TVS-673 almost dead and Replacement

[eliodeo]

Hi,

after several years of outstanding service, my TVS-673 has started giving problems. It boots correctly only after it has been off for hours, however soon after that first boot, if I try to reboot it the NAS hangs at the 'Booting...' stage with no further sign of life.
All of this happened after the last firmware update. I tried everything in my capabilities. I've also reflashed the DOM, but still the same behavior.

My configuration is 2 M2 SSD and 6 HHDs. The operating system is on the M2 SSDs, while the HDD have only data.

My questions for you guys are:

1) Is there anything I could try before giving up for good?
2) If I give up, what do you suggest as a replacement? I mihght take the opportunity to upgrade to an 8-bay model. I use the QNAP mainly as a PLEX media server. It is not connected directly to the TV, as I use a NVIDA Shield. Does this mean that I do not need the transcoding features? so potentially any model might be good? In particular I might consider the models I can mount in a rack.
3) Can I recover my data if I move to a newer model? also those using the new QTSHero?

Thx a lot
Elio

[Trexx]

If boot only works of off an hour then sounds like thermal related issue.

Do you get post where the led shows booting and it just hangs??

Make sure getting good airflow and watch Cpu and m.2 temps. Check m.2 lifespan readings as well

Make sure no dust bunnies in the case etc.


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[eliodeo]

Thx, but it starts hanging even if I reboot the NAS immediately after the system has fully started... I will try with new M2 SSD, even though I ran all the tests including identifying bad blocks and everything seems fine.

Sometimes it hangs at 'Booting', some others it reaches 'Loading Driver'. It's not a consistent behavior...

[Trexx]

Try pulling HDD’s out and even reverting to factory DIMMs if you have upgraded memory.

See if that makes any difference before doing m.2 swap. Also make sure have heat sinks on them if possible as that chassis tends to get warm on the CPU side.


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[eliodeo]

Hey Paul,

thank but I have already tried removing the HDDs and there is no upgraded memory. My challenge is now to understand if I can save my data. I've already ordered the new M2 SSD and potentially move to a newer and maybe better NAS model, but only as long as I can save my data. If not, I would say goodbye to my storage ambitions

Elio

[Trexx]

You have a new enough model NAS that you could transplant the HDD to newer model if you wanted to and they should be recognized.

I would try removing/reseating the DIMMs to see if that helps. If the SSD’s aren’t showing excessive wear via storage & snapshots, not sure that would cause the issue.

One thing I did see on some models with recent firmwares was boot issues related to having usb drives plugged in during boot (I had one that cause problem). If you have external USB drives try removing those to see if it helps.


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[eliodeo]

Tried the new M2SSD...well $250 directly in the trash... they are not the problem!
Tried reseating the memory banks and there is no external USB attached... I will now try using a USB stick as DOM to see if the problem is there... Next step is then buying a new NAS... Do you have any advise? I can definitively afford a better model now, but not sure if I do need it... Mainly using it for storage and as a Plex server, but do I need to buy a NAS certified for Plex? not sure if I need the hardware transcoding feature as I send my movies to the Nvidia Shield that can handle any resolution and codec.

Thx
Elio

[Trexx]

Well I can send you my shipping address to help recycle those SSD .

Sorry to hear that didn't fix the issue. I would try re-flashing the firmware in case you got a bad update.

As for NAS for Plex, while the Nvidia Shield will handle most things, there are still some things that can require transcoding... some subtitles, audio downsampling (7channel to 5), etc. Some of those use CPU, some can be offloaded to iGPU. https://support.plex.tv/articles/115002 ... streaming/.

If you are staying in QNAP and want GPU assist, you can look at something like the TS-x53D family for lower end iGPU will be good for Plex, but CPU will be slow for containers, VM's, etc. . The x72XT series is nice and have support for NVME m.2 SSDs (vs. SATA) plus you get iGPU as well. Nice box overall.

The x73A family is a nice in-between, but you give up GPU transcoding support but get better CPU than the x53D.

[dataMiner]

Hey Elio,
Any update?? I'm experiencing the exact same issues with my TVS-673 ever since upgrading firmware to the plagued 5.0.1.2xxx.

Started noticing the NAS would shutdown without warning a few months ago, suspiciously beginning around the time I made the update to 5.0.
Powering on will hang in boot only to die while nearly completing unparsing the ELF. Sometimes it gets to the initializing driver stage but then dies. But sometimes I'll get lucky after 15 or so boot attempts and it fully boots and runs like a champ for a day or two.... then dies again without warning.

All system checks and logs appear normal, as does disk health. I'm on a stable UPS that doesn't throw any errors and maintains clean power to the NAS at all times.

Did you find resolution to this issue?

[eliodeo]

Hey,
Nope! I had to buy a new NAS still a qnap

[dataMiner]

Hey,
Nope! I had to buy a new NAS still a qnap

Bummer, anything crazy have to happen to recover your data and/or use your same HDDs in the new unit?

What one did you go with?

[eliodeo]

I didn’t lose anything. The support told me that the operating system is actually in each hard disk, so as long as you don’t change them you will have everything back.


I went for a tvs-872xt

[dolbyman]

Migration compatibility is explained here
https://www.qnap.com/en/nas-migration

Always have external backups..otherwise dataloss is only a question of time