[HowTo] Replace broken DOM module with a simple USB stick

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buggy82
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[HowTo] Replace broken DOM module with a simple USB stick

Post by buggy82 »

! Only do this if your device is out of warranty !
! Only do this if your DOM is definately broken/dead and not just filled with corrupt data !

Else follow this official guide from QNAP: https://wiki.qnap.com/wiki/Firmware_Recovery

Although I consider the risk of this method pretty low, I cannot assume any responsibility whatsoever for anything you do to your devices!

Hi,

My DOM module has recently completely given up during a firmware update and left my NAS (TS-651) in a state that it did not boot anymore whatsoever and was not recognized in BIOS as a device (Precondition for this guide!!). Yes, I did try to boot with and without HDDs installed - made no difference (obviously).

Complete history in my other post: [HowTo] QNAP BIOS recovery of completely dead mainboard [SPI flash method] [x51, x53].

Here is what I did to get it back on running using only spare parts, that I had lying around:
  • USB storage stick with at least the size of your DOM Module (see your NAS documentation).
    The TS-651 DOM size is 512MB so I took an old 1 GB USB stick from the junk drawer
  • A standard USB adapter with mainboard connector (4-pin or 8+1-pin) and USB-A standard socket(s)
    Something like those:
    https://i.stack.imgur.com/lJU49.jpg
    https://i.stack.imgur.com/Oflyv.jpg (resolution too high to be embedded here)
The hardware part is pretty easy:

I took a USB connector from by backup PC, which is similar to the one on the first picture. It also had some firewire exits on it, so i unscrewed the metal cover from it and cut away the firewire connector.
  • Carefully remove the DOM module from your NAS mainboard. You may need to dismount the mainboard for this if the module can not be reached.
  • The DOMs mainboard connector is a standard USB mainboard connector (called DOM_USB). The TS-651 board (QW37) has an 8+1-pin connector, while only 4 pins are actually in use with a DOM module. Therefore, if you have a two-port connector like in the first picture with a 8+1-pin mainboard connector, only one of its sockets will work, but that´s perfectly fine for our purposes.
    Example of a USB standard mainboard header connector:
    Image
  • Connect your adapter.
    The 8+1-pin connectors are non-confusable.
    With the 4-pin connector you need to try which of the two lines of the board connector is the live one. I did not investigate this. Remember: Voltage (VCC, red cable) is left, Ground (GND, black cable) is right.

Hardware is done, now lets prepare your USB stick.

First you copy QNAPs basic DOM image on the stick:

1. Download the one for your QNAP model. They are linked in the QNAP Wiki within the firmware recovery article. Just search for your model number on that page to find the DOM image for your device. You can ignore the rest of it, since in this article they try to recover a technically still working DOM module thats just filled with corrupt data.

2. Download the imaging tool Etcher (Win/OSX/Linux) or use a imaging tool of your choice to copy the image file onto your USB stick. Most are pretty self explanatory: Select Image File, Select Target, go for it.
Noob note: The image file contains several Linux partitions, so you really need to use an imaging tool to put it on your USB stick. Do not just copy the .img file on your stick with Windows Explorer. After the imaging tool is done copying, you cannot even read the stick on a Windows Operating System anymore.

Disconnect the USB stick from your computer and connect it to your new USB mainboard adapter on the QNAP.
If you haven´t already done so, remove all HDDs from the NAS.
Start the NAS. Its BIOS should now recognize the USB stick and automatically boot from it.

After the system is done booting, download the actual current firmware for your NAS from the QNAP website. Also install the Qfinder application if you haven´t already done so.
Use Qfinder to find the NAS on your network. Select it and choose Tools=> Firmware update from the top menu. Install the firmware to the DOM.

Shutdown the NAS and put your HDDs back in.
Start the NAS again. It should boot normally now, but in order to prevent a version mismatch between DOM and HDD Firmware release versions you should do the last firmware installation again, either through Qfinder or the QTS web frontend (or whatever firmware update method you prefer).

Done.

I hope this guide was useful to somebody.

buggy82
Last edited by buggy82 on Thu Jul 06, 2017 2:27 am, edited 1 time in total.
TS 409 Pro - decommissioned
TS 559 Pro+ - degraded to an iSCSI target, disabled all services
TS 651 + UX 800P 3xRAID5 (as Storage Pool 1), actually RAID50 + 1 Single Drive (test VMs/temp data, QTS apps)
eleonora01
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Re: [HowTo] Replace broken DOM module with a simple USB stick

Post by eleonora01 »

Thanks so much for the How To. I was able to create the bootable USB stick and the NAS TS 251 now seems to boot. I hear one beep on the start followed by the second beep about 2 minutes later. However, I can't find the the NAS using Qfinder. I can see it gets an IP in router console, but MAC address seems to be incorrect: 00:00:00:00:05:09 . Any suggestions?
buggy82
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Re: [HowTo] Replace broken DOM module with a simple USB stick

Post by buggy82 »

eleonora01 wrote:Thanks so much for the How To. I was able to create the bootable USB stick and the NAS TS 251 now seems to boot. I hear one beep on the start followed by the second beep about 2 minutes later. However, I can't find the the NAS using Qfinder. I can see it gets an IP in router console, but MAC address seems to be incorrect: 00:00:00:00:05:09 . Any suggestions?
Hi.

I know this issue from when I tried to boot from the stick while it is attached on an external USB port of the NAS, This was my first idea, too. ;)
You really must use the internal DOM_USB mainboard connector as I´ve described.

If you are really using the internal USB DOM_USB mainboard connector, please try to remove all other USB devices from the NAS (keyboard, USPs, etc.) before booting up.

Please keep me updated, whether this worked out for you, too :wink:
TS 409 Pro - decommissioned
TS 559 Pro+ - degraded to an iSCSI target, disabled all services
TS 651 + UX 800P 3xRAID5 (as Storage Pool 1), actually RAID50 + 1 Single Drive (test VMs/temp data, QTS apps)
eleonora01
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Re: [HowTo] Replace broken DOM module with a simple USB stick

Post by eleonora01 »

As instructed, I use the internal connector, which was used for the USB DOM unit. Nothing is attached to the NAS. Is there anything else I can try. Thanks!
buggy82
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Re: [HowTo] Replace broken DOM module with a simple USB stick

Post by buggy82 »

eleonora01 wrote:As instructed, I use the internal connector, which was used for the USB DOM unit. Nothing is attached to the NAS. Is there anything else I can try. Thanks!
I´m pretty much out of ideas. :'

But I have one left: :)

I flashed the USB stick again after my attempt to boot from it attached on external USB socket and experiencing the same networking issues you had and additionally some local console issues.

So: If you have tried to boot the stick externally even once, please reflash it with the recovery file again (aka. copy the .img file again like described above).

Other than that you may contact QNAP support and ask, whether they perhaps have an updated recovery DOM image for your device, which they forgot to link to in the Wiki article.

buggy82
TS 409 Pro - decommissioned
TS 559 Pro+ - degraded to an iSCSI target, disabled all services
TS 651 + UX 800P 3xRAID5 (as Storage Pool 1), actually RAID50 + 1 Single Drive (test VMs/temp data, QTS apps)
habee
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Re: [HowTo] Replace broken DOM module with a simple USB stick

Post by habee »

@eleonora01:

My NAS (TS-451) had the same problems. Did you attach a monitor or TV to your NAS? You should see a login prompt.

I described my successful attempt here:

viewtopic.php?f=25&t=97200&start=15#p623681

In short: You have to directly write decrypted 4.3.3 firmware files to your DOM. I have a full image of the DOM available, it should work on every x51-NAS
eleonora01
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Re: [HowTo] Replace broken DOM module with a simple USB stick

Post by eleonora01 »

habee:
Thanks for the feedback! I did connect a monitor to the NAS and was able to see a simple login screen and could login with as admin user.
I am sorry, the directions are not entirely clear to me :(.
Is there any way you can send the decrypted image?
buggy82
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Re: [HowTo] Replace broken DOM module with a simple USB stick

Post by buggy82 »

Hi Eleonora,

I forgot about habee´s option. That should work, too.

The firmware as well as the DOM Recovery image should be compatible between your TS-251 and our TS-451 / TS-651.
Qnap offers the same firmware file for those devices in the download area of the website and the same DOM recovery images in the Wiki article.
Therefore copying habee´s self-made full image to your stick using Etcher should work.

I have also made such an image for backup purposes.
My image has adapted to the size of the stick I used, so your USB stick needs to be at least exactly the same size as mine or bigger. Best would a 2GB+ one.
habee´s image is probably smaller (=better in this case ;) ).

P.S.: Please also double check your model number TS-251 or TS-251+ to make sure you downloaded the correct DOM Recovery image from the Wiki article.
TS 409 Pro - decommissioned
TS 559 Pro+ - degraded to an iSCSI target, disabled all services
TS 651 + UX 800P 3xRAID5 (as Storage Pool 1), actually RAID50 + 1 Single Drive (test VMs/temp data, QTS apps)
eleonora01
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Re: [HowTo] Replace broken DOM module with a simple USB stick

Post by eleonora01 »

buggy82 , habee, thanks again. I have TS 251. So far I haven't been able to successfully boot the NAS. I can't find the decrypted the image files that I should burn to the USB stick.
buggy82
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Joined: Thu Mar 20, 2008 11:54 pm

Re: [HowTo] Replace broken DOM module with a simple USB stick

Post by buggy82 »

Here you are [Edit]Link removed[/Edit]
Edit:

Note: This image is too big to be imported on the original 512MB DOM because it was made from a 1GB USB flash drive (stick). Nevertheless, with a bit of linux knowledge, one should be able to shrink it back to 512MB, because the additional space is not really used by data.
Last edited by buggy82 on Sun Jul 09, 2017 3:57 am, edited 1 time in total.
TS 409 Pro - decommissioned
TS 559 Pro+ - degraded to an iSCSI target, disabled all services
TS 651 + UX 800P 3xRAID5 (as Storage Pool 1), actually RAID50 + 1 Single Drive (test VMs/temp data, QTS apps)
eleonora01
Starting out
Posts: 17
Joined: Fri May 15, 2015 10:27 am

Re: [HowTo] Replace broken DOM module with a simple USB stick

Post by eleonora01 »

buggy82: Thanks for the file . Unfortunately for me the NAS is not able to boot from it. It gets stuck on the Starting screen. The furthest I got was using the provided image from the Wiki, where I was able to login into the NAS, but it was not visible in the Network, from the router console I cold see it had a weird MAC address : 00:00:00:00:00:05:02.
buggy82
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Re: [HowTo] Replace broken DOM module with a simple USB stick

Post by buggy82 »

If you extracted my file and used an imaging tool like Etcher to flash the .img file onto your usb drive, you did everything right. Maybe your NAS also has some other (hardware) issue...
I´m out of ideas now. Sorry, I couldn´t help!
TS 409 Pro - decommissioned
TS 559 Pro+ - degraded to an iSCSI target, disabled all services
TS 651 + UX 800P 3xRAID5 (as Storage Pool 1), actually RAID50 + 1 Single Drive (test VMs/temp data, QTS apps)
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Moogle Stiltzkin
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Re: [HowTo] Replace broken DOM module with a simple USB stick

Post by Moogle Stiltzkin »

@buggy82

Thank you. I'll all a link from my faq to your guide if thats okay?
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buggy82
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Re: [HowTo] Replace broken DOM module with a simple USB stick

Post by buggy82 »

@Moogle: Sure, Thx!
TS 409 Pro - decommissioned
TS 559 Pro+ - degraded to an iSCSI target, disabled all services
TS 651 + UX 800P 3xRAID5 (as Storage Pool 1), actually RAID50 + 1 Single Drive (test VMs/temp data, QTS apps)
datorexpert
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Re: [HowTo] Replace broken DOM module with a simple USB stick

Post by datorexpert »

Will the data of the harddrives in a RAID-5 be lost after a recovery by using a recovery with dom.img as instructed?
QTS 4.1.n/4.2.n/4.3.n/4.4.n MANUAL
Submit QNAP Support Ticket - QNAP Tutorials, Wiki - Product Support Status - Moogle's QNAP FAQ help V2 - QNAP Security Advisory
When you ask a question, please include the following:
Data md_checker nasreport (release 20180525)
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Model: TVS-873e -- RAM: 20G -- FW: QTS 5.1.1.2491 build 20230815 (used as main storage + applications)
WD60EFRX-68L0BN1(x6) / WD80EFAX-68LHPN0(x1) Red HDDs -- RAID5: 8x6TB -- Cold spare: None
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