TerraMaster F4-220 NAS - Hardware Failure - Powers On but no LAN light and red disk lights

[RichardNASUser]

Hello All,

It looks like my TerraMaster F4-220 NAS has a hardware fault. The device powers ON (The power light is Green and can hear the fans) but the LAN 1 light stays off (cable is in and tried connecting direct to router/switch) and the 4 HDD drive lights stay red and disk sound like they're not on. I did read somewhere to try disconnecting all drives and try powering it on again but i get the same issue (see attached photo).

LAN light Red.JPG

Has anyone else had this issue and managed to resolve it ?

Note: I did read somewhere it could be a USB boot issue but after opening the case the USB looks inaccessible and glued in, so doesn't look replaceable ?

USB glue.JPG

[RichardNASUser]

I couldnt edit the post but to add to it. The system does no beeps when powered on and the LAN light on the switch side does come UP.

[IrisLi]

If all the hard drives are removed and there is no three beeps when the machine starts up empty, it is indeed a problem with the boot system. If it is within the warranty period, please contact after-sales customer service to replace the guidance system for you.

[RichardNASUser]

Thanks. It is well out of warranty, device is about 5 years old. I would still expect the NAS to outlast my disk drives though! Very disappointing with what was a perfectly good product.

I have seen a post about replacing the initboot USB, however my USB looks inaccessible to me without taking the whole chassis apart (do-able if needed) but then the USB is glued in place? how is this meant to be removed? anyone seen a Youtube video of this process?

It might be a bit much for me and i may look at replacing with a new NAS and hopefully just moving the disks over.

[TMzethar]

Based on the information you have provided so far, if my speculation is correct, you should have been using TOS4 until the problem occurs.

1. If you purchase a new TNAS model to inherit the hard drive, you need to reinstall TOS, please select "Custom/Manual" installation, please manually install the TOS4 you previously used:
https://download3.terra-master.com/TOS% ... 221742.ins
If it prompts "delete/format", please do not continue and let us remotely assist you in handling the exception.
(The new model will basically automatically install TOS5, but when running TOS5, there may be some compatibility issues with your storage structure from TOS4. Therefore, in this case, we recommend installing TOS4.)

2. You can access hard disk data through some professional hard disk tools or the mdadm&LVM tools on Linxu computers or Linux virtual machines.

[RichardNASUser]

So following the advise from TNAS Support i purchased a replacement product F4-223. They advised i could just move the drives over to the new device and it would just work. unfortunately this doesn't look to be the case.

After moving the drives to the new device when i power the TNAS up i get 4 Green drive lights (1 system beep) but the LAN light will not come on, in either LAN port.

If i remove the disks from the system and boot it, i get 1 beep then after about 30-45 seconds 3 more beeps then the LAN light comes ON. When i find the IP the system is on i get the screen 'Loading the Bootloader from server..., please wait!' (Bootloader version: 1.0.2). After that time i get the unsurprising error; 'No hard drive detected! Please install hard drive(s) and try again!' (N4505_5.19_V5.1.48).

So:
Old Disks in the system 1 system beep and NO LAN.
No disks in the system 1 system beep, 45 seconds later 3 system beeps then the error ''No hard drive detected! Please install hard drive(s) and try again!'

Support via email suggested reinstalling some software but didn't provide or link to any guide and then get went quiet. So right now im not sure how to install any old/new software as the web interface just gives me that error or to what or where to get the right software. Anyone able to help further ? Appreciate the last post but again not sure where to install the software given i cant access the GUI.

Pictures for reference.
error with old disks installed.

OLD DISK NO LAN.JPG

Error with no disks installed

NO DISK LAN LIGHT.JPG

Error

TNAS bootloader.png

TNAS no disk error with disks removed.png

[TMzethar]

1. If you purchase a new TNAS model to inherit the hard drive, you need to reinstall TOS, please select "Custom/Manual" installation, please manually install the TOS4 you previously used:
https://download3.terra-master.com/TOS% ... 221742.ins
If it prompts "delete/format", please do not continue and let us remotely assist you in handling the exception.

2. You can access hard disk data through some professional hard disk tools or the mdadm&LVM tools on Linxu computers or Linux virtual machines.

It seems that you did not follow the advice I provided earlier. If you are getting advice from other support sources, please be sure to provide this post to them or describe the situation in detail.

[Gremlin]

You can't have both ways, I'm afraid.

If one branch of support says "buy this model and just insert the disks", you would expect that to work. If you say "re-install a ??TOS4?? operating system, surely it should be first established as to what OS was currently installed in the first place. You are presuming that the system was not updated from TOS4 or that is TOS5 was installed you would get a seamless regression to TOS4 - and then, WHAT? Convoluted upgrade to TOS5 again? - This forum is littered with examples where re-installation was anything but seamless.

I would accept that you may have more information than casual readers of this thread. I would also accept that TOS4 might be capable of utilising the disk structures of TOS 5 However much the support team(s) refer to the incompatibility of the reverse course. However, despite you are addressing a particular user and their problem, it is the casual readers that make up the bulk of this forum and are in search of "knowledge".

Contradictory and confusing support is no support at all.

I would also add that it appears in many cases the support download pages do not list those OS versions for installation that a NAS version is capable of running. So, would you be telling me that I must regress my F2-221 running TOS6 to 5.0.176 when we know that this model is capable of running all of the 5.1 packages ever released (even the bad ones). Just because someone at TM has deemed not to provide a comprehensive and accessible version catalogue.

[RichardNASUser]

Ok update 01-07-24

I have now managed to recover my data, although the process did not give me much confidence, it did work.

I followed the guide, using Method B at viewtopic.php?f=76&t=423

The guide kind of stops at just '8. Follow the instructions on the web page to install the new TOS system.'

I used support who directed me to the OS download page for the latest TOS Installation for my hardware, I went to TOS 5.1.24. Then installed using 'Custom' Install and manual install using the downloaded TOS. I didn't get message about erasing data etc so thats good. Following the install i could see my share again and it worked, though i did need to create a new user account to access the data as the old account was removed, this was also no t on the guide.

So my recovery looked something like this:

1. Power on Device with no disk in the system, get to the Initialization page. (i used a basic Pingsweep application to find the IP the TNAS picked up).
2. Install all your devices again with the system On.
3. Get a Initialization page then install options 'Default' OR 'Custom' , Support said either is fine, I went with 'Custom'.
4. does some hard drive checks, mine came back as all 'Good'
5. Option to install from 'Online' OR manually Install, i went manual as support made me download the TOS, i uploaded the TOS from earlier.
6. The TOS installed and restarted.
7. After manual webpage reset the GUI for the new TOS came UP. It asks you to setup a new superuser.
8. Could access TNAS again and my file share using the superuser. Had to create new account for my fileshare as the old account was lost using the move so i guess you will lose all your user account info/applications etc with the reinstall.

TNAS 1.JPG

TNAS 2.JPG

TNAS 4.JPG

TNAS 5.JPG

TNAS 7.JPG

[Gremlin]

Save a copy of your configuration (via control panel). In the event you need to re-instal the OS it can help smooth out some of the bumps. [I think TOS6 actually saves a little more, but I can't swear to that.] I would try and re-create the admin user same as the old set up if required.