First post to this forum, so please don't shoot me immediately...
I have been using a TS-453A since Nov 2017, and this morning... it appeared to be dead. It was turned of as I usually only use this machine to backup my stuff (A JBOD configuration). Trying to switch it on (for backing up some stuff) this morning, I noticed my WOL was not responsive. Checked all the wiring and cabling, tried again but no luck. Trying to power it directly also failed. So apparently something serious was going on... <bummer>
Half a day later, I decided that the machine might be completely lost, so I took it apart to inspect the inside and its components. On the motherboard, I now noticed something weird on the 'ITE"' chip. It seems like there is a little hole in that chip (overheated?). Other than that, there was nothing abnormal I could spot at first sight.
Questions:
1. Can someone tell me what this ITE chip does?
2. Is it possible that this chip is causing the system failing to boot?
3. Is this chip replacable, and is it worth the effort (I have no experience at all with this)?
4. I guess that the only alternative I have is to migrate it to another 4-bay compatible QNAP system (I know I could probably hook the four 4TB disks to a Linux system to retrieve/save all data from them, however I don't have a spare system with that much free space
)?5. Is there anything else which could be the culprit for not booting and which you may advice me to look at and test it out to see if this is not causing the problem?
Your wise help is much appreciated!
NS
[Edit: I added two pictures of the motherboard and the ITE chip on it.]
