TS212 ridiculously busy, can't even access SSH/Web GUI

[OMGWTF]

1. NAS model: TS-212
2. Firmware revision: current
3. Network Setup: single 100 MBps cable to Wi-Fi router
3. Two 2TB HDDs in RAID1

Yesterday I updated to the latest f/w.
I also copied about 10GB of new files to it (mostly PDF, ZIP, some vids)
I tried to transcode just one movie from RealMedia and system load jumped to 20-30. I later disabled transcode in the GUI and also deleted the job.

But even before that things didn't look good as I noticed that system load was between 10 and 15.
After I disabled transcode system remained busy (system load of 10-15).

I think it all started before the transcode thing, as soon as I attempted to use Media Station (similar to http://forum.qnap.com/viewtopic.php?f=2 ... 5&p=349034).
As I started feeling strange I was looking at top output while I was trying to access Media and Video station: I think ffpga got stuck trying to generate thumbnails from the many videos I had in one folder (they were there before, but I never used Video Station, so I guess those hadn't been generated until today).

Anyway, after I disabled transcode and system load remained high (10-15) and I could see ffmpeg processes (but each consuming just few % of CPU; I didn't understand how could those make so much I/O). Then I rebooted the box but it didn't get better. I was using Twonky DLNA and I couldn't even play MP3s over LAN.

In the past hour or two I've been pinging the NAS with "-t" and only one packet missed to arrive. But at the same time I can't load the Web GUI (proxy timeout!) and neither can I login via SSH (Putty just hangs in there, no error/timeout, but also no response of any kind).

Here's what I get when I access http://NAS:8080:

Code: Select all

Proxy Error
The proxy server received an invalid response from an upstream server.
The proxy server could not handle the request GET /.
Reason: Error reading from remote server
Apache Server at NAS Port 8080

Because there have been 3 changes in the past 24 hours (new f/w, more content (I have 50GB free and I checked the filesystem for errrors, none were found), and I used Media/Video/Twonky which I didn't do before), I can't tell what may be the reason, but if I had to bet I'd say it's video/media/Twonky). Since I can't access the system to see, I'll let it be until tomorrow to see whether it'll un-busy itself.

EDIT: I changed "CPU busy" to just "busy" as it may be either I/O (and the CPU may be waiting) or CPU, I'm not sure which one it is.

[pwilson]

1. NAS model: TS-212
2. Firmware revision: current
3. Network Setup: single 100 MBps cable to Wi-Fi router
3. Two 2TB HDDs in RAID1

Yesterday I updated to the latest f/w.

You don't seem to want any help really.

1. "Current" is absolutely useless information to share. Please provide Version + Build numbers!
2. 100MBps Cable? We don't care about the rating of the cable. We care about the speed of the ports. Are you connected at GbE, or 100MbE speed?
3. Which 2TB HDDs are you using?

Even attempting "Transcoding" on a TS-212 is a mistake, why would you even attempt this? It only has 256MB of RAM! Don't attempt to transcode on such limited hardware/RAM!

I'd try to help you, but as your NAS model is the only useful piece of information provided so far, I won't bother doing so until you provide more information.

[OMGWTF]

In holiday mood, aren't we?

1. "Current" may be useless, but that's all I know at this moment since I cannot login to the unit to check (as I explained in the original post).
http://www.qnap.com/v3/useng/product_x_ ... pe=2&II=22 lists two firmwares, 4.0.1 Build 0604 and 4.1.0 build 1219 (Beta). I don't remember if the GUI has a setting "Check for beta releases" or not. If it has and I checked it, I have the latter. If not, I have the former.
I could have added this speculative info to the original post and it still wouldn't have been more useful than "current", would it?
I clearly remember after it came back during the troubleshooting (while I could still access it) I went to the GUI and hit "Check for updates" and it told me the version I have is "current".
2. Can a 100 Mbps LAN cable be connected at 1Gbps speed?
Also, the WiFi AP has a built-in LAN switching hub (no LED, CLI or GUI to indicate speed of ports) so I can't verify what's the network speed right now.
The network info I provided is sufficient for troubleshooting: it shows that MP3 music should play just fine, but it isn't. That is to say, I am not connecting to the unit via WiFi from two blocks away.
3. I can't tell which 2TB HDDs I am using because I still (it's been 15 hours) cannot log in.
I suppose I could remove the plastic cover and look, but I'm not sure if I'm supposed to do that while the unit is operational.

Yeah, I figured enabling transcoding on the unit was a mistake. I wanted to see how good or bad it is while I was in the GUI and CLI at the same time because I thought I may want to use it for music (few MB per song) later. But as I said even before that the unit was under system load > 10. I can't recall about before, but I don't think I'd ever seen it over 4 or 5.
I'll reboot, fsck and hopefully be able to log in to provide more info shortly.

[OMGWTF]

I power cycled the unit and as soon as it came back I disabled all "stations" that were still enabled (File, Music, Surveillance, etc.) and all non-essential services in App Center. As I was completing this the GUI was getting slower and slower, but soon afterward system load average dropped from about 15 to 3 and lower.
1. Firmware 4.0.5.
2. The cable is connected at 100 Mbps
3. The disks are a pair of ST2000DL003-9VT1CC32.

I am now updating to 4.1.0 build 1219 (Beta) and will reboot shortly.

Code: Select all

Mem: 230964K used, 24644K free, 0K shrd, 10644K buff, 90072K cached
Load average: 6.79, 5.35, 3.29    (State: S=sleeping R=running, W=waiting)

  PID USER     STATUS   RSS  PPID %CPU %MEM COMMAND
14961 admin    R <      552 14960 56.7  0.2 gzip <====== firmware update going on
14960 admin    S <      776 13764  2.3  0.3 tar   <====== firmware update going on
 3141 admin    S       1564     1  1.7  0.6 qDmcd
 1760 admin    S       1104     1  0.7  0.4 daemon_mgr
11183 admin    R       1064 10995  0.7  0.4 top
15229 admin    Z          0     1  0.5  0.0 pic_raw
15233 admin    Z          0     1  0.3  0.0 pic_raw
 1988 admin    S       1416     1  0.1  0.5 hotswap

For what it's worth, there was something else which I'll include for the sake of completeness:
It seems a disk loosened or otherwise dropped out of RAID1. I had that happen before on this unit (without any visible impact and it'd take just a few hours to complete). Perhaps I should open the unit and reseat the disk.
After I rebooted, here's what I saw:

Code: Select all

md0 : active raid1 sda3[0] sdb3[1]
      1951945600 blocks [2/2] [UU]
      [>....................]  resync =  0.3% (7632640/1951945600) finish=23634.2min speed=1370K/sec

But, after I stopped unnecessary services as explained above:

Code: Select all

md0 : active raid1 sda3[0] sdb3[1]
      1951945600 blocks [2/2] [UU]
      [>....................]  resync =  3.3% (65994240/1951945600) finish=909.8min speed=34544K/sec

Despite the rebuilding the unit is responsive like in the good old days (in addition to this rebuilding I'm also playing MP3 off the unit and system load average is 1.65).
As far as I can tell it was one of those "station" things (Multimedia service perhaps). After the rebuilding is done I may re-enable them, but very gradually.

Cheers,
OMGWTF

P.S. I have a backup of data on this NAS in the cloud.

[mjhamilton]

I have a 212 and only have filestation and the latest twonky enabled - everything else if off or uninstalled

The 212 just doesn't have the guts to run much more without bogging down - transcoding will kill it - I assume you were trying to use the native qnap dlna service which in my opinion and from my experience is useless on this particular box for the above reasons

[OMGWTF]

I agree. I should have clarified in my last post - I play MP3s off a CIFS share. That's why the unit is not bogged down.

[pwilson]

In holiday mood, aren't we?

1. "Current" may be useless, but that's all I know at this moment since I cannot login to the unit to check (as I explained in the original post).
http://www.qnap.com/v3/useng/product_x_ ... pe=2&II=22 lists two firmwares, 4.0.1 Build 0604 and 4.1.0 build 1219 (Beta). I don't remember if the GUI has a setting "Check for beta releases" or not. If it has and I checked it, I have the latter. If not, I have the former.
I could have added this speculative info to the original post and it still wouldn't have been more useful than "current", would it?
I clearly remember after it came back during the troubleshooting (while I could still access it) I went to the GUI and hit "Check for updates" and it told me the version I have is "current".

Please consult: QNAP Turbo NAS User Manual v4.0 or QNAP Turbo NAS User Manual v4.1 as appropriate. (It wasn't a trick question).

The information for "current" varies depending on whether you are using the "Live Update" in the WebUI, or consulting the TS-212 Product Page. Live Update is usually wrong as to the term "current".

Couldn't you have figured out by looking at the "Downloads" area of your PC, to see which one you actually downloaded? (Again, it wasn't a trick question).

2. Can a 100 Mbps LAN cable be connected at 1Gbps speed?

Frequently the answer to this question is "Yes". Depends on the environment, and length of the cable.

Also, the WiFi AP has a built-in LAN switching hub (no LED, CLI or GUI to indicate speed of ports) so I can't verify what's the network speed right now.
The network info I provided is sufficient for troubleshooting: it shows that MP3 music should play just fine, but it isn't. That is to say, I am not connecting to the unit via WiFi from two blocks away.

Perhaps you'll purchase better equipment next time. Buying a unit with "status LEDs" shouldn't be a lot more expensive that a basic unit. (Not a trick question).

3. I can't tell which 2TB HDDs I am using because I still (it's been 15 hours) cannot log in.
I suppose I could remove the plastic cover and look, but I'm not sure if I'm supposed to do that while the unit is operational.

Perhaps use a screwdriver and actually "look". (Not a trick question either). No one asked you to do this while it was operational.

Yeah, I figured enabling transcoding on the unit was a mistake. I wanted to see how good or bad it is while I was in the GUI and CLI at the same time because I thought I may want to use it for music (few MB per song) later. But as I said even before that the unit was under system load > 10. I can't recall about before, but I don't think I'd ever seen it over 4 or 5.
I'll reboot, fsck and hopefully be able to log in to provide more info shortly.

I'm sorry my requests for information bothered you. The fact remains we can only provide limited assistance without basic information provided.

You can probably kill the performance destroying "mytranscodesvr" process by accessing your NAS via SSH, (login as "admin"), and executing the following command:

Code: Select all

kill -KILL `pidof mytranscodesvr`

This command will "kill" the process, which will hopefully permit you to access NAS Admin WebUI long enough to disable it again permanently within the WebUI going forward.

[schumaku]

2. Can a 100 Mbps LAN cable be connected at 1Gbps speed?

Wonder what this is ... talking standards, and not of the almost certain crap flat ribbon stuff, we have (to name a few) CAT5, CAT5E, or CAT6 cables. Already the CAT5 cable standard provides performance of up to 100 MHz and is suitable for 10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX (Fast Ethernet, FE), and 1000BASE-T (Gigabit Ethernet, GbE). Key requirement for Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) is the presence of four pairs, while FE and the original 10Base-T requires just two pairs - this would be a show stopper for GbE.

[Kheiron]

For months, I've been experiencing the same problem. The hostile response that you've received makes me hesitate to post.

When my TS-212 stops responding to me, the network activity light is constantly blinking (along with both drives). I can't login to the web interface or use any services. If I disconnect the network cable from the NAS device the hard drives immediately stop thrashing around. I'm not a Linux guru but it sure does look like this box has been hacked.

The only services that I run are Twonky & file manager, everything else is disabled including ssh & telnet. In the security settings I've limited access to my local subnet only. There are no connected devices in the network accessing the NAS when activity is high.

Where else do I look?

[pwilson]

3. The disks are a pair of ST2000DL003-9VT1CC32.

For what it's worth, there was something else which I'll include for the sake of completeness:
It seems a disk loosened or otherwise dropped out of RAID1. I had that happen before on this unit (without any visible impact and it'd take just a few hours to complete). Perhaps I should open the unit and reseat the disk.
After I rebooted, here's what I saw:

Code: Select all

md0 : active raid1 sda3[0] sdb3[1]
      1951945600 blocks [2/2] [UU]
      [>....................]  resync =  0.3% (7632640/1951945600) finish=23634.2min speed=1370K/sec

But, after I stopped unnecessary services as explained above:

Code: Select all

md0 : active raid1 sda3[0] sdb3[1]
      1951945600 blocks [2/2] [UU]
      [>....................]  resync =  3.3% (65994240/1951945600) finish=909.8min speed=34544K/sec

Dubious Drive choice, as evidenced above.

Did you check the TS-212 Incompatible Drive List prior to selecting those horrible drives?

Seagate - ST2000DL003 (9VT1CC32) Incompatible TS-212

• (WD Green & Seagate Green)
  These hard disk drives have passed QNAP lab's initial verification of compatibility. However, because many users have reported unstable experience with these hard disk drives, we do not recommend using these hard disk drives with QNAP products. WD10EADS-00P8B0 and WD15EADS-00P8B0 are not suggested because of slow performance and stability issues.

These drives have been "Not Recommended" for at least the last 4 years. How recently did you purchase them?

This is why it is so important to provide complete information when posting to the Forum.

[sabando]

i have the same problem with ts-212 with any version 4.x

one year with this problem!

i have 2 hdd wd red 4tb FULL COMPATIBILITY

[inkiboo]

I think I may stop buying qnaps if pwilson is allowed to continue to speak to people in such a rude way. Why on earth would qnap want to be associated with this chap?

[Toxic17]

i have the same problem with ts-212 with any version 4.x

one year with this problem!

i have 2 hdd wd red 4tb FULL COMPATIBILITY

FYI i just removed 2 other duplicates of your post, just in case you were wondering where they were. please do not click on the Submit button more than once when posting, all it does is create duplicate posts. Thanks.