don389

7zip is able to open rd.gz without issue. Compression method indicated is LZMA:25 if that helps.

I am able to add sn= to grub and it shows in Synology assistant. Using SA 4.3-4359 My grub modification

My issue was Synology Assistant wouldn't let me install the pat file due to connection errors. No install = no known login from the console, ssh not enabled, etc. This precludes the suggestions above. However, since I had a console, I press 'e' at the GRUB boot screen. Delete hw and vender lines and add mac1=ffffffffffff to the kernel line. Boot and now I can install the pat and try some of the suggestions above.

I'll make the same assumptions as the OP. You have a working NAS with an optical drive and a console. 1. Boot a live CD with gparted. I used the live CD iso from gparted. 2. Copy the boot partition (16Mb) from your current boot device to unallocated space on your first hard disk and flag as bootable. Note the partition. In my case it was /dev/sda4 If yours is different, adjust the next steps accordingly. 3. Remove the live CD and boot from your current boot device. 4. At the GRUB boot screen, press 'c' and enter the following: grub> root (hd0,3) grub> setup (hd0) grub> {Esc} 5. Resume booting from your current boot device. 6. Login as root. With DSM5 beta I can do this at the console. With 4.3 I use PuTTY. 7. Type fdisk -l to verify your new boot partition. 8. Mount the partition and edit grub.conf as follows: DiskStation> mount /dev/sda4 /mnt DiskStation> vi /mnt/boot/grub/grub.conf change 'root (hd0,0)' to 'root hd(0,3)' 9. Poweroff, remove your current boot device, and boot from the hard disk.

It seems one of the biggest headaches when installing Xpenology is centered around matching the MAC address(es) in the vender file (or GRUB kernel line) to your installed NIC(s). If the addresses don't match, Synology Assistant can't make a connection and the installation aborts. But what if you don't know your NIC's MAC address? Fortunately, there is a simple workaround. Set the MAC address in the vender file (or grub.conf) to ffffffffffff, When the install boots, networking will use the MAC address of the installed NIC and the installation completes without complaining. @Trantor: Thanks for all your efforts! If the MACs in the vender file you provide were set in this manner it would save a lot of headaches and questions.