PAR}/grub.cfg /media/boot/grub2
cp -a "${PAR}/${zImage}" /media/boot/bzImage
umount /media/
echo "#########done##################"
done

echo "################COMPLATE!!!###################"



also you will get warnings about boot sector but will finish.
REMOVE ALL HARD DISK!! Wait until the install app complains no disk found!!
reinstall usb drive and boot.
use the terramaster install app.

[ralexlaptop]

DaQu wrote:
> TMSupport wrote:
> >
> Omg, thank you! After many failed attempts on CentOS, I've finally made my USB using
> Ubuntu 18.04! It looked like new CentOS is having grub2-install package installed by
> default, which wasn't recognized by script. However after changing it with nano text
> editor to "grub2-install" command it still was throwing error with grub
> boot pattern not recognized or something, which resulted with not booting anyway.
>
> So for everyone having issues with second (grub installation) step I recommend using
> Ubuntu 18.04.5-desktop-amd64 instead of any CentOS distro.
>
> Cheers!

Can someone please provide step by step what works because I've tried building an Initboot using Ubuntu 20.04.3 and my problem is still the same.

The problem is that I only get a green power and two HDD red lights when I power my F2-420 on. I get no LAN lights on the front or on the LAN ports. The problem is the same with or without hard drives inserted. Just a note: The hard drives used were working fine in this unit just before the failure occurred and works fine now when inserted into a F4-421.

Everything that I've tried will not get me past the two solid Red HDD lights on the F2-420.

[ralexlaptop]

While waiting for more instructions from either this FORUM or Terra-Master support, I've tried a different flavor of Linux but all with the same results.

I still have solid Red HDD lights and no LAN lights.

The flavor of Linux I tried was Fedora 35 using the instructions in this document "https://download2.terra-master.com/inst ... il_en.docx".

I had to make an adjustment to the make-install script because it uses grub-install so I had to change it to grub2-install.

My boot problem is still not solved.

[ralexlaptop]

I was finally able to make some progress.  After not getting any responses that provided a solution from Support or the Forum ( viewtopic.php?f=76&t=1455&p=15449#p15449 ), I decided to take the unit apart.  It appeared that some of the solder joints maybe cold so I used a hot air gun to heat the circuit board.  After doing that, I actually started getting different symptoms.  The HDD lights turned off, the lights in the LAN ports (in the rear) came on even though the LAN lights in the front panel did not.  If I plugged only one HDD into the F2-420, the HDD light would turn green.  After a short wait, I was able to log into the web port.  Once everything stabilized with the one hard drive, I shut the unit down from the web interface.  I installed the second hard drive and turned the unit back on.  I logged back into the web and both hard drives were reporting with a Good or Healthy status.  In less than 30 minutes of everything looking normal, the unit went unresponsive.  When I turned the unit off and back on again, I'm now back to the original problem, both HDD lights stay red and I have no LAN light in the front or the back and it doesn't matter if the hard drives are inserted or not.

[ralexlaptop]

I seem to have found something that works but the fix is very temporary. If I take the unit apart and heat the circuit board with a hot air gun, I can put it back together and turn it on and the unit will power up and stabilize in about two minutes. Once the unit is stabilized, I can mount a SMB drive and use it to start copying files from the hard drives. The file copy will work for about 15 minutes before I will have to repeat the process. I'm not sure what heating the board is doing but it works every time but it only gives me about 15 minutes of use before the unit stops responding on the network.

[ralexlaptop]

It does not appear that the initBoot image was ever my problem. 

The TNAS will start functioning normally if I blow hot air on the TNAS motherboard but it will only work for approximately 15 minutes.  After 15 minutes, the TNAS will stop responding on the LAN port.  It will not even respond to a Ping. I can get the TNAS to respond normal again by just blowing hot air on the motherboard again but it will only last for 15 minutes.

I can always tell when the TNAS is going to work because I can hear a beep one second after turning on the power.  If I don't hear that beep, I know it is not going to work no matter how long I wait.  What I don't understand now is why am I able to get 15 minutes of use from the TNAS by doing nothing more than just blowing hot air on the center of the TNAS motherboard?