After firmware 1.04.05 automatice firmware update Safe Mode UI appears saying firmware was corrupt and device is now in Safe Mode. It goes on to say I should do Safe Mode Firmware Update Procedure after manually downloading latest firmware. I downloaded and unziped 1.04.05 to the desktop. Then followed Appendix F: Safe Mode Firmware Update Procedure. I got the Safe Mode UI again, browsed to bin, clicked Apply and got the star like (best discription I could come up with) ‘wait’ animated symbol that continuously goes around and around and around. Its been doing this for hours but nothing else happens. Am I boned? 
Not necessarily.
On Sunday night I had an issue with applying an older firmware and the blue progress bar of doing the update which normally takes 3-5 minutes tops was stuck at 22% for eternity (at least 15 minutes) and since I already had a terminal session (SSH) connected, I decided to see what processes were running using the command ps -ef and I saw ‘nandwrite’ as one of the processes. I immediately stepped back because you really DO NOT want to intterupt the process during a NAND write. So I let the thing run and it took almost another 30 minutes or so. Highly unusual as my update process usedto take only about 10 minutes or so but taking 45-50 minutes was unusual. But I let it do it’s thing and since then I have updated the firmware on Sunday multiple times and it had come down to the usual 10 minutes or so.
I see you posted this 4-1/2 hours ago, so hopefully it has finished by now. If it takes a long time, it’s best to give it as long as one reasonably can - even I’d say 5-6 hours, if need be. It is NEVER a good idea to stop firmware flashing process midway, even if it takes excessively long.
Hopefully, it completed for you at some point. If not, time to contact Tech Support. In that case, you may be hosed. But best to leave it running if it still is and then contact support…who may have closed for the night, not sure, in which case leave it running UNTIL you talk to them.
Apparently you aren’t the only one - this other user has problem with their EX4 (not EX2) update → http://community.wd.com/t5/WD-My-Cloud-EX4/Reboot-after-firmware-upgrade-taking-forever/td-p/783057
My upgrade for EX2 went smoothly yesterday night though and did not take more than 10-15 minutes (my earlier mention of multiple firmware updates were for Sunday when upgrading to a previous firmware version - but not using automatic method but manual - I prefer manual ALWAYS and have auto-update turned off).
The same problem here: endless update firmware. Strange but problem occurs only at one of two identical EX2’s! Decided to stop update after 2 1/2 hours; this seems not to be a good action. Will try again, but think this will not solve the problem: status led permanently red blinking, HD leds blinking red/blue/red/blue. Have posted a support case, or does anyone have the solution already?
I have the same problem after automatic update with my EX2. I am glat that I am not the only one. I contacted tech support, so I am hoping this problem will be fixed shortly.
Martin
For anyone who reads this thread, I just want to be clear that my mention of the very long 45-50 minute firmware update did in fact end in success. The subsequent firmware updates that I did, did not have any issues. I was doing some testing with some firmware mods and hence needed to load it multiple times…but each time, even during that unusually long 45-50 minute update, it always completed…I did not interrupt the process. But YMMV in these situations.
rhagen wrote:
After firmware 1.04.05 automatice firmware update Safe Mode UI appears saying firmware was corrupt and device is now in Safe Mode. It goes on to say I should do Safe Mode Firmware Update Procedure after manually downloading latest firmware. I downloaded and unziped 1.04.05 to the desktop. Then followed Appendix F: Safe Mode Firmware Update Procedure. I got the Safe Mode UI again, browsed to bin, clicked Apply and got the star like (best discription I could come up with) ‘wait’ animated symbol that continuously goes around and around and around. Its been doing this for hours but nothing else happens. Am I boned?
Hi guys, we have passed this along to support.
I do have the same problem. I startet the manuell update and was leaving the computer. About 10 minutes later, i returned and my browser wanted to update itself. Because I didn’t remember, that there was a firmware update in progress I granted the browser update. Since then the EX2 is in safe mode. The safe mode window appears, I downloaded the newest firmware and uploaded it. At the bottom of the browser, I can see that 100% is uploaded, but the “star like” sign is going round and round and round, the hole night, approxematly 8 hours. Can anyone help please? Thanks in advance.
I’ve also got this same problem with my 8TB EX2 (running as a RAID 1, 4TB array).
The new firmware (1.04.05) appeared yesterday morning, I told it to update and went to work (as I’ve done several times in the past with these updates). I then noticed that I was unable to access to MyCloud remotely during the day.
When I arrived home I saw the flashing red LED and the two drive indicators were quickly flashing alternate red/blue.
Accessing the MyCloud via it’s IP address I got the “Safe Mode” message and as per the previous users, although the file seemed to upload correctly (100% uploaded), the spinning timer just keeps on spinning. I’ve tried leaving it like this for up to 9 hours and nothing happens. I’ve also noticed that once the .bin file is uploaded, if you refresh the page again, it simply brings you back to the beginning with the Safe Mode message.
In the end, I did a reset (holding the hidden button in for 5-10 seconds). It restarted and just wiped whatever user settings it previously had. I was able to find the DHCP assigned IP address in my router and although I can still access the web interface using this new IP address, the result is exactly the same and I am just stuck on the Safe Mode message.
I have been sorely dissapointed with the “cloud” aspects of the device since I bought it, but it’s always been a fast, reliable performer on the local network, but this is just unacceptable.
It’s clear that this latest firmware is hard-bricking MyCloud devices and that even the safe mode/recovery process does not work.
Please escalate this issue within tech support and help us find an alternate way of restoring a working firmware.
Thanks,
Paul
virtale wrote:
I do have the same problem. I startet the manuell update and was leaving the computer. About 10 minutes later, i returned and my browser wanted to update itself. Because I didn’t remember, that there was a firmware update in progress I granted the browser update. Since then the EX2 is in safe mode. The safe mode window appears, I downloaded the newest firmware and uploaded it. At the bottom of the browser, I can see that 100% is uploaded, but the “star like” sign is going round and round and round, the hole night, approxematly 8 hours. Can anyone help please? Thanks in advance.
So far no one has posted a solution and yet people continue to post me-too posts.
So I’ll make it clear - if your NAS is stuck during the upgrade process, your best resource for help is WD’s technical support.
Paul_BCN wrote:
I’ve also got this same problem with my 8TB EX2 (running as a RAID 1, 4TB array).
The new firmware (1.04.05) appeared yesterday morning, I told it to update and went to work (as I’ve done several times in the past with these updates). I then noticed that I was unable to access to MyCloud remotely during the day.
When I arrived home I saw the flashing red LED and the two drive indicators were quickly flashing alternate red/blue.
Accessing the MyCloud via it’s IP address I got the “Safe Mode” message and as per the previous users, although the file seemed to upload correctly (100% uploaded), the spinning timer just keeps on spinning. I’ve tried leaving it like this for up to 9 hours and nothing happens. I’ve also noticed that once the .bin file is uploaded, if you refresh the page again, it simply brings you back to the beginning with the Safe Mode message.
In the end, I did a reset (holding the hidden button in for 5-10 seconds). It restarted and just wiped whatever user settings it previously had. I was able to find the DHCP assigned IP address in my router and although I can still access the web interface using this new IP address, the result is exactly the same and I am just stuck on the Safe Mode message.
I have been sorely dissapointed with the “cloud” aspects of the device since I bought it, but it’s always been a fast, reliable performer on the local network, but this is just unacceptable.
It’s clear that this latest firmware is hard-bricking MyCloud devices and that even the safe mode/recovery process does not work.
Please escalate this issue within tech support and help us find an alternate way of restoring a working firmware.
Thanks,
Paul
Paul,
I do not know why some folks seem to be having issues…but I know not everyone is. My upgrade went through smoothly. As have for others.
This forum is primarily a user-to-user forum though WD staff moderate and even answer some questions - but they are not part of WD’s tech support department. I would advise you to contact WD’s tech support dept. for firmware upgrade issues.
Cybernut1 wrote:> This forum is primarily a user-to-user forum though WD staff moderate and even answer some questions - but they are not part of WD’s tech support department. I would advise you to contact WD’s tech support dept. for firmware upgrade issues.
I’ll get onto them via the official channels now. Thanks! I’ll report back if I get any useful help.
I realise it’s a community forum, but as you can appreciate, the more coverage that this issue gets, the quicker there is a chance of getting it fixed for us unlucky enough to suffer from it.
I wouldn’t normally agree with causing such noise in a user forum, but this is very serious issue. The problem isn’t that it introduces bugs/errores in certain aspects of the MyCloud’s operation - it has seemingly completely bricked it for several users (the 8TB version cost 500 EUR!).
I’ll keep monitoring this thread with my fingers crossed and chase-up Support for some desperately-needed help.
Cheers,
Paul
Good luck to you and yes, I understand the urgency and graveness of this issue. And sometimes mass testimonials is the only way to get WD’s attention. I myself had reported an FTP bug, right after EX2’s launch, that basically rendered FTP unusable. Their tech support acknowledged the bug and assured me of speedy help, but except for me and another fellow user called Vertech1, no on else raised a ruckus. To make matters worse, they launched the Mirror product with the same bug two months later even though they were well aware of the issue. Guess what? They finally fixed it in this latest firmware release three days ago, a full FIVE MONTHS later…and they got away without providing a fix for this long primarily because I was the lone voice on it. I will give WD due credit though…they did reach out to me and were very generous, for which I appreciate their kindness, but still a broken feature was a broken feature. Anyway, that FTP bug is now finally fixed, but oddly enough there were no mention of it in the latest firmware’s release notes. I guess they didn’t want to be too conspicuous about a bug of such an important functionality as FTP. So they passed it in under the radar. But I’m glad it’s been done…announced or otherwise.
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I downloaded the latest firmware to my smartphone (Android based) and tried the safe mode upload with the chrome (beta) browser. And guess what, it worked. The “star like” circle startet to count from 0 to 100 and after a reboot, the firmware was updated und the EX2 up again.
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virtale wrote:
…I downloaded the latest firmware to my smartphone (Android based) and tried the safe mode upload with the chrome (beta) browser…
Wow…I must admit that I didn’t think this could be the answer. But … it has worked for me!!! :smileyvery-happy: :smileyvery-happy: :smileyvery-happy:
I had been trying since yesterday to manually upload the firmware from my desktop PC using both Chrome and IE, but with no luck.
I’ve just tried using Chrome Beta from my smartphone (LG G3) and it didn’t work - I got the same “spinning circle” response as my desktop. I tried with “normal” Chrome and had the same issue. I then tried it with my work mobile (Xperia Z1 Compact) with Chrome and still no good.
I then grabbed my tablet (Xperia Z Tablet) and tried using Chrome Beta from there. A few seconds after the file had finished uploading (takes a minute over WiFi), I then got the numbers counting up in the centre of the circle and the power LED on the MyCloud starting flashing yellow.
It then rebooted normally and it is now working perfectly.
This could now mean that we actually have two separate, smaller problems, and not just one big one:
-
There seems to be a serious problem with the new automatic firmware upgrading process resulting in a corrupted firmware and the MyCloud being left in Safe Mode.
-
There also seems to be a, probably unrelated, problem with the Safe Mode web interface uploading the .bin file to the MyCloud and then initiating the upgrade process. This seems to only work on certain browsers/platforms and is clearly not very robust.
Anyway, I’m off to reconfigure all of my settings :wink:
Thank you Virtale!!!
Paul
I was on the phone with Lvl 2 tech support over lunch. Tried IE, Chrome and Firefox but all from the same computer. I will try a tablet and Chrome Beta when I get home.
Thanks Paul!
Randy
virtale wrote:
I downloaded the latest firmware to my smartphone (Android based) and tried the safe mode upload with the chrome (beta) browser. And guess what, it worked. The “star like” circle startet to count from 0 to 100 and after a reboot, the firmware was updated und the EX2 up again.
Interesting indeed. I’m curious: when the device was up and well again, were all the data still there? That’s the major question to me. Thanks for a short reply.
moviegoer wrote:> Interesting indeed. I’m curious: when the device was up and well again, were all the data still there? That’s the major question to me. Thanks for a short reply.
In my case yes. The data on the drives is separate and not affected by firmware problems.
It’s the same if you perform a factory reset - the MyCloud system configuration is wiped, but the user data on the drives is not touched.
I quickly reconfigured mine a few hours ago and it is now back to normal.
Just to let folks know the progress on my situation so far. WD support has been great. I got an email from them without me even contacting them directly. No doubt jubei04 passing this along to support – thanks jubei04.
WD support called me at the prearranged time and he had me attempt a firmware update from a USB stick. Disclaimer, I am not advocating that anyone do the following. I am only providing the following to let everyone know what was done. Renamed the firmware file’s extension from .bin to .deb. Placed the renamed firmware file on the root of the USB stick. Remove the power cord. Put the USB stick in the #1 USB slot. While holding the reset button with a paperclip, reinsert the power cord, and continue to hold the reset button for 1 minute. Lights flashed, buzzing and clicking sounds were encouraging but after a minute or so the lights returned to Power light flashing red, Drive lights flashed red and blue. Back to Safe Mode – no improvement.
WD support is sending me a new one (less drives of course) and a return box with prepaid shipping. He said they would like the old unit so they can examine it to see what went wrong. The WD support guys were great. If you don’t hear from me again you can assume the rest went great too.
same problem… can’t access data on drives and can’t get out of safe mode.
Tried to upgrade firmware from IE, Chrome and from my tablet. no joy. All I see is red lights.
spoke with level1, who said to refresh the page to see progress. When I did that, the spinner went back to the manual firmware upload page. I mentioned that I read there was a way to upgrade firmware via usb stick, but he didn’t want to go there, and instead suggested I wait for level2.
