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[JavaLawyer]

I will also presume that you used the following method for the factory reset (if not, give this a shot):
DNS ShareCenter - Restoring Factory Default Settings

These procedures assume that the DNS-343 is already booted. For your situation, try unplugging the power cord for 30 seconds and then plug back in. Next, hold the Reset button while the DNS-343 is powered-down, and continue to keep the Reset button pressed while you power-up the device.

[giftmugs]

Hello JavaLawyer,

Thank you for your quick response and information.
Now I should at least be able to read/copy the 4 disks from the "un-bootable" 343 (by putting them into a USB caddy) and make appropriate straight copies to HHD's on my PC.

Before I do that I'll await news from you about any emergency firmware recovery procedure that may exist for the DNS-343.

Since my 343 does NOT boot at all, all attempts at restoring factory defaults have failed.

Again, many thanks for your efforts at helping me getting back into business.
.

[JavaLawyer]

Certain D-Link routers have emergency firmware recovery procedures, while many other D-Link devices do not.  I don't think one exists for the DNS-343 as I believe I would have heard about it by now, but I've made the query nonetheless. This is the first time I've encountered a situation where the DNS-343 simply got stuck in a boot cycle.

I'm sure you've already looked at this (and it's a shot in the dark) but I'll ask anyway. . . What happens when you enter the DNS-343 IP address into a browser? Did you try IE and Firefox? I'll presume you received "Page Can't Be Displayed"  messages because the unit was still booting.

[FurryNutz]

Just curious, any chance of powering ON the DNS in a different wall out let? I'm also wondering if maybe the Power Supply could be at fault as well. Just a thought. 

[JavaLawyer]

Can't hurt trying another outlet. I thought that this might be the power supply, but I would think that removing the four HDDs should have lowered the load enough to support the DNS-343 if the power supply had degraded.

. . . but who knows.  

[giftmugs]

Using IE and Win File Explorer, the following error message is displayed:
- An error occurred while reconnecting Z: to\\DLINK-622f58\Volume_01           OR
- This page can’t be displayed
  • Make sure the web address http://192.168.1.195 is correct.

Using Opus Directory, this error message is displayed:
- An error occurred reading folder. The network path was not found (53)

In Google it says simply:
- Oops! Google Chrome could not connect to 192.168.1.195

In Firefox it says:
- The connection has timed out. The server at 192.168.1.195 is taking too long to respond.


The changing of electrical outlets did not show any change nor the number of disks in the 343.
The result is always the same: System is rebooting....
. .

[FurryNutz]

I think it's time to get Ivan in here. 

[JavaLawyer]

Lets wait a day or so and see if someone gets back to us. I've also pinged a couple of forum members that are ShareCenter gurus and have experience repairing these devices.

[giftmugs]

Thank you for your offers of help and assistance.
I'll gladly wait for any response that may arrive.
I am extremely surprised about the responsiveness of this forum
and the amount of help that you both offer, JavaLawyer and FurryNutz.
It is astonishing your dedication, cooperation and assistance to help me out of this impas.
Again, many, many thanks. I am impressed!
 

[ivan]

An interesting problem you have there giftmugs and sorry I didn't get to this sooner but the week has been rather busy.

Now I need a little information from you. 

First, how confident do you feel about opening your unit and exposing the motherboard?  I ask this because it appears that you will either have to use JTAG or the serial interface to re-flash the firmware.  That will also require a little soldering on your part.

Second, make sure that your power supply is actually supplying 19volt under load.  Failing power supplies may give the rated voltage at no load but the moment you put a load on them the voltage drops, in many cases to a level where the unit will not work even though the indicators do (they are generally not very voltage sensitive).

The easiest way to go is to use the serial port marked JP4 which requires a 3.3v to 5.0v serial translation module and a serial port on your PC as well as terminal software which will allow you to get into U-Boot and replace the firmware.

A few of observations. 
1) Since the unit uses a 19v power supply you can do a test with a 19v laptop power supply that has the same, or higher, current rating. 

2) It is essential that there be stable power during any flashing operation.  In some cases where spikes appear on the mains it is necessary to use a UPS for power during flashing operations.

3) DO NOT attempt any of the above work on the circuits if you are not confident in your skill level.  If necessary find a electronics repair shop or the electronics department of the local tech college ad see if they will do it for you.

I will try and help you if you decide to try and do it yourself (I own a company that repairs and maintains computer equipment for industry) but It will have to fit round work commitments and I can't 'borrow' a clients 343 to take it apart and take photographs to show you where things are (we no longer own a 343).
 

[JavaLawyer]

Here comes the cavalry. . .
Ivan thanks for lending a hand. 

[giftmugs]

Hello Ivan,

Thank you very much for you post and suggestions and would like to say:
- I'm not too confident to execute the steps you describe;
- I now tried another power supply but the results are as before. No change...No booting...

- Before I attempt to locate a local electronics repair shop I can trust to be competent enough,
  and since I am not under any time pressure, would it be possible I ship the
  unit w/o disks to you for the repair?

I'd be happy to pay for your services and am aware that you have many previous commitments.
Maybe I could use the e-mail link in the forum page to contact you for further details?

I'm so happy that you could offer a way to get my unit back to work and hope that you'll
be able to help me.

Thank you very much, indeed, as well as JavaLawyer and FurryNutz.
.

[ivan]

Hi giftmugs,

For us to do the work is not a problem.  The problem could be that we are in France and unless you are somewhere in Europe shipping and customs becomes a big problem.

To give you some idea of what might be involved go to http://dns323.kood.org/start and have a look round.  This is for the DNS-323 but works much the same as the DNS-343 using the same equipment - there is a page for the 343 in the side menu.  It is one of the best general information sites about this series of NAS boxes on the web, catering to people that have a little ability of a technical nature.

There was someone on the DNS-323 forum that used the information there to get his unit working again - he had a problem very similar to yours.

Another piece of information.  If you use a USB caddy to read the data on your disks make sure it is one with its own external power supply.  You can not reliably power up the disks using power from the USB port.

The other thing is to have the software for reading the Linux file system already installed on your windows computer before you plug in the USB caddy and DO NOT let windows write to those disks.

Here we use a Linux PC with a USB/SATA plug in adapter if we ever need to work on our or our clients disks because that way we don't have problems with disk file system formats.

[giftmugs]

Hello Ivan,

Thank you for your very quick reply and I'm so sorry that our geographical
differences will not permit to have this unit fixed by you.

Would you be able to give me some specific key points that I could show a local
electronic repair shop on how to best fix my DNS-343 as I am not sure that my
local shops will know what to do exactly even if I refer them to the web site you mentioned:
http://dns323.kood.org/start

(Or maybe JavaLawyer or FurryNutz know of some competent repair shops in the USA? or are they also located in Europe?)

Again I very much appreciate your help and am so sorry not to be able to overcome the distance problem.

Merci beaucoup
Roland

P.S.
I'll follow your other suggestions faithfully.
/

[FurryNutz]

I presume JavaLawyer may have some info on possible repair shops, I don't know. We might be able to find some forum users that can help out as I believe I remember recently someone over here on this side of the pond was helped by Ivan to fix his.

I could probably do this as I do have a electronics repair back ground, however I don't have any parts necessary to do this repair. I'm not opposed to helping out however if we can find a user here in the forums that has done this already and has the parts and is willing, I suggest we try to make contact with that user first and lets go from there.

Maybe Ivan or Java can point us to the most recent user who did this?