Troubleshooting suggestions for a 4000
 

I just picked up a used SnapServer 4000 on ebay (model 70700042-002). It arrived yesterday and is dead :doh:.

I'm new to this particular NAS so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

When the power button is pressed the chassis and main board fans run, but thats where it stops. No LEDs light, no disks spin up. Seems to be an electronic switching board between the power supply and everything else. I assume that acts as the overall power switch. Input voltages are 5v and 12v, output are 5v and 1v. Looks like either the transistors are shot or the trigger that enables them is.

I could go into a great deal of trouble trying to see whats wrong and trying to fix it but without knowing how that board is supposed to function I could easily be spinning my wheels.

Anyone know if the board can be bypassed or should I simply assume the main board is toast and send it back. Or can replacement boards be acquired cheap? I got a good deal on the unit but if I'll go though more trouble to fix it than it's worth 'll just return it.

Thanks

Re: Troubleshooting suggestions for a 4000
 

I'm not up on the 4000 hardware. But there is a user that is, and check in every so often.

My question is does your IDE cables colored or plain. I think v2 is plain 40 cond. If this is correct make sure the drives are set as M/S. If 80 cond (with cut ribbon) color CS.

Check your routers log and see if it's getting an IP address. If not you may need assist to locate the unit. If not seen do a system wide reset.

The 4000 should give you access to the uint with no HD installed. It would be a good check.

Re: Troubleshooting suggestions for a 4000
 

Thanks for the suggestions. It's not getting an IP, the NIC never comes online. It does have colored ribbon cables but not sure if any lines are cut. The unit seems to be factory, I had to remove the warranty sticker off the back to open it. I'll need to dig up the manual to see how to do a reset but my feeling is that it wont work since there is no indication of life.

Re: Troubleshooting suggestions for a 4000
 

Kcmjr, I would subject you pull all but one hard drive out and see if it starts up or you get any lights on the front panel. If that doesn't work then for just testing...take out a power supply from a pc and hook the hard drive up to this power supply , while it is still connected to the snap4000 via IDE ribbon. You are trying to figure out if the power supply is bad/weak in your Snap4000. One of the main problems of this unit.

bitor

Re: Troubleshooting suggestions for a 4000
 

He said it was a -002 model, that makes it a Master/Slave unit.

Re: Troubleshooting suggestions for a 4000
 

Well as it turns out the unit works quite well. The problem was that Quantum used a small circuit board with a latching dual transistor switch to activate the server (see circle in image)

http://kcmjr.blackapplehost.com/imag...00-inside1.jpg.

The puny little 110 watt power supply is always energized and feeds through this switch. The 12 volt side of that switch (red wires in image) died with the result that the server never gets any 12 volt to the main board or drives.

Luckily the connectors are similar enough and the cables are just long enough that I was able to bypass the switch and run direct from the power supply. Once I did that the unit powered up fine. :D Obviously the front panel power switch is now useless.

I was able to reset the server back to factory and then reconfigure the existing drives back into a functioning RAID 5 stack.

My next trick will be to upgrade the SnapOS and drives. I found an online source that has virtually every BIOS and firmware that Adaptec ever released along with user guides, manuals, etc. They seem to have SnapOS v1 through v8 as well as almost every other OS for the various versions of these things.

Has anyone tried upgrading the power supply by using an old HP pavillion supply? they would seem to be small enough to fit, have ATX power on capability and double the power rating of whats there now.

Re: Troubleshooting suggestions for a 4000
 

Kcmjr, the link you gave us is 403. Please correct. You can use an ATX power supply in it if you like. Requires a little modification, but nothing you cannot do.

bitor

Re: Troubleshooting suggestions for a 4000
 

By link I assume you mean the embedded image. Not sure why you're getting a 403, I see it just fine within this forum. You can also see the same image by opening this link: http://www.northwesttechnical.com/in...oducts_id=1190 and viewing the PDF located there. Just click on the "user guide" link.

The folks at that link sell replacement power supplies for SnapServers.

kcm

Re: Troubleshooting suggestions for a 4000
 

Last night I updated the SnapOS from 3.1.(something) to 4.0.860 without a hitch. I've read (and need to read more) that the M/S mode can be changed to C/S by modding the cables, so I'm going to look at that. Anyone know where you can find BIOS updates? I've been unable to locate anything relating to BIOS updates so far or if they are even available. I'll scan around the forums for this info too but does anyone know if these 4000's will upgrade to GuardianOS or is the hardware too dissimilar?

I'm used to working on big NetApp fiber SANs so this has been rapid education for me. Glad I found this site, the info here is invaluable... Still got a LOT of forum reading to do....

Re: Troubleshooting suggestions for a 4000
 

kcmjr, there are no separate bios updates for the SnapOS that I know of. They are included in the SnapOS updates (if any). No SnapOS units production version sold to the public are able to used to install the GuardianOS. Matter of fact, no other OS has been able to be installed on the SnapOS version that I know of. The SnapOS is a Freebsd flavor highly modified.

warningperson

Re: Troubleshooting suggestions for a 4000
 

Good to know. I won't waste my time looking for updates then.

On a side note... to the powers that be... sorry for posting that link, must have been a senior moment (scares me that I'm old enough now to actually use that line), but have no fear, I'm feeling much better now...

Re: Troubleshooting suggestions for a 4000
 

While we're on the subject I've read in other posts that there appears to be a volume size limit imposed by the OS. Is that limit per volume or per server? Meaning if I set up 1 RAID1 mirrors each with 2 1 terabyte disks for a total of 2 TB, will that work? No use in buying TB disks if I cant get full use of them.

Yes, I'm planning to re-purpose one of the old ATX power supplies in my junk pile to beef up the server so power issues wont be a problem.

Also I'd like to convert from master/slave mode to cable select mode. I cant seem to track down the post that discusses the line in the cable to clip. Anyone have a link to that post?

Thanks

Re: Troubleshooting suggestions for a 4000
 

Last weekend I successfully did Pheonix's powersupply mod to one of my snap 4000. I have 12v from the PS, but Im running into the same situation.

The small board in between the PS and the MB appears to be weak.

Has anyone tried to replace the capacitor on it?

It will spinup 2 drives, but after I plug in a 3rd, it stutters.

Re: Troubleshooting suggestions for a 4000
 

Have not altered the latch module but i do intend to repair it unless I find another power switch solution. Just out of curiosity where did you find the power supply mod? I've tooled around the forums and have yet to locate the post with the referenced mod on it. I'll try to take some pics and post them on how to bypass the module.

KCM

Re: Troubleshooting suggestions for a 4000
 

Im also very interested in repairing the latch module. I know Pheonix did the original PS mod, but not sure if he ever ran into a bad latch module. Maybe he will chime in.

Re: Troubleshooting suggestions for a 4000
 

I never had any problems with the power controller board beyond if it is dead, it is dead, and if it aint, it aint. But this SHOULD be the norm since it is nothing more than a latching (SCR if I remember) circuit. In other words, it should work, or not work, and not much in between.

Check your connections and solder joints.

Re: Troubleshooting suggestions for a 4000
 

I uploaded an image of the power cable bypassing the latch board. Literally it just moves straight over to the power supply. In this case the stock power supply.