Zyxel NSA325 won't start after installation

[viliamjobko]

Hi all,
I tried to install ArchLinuxArm using the instructions from here.
I put HDD to left slot, USB to rear port and turn on the device. After a while (about 5-10 minutes) of SYS LED blinking, the device just "go dark". HDD continued to spin but all the LEDs were down.
From then, every time I start the device, I can see HDD2 LED to be light green for 3 seconds and then nothing happen. The disk is spinning, the Ethernet port sometimes blink but no LEDs are active. Same situation with disk and without it.
I run Wireshark to Ethernet port, but no data are coming from it.

I have read there is something called Watchdog which I don't understand, but is the probably the reason of bricking my device. I read there is also
Could someone please explain what is happening and if there is any way to unbrick it?

Thank you.

[WarheadsSE]

1) I doubt it's a full blown brick
2) Yes, it sucks, but this is a chance we take making modifications like this
3) I'd be something is not right with the boot drive, rather than the uboot.

2 things:
- Boot a linux systemd (liveCD, whatever) and check the drive, if possible
- Get a USB 3.3v TTL Serial like the ones in this review: viewtopic.php?f=38&t=5933

The serial will let you do everything on the device, and is super handy. Attaching & confirming the drive could be more complicated, but involves no other cost.

[viliamjobko]

I have checked the drive from my NSA325. It's Seagate 4TB NAS HDD. First cca 400MB is formatted to ext2 and the remaining space is on ext4. Anyway, I was not able to mount the drive with some error message about partition table.

I would like to buy the cable you mentioned and check the NSA325 through it.
Could you please confirm me, that I can use this cable?
http://www.tme.eu/en/details/ttl-232r-3 ... 2r-33v-we/

Thank you

[WarheadsSE]

Well partition table issue could be a problem yes. If it is a 4TB drive, you might want to do the following:

Remake the partition table in GPT, and make a Hybrid MBR from that. After all, fdisk is used, and that makes MBR tables because that is what the uboot on the device knows. That's probably your issue.

As for the adapter: spot on, but I suggest against soldering to the pins. And remember, DO NOT connect Vcc!

[drgowen]

Hi

I had this problem last night too - lights just went dark. I connected a serial console, rebooted and did run to_stock.

Checked out the hard disk and the boot partition hadn't configured properly for some reason (no uLinux). I then rebooted and redid the install watching the console and it succeeded.

Still don't know what went wrong first time around.

Best
Gareth

[drgowen]

PS - you can get much cheaper cables. Do an ebay search for "ftdi breakout." You can't just plug it into nsa though, match up the pins with wires.

[ziabice]

(Excuse my not so good english)

I just had the same problem, my NSA325 is bricked. No lights apart from the power button, no beeps, and it keeps rebooting, with or without a disk.
I really don't know what to do. May I ask your help?
There is a command to restore factory settings/reflash the original firmware?
Once i bought and attached a serial ttl cable, how to proceed?

This cable http://www.amazon.it/CP2102-convertitore-seriale-uart-modulo/dp/B00AFRXKFU/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1384024907&sr=1-1-fkmr1&keywords=usb+ttl+3.3v is right?

Thanks in advance for any help.

[WarheadsSE]

That will work. Do not attach Vcc.

interrupt u-boot and "run to_stock"

[ziabice]

Thanks!

Just bought the cable, i'll let you know what happened...

[ziabice]

The serial-ttl arrived this morning, it was a little bit difficult to me to figure out how to set up the communication channel. After doing that everything went smooth as butter.
I have attached images of the PUTTY configuration for the serial connection over /dev/ttyUSB0 and the cabling scheme.

I don't know what went wrong in the previous installation, so I redid it (after issuing the "run to_stock" command as suggested). The system installed smoothly and I played with it a little bit.

Thank you for all the help!