DS1511+ running Xpenology

[FlorisVN]

Hi All,


Currently I have got Xpenology and other operating systems running on my spare DS1511+ Synology diskstation.
It seems that other diskstations like the DS1010+ , DS710+ and some others also have a fully working VGA port which let's you acces the bios and use it as a normal pc.

I have carefully made an back-up of the flash drive module (which contains the grub bootloader) , which is inside the diskstation, and mounted directly on a internal USB header on the motherboard.
See picture for more info about the Flash module.

I want to experiment further with Xpenology, (which run's fine btw) 
 

I made an back-up with acronis (sector by sector), aswell as with CloneZilla before messing with the system.
Right now I have also disconneted and removed the Synology Flash drive module, and tried running it on my own usb flash key.
When restoring the back-up to my own usb flash drive, so far so good.
The diskstation starts up, and can be seen with the synology assistant, but unfortiontly when installing DSM I always get error (13), saying that the files are corrupted.
When searcher online, I can accros that it might be the VID / PID valeus that are different and need to be changed in the grub boot loader.

 

 

Please see following example of my current GRUB config file, I have added my own USB flash drive VID and PID Valeus to id.

title SYNOLOGY_1
root (hd0,0)
hw_model
kernel /zImage root=/dev/md0 ihd_num=0 netif_num=1 syno_hw_version=DS1511+ vid=0x0930 pid=0x6544 l
initrd /rd.gz


title SYNOLOGY_2
root (hd0,1)
cksum /grub_cksum.syno
vender /vender show
hw_model
kernel /zImage root=/dev/md0 ihd_num=0 netif_num=1 syno_hw_version=DS1511+ vid=0x0930 pid=0x6544 l
initrd /rd.gz

 

 

 

How many of you are expermineting with this ?

 

Thanks in advance for your time and support,

 

With kind regards,
Floris from the Netherlands
 

[HellG]

Hi Floris,

I have an DS710+ which is running on DSM 6.0. For this I made a special update file from a DS712+ which I described here: https://forum.synology.com/enu/viewtopic.php?f=128&t=79640&start=225#p426748 . This worked quite well, but the newer DSM versions use different checking methods and the update to any higher version using this method fails. Now I think it should be possible to run a higher version using the Xpenology approach of a custom bootloader. You say that you install and run it on your system by using the build-in flash module but it fails if you install the system when use another USB stick? I would just like to run a more recent DSM and would like to try the Xpenology bootloader. If this means that I have to install it on the internal flash drive I am fine with that but it would be much easier to switch back to my working system if I could test it with another USB stick and a spare harddisk first. Any further information of how to follow the instructions would be helpful. Thank you.

 

Best regard,

HellG

 

[FlorisVN]

8 hours ago, HellG said:

Hi Floris,

I have an DS710+ which is running on DSM 6.0. For this I made a special update file from a DS712+ which I described here: https://forum.synology.com/enu/viewtopic.php?f=128&t=79640&start=225#p426748 . This worked quite well, but the newer DSM versions use different checking methods and the update to any higher version using this method fails. Now I think it should be possible to run a higher version using the Xpenology approach of a custom bootloader. You say that you install and run it on your system by using the build-in flash module but it fails if you install the system when use another USB stick? I would just like to run a more recent DSM and would like to try the Xpenology bootloader. If this means that I have to install it on the internal flash drive I am fine with that but it would be much easier to switch back to my working system if I could test it with another USB stick and a spare harddisk first. Any further information of how to follow the instructions would be helpful. Thank you.

 

Best regard,

HellG

 

Hi HellG,

Xpenology should run fine on your DS710+ , which gives a lot more life to your diskstation !
I really recommend making a back-up of your original Synology USB flash module, and taking it out of the diskstation.
This way you can never damage it, so the diskstation will be bricked, keep in mind some users on the web repported that they have accidentally erased or damaged their original flash module.
If it's damaged (formated or ereased) your diskstation can't never boot again into the original firmware..

So making a good back-up, and putting the flash module out of the motherboard, and put it safe away is reccommended !

I have made a sector by sector back-up of the original flash module..
 

 

As far as booting, your diskstation has a VGA port, which gives you the option to boot and see the bios screen, and select the a Xpenology usb stick for example too boot from.
You can also hook-up a usb keyboard, should be no problem..

I'm also pretty sure you can just migrage your disks to Xpenology, should't be a problem..
Make a back-up of course, and configuration back-up before you start is reccomended..

Please let us know if Xpenology also works on your DS710+

And feel free to ask questions...

[FlorisVN]

p.s

Another way of a more clean approach of running newer DSM versions on your DS710+ would be to clone a DS712+ or DS713+ flash module to a USB Stick, with the correct VID/PID values.
This way you are not running Xpenology, but original firmware on a higher model number...
You can try this of course, but it can be very hard I guess to find back-ups of the DS712+ or DS713+ flash module..
 

I'm currently in the progress of testing this with my DS1511+
One of these these IG-88 has send me over a modded flash drive, which has the same PID/VID as the original Synology flash module...

[HellG]

Hi Floris,

I think the USB flash is also updated during the update so it should be possible to extract the kernel and initial ramdisk and boot from these. Maybe I will try this with a usb stick.

[FlorisVN]

@HellG ,

Its only possible to succesfully boot your clone with a USB flash drive with the Synology PID/VID valeus on it.
You need to modify your usb drive, in order to make this possible.

But I always reccomend making a back-up of your original USB flash module, and putting it a side, so no harm can be done and bricking becomes impossible.

 

But indeed extracting the kernel and initial ramdisk could, be worth trying !
I have another DS1512+ and want to try the it on my DS1511+..
 

How is your testing going so far.. ?

I'm pretty sure Xpenology bootloader will btw run just fine btw on your DS710+
Since it works fine on my DS1511+

Best regards,
Floris

 

[rajbps]

On 4/10/2018 at 3:51 PM, FlorisVN said:

@HellG ,

Its only possible to succesfully boot your clone with a USB flash drive with the Synology PID/VID valeus on it.
You need to modify your usb drive, in order to make this possible.

But I always reccomend making a back-up of your original USB flash module, and putting it a side, so no harm can be done and bricking becomes impossible.

 

But indeed extracting the kernel and initial ramdisk could, be worth trying !
I have another DS1512+ and want to try the it on my DS1511+..
 

How is your testing going so far.. ?

I'm pretty sure Xpenology bootloader will btw run just fine btw on your DS710+
Since it works fine on my DS1511+

Best regards,
Floris

 

Hiya,

 

I am new and have a rs10613. Its not allowing me to install dsm on. I think the sn value has been erased from the internal usb flash. Before trying anything, could someone tell me how to connect it to a pc to create a close please. I have acronis but can`t find anything as a physical port to attach the usb flash card.

 

Please advise,

 

Rajbps

[sbv3000]

9 hours ago, rajbps said:

Hiya,

 

I am new and have a rs10613. Its not allowing me to install dsm on. I think the sn value has been erased from the internal usb flash. Before trying anything, could someone tell me how to connect it to a pc to create a close please. I have acronis but can`t find anything as a physical port to attach the usb flash card.

 

Please advise,

 

Rajbps

what does the synology assistant say when you search for the unit on your lan? if you can see serial and mac then it should be ok. Looks like the unit has vga and com ports on the rear next to the usb, you should try a monitor on the vga. also have you contacted synology to see if they could supply a replacement dom (assuming it can be replaced?)

[rajbps]

hiya, I can see the mac but not the serial. I wonder why the serial does not show up. I have tried the vga but no output :-(. Also got in touch with sysno to get a dom does not look like they would.

[rajbps]

I been able to connect the dom as a usb drive on a pc and did a sector by sector backup. Is there a way to rebuild that dom please?

[FlorisVN]

1 hour ago, rajbps said:

I been able to connect the dom as a usb drive on a pc and did a sector by sector backup. Is there a way to rebuild that dom please?

ì think the answer could be here in this russian topic.
I tried it in the past for my DS1511+ backup to share with another user here, but never got it too work..

Perhaps you can try it, and share your results here.. ? 
 

 

[FlorisVN]

p.s

For me it was easy to create a acronis backup image, I have a spare DS1511+ laying arround atm, and can put in a Synology usb flash drive, use a keyboard mouse and monitor..

But these cards are using a regular kind of mini usb plug, there are adapters for this I found in the past.
you should google it, there are other solutions for this..

Edited October 22, 2019 by FlorisVN

[sbv3000]

5 hours ago, rajbps said:

I been able to connect the dom as a usb drive on a pc and did a sector by sector backup. Is there a way to rebuild that dom please?

As you are trying to 'restore' a geniune synology unit, have you looked at their forums?  There may be advice there. I dont speak Russian but looking at the thread there are links to a 1511 boot loader and how to edit the mac/serial (it looks to be the same process as for creating an xpe boot loader - of course  If you could find the loader for the RS you might be able to 'reflash' the module. Also, if you have connected the DOM to a PC, have you looked at editing it using ofsmount and the hex editor and re-add the serial (which should be on a label on the unit)

[rajbps]

Hiya unfortunately synology has a close grip on that and dont even want to sell me a dom. You guys here are my only support. I have a RS3412xs Would I be able to use the flash from there to make a loader for this one I wonder. Could anyone advise.

 

Thanks again though for all the support

[rajbps]

Synology sees the rackstation on but with a different mac all together unsure from where its getting that from. After modifing the vender file, I am now getting a different msg on the screen. Before it was system booting please wait, not it recognises that the is no dsm on the drives and asks to install it via gui or syno assistant but the value  for sn is still blank. and now when I try to load dsm on the drivers, I get error 15 from syno assistant.

[IG-88]

if it does not work that way why not removing the usb module and use a xpenology loader for ds3615xs or ds3617xs image?

[flewis]

On 10/22/2019 at 8:52 PM, FlorisVN said:

ì think the answer could be here in this russian topic.
I tried it in the past for my DS1511+ backup to share with another user here, but never got it too work..

Perhaps you can try it, and share your results here.. ? 
 

 

Hi FlorisVN,

Did you ever have any luck with changing grub.conf from the Russian link to restore your DS1511+? I have the same issue and cannot reconfigure grub.conf to a point that it will pass 57% on DSM install, and it always hangs on Error Code 13. Thanks, Lewis

[knyghtryda]

Has anyone tried to install a ds1512+ firmware onto a ds1511+ by this method?  I'm looking to add SSD caching to my ds1511+ and it looks like ds1512+ is the first version of the device that supports it...

[FlorisVN]

On 12/27/2019 at 10:23 PM, knyghtryda said:

Has anyone tried to install a ds1512+ firmware onto a ds1511+ by this method?  I'm looking to add SSD caching to my ds1511+ and it looks like ds1512+ is the first version of the device that supports it...

Funny you ask, I have also tried this with my DS1512+ and DS1511+.
It did not worked OOB, since it looked to me like the DS1512+ is running a UEFI bios, and the bootloader used on the 1512+ is UEFI only I think, while the 1511+ and 1010+ are all legacy bios based.

Perhaps with modding the 1512+ bootloader somehow, this could perhaps be made possible..

 

[IG-88]

3 hours ago, FlorisVN said:

Perhaps with modding the 1512+ bootloader somehow, this could perhaps be made possible..

 

afair from jun's inforamtion about hacking dsm, the protection checks about the presence of pci devices to check, so even if you get it starting somehow you might fail to get it running as of differences in hardware between 1511+/1512+

 

[FlorisVN]

On 12/31/2019 at 3:36 PM, IG-88 said:

 

afair from jun's inforamtion about hacking dsm, the protection checks about the presence of pci devices to check, so even if you get it starting somehow you might fail to get it running as of differences in hardware between 1511+/1512+

 

Ok i see, thx for this info !

I suppose a 1511+ bootloader will also not work then on a 1010+ Unit ??
Or perhaps this might work, since they are very similar hardware wise.. 

[IG-88]

as i have no reliable information what exactly is checked, i can't make a guess

why not use jun's 1.03b for ds3615 loader?

[FlorisVN]

On 1/1/2020 at 4:20 PM, IG-88 said:

as i have no reliable information what exactly is checked, i can't make a guess

why not use jun's 1.03b for ds3615 loader?

this would be an alternative indeed, but only the Synology DX510 and DX513 expension units are not supported by the DS3615 loader.
at least I have tested it, and does not work :S..

So for that reason it's not an option for me :S

[IG-88]

the systems all share a installation base and a lot of things are switched on or off by software

3615/17 are sas aware systems, when switching this off and comparing with synoinfo.conf of units supporting DX51x then it might be possible

i'd suggest inspection the boot process in that direction

rd.gz contains "linuxrc.syno" you might start from there and see how different units are handled by variables that are set or not set, like "SupportSAS"

there must be a way how "chaper" units (only using ahci) handle sata multiplex with the DX51x units, i guess multiplexing is active but limited to units on the esata port giving the right answer (like DX51x units)

 

[chineyman86]

Sorry to revive an old topic but my DS1511+ got wrecked by a power surge. Replaced the power supply but still getting blinking blue light. Looks like my boot module is completely dead which brings me to the Xpenology project.

 

I successfully loaded Jun's 1.03b loader (3615xs) and I can get to my data on the existing drives no problem, however there are a few quirks.

 

The power light on the DS1511+ still blinks, Lan1 and Lan2 in DSM doesn't correlate to the port that the ethernet cable is plugged into, no drive bay activity lights, no onboard speaker. For those who've loaded Xpenology on Synology hardware, have you had success with these items? Could someone point me in the right direction to get my unit to resemble the stock Synology system? Thanks!