Buffalo NAS-Central Forums

As the title suggests I have done a drive erase from within the web interface that took 16 hours to do 4 wipe passes. When I woke up next day I was greeted by E06 (6 Red Flashes) which I was not expecting from the "erase back to factory setting to secure my data" sub-routine.

The drive is an LS-XH1.5TL-EU and has been working perfect for the last 3years with multiple firmware updates without a single glitch. It all went wrong when I wanted to erase my files to sell the drive


It seems that the factory wipe provided by Buffalo is a little too good. So what I have tried is to use TFTP Boot to put the drive into EM mode, flash with firmware and recover this way. It did not work, when it transfers the firmware and reboots it just comes back to the E06.

I have also tried to do a full partition/format wipe from debug options, then do a 2nd run without any formatting or making of new partitions as I have read you need to flash it 2x with the latest firmware. (I did even try to recover with old 1.10 FW)


As a last resort I decided to pull the drive out of the case, plug into PC and wipe the drive of the partitions.
Put it back in blank and attempt a re-install as if the drive was new... still the same E06 at the end.

It seems the boot code is missing or something like this as everything transfers to the drive, just it dies after the 1st reboot.

Only thing I have not yet tried is to put drive in PC and use a Linux boot CD to transfer over some of the boot files from the firmware: So my question is as I am not sure, is do you think this will work, and if yes... how! I am computer literate in the Microsoft World and have dabbled with Linux over the years but never quite got a complete handle on it. So I would need some great advice on what to do please if you think this will work and you have the time to show me.

Start with an empty disk (no partitions).
Use the SAME firmware version you used before.
There were some changes in the u-boot between
firmware releases, which make a downgrade very
complicated (if possible at all).
Put the box in EM mode and use TFTP to recover.
Use the right (read: matching) TFTP package.

_________________
Please do not use private mail (PN/M) to ask questions. Use the proper forum instead. (me)

If there is no verified backup of a dataset, the dataset, by definition, is unimportant. (c't 2012)

RAID (no matter which level) never ever substitutes a backup. (me)

Thanks for the assistance so far.

The firmware is a bit of a mess: I think it was on 1.56 or 1.65
EU = 1.56
USA = 1.60
JP = 1.65

I only updated it via "online" so I am not sure now which one it had loaded.

The TFTP Package I used was: TFTP Boot Recovery LS-XL 1.00.exe so not sure if I need to use another version but that I assume is the correct one.
It transfers the files to allow it to boot in EM mode, then LS Updater can see the drive and transfer the firmware so I assume that the TFTP is doing its job.

Your box is NOT a XL it is a XHL. That is
a different beast.
Get a TFTP package for the XHL.
Someone somewhen posted a TFTP package for current Kirkwood
boxes like the CHLv2, the XHL and the VL somewhere in this forum.
Maybe you can give this a try, if you can't manage to get a TFTP
package for the XHL from Buffalo themselves.

_________________
Please do not use private mail (PN/M) to ask questions. Use the proper forum instead. (me)

If there is no verified backup of a dataset, the dataset, by definition, is unimportant. (c't 2012)

RAID (no matter which level) never ever substitutes a backup. (me)

Indeed I am aware my box is not XL, just that was all I could see on Buffalo's site
Did have a look at the readme file on their FTP and I could not find anything of help.

But thanks to you pushing me to re-check about the TFTP package I came across this thread in German from oxygen8
http://forum.nas-hilfe.de/buffalo-technology-nas-anleitungen/anleitung-tftp-und-firmware-flashen-mit-bildern-t903.html - Translate if you need, but I just was interested in the TFTP package in section 4. TFTP 1.53


I only have Windows 8 machines here, so I can confirm I did not need to have XP to perform the recovery. I will write up quickly what I had to do to recover the system.
1. Wipe the hard drive (I had nothing I needed saving) so that it has no partitions.
2. Disabled firewall/Anti-virus.
3. Set LAN IP to 192.168.11.1 / Set Subnet Mask to 255.255.255.0
4. Connect up the NAS to the machine's LAN port and start the TFTP package.
5. Wait for the NAS to load up and when the light starts to flash RED 6 times you can press the function button to transfer the recovery package.
6. Edit the LSUpdater.ini file to make the following changes:

VersionCheck = 0
NoFormatting = 0
[SpecialFlags]
Debug = 1

Save file and then open the firmware updater.
7. NOTE: For me the IP address of the NAS changed from 192.168.11.150 to 169.254.xxx.xxx!!!
At this point, there is no point in trying to update firmware... edit your LAN IP address to 169.254.11.1 and subnet mask to 255.255.0.0 then open again LSUpdater!
8. Open up LSUpdater program and click as usual on the golden rings to bring up the debug menu, then tick all the config buttons just like oxygen8's picture at position 10.
9. It should then warn you about formatting the drive, at this point press YES and allow it to transfer.
10. After a few minutes it should reboot, and then give you the E06 (6 red flashes)
You now need to set your IP address to 192.168.11.1 and subnet to 255.255.255.0 and open again your TFTP package and press the function button, it should transfer the 2 files again and then you should see the light after a minute or so flash amber with 2 flashes followed by 5 meaning it is updating the firmware... it took a few minutes to reboot and flashing blue before it came back with a solid blue light.

Shutdown the NAS and connect back up normally to your router etc and then login to verify you have a functioning drive.




Thanks to those that gave help in this... just note if you ERASE your NAS then this will happen.