liberty610, thank you for your reply. I too am on the latest firmware and have had the same results for the past 3 FW updates. I also get a mix of replies that it works fine for and others that have the same issue as we have.
Yea, I am not sure why, but since I upgraded to my pr4100 about a year ago, it has never turned the LCD completely off. On my EX4, I could turn it off, but since I have had the pr4100, the GUI menu option only dims it. I don’t mind that it is on honestly. Makes no difference to me as the unit is in a room full of gear with blinking/power LED lights everywhere. But I am an enthusiast geek, and when something does not seem to work like it is suppose to, I go into tinker mode and try to find out why haha.
I am with you 100% on this.
Works on for me on 2.31.149 firmware
1 Like
Huh… congrats then! I am on that same firmware version. All it does is dim the LCD. It does not turn it off like yours is showing.
I’m also unable to turn it off via the UI… but when fiddling with the wdlcd_sub_daemon it was suddenly turned off. I’ll do a few more tests and debugging.
1 Like
I would be interested in hearing your findings. It isn’t a big deal to me that it doesn’t turn off, I just know that it supposed to, and because it doesn’t it kind of bothers the tinkering geek in me ha.
I tested my PR4100 at home (without any apps) and toggling the LCD works fine here, both via the UI as with these commands:
kill $(pidof wdhws) # stop wdhws
echo -ne 'BKL=00\r' > /dev/ttyS2 # disable backlight
/opt/wd/bin/wdhws -config=/etc/wd/sprite-wdhw.xml # restart wdhws
I’m 99.9% sure that this doesn’t work on my PR4100 unit at work … More news on Monday.
1 Like
Thanks for the update!
Using exactly the same commands on my other PR4100 at work has no effect on the display.
This is what I get in a screen session on /dev/ttyS2
> STA
STA=6c
> VER
VER=WD BBC v01
> LN1=Dim the light
ACK # line 1 shows the message
> BKL=00
ACK # but nothing happens
I suspect that this is a hardware problem, likely a batch of motherboards with a missing resistor near the MCU.
Is there a difference in the hardware version?
I bought a PR4100 16TB, configured using RAID, its been hooked up and its been running for 2 weeks. I had to reboot the NAS (would not eject USB backup drives), and after rebooting the lcd screen went wonky. The lcd screen is lit but the top line is grayed out and I cannot scroll through the screen. Is there anyway of rebooting or fixing this. The machine works fine otherwise and it would be a pain if I had to return the machine.
A complete powerdown (incl disconnecting the power supply) should reset the PMC module completely.
I just got a new PR4100 updated to the latest firmware 2.31.163, LCD doesn’t turn off as well. Is there a fix for this?
No. The only fix is to get other hardware.
Hi there,
Sorry for reviving such an old thread, but I’m experiencing this issue, myself. I’ve had a PR4100 since launch, but just received a replacement due to a different fault on the original.
I’ve gone through and given the replacement the same settings as the original and ensured both are on the current firmware (2.31.195; strangely, the replacement wasn’t and didn’t detect a newer firmware when I clicked the button to check; I had to manually install the newest firmware on it), but the LCD simply will not turn off. It dims a few moments after pressing the up/down buttons, but it won’t turn off, which it does on the original. LCD is off in energy saver, so I would expect it to fully turn off, not just dim a bit.
I’ve disabled the LCD power saver, so the LCD was fully on all the time. I then tried the commands above to kill wdhws and disable backlight. But rather than turn off, it just dims as it’s been doing when I enable the LCD power saver.
Before I log a ticket with support, I’d thought I’d check in here to see if anyone has any advice.
Here they are side-by-side. Old NAS on the left, where the LCD turns off. New NAS on the right, where it just dims.
Hi Zensunni,
I received my PR4100 as a replacement and it never did allow the LCD to turn off. I wrote a number of posts and turned in a ticket to no avail. Someone did mention that they thought it was a missing component on the control board that was causing this.
Good Luck
@RICHARD_BAUER, That’s strange. I am not seeing the LCD issue with my PR4100. I wonder if there is a LCD hardware issue with yours. I recommend contacting the WD Support team to let them know and see if they can help.
I’ve had my PR4100 for 18 months now and I have never thought about shutting this feature off, saw no real benefit in doing this. It does fall under Energy Saver area, but I never shut off any of my computers when they are not in use.
Well, the LCD energy saver drama continues.
I contacted WD Support about the LCD just dimming and not turning off on the replacement and they kindly agreed to send another replacement. I just received the replacement and the first thing I tested was the LCD energy saver; unfortunately it not only has the same problem, but is even brighter when it’s meant to turn off.
Here’s a video of the older replacement on the left and the new on the right. The video starts with them both supposedly ‘off’, I then press the scroll up on both to turn ‘on’ the LCD, and then after a few seconds they both dim again rather than turn off.
Somewhat surprisingly this replacement arrived with the ancient firmware of 2.30.183. I’ve updated to the current 2.31.204 firmware, but the issue remains. (Also surprising was that I had to manually install the firmware; clicking ‘check for updates’ returned the message that the firmware was up-to-date.)
So I’ll be contacting WD Support again and asking them to escalate this issue, as it seems to be more widespread than they realise. My guess is most people with a faulty NAS either aren’t using the LCD energy saver (it’s not used by default) or, if they are, have decided it’s not worth the bother to try and get it fixed.
