Repair bricked Readynas rn10400(rn104)

Hi All,
My nas works on OS 6.1.9. After power fails nand chip is blank and damaged. I bought a new NAND, the same as the one installed.

Now whenever I power on my NAS in terminal I am getting following:
BootROM 1.08
Booting from NAND flash
BootROM: Bad header at offset 00000000
BootROM: Bad header at offset 00010000
BootROM: Bad header at offset 00020000
......
and to infinity

Do I understand correctly that for the initial unbricking it is necessary to flash the ubot.bin to the beginning of the memory (offset 0x00)?

Maybe someone has a full dump of NAND, or images of mtd partitions?

Аfter reading the topic: https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?3,107689, I didn't understand where to get u-boot.bin and u-boot-env/uImage/minirootfs/ubifs image.

poluyretan,

> Аfter reading the topic:
> https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?3,107689, I
> didn't understand where to get u-boot.bin and
> u-boot-env/uImage/minirootfs/ubifs image.

See this post in that thread:

https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?3,107689,107894#msg-107894

Quote

The files I have used are " uboot.bin" , "kernel.arm" , "initrd.gz" is from 6.10.3 FW
https://kb.netgear.com/000061727/ReadyNAS-OS-6-Software-Version-6-10-3

-bodhi
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I read this thread and everything on this forum about rn102/104. But new information has emerged. Firmware 6.0.3-6.2.5 is old and has a different disk space organization (2 mtd parts). New file organization started with version 6.4.0 and consists of 5 parts mtd. The attachment contains a screenshot from another person who did not want to share the mtd image and 6.2.1/6.4.0 files from netgear. Also, in 6.2.1 is no bootloader in the image of firmware updates from netgear, there is a completely different file organization.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/05/2025 03:45PM by poluyretan.

OK so try running kwboot with the u-boot image (u-boot.bin) from any FW version

https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?3,51739,51919#msg-51919

See if you can at least get it to run and then move on to how to flash the other parts of the FW back.

Or you can install Debian and forget about stock FW.

-bodhi
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I am using uboot from the 6.4.0 update package and will try to boot the device.
The update package also contains files for uImage/minirootfs//ubifs partitions recovery.
One question remains, where to get files to restore the 128Kb u-boot-env partition.
I ask people who have access to a similar device (rn104) to share the image of the u-boot-env partition. Further recovery of the device without this file is pointless.

poluyretan,

> One question remains, where to get files to
> restore the 128Kb u-boot-env partition.
> I ask people who have access to a similar device
> (rn104) to share the image of the u-boot-env
> partition. Further recovery of the device without
> this file is pointless.

Don't assume that is pointless. I would have not recommended you to do it if it's not a starting point for the recovery.

Even without the envs partition. You could:

1. Look at the listing of default envs for this box in the RN104 working/installation threads and reenter those, after you kwbooted the box.
2. If that stock u-boot internal envs are good enough, you could make it persistent.
3. Just being able to kwboot a stock u-boot version would be enough to install Debian and flash that u-boot version. Then run Debian permanently on USB. Have some fun and wait until somebody wiling to upload their NAND backup.

You could ask for the NAND backup in the RN104 Debian installation thread. Sometime people only set up a notification in the thread that they are interested in, and only visit the forum when there is new post.

https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?2,92514

-bodhi
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I have successfully restored my rn104 using the 6.10.3 update file. The u-boot-env partition is filled in automatically the first boot the device is turned on after the command to set the default settings in the recovery section (boot using the reset button). The device has successfully upgraded to 6.10.10 via the web interface. Many thanks to this forum for the recovery instructions!

P.S: the only drawback is the lack of a serial number of the device and the discrepancy between the MAC addresses and the actual data.
P.S.№2: flashed mac addresses and serial number via setenv=)



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 02/08/2025 02:26PM by poluyretan.

poluyretan,

> The device has successfully
> upgraded to 6.10.10 via the web interface. Many
> thanks to this forum for the recovery
> instructions!

Could you describe how did you recover this box? It would be very helpful for others if they run into the same problem.

-bodhi
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Instructions for restoring the bootloader if the flash is completely clean:
1)unpack the archive ReadyNASOS-6.10.10-arm twice. you need three files: kernel; initrd.gz; u-boot-rn104-2.0.img
2)rename u-boot-rn104-2.0 to u-boot.bin
3)format flash drive to FAT and copy this files
4)connect USB-TTL to the diagnostic pins
5)download u-boot.bin to your working folder and go to it in the terminal. install the uboot and mtdparts dependencies on your Linux.
6)on PC: kwboot -t /dev/ttyUSB0 -b ./u-boot.bin -B 115200 -p
7)plug readynas into the socket
8)Booting via kwboot should start. upon completion of 100% you will see the "Marvell>>" invitation.
8.1)connect the USB flash drive to the front port
9)Marvell>> usb start
10)Marvell>> usb tree
11)Marvell>> fatls usb 0:1 (you should see three files on the flash drive). if this does not happen, replace the flash drive with another one and repeat from step 8.1
12)Marvell>> nand erase u-boot 0x000000180000
13)Marvell>> nand erase u-boot-env 0x000000020000
14)Marvell>> mw.b 0x0000000 0xff 0x000000180000
15)Marvell>> fatload usb 0:1 0x2000000 u-boot.bin
16)Marvell>> NAND write: device 0 offset 0x000000, size 0x180000
17)Marvell>> setenv default -a
18)Marvell>> saveenv
19)Marvell>> setenv 'SerialNum' 'YOUR SERIAL NUMER'
20)Marvell>> setenv 'ethaddr' 'YOUR MAC 1 in format XX:XX...'
21)Marvell>> setenv 'eth1addr' 'YOUR MAC 2 in format XX:XX...'
22)Marvell>> saveenv
23)follow instructions for restoring user partitions in the topic: https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?3,122974

P.S: diagnostic header pinout on rear (in position the reset button is on the right)
1-2
3-4

1- rx
2- tx
3-gnd
4-not connected



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/11/2025 07:43AM by poluyretan.

poluyretan,

Nice! thanks.

-bodhi
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Added to the Wiki

Quote

Unbricking with Serial Console & JTAG console

Unbricking ReadyNAS RN104 - Tutorial 3

-bodhi
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