Problem restarting DL2100 after power outage

I have DL2100 4TB in 2x2TB RAID config. Power at my house went out yesterday. I have regular power strip surge protector, but decided to unplug PSU while waiting for power to restore, in case it came on dirty (it may have gone off dirty as house lights flashed a bit). Once my house power was restored, I plugged PSU in power strip and plugged power cord into rear of DL2100. It lit up immediately (blue power light flashing, discs solid blue) without pushing the power button, but fan stayed on and blue power light flashing about once per 2 seconds. Fan on high (loud) continuously. After about 4 to 5 minutes (time varies, DL2100 powers itself down (all lights and fan off) and then powers up again all by itself and repeats over and over. I left it for a couple of hours doing this, to no avail. Tried with and without network connected and with and without discs in bay… no luck and same symptoms. Thank you in advance for any suggestions.

I have a DL2100. too as well as the complete user manual for it which I downloaded from WD Support. Every owner of a WD NAS needs the manual; do you?

It does not sound like you know how to operate your DL2199 well enough or else you would have clicked on the Reboot button in dashboard menu, or reset device back to System Only, or if all else fais use the 40 second reboot. All these suggestions are in the manual.

Thanks mike27oct - I previously downloaded the 127-page manual. I have run this device successfully for a couple of years with no problems until this power outage. Apart from the 40-sec reset, the other two suggestions you make would be good if I had access to the dashboard, but as I tried to say (but not very well) the device is not rebooting … it never gets past flashing blue light before it powers down and then repeats. So, I have no access to the dashboard and no connection at all. If the 40-sec reset is the only suggestion I get, then I’ll try that and post update afterwards.

OK, but put the thing back togher with network connected and disks in their bays. If 50 sec reset works, great, if not contact WD Support. I suggest you do the following. When all together, turn off unit with the front panel switch and leave unit off for five + minutes, Then turn on with power switch, if it boots fine, great. If not then try the 40 second reset. Don’t select any reset that will remove your data; reset system files only. If all this fails, contact WD Support. Your unit may have been seriously damaged by power failure. Good luck.

Turned off using front panel switch, but it just restarts on its own after about 4 seconds, so can’t leave it powered down. Tried unplugging the cord during the 4 sec power down, waited 5 mins, then reconnected cord, but it starts up as soon as the cord is connected, before pushing power button, then goes into its cycle of powering itself down, restarting… repeat. Tried 40 sec reset… the only difference now is that when I power down using front button, it stays powered down and does not restart on its own. Tried waiting 5 mins again and started from front panel… goes into power recycling again.
I contacted WD support and they have Advance RMA’ed a PR2100 to me. Followed the instructions on this link: My Cloud: Moving Hard Drives From an Enclosure to Another Enclosure (RAID Roaming) and now it all boots up ok (new PR2100 enclosure with my old Red drives). Problem is, the new enclosure does not have my users. Windows explorer sees the device, but there are no folders or data. Definitely did not delete it. I guess I need to reconfigure users, passwords and everything, but the article doesn’t provide instructions for that following replacement of enclosure.

Yep, you need to set up from scratch again, and for that you need the user manual

I have the manual… it says nothing about RAID roaming. From what I have read, My Cloud supports moving drives from one enclosure to another, but nowhere can I find instructions for setting up a new enclosure to access the data from the moved drives.

I suggest you contact WD Support.

I have the exact same problem. I haven’t got any support from WD yet. My unit is used in production so I want quick support to resolve the issue. I am really hoping that it is possible to use the discs with a replacement unit.

Disappointed with their support so far

BR M

WD support supplied a replacement. The drives booted up fine there.

The same just happened to us (every symptom and trial and error performed). Based on your description of the problem and how it started with electricity shut downs, we also experienced several over the past 4 years in our office during rain storms and recently the hard heat waves here in Southern California. But everytime the restarts were normal and the entire network of computers, NAS, and printers worked normal. What was noticed prior to the NAS becoming inoperational, it was getting offline sporadically in the past 30 days but would reconnect. Also noticed the office main router was constantly changing bands from 2g to 5g; it should not affect performance as the router and modem are separate gateway units. But what was peculiar is the NAS was :x: on the network folder and PC folder of all devices; it would not reconnect after countless double clicks to access from different devices the evening prior to confirmed failure. We tried the simplest thing to correct the problem turn off the unit from the LED power button and the problem started - turned the NAS on, fan spined at max speed, LED power button blinked every few seconds, the NAS turned off then back on and continued with the same recycle. My believe the problem is software related affecting something in the mother board function because of the on/off recycle :recycle:. A repair can be done if accessing the internal programing or the dashboard via Ethernet connection to do a full recovery just like a Computer, but it is a network drive and is a bit complicated without the correct details to do it.

The key/acid test symptom the NAS is damaged from the consumer standpoint is the inability to reset with the 4 second and 40 second options and reboot immediately after releasing the reset rear insert pin button (both will not corrupt the data). Any and all troubleshooting is fruitless and time wasted. The Western Digital support people do not have a solution and don’t offer repair options such as in factory or authorized centers. The enclosure as all the WD NAS device enclosures are throwaways and “the RED Drives” can be reused in any compatible NAS for as long as the RAID configuration remains the same.

The one important thing is “the drives must be inserted in the same bay order to avoid data issues” such as deletion/loss, e.g. Hard Drive #1 in bay #1 is inserted into the new NAS in same order. The drive bays are numbered on the front; I recommend to write the order on the drive itself to avoid issues. Also before installing drives in the new NAS is a good idea to back up the data from drive #1 to another place such a portable drive or a computer with large storage to play it safe. An external drive dock with USB cable will be needed to mount the drive. There is a program that recovers the data. I will post it later for all to have it as a resource. We’ve used it as this is not our first rodeo with failing WD NASes. We had issues with My World Products Blue Drives; it is how we got here to DL 2100 & NOW PR2100.

WD offers a feasible secured Cloud Option but one must be ready for the breakdowns and need to spend another $400+ on a replacement enclosure every 3-4 years. Rental clouds for sensitive data, is not a good idea; it is best to keep it in house. Our device is deployed in a business environment and is on 24/7/365 for remote access. The damaged enclosure unit (not drives) was replaced in 2016 under warranty because the original shut down with Red Lights. The original purchase year was 2015; we have an extensive log full of notes of all WD NAS products deployed in our office for the past 18 years.

Here’s the one question for you based on your comments. You could not see the folders in the new NAS (PR2100). But after installation of the new drives, were you able to see the public folder with all your data? Note all shares added via dashboard will probably be removed because these are hosted by the enclosure just like a computer document folder.

•“Windows explorer sees the device, but there are no folders or data. Definitely did not delete it. I guess I need to reconfigure users,”

By the way, on 11/24/20 ordered a replacement enclosure PR2100 directly from WD Store because the DL2100 is discontinued and wouldn’t make sense buying something that will breakdown and doesn’t have warranty. Paid next day shipping and the total cost before Black Friday was cheaper than Amazon! No local retailers in Los Angeles (Fry’s, BestBuy or Staples) had it on shelves due to the pandemic time we’re in.

I will post further comments after installation of the new NAS PR2100.

This is an uodate on 11/28/2020. One thing to note WD NASes or at least the PR2100 & DL2100 are written in a Linux code which is encrypted. The program that will recover the data is from https://www.ufsexplorer.com/ . We used in the past to recover from My World II. There’s a free version but is best to purchase the license and get all the options available. A single bay external dock connected via USB is needed to read the data. Rest assured it is 100% safe and secure. Vendors who charge $500 to $900 are probably using the same program or something similar. Here is a youtube link to see it in action. Good luck with everything. https://m.youtube.com/results?search_query=ufs+explorer+raid+recovery