Setting up an old 5Big V1

[ARHolsgrove]

Hoping someone could kindly help get me up and running again.

I have a 5Big Network 1 (confirmed via the Serial number and the mainboard version code). It has no drives, although I have purchased a 1TB Seagate IronWolf NAS drive which LaCie support are happy is compatible.

I have tried the device reset procedure, but get the same result each time - flashing red light on the front and solid red light against the single installed HDD. The drive I know is fine as I have tested in an external HDD enclosure. The LaCie Network Assistant tool proves little use as the "recovery" option to load the 2.2.3 capsule fails as a) the utility crashes every time and b) I cannot see the NAS on my network and the router also doesn't see it to assign an IP address using DHCP.

So that brings me to Plugout of course. I have in the past installed fvdw, however I no longer have a windows machine (other than a virtualised version running with VirtualBox). I may be able to borrow a Windows system from my work, but ideally only if necessary.

So my questions are, if someone could kindly advise - does the lack of IP address and the front & rear lights indicate a lack of operating system, which I suspect can be fixed, or does this look like damaged hardware which means the mainboard is trash?

If recoverable, am I able to run the fvdw console from Mac OSX, or from the virtual copy of Windows (which has network access), or do I need a real Windows machine.

Lastly, I'm sure like most other users on here, we are all very grateful for the hard work you have put into this firmware - a big thank you.

[fvdw]

This sounds like no firmware so system cannot boot. Some lacie devices with nand flash had firmware in flash that could be installed on an empty disk as those devices were sold without harddisks. However most devices were sold with harddisks. Those have spi flash which contains no firmware. On those devices the firmware was on the harddisk. It seems you have such a device. If so then you may bring it back to life by installing fvdw-sl firmware on your harddisk

If recoverable, am I able to run the fvdw console from Mac OSX, or from the virtual copy of Windows (which has network access), or do I need a real Windows machine.

Others have done this using VM on a mac, so I suggest give it a try.
Ps. If you have more then 1 network card on your pc disable all of them except one. Furthermore do not use wifi but a wired connection to your lan.

[ARHolsgrove]

This sounds like it could get me up and running again, so I've made a start.

I've got a Windows10 image running on VirtualBox, have got a copy of fvdw-sl console and also the v17 firmware (if I read correctly v18 isn't available anymore and 18.1 can only be installed from 17.0 or 18.0).

I've had a look through the help articles in the console "Help" menu, but I can't see how to write the firmware to the disc directly, only via the network. I cannot see the NAS on my network so have the HDD installed in a USB enclosure which I have made available to the virtual machine (so I can write to the drive).

Perhaps I've misunderstood and got my hopes up, but can I still write the firmware to the disk and then place it back into the NAS? I've had a search on the forums but all of these methods rely on the NAS being visible. I have disabled WiFi and only use a wired ethernet cable, but the NAS is not visible on my router DHCP table - perhaps this is still a hardware failure and the end of my journey?

[fvdw]

you can use fvdw-sl console with 18-1 firmware, its available here https://plugout.net/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=3086

Install doesn't go via a usb-sata interface.

To install fvdw-sl firmware via fvdw-sl console your nas and pc must be connected to the sam LAN using wired connections.
The nas must be switched off, start the fvdw-sl console and choose as action install firmware, select the correct standalone kernel (with 5big1 in the name)
A window should popup mentioning "waiting for u-boot". After that power on your nas and if your setup is correct the console will detect your nas, interrupt boot and upload and start the the standalone kernel. When that has been completed after some 15 seconds a telnet window will pop up enabling you to login to your nas. Then follow the instructions as displayed in the main window of the fvdw-sl console to install the firmware

Please read this topic; https://plugout.net/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=2645 and this one https://plugout.net/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1271

[ARHolsgrove]

Thank you again, I have got the console and 18.1 firmware via the link you sent.

So it seems mixed news - I ran the console and selected install firmware, as per your instruction. Happy to say that after 15-20 seconds, the NAS flashed with the red light at the front but then the console seemed to have detected it.

The VM is setup with a bridge network so that it appears on my network / router and gets assigned a 192.168.1.231 address rather than 10.x.x.x from the Mac. This address is correctly detected by the console. The IP address for the NAS I left as 192.168.1.252 - I assume I don't need to check this as again, I don't see the NAS on my router, hence it's not assigned an IP. Could any 192.168.1.x number go here (provided not already in use)?

So to continue, I chose the correct file /firmware/5big1/UIMAGE-3142-5BIG1-11 and it does the loading part and then booting from the image - every OK so far I think. It then starts the kernel, to which I then have the following errors:

SATA link down / failed to resume link - I see this 5 times, one per SATA connection. I only have 1 drive installed as per the instructions.

It ends with VFS: Cannot open root device and finally a kernel panic.

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Do I need to change the partition scheme or anything else on the HDD before trying again, or perhaps there is some other problem?

[fvdw]

Which action did you choose in the console?

Seems you have chosen load and start external kernel. Of course this will fail as there is no firmware on the disk. If you have chosen install firmware you have selected the wrong kernel. You should select a standalone kernel as mentiobed in the help text.
The kernel you loaded will try to mount a root file system from disk and it will fail as the disk doesn't contain firmware

So repeat and choose correct action in the console and select the standalone kernel!! (The word standalone is in te name)

The standalone kernel is in tftp folder leave the files in subfolder firmware alone. The console will use these in the installation process

[ARHolsgrove]

Thanks - I chose the wrong file as you said (lack of sleep). Everything is up and running now and I have sent a small donation as a thank you for helping me.

[fvdw]

Thank you for your donation, much appreciated.

We added you to the donators group and granted access to addons

Glad to hear everything is up an running now, so we know it can be done using VM on a apple pc

[ARHolsgrove]

I’m happy to write up some notes on setting up the VM if that is of any help to you and the community? If so, is it best for me to start a new topic?

[fvdw]

I’m happy to write up some notes on setting up the VM if that is of any help to you and the community? If so, is it best for me to start a new topic?

Yes this would be nice and appreciated. You post it here and we will copy it to the firmware and guides downloads section.