Hi,
I recently acquired a Goflex Home box. I also have one that I have had since new about 2015. This one is one just got when powered on the light flashes green then turns to flashing red and never stops. I have been able to ssh into my original box over ethernet but not the one just acquired. I have read lots of posts and the more I read the more confused I get. I have a RS232 FTDI cable and a PL2303 cable. I have connected 3 wires to the board for Gnd, TX and RX. Not sure where to go from here. My home computer is running Ubuntu. My goal would be to add this device to my home network for file/media sharing. It appears I will need some hand holding on this project.
Where do I start?
Thanks
WM

At this point, I think you want to gather more info from the serial console.

Confirm from the last few lines of dmesg of your ubuntu box when you plug in the USB-serial cable the USB device, let's say it's /dev/ttyUSB0

Run as root (or some user in the dialout group)

picocom --b 115200 --f n --p n --d 8 /dev/ttyUSB0

boot up the goflex home, see if there's any message.
If nothing at all, try swap the RX and TX connections and retry.

Either way I hook up the serial RX TX even fi not connected to the goflex I get this, time to check my connections:

picocom v3.1

port is : /dev/ttyUSB0
flowcontrol : none
baudrate is : 115200
parity is : none
databits are : 8
stopbits are : 1
escape is : C-a
local echo is : no
noinit is : no
noreset is : no
hangup is : no
nolock is : no
send_cmd is : sz -vv
receive_cmd is : rz -vv -E
imap is :
omap is :
emap is : crcrlf,delbs,
logfile is : none
initstring : none
exit_after is : not set
exit is : no


FATAL: cannot open /dev/ttyUSB0: Permission denied

Success, I was able to see the UBOOT process.
I connected the network cable and the green flashes and becomes steady, no red flashes.
Too many lines to show here.
It does not show any errors.
I get to a Login prompt, it does not respond to anything.
What message should I be looking for?

Success, I was able to see the UBOOT process.
I connected the network cable and the green flashes and becomes steady, no red flashes.
Too many lines to show here.
This is the end of the boot process.

HipServ - boot complete
Starting spindownd.init: [ OK ]
Starting xMySyncMount.php: [ OK ]

axentraserver.localdomain login:
FATAL: read zero bytes from port
term_exitfunc: reset failed for dev UNKNOWN: Input/output error

wment,

What you see is the stock FW OS running. It's very old and should not be used anymore.

See the Wiki page for how to install Debian on a USB drive (or HDD):

Quote

Kirkwood plugs

Boot Kirkwood rootfs with stock u-boot

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/12/2025 01:47PM by bodhi.

I actually have 2 of these boxes.
One goes through the boot process to the login prompt that I have no info for and will not let be interrupt the boot process. It seems There is no keyboard input.

The second box lets me interrupt the boot process and ends up at a NAS>> prompt. If I let it go it crashes and again at the NSA>> prompt. I can look at the help page and have done a printenv but not will not let me ls to see files.
I am using the same cable for both boxes.
Below is the output from the second box.

_ _ ____ _
| | | | | __ ) ___ ___ | |_
| | | |___| _ \ / _ \ / _ \| __|
| |_| |___| |_) | (_) | (_) | |_
\___/ |____/ \___/ \___/ \__|
** QSI BOARD: NAS-PLUG LE

U-Boot 1.1.4 (Sep 26 2011 - 13:01:13) Marvell version: 3.4.27
QSI NAS version: 1.0.6

U-Boot code: 00600000 -> 0067FFF0 BSS: -> 006CFB00

Soc: 88F6281 A1 (DDR2)
CPU running @ 1200Mhz L2 running @ 400Mhz
SysClock = 400Mhz , TClock = 200Mhz

DRAM CAS Latency = 5 tRP = 5 tRAS = 18 tRCD=6
DRAM CS[0] base 0x00000000 size 128MB
DRAM Total size 128MB 16bit width
Addresses 8M - 0M are saved for the U-Boot usage.
Mem malloc Initialization (8M - 7M): Done
NAND:NAND READID : MID=0x98, DID=0xda
256 MB
*** Warning - bad CRC or NAND, using default environment

Flash: 0 kB

CPU : Marvell Feroceon (Rev 1)

Streaming disabled
Write allocate disabled


USB 0: host mode
PEX 0: interface detected no Link.
Net: egiga0 [PRIME]
Hit any key to stop autoboot: 0
Using egiga0 device
TFTP from server 169.254.254.254; our IP address is 169.254.254.253
Filename 'uImage'.
Load address: 0x2000000
Loading: T T T T T T T T T T
Retry count exceeded; starting again
## Booting image at 02000000 ...
Bad Magic Number
Unknown command '<NULL>' - try 'help'
NAS>>