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[giftmugs]

Great,
let's give this matter a little time to simmer and we can then take it from there.
By the way, the way I read Ivan's suggestions there are no spare parts required so to speak of - just a soldering iron?? 

However, I know nothing about these things and maybe Ivan knows the parts required.
Just a thought.

[FurryNutz]

I do have a soldering iron. 

[JavaLawyer]

Great,
let's give this matter a little time to simmer and we can then take it from there.
By the way, the way I read Ivan's suggestions there are no spare parts required so to speak of - just a soldering iron?? 

However, I know nothing about these things and maybe Ivan knows the parts required.
Just a thought.

Keep us posted, whichever way you decide to go.

[giftmugs]

Oh,
I am so sorry that I created the impression that I did not want to continue.
Au contraire. What I meant was that maybe, as FurryNuts pointed out, 
JavaLawyer would know someone in the US who can repair the unit, and that
Ivan may be able to supply some details (beyond the link he has already indicated)
that can be shown to any electronics repair shop able of doing this kind of repair.

I'm sorry for my failure to express myself more clearly as I am very interested in
having my 343 unit fixed. I need and greatly appreciate any help. Thank you.

Of course I'll keep the forum posted of any and all developments.

[FurryNutz]

Can JavaLawyer or Ivan find the most recent thread or the user whom recently went thru this? I don't remember if it was for this model or a different model. It was in the past few month I believe...

[JavaLawyer]

As I stated back in one of my original replies, this is the first time I've encountered a thread/user whose ShareCenter was rendered unusable by what seems to be a corrupt firmware upload. As far as repairs go, I don't personally know of anyone, nor know of any recommended repair center. Ivan's instructions appear to be straightforward (and simple) enough for an electrical engineer or someone familiar working with ICs to follow. If you're looking for an economical route, visit a local university's EE department and see if there is a grad or undergrad student willing to quickly knock this out. You can offer a flat fee with an small incentive if the project is successful. The quickest way to find someone is to knock on a professor's door and ask for some references.

[ivan]

The previous forum thread I was thinking about was http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?topic=57510.0  where there was a problem with U-Boot.

A little more information regarding the serial ports of the DNS-343 after I asked my head technician if he had any ideas (he likes to take things apart to see what makes them tick). 

There are two of them, one at the front of the board and one at the back by the power connectors for the backplane.  He thinks the front one is reserved for working with the O-LED display and the back one is the one to be used with this problem.

Another point, there MUST be a level converter used between the 3.3v ARM circuits and the higher voltage RS232 or USB of the PC.  We have made our own but they can be purchased quite cheaply from Amazon  or such like.

As JavaLawyer says, the best bet would be to find a grad student in electronics and ask if they would do it for you.
 

[giftmugs]

Hello Ivan,

Thank you for your post and suggestions which are very helpful to me.
I'll try to find a person capable of fixing my unit but that may take a while
as I live in the sticks.

To facilitate the task of reparing my DNS-343, I list below the links to serve as
repair reference points for any technician:

1.04 failed:     http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?topic=38687.15
Previous:        http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?topic=57510.0
DNS-323:       http://dns323.kood.org/start

I'll not fail to post here any progress I may make.
Again, thank you Ivan, Javalawyer and FurryNutz, for all your help and suggestions.

 

[JavaLawyer]

It's a bit after-the-fact, but I heard back from D-Link and unfortunately there is no procedure that would allow reloading firmware after a complete failure. The U-Boot utility used in the DNS-343 does not have the headers installed on the board, so the recovery process was not created in firmware.

[ivan]

What exactly did they say? 

My tech guy says there are the two 4 pin headers on the board for com 1 and com 2 (at least there was on the 343 he opened).

Or do they mean there are missing hooks in the bios that prevent u-boot working on a failed system?

The other thing to ask them is, is there a JTAG header there somewhere?  If there is can they supply the connection data because this should enable direct writing to the NVR which should lead to an unbricked unit.

[giftmugs]

Thank you very much for your post and effort in helping me recuperate an otherwise fully functioning NAS drive.....
Why did I have to update the firmware, why did I listen to the D-Link Blog? Yes, why, indeed??
There was nothing wrong with my 343.

So we now finally know that there is no hope for a DNS-343 recovery process and that means for me
that I will no longer be in the market for any D-Link products!!

[giftmugs]

Hello Ivan,
While writing my last post I got a message that a new post was available as I was responding to JavaLawyer's post.

Maybe there is still hope for my brick?
 

[FurryNutz]

Could Ivan or Java look thru there recent history on posts they've done and see whom this users was that Ivan helped to do this repair. I believe this user was here in the U.S. and if we could get a hold of him we could maybe see if he's interested in doing it since he has the parts needed already. It would be worth checking.

I'd like to see if we can change giftmugs thoughts about D-Link products if possible. 

[FurryNutz]

So are you saying that there may not be any recovery option work around for the 343 due to this info?

[ivan]

Hi giftmugs,

It is a pity that we sold our 343 to a client because it was exactly what he wanted, otherwise I'd take it apart to see exactly what was there.

One thing that should be noted, unless JavaLawyer actually got a response from someone that actually has hands on experience of working with the units I would question the response he got.  

Reason for doubt.

Several years ago we became agents for some equipment produced by a manufacturer in LA.  Part of the agency agreement required that I sent someone over to their offices 'for training', I was the one that went because I needed to arrange for spare parts and other things.  The first morning of the training period ended up with me teaching their service department how to field service their equipment with minimum equipment and spare parts (all they did was replace suspect parts from the factory floor).  It ended up with them sending their service manager and head technician over to us for training (hence my not naming the product or manufacturer).

It is possible that the information that JavaLawyer was given is incorrect from a field servicing point of view but not a manufacturer point of view where they just change parts.  The real problem will be if there are missing software hooks in the bios to allow u-boot to operate and no JTAG connector pads on the board (although direct solder connections might be possible but that requires skill).

As for D-Link products, we find them reliable and recommend their use to our clients as well as using then ourselves.  I will admit we don't update firmware unless there is some feature in the new firmware that we need.  As far as I remember all of our NAS units are on the firmware they had when we got them but then they are used as either storage units or backup units with some being backup units to others.