hansel Posted October 15, 2020 Share #1 Posted October 15, 2020 (edited) I revived my old N40L Microserver again. Put in the power cord and booted her up. Running well. It's running with the below version, June's loader. I'm not sure what version loader. I wanted to try and update the DSM with a more recent version but not sure where to go first. The microserver is stock. It does not contain a extra NIC. I think I have changed BIOS years ago. To add extra SATA port capabilities? Anyway, what are my options? There is a serious amount of family photographs on it. I got those backed up on a external drive but I rather not do a total reinstall. Can I update to new DSM 6.2.3? 6.2.1 needed an extra Intel NIC to function. At some point there was a seperate Broadcom driver available. Does 6.2.3 still need the extra Intel NIC or is it possible to work with the broadcom driver? Edited October 15, 2020 by hansel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bearcat Posted October 15, 2020 Share #2 Posted October 15, 2020 To use DSM 6.2.3.x you will need to prepare a USB stick, using Jun's 1.03b. For the time beeing, 6.2.3 is working with the original/internal nic on the G7 series of microservers. I just "gave new life" to a N36L yesterday, but that was a clean install. If you would like to play it safe, remove your current HDDs, install an empty drive, and do a testinstall. When you are happy with the results, boot the new USB with your old HDDs, and let it do an upgrade. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billat29 Posted October 15, 2020 Share #3 Posted October 15, 2020 Also: 1. Check that C1 / C1E is disabled in BIOS 2. If you previously upgraded from version 5.x DSM, check for the hidden directory /.xpenoboot and delete if present before running the upgrade. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bambou78000 Posted October 21, 2020 Share #4 Posted October 21, 2020 I have DSM 6.1.7-15284 Update 3 but could i update to 6.2.xxxx ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billat29 Posted October 21, 2020 Share #5 Posted October 21, 2020 You didn't specify your hardware but I guess that you also have N40L. Yes you can go to 6.2.3 as described. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hansel Posted October 29, 2020 Author Share #6 Posted October 29, 2020 (edited) I finally took the time to test it out. I removed all discs and added one empty HDD. Created a new flash drive with loader based on DS3617xs. Disabled the C1 / C1E option in BIOS. Rebooted again to find the DSM onm y LAN with the Syno Assistant desktop tool. It installed the newest PAT file perfectly. Next step is to upgrade the system with DSM disks added. Edited October 29, 2020 by hansel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hansel Posted October 29, 2020 Author Share #7 Posted October 29, 2020 Update 2 installed. No problem. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hansel Posted November 2, 2020 Author Share #8 Posted November 2, 2020 Ok, it's officially a mess. This is what I did. I swapped the dummy drive with the real data drives. With the same Flash drive in the system I booted my N40L again. After a minute I saw my DiskStation with status "Migration" or a like. Clicked the migration without loss of data in the web gui and selected the 6.2.3-25426 PAT file from my desktop. And go! Never saw my N40L again. I didn't see it in the Synology Assistant application. Then it occurred to me that I was changing DSM version, bootloader (1.02b to 1.03b) and machine model (3615xs to 3617xs) at the same time. A fresh install worked based on the 1.03b/3617xs but these data drives have history. Might this be the problem? Since then I have: - swapped the dummy drive back in and booted without issues. - placed the old 6.0.2 usb flash drive back in together with the data drives. No sight of the machine in Syno Assistant. - made a new flash drive based on 1.03b/DS3615xs without luck. What should/can I do now?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hansel Posted November 2, 2020 Author Share #9 Posted November 2, 2020 (edited) Ok, another reboot and swapping drives and I'm in the original setting again. June's 1.02/DS3615xs loader with DSM 6.0.2-25426. Status is now "Recoverable" Syno Assistant DSM web gui I've seen this before. When I try to recover, it suggests it will start recovering but this only last for 1-2 second before it reboots to tell me that the system is in recovery mode. Over and over again. Edited November 2, 2020 by hansel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billat29 Posted November 2, 2020 Share #10 Posted November 2, 2020 Did you not say that the last time it said "migrate"? In which case I would go ahead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hansel Posted November 2, 2020 Author Share #11 Posted November 2, 2020 @billat29 But that migration didn't go successful. It never showed up in Syno Assistant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billat29 Posted November 2, 2020 Share #12 Posted November 2, 2020 If you haven't had the recover option before just the migration option, I would attempt recovery. I would not expect it to try to install a version of DSM at this point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hansel Posted November 2, 2020 Author Share #13 Posted November 2, 2020 But recovery doesn't do anything. It just reboots over and over again saying, in the end, it needs recovery. It doesn't recover at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billat29 Posted November 2, 2020 Share #14 Posted November 2, 2020 OK. Got that. Boot / recovery loop says to me "wrong loader". But at this point, I can't see whats wrong. I'll have to have a think about it. I'll be happy if one of the gurus stops by in the meantime 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyride Posted November 2, 2020 Share #15 Posted November 2, 2020 Did you remember change your boot mode to Legacy/CSM when you upgraded to 1.03b? That is the common error. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hansel Posted November 2, 2020 Author Share #16 Posted November 2, 2020 @flyride No, I didn't think about that! I haven't been active on this forum for quite some time. Must have missed that. I've looked in the BIOS settings like crazy. There isn't anything to be found concerning boot legacy/UEFI settings. Are you sure this is available for the HP Microserver N40L? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billat29 Posted November 2, 2020 Share #17 Posted November 2, 2020 HP Gen7 is legacy boot only 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IG-88 Posted November 2, 2020 Share #18 Posted November 2, 2020 (edited) 2 hours ago, hansel said: No, I didn't think about that! I haven't been active on this forum for quite some time. Must have missed that. I've looked in the BIOS settings like crazy. There isn't anything to be found concerning boot legacy/UEFI settings. Are you sure this is available for the HP Microserver N40L? if the loader 1.03b came up with the single test disk its not a problem with csm, tho loader would not boot in this case this older unit might take while when updating 1/2h is not unusual from what i've seen here one thing with the recorey is odd, loader 1.02b is dsm 6.1 not 6.0 edit: 5 hours ago, hansel said: June's 1.02/DS3615xs loader with DSM 6.0.2-25426. Status is now "Recoverable" that can't be right, the version 25426 is dsm 6.2.3 imho atm there are two "simple" options 1. use the 1.03b again and make a migration, wait at least 1h and then hard reboot if needed the system may come up than as 6.2.3 (doing a migration to a new dsm vesion and change 3615->3617 should not be a problem) 2. you can try to boot up with the 1.03b and your single disk (1st sata port of thesystem) and then reconnect the other drives, it should then recognise the other disks with its raid (data volume) and should also offer to "repair" the system (as the system on the boot drive is not the same as the other disks so the other faulty disks will get the dsm system from the boot disks - that way you loose the config (ip, users, shares) of you old system you need enough sata ports to cover all old disks and the new single disk the procedure pretty much the same as for the downgrade in the tutorial here https://xpenology.com/forum/topic/12778-tutorial-how-to-downgrade-from-62-to-61-recovering-a-bricked-system/ its not the and now, your data should still be thee - but do you have a backup of your data volume? Edited November 2, 2020 by IG-88 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billat29 Posted November 2, 2020 Share #19 Posted November 2, 2020 Thanks @IG-88. I have been looking for that tutorial for use here and failing miserably. I am glad you were confused about the 1.02b loader too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hansel Posted November 2, 2020 Author Share #20 Posted November 2, 2020 Thank you @IG-88. You're right. I made an error on the DSM versions there. Screenshot tells the true story. My text is faulty. Should be DSM 6.0.2-8451. I also found that I wasn't originally using the V1.02b loader but the V1.01. That one matches with 6.0.2-8451. Sorry 'bout that. So much versions going on.... Anyway. I will have more patience and once more create a usb flash drive with V1.03b / 6.2.3-25426 / DS3617xs and do a migration. I will report back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IG-88 Posted November 2, 2020 Share #21 Posted November 2, 2020 there might be another underlying problem if you had dsm 5.x before 6.0 if the directoy ./xpenology is persent (in root folder) the webgui is not working (afair the smb/cifs does), crashes after a short time you would need to use ssh to login right after boot and delete that directory Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hansel Posted November 2, 2020 Author Share #22 Posted November 2, 2020 But won't I need the webgui in order to enable ssh if my config is lost? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IG-88 Posted November 2, 2020 Share #23 Posted November 2, 2020 (edited) 10 minutes ago, hansel said: But won't I need the webgui in order to enable ssh if my config is lost? that only applies to 1. where you use you old system, when doing 2.0 it will be a fresh 6.2.3 installation and that can't have the problem if you try 1. then you can check for your old ip address after you rebooted the system (look for the hdd led's as long as its blinking madly it might be still booting, try to ping after it got quieter) i guess you had ssh enabled on you old installtion the default after a fresh installation is telnet and ssh disabled edit: btw do you know what a 0-modem cable is and might have one the linux local console is on the serial port, you can even login there if you have access that way and make changes to the system if you system has iLO you might even be able to have that over the virtual comport you migh also see usefull information about the boot process Edited November 2, 2020 by IG-88 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billat29 Posted November 2, 2020 Share #24 Posted November 2, 2020 (edited) I suggest doing 1. and writing down all the steps and recording what happens - or doesn't happen. As @IG-88 says, if it gets stuck in the middle of the installation, then leave it for a while. I also now remember one of my steps to upgrade to 6.2 required a couple of hard boots and a wait to make sure the disk light had stopped. If it all stops, post what you did and what messages you did (or didn't) get. Edited November 2, 2020 by billat29 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hansel Posted November 3, 2020 Author Share #25 Posted November 3, 2020 (edited) I've taken the number 1 approach. Quote 1. use the 1.03b again and make a migration, wait at least 1h and then hard reboot if needed the system may come up than as 6.2.3 (doing a migration to a new dsm vesion and change 3615->3617 should not be a problem) After a new installation with loader 1.03b/DS3617xs on a test disc, I swapped the test disc with the real data drives (3x1GB, SHR by the way). After the system booted, I got the Migrate button. Clicked it and it didn't take too long for the migration process to run. 5-10 minutes or so. See screenshots below. Two automatic reboots later and I got the login screen. I saw the DiskStation in the Syno Assistant app also. Now I can login with my old account name but the system is not stable. When opening Control Panel I random get the message: and the Control Panel closes. Sometimes followed by a not available webgui. Or, when webgui keeps working, I open DSM Update I get no connection: Going to the network setting, there is no machine name (whilst it was broadcasted in the Syno Assistant earlier) and gateway: The Resource Monitor is funky at 0% CPU/RAM but halfway the scale: I wanted to check if my files are still there but there is no File Station app. When I go to package center I see it is installed. There are no icons loaded in the package center. Weird things happen. 😟 Any ideas? What if I choose "Reinstallation" instead of "Migration" at the Migration - Installation Type screen? I don't care too much about the user accounts and shares. My setup is not that complicated. I would be fine with resetting this. Reinstallation keeps your data right? Is that something I might give a try before trying @IG-88's second option? Second option is an option because I have one sata bay available. Edited November 3, 2020 by hansel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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