PR4100 - Hibernate does not shutoff power anymore

It wasn’t too long ago that when I selected “Hibernate” from the WebGUI, the PR4100 would take about 2 or 3 minutes and then shutoff the power.
Now, hibernate seems to shutdown all the services but not turn off the power. The LCD display turns off, but the power button, fan and drive LEDs are still running.
I have to shutoff the power by long pressing the power button.

Powering back up is normal - just press the power button and 2 or 3 minutes later, the PR4100 is up and online.
And a recovery from power failure is the same. When the power comes back on, there is a 5 or 10 second delay, the box powers up and boots normally.
BTW: I figured that WD decided “Hibernate” is really “Shut Off”; otherwise, “hibernating” to a state where it cannot “wake up” without physically pressing the front panel power button isn’t “hibernating”. It’s a coma.
There is an option for “Sleep”, but that’s not enabled, and I don’t want that.

This is happening on both of the PR4100 that I own.

I don’t know if the latest version of the firmware has a bug (it is set to auto-update and 5.29.102) or something has changed in the newest version that disabled shutting off the power after all the services are stopped.

Or…
I upgraded the RAM about 5 months ago to the max - 16GB. I don’t remember all the details, but I do remember there was “some assemble required” to get to the DIMM slots on the motherboard to R&R the old to new RAM DIMMs.
I’m worried I didn’t reconnect some wire that told the PS to shutoff when the last service is stopped. But I don’t want to c r a c k open the box unless there is a possibility that there is such a lead. Then I would c r a c k it open to if it is seated properly, plugged it to wrong header or backwards.

The question is: Is the PS shut off by a lead from the motherboard?

If there is no lead, I would have to guess the latest firmware changed something or has a bug.

BTW: Did you know that the word c r a c k (with no spaces between the letters) is not allowed in a post?

Have you checked the release notes for firmware version 5.29.102 to see if there were any changes related to hibernation behavior?

I’m sure you are trying to help. But why restate what I’ve already said?

It could be firmware (like I said), except that no firmware release in the last 3 years says anything about hibernating. All release notes on the site end with the same BS answer: “Other minor bug fixes and system improvements”. Was breaking hibernate fixing a bug or a system improvement?

The upgrade in Oct '23 (5.27.157) was a major upgrade to almost everything in OS 5.
Not a joke.
But I couldn’t / wouldn’t go back to anything that was earlier than 5.27.157.
I’m using most of those apps that were upgraded in that package and if I did that, I’d spend months trying to debug why the MariaDB, DYN DNS, rsysnc and so on where FUBAR.
And that’s assuming that downgrading to 5.26.300 even fixed the hibernate issue.

I know it could be something that happened during the DIMM upgrade.
But the question was “Is the PS shut off by a lead from the motherboard”. If you don’t know that answer, that’s okay. But don’t say “well, it could be”.

I opened a case 3 days ago (01/21/2025, Case: 250122-001065).
Despite their email that stated they would update me in 2 business days, there has been no more contact.

Quite honestly, in the scheme of things, this is a minor issue.

I am really looking for someone else that has a PR4100 to tell me if they are having the same issue. If no one pipes up and say “Yes, I do” or “No I don’t”, then I have to assume this a unique to my configuration.

It’s not the firmware. I have three PR4100 boxes all running firmware version 5.29.102 and “hibernate” (shutdown) works just fine.

The external switching power brick is always on, and not controlled by the PR4100 in any way whatsoever. In fact, the cable has just two wires (positive and negative) that supply 12 volts to the PR4100 motheboard.

Frankly, you’re vastly overthinking things, and creating complexity where none exists.

Since we both have the same firmware, it’s safe enough to say it’s not the firmware.

I am fully aware that the external power brick is powered up as long as it’s plugged into the wall, but that’s not what powers off the PR4100 when it hibernates (shuts off).
And it’s 19v (not 12v). It’s printed on the label of the brick (and I’ve bought a few from eBay to provide dual power sources for the NAS).
And, I don’t think it connects to the motherboard, but I need to check that (the drives need 12v and 5v to run and the motherboard may need 5v and 3.3v too).

You might be under-thinking it.

When you select “Hibernate” from the Admin GUI, your PR4100 will eventually power off (LEDs off, fans and drives stop spinning, LCD screen goes dark).
Great (for you).
Question: If the brick is always on (as long as it’s plugged into the wall) and the NAS actually powers off with “hibernate”, how does that happen?
Answer: It should be just like a laptop PC running any OS you can think of. When the OS shuts down or hibernates, there is something that signals the internal PS to kill the PC’s internal power. It doesn’t matter if the power brick is still plugged in, and its little green LED is lite.
Desktop systems do the same thing, except their PS is easy to find.

The two EX4 I have power off with “hibernate” - but these two PR4100 don’t.

But, given your input about the firmware, I’ll have to open the box and start looking at the internal PS to see if I can find its remote power signal lead.

You’re sadly mistaken if you think I’m just another clueless forum user spouting advice without actually knowing what I’m talking about.

The PR4100 is primarily controlled by a STM32F030R8T6 chip made by STMicroelectronics that runs custom PMC (Power Management Controller) firmware. In fact, this chip is easily controlled (if you know how), and I’ve written many programs to control the PMC firmware and take full control of the PR4100 at the hardware level.

Granted, I did say 12 volt instead of 19 volt, merely because I was tired and have been deeply involved in development work for a custom 12 volt power system for many months. In other words, it was merely force of habit.

In your arrogance, you neglected to consider this… I know EXACTLY how the power system (and more) of the PR4100 is controlled. Do you? Obviously not.

Take a breath. Think happy thoughts.

It seems you’ve done everything except tell me why my PR4100s and not powering off.

Remember that STM32F030R8T6 chip that runs custom PMC (Power Management Controller) firmware? Several years ago, there was a significant number of PR4100 boxes produced with a flaw in the chip and/or it’s PMC firmware that effectively disabled the power button after the NAS had been on for a few hours. WD modified the PMC firmare and added a TEC (timeout event counter) parameter, in a vane attempt to solve the problem, but it persists.

It may or may not be related to your problem, and that’s one of many known flaws, but I have neither the time nor the inclination to list them all or explain the technical details.

In reality, the exact cause of your problem could be due to many things, all of which are likely beyond your ability to repair. Therefore, I simply made it clear that the firmware wasn’t the cause and left it at that.