HCHTech
Well-Known Member
- Reaction score
- 4,213
- Location
- Pittsburgh, PA - USA
A client had his 3.5 year old Synology DS415+ die a couple of weeks ago. Data was still good, but the unit itself would power on to a blinking blue light on the power button and flashing amber lights on all 4 drive indicators. This is a motherboard problem and Synology support confirmed they were over the 3-year warranty (which was extended over the normal 2 year period because of this very problem), so no choice but to replace the unit.
We restored their backups to a spare computer to get them working and then ordered & installed a new DS918+ and migrated the data and settings using the same drives from the failed unit. Customer was happy, although down $600.
Once the dust had settled, I found this was a VERY common problem on DS415s. There is a 15-page thread on their support forums about the problem (an issue with the stepping voltage of the Atom CPU, apparently). Luckily for me, the fix was also very simple. This Youtube video documents the process, but basically, I spent 10 minutes (Ok, I spent 30 minutes disassembling the thing, then 24 hours waiting on the resistor to arrive from Amazon) soldering a $0.05 resistor to a specific set of leads on the motherboard and the unit now powers up and acts normally. I'd never recommend this kind of fix to a client, but I'm more than happy to put this unit with a slightly-checkered history to use in the shop. Apparently this is the very fix that Synology did for the units that failed under warranty.
We restored their backups to a spare computer to get them working and then ordered & installed a new DS918+ and migrated the data and settings using the same drives from the failed unit. Customer was happy, although down $600.
Once the dust had settled, I found this was a VERY common problem on DS415s. There is a 15-page thread on their support forums about the problem (an issue with the stepping voltage of the Atom CPU, apparently). Luckily for me, the fix was also very simple. This Youtube video documents the process, but basically, I spent 10 minutes (Ok, I spent 30 minutes disassembling the thing, then 24 hours waiting on the resistor to arrive from Amazon) soldering a $0.05 resistor to a specific set of leads on the motherboard and the unit now powers up and acts normally. I'd never recommend this kind of fix to a client, but I'm more than happy to put this unit with a slightly-checkered history to use in the shop. Apparently this is the very fix that Synology did for the units that failed under warranty.
