sbv3000

you should be able to login to the console as 'root' and 'your admin pw' to check the files and or if you have telnet enabled use winscp to check directories, assuming the box has an ip address (pingable?) if you have a spare hdd then disconnect your raid, boot with that connected and install dsm with same station name/admin pw but no volume, on reboot check for same errors (dodgy usb, try a new one?) but if the clean dsm works ok then leave that hdd attached to channel 1, reconnect other drives and boot, the 'good' system partition on channel 1 should repair the array disks you can then disconnect spare hdd etc. maybe look at updating to 6.1/6.2 as well

If by 'backup' you mean you just want a NAS to act as an rsync or hyper backup target, the I'd go for the lowest power compatible setup. Looking at your parts list some of the mobos seem to be embedded cpu, that might be a start, but maybe do a hardware test with your chosen DSM version, for nic and sata controllers working, then go from there

Seeing as it shuts down with 2 ssd, maybe there is some weird issue where the temp sensor is combining the values both drives are reporting and if SSD1 temp + SSD2 temp > trigger point then shutdown? No idea where that value might be in XPE/DSM but maybe worth investigating. also, have you thought about some monitoring via an SNMP app (eg Paessler PRTG), you can get a lot of drive/device stats through the syno built in mibs and standard device mibs with that app, might give you some extra data to help diagnose.

There are several threads on downgrading from a failed upgrade, can be done by editing various config files and migrating, or (my favourite method and easier imho) is to build a clean XPE/DSM install on a spare hdd and allow that drive to 'repair' the system, here is one thread with the process

Try booting with just the 3 raid drives and see what happens, if ok check volumes and system partitions are ok in storage manager. If the system is stable, then power off and reconnect the additional drive. Also, check the sata channel the additional drive is on and make sure it is not the lowest/first sata port.

Have you tested with the controller in non-raid/jbod/IT mode etc and using the Syno softraid? You might be adding an overhead by using hardware raid and software raid. You could also try disabling the controller cache.

Have you tried a linux install of say Mint or Ubuntu VMs to see how that o/s behaves? If its the same then might point to a DSM/VMM graphics issue. Looking at the spec of your system, I'd have thought you would make better use of the setup with ESXi and VMs of DSM, W10 etc.

I would check the resources being used by the nics (irqs etc) and see if they are also shared with other devices like the usb3, serial ports etc, then disable the other devices. also I'd try a grub setting where the set mac is 'blank' for the four nics. maybe also disconnect the 'working' ports cables and use a packet sniffer to see if you are getting dhcp requests on the others

It's probably a licence verification issue with xpe/DSM, serial no and MAC address and the syno servers, I suspect the network timeout is the syno servers rejecting the authentication but not sending a 'friendly' message (why should it)

True, but hikvision provide software to convert 'their' format to avi or standard MP4. Also, vlc plays hikvision files downloaded from a nvr or direct from a NAS hard drive. I have a setup with xpe/DSM NAS, ip cams/nvr with smb write record files to the NAS. Accessing the share you can download a record file (250mb chunks) and play/edit etc. The hik ivms app can manage this.

Have a read of this thread about the maximum physical drives (versus a background config change), I dont think there is a more recent update and this has been cracked

any of the 'cheap' 4 port controllers from syba (based on marvell chipset) work ok without extra drivers. I'm using one in a 6 hdd system j3455 (2 on board + 4 syba) as my production box, work fine and stable with 6.1 and 6.2

The best answer is 'No' because using real syno serial and mac is a misuse of their servers and T&Cs and its not recommended by the community (see the faq). I've also seen threads where people HAVE used real S/N & MAC on their XPE boxes but Surveillance licences wont install anyway, perhaps there are other 'checks' that these licences make for real hardware? Looking at the price of surveillance licences, £200 for 4 add on seems really expensive to me, I would just get one of these https://www.hikvision.com/en/Products/HiLook/Network-Video-Recorder/1-HDD/NVR-104H-D--NVR-108H-D plus a hard drive, connect your IP cameras and done

I'd have thought that the performance of a real syno box and an xpe build of the same spec should be pretty similar, but that aside, I don't think its a fair comparison. I think people who buy a real syno box are doing so because they want a 'simple' integrated NAS solution, hardware and warranty support and a good feature set. Not everyone has the skills to setup an XPE/DSM system especially when they run in to compatibility problems. I run real syno, XPE/DSM, xigmanas and openmedia vault systems. Xigmanas is the probably the 'fastest', but most complicated to setup, OMV next, XPE/DSM next. Like you I prefer the DSM interface and features so 'put up' with the reduced performance from what I know I could probably have. I'm just grateful for the Devs that have made XPE/DSM a possibility, if that comes to an end then then its another solution - something not faced with a real syno box.

you dont say what you use the system for so there could be options for a 'lower spec' onboard cpu mobo (j3455 or j5005 for example) and with a lower power psu you might save a few watts. I have a j3455 running 6.1.x with two toshiba drives and using a pico psu and a 60watt 12 power supply and it works ok, I've not measured the wattage consumption but I think its 'low'

If I recall correctly, surveillance station needs additional licences for more than 2 cameras, that are checked against a valid Syno serial number, if you are running XPE/DSM then you may have issues. Personally I've never had 'success' using surveillance station, on real Syno boxes, always get issues with video similar to you, I don't think the hardware and package can cope. You dont mention your cctv spec or what you want to achieve, but maybe look at zoneminder or ispyconnect as dedicated 'NVR' self build systems, both of these can be configured with a lot of options. Or maybe just get a good spec NVR, say hikvision, let that do the dedicated hard work, and just access via client software on lan or wan.

If you have a spare HDD and enough sata channels, try creating a clean install of XPE/DSM on the spare HDD connected to sata port 1 (disconnect your other raid drives first), setup an admin account/password matching your 'name account', and update DSM to the version/update pack on your live system. Once thats done, power off, reconnect the raid drives to sata 2-n, then boot. You might get warnings about degraded system partitions, repair, **power off, disconnect spare HDD, moves drives to correct ports then boot. I've found that 'forcing' a system partition repair using a clean install can fix and number of issues, never tried for this issue, but you never know. Also, before ** step, maybe check account/permissions on services and access options and also add a 'backup' admin level clean new account?

It looks like the mobo has 6 onboard sata iii so you may not need the extra controller with only 4 drives also SHR is 'legacy' in DSM6, there is a more traditional 'disk group/raid group/volume' setup, but you can re-enable it by editing the config (check the FAQs) otherwise the spec should work ok I think I would do a clean install of XPE/DSM6 on the new kit with the 4 new drives then once tested copy data across from the old NAS via File Station and a mounted folder.

What are the MAC address settings in your grub file? Is it set to the same as the MAC of the NIC or a 'fake' one? Is it blank? There might be an issue with DHCP renewal, as you say the box drops connection every couple of days, maybe look at the lease time if it is about the same. I would try setting MAC to blank in grub and setting a DHCP reservation in the router (not static in DSM), see what happens, then also try setting MAC to match the NIC and test. You could also try a static address in DSM, but make it outside of the router dhcp scope.

use the 1.02b loader for 3615xs, that should work with dsm 6.1.x. I think there are several threads indicating that the i219 nic isn't working correctly in 6.2 boots. I have a aliexpress NAS mobo with dual 219s installed and in my testing it didn't work with 6.2 loaders so I'm sticking with 6.1. That version of DSM is getting all updates and patches so imho is as good as 6.2.

While you are testing, I would also disable the IDE, audio and 1394 devices in bios

Check the tutorial for setting up an xpe boot drive. you can edit the s/n in the grub file as you would the vid/pid. you should be able to edit the grub file on the existing boot drive and on the next reboot it will load with the new s/n. I've run a few xpe boxes on at the same time with the same s/n and never has a problem. however note that I always use 'made up' s/n's that bear no relation to a real syno one (except the string format) as I dont use any features that need a real s/n.

screen will stop updating is normal behaviour, you dont see the drivers loading as in v5 boot loaders. can you find the nas on your lan? if yes then you can move on to install dsm if not you might need to diagnose more, perhaps with a serial port connection, you can see the full boot load activity then

There are a lot of threads where people have edited their synoinfo file to match the drive layout/internal/external. It will be trial and error for you depending on your hardware/controller setup. I think I would do some tests by setting internal to say 16 drives (0xffff) and the usb and sata to none (0x0000), then play with the binary/hex conversion until you get a match. Obviously do all tests with a spare hdd. For example if you set to 16 internal and your esata appears as say drive 15, adjust internal to 0x02fff esata to 0x10000 (if my conversion is right)

Have a look at the synoinfo.conf file for the esataportcfg/usbportcfg/internalportcfg settings and you might need to edit them to match your drive/controller configuration so that the e-sata is seen as an external port. If set 'correctly' it might make DSM automatically mount a drive when plugged in