N299 set up

[Patrick]

Hi please help i just purchased this device and added two sata drives. I connected the N299 to my router (at home) via the ethernet as instructed.

However when i power up the first light (like exclamation mark) lights up orange then after a minute or so the unit BEEPS.

Anyone got any ideas what this means and how to set this thing up

Thanks

[ppgg]

Hi,
have a look at the User Manual where the lights are described. Does the orange light remain lit?
Here it beeps after ending boot sequence and the orange light turns off. The system then is operational.

Bye
Peter

[Patrick]

Hi Peter

Thanks very much for your reply.

I tried to find the lights in the online user manual (but could not unfortunately). However the orange light is constant for 1minute (ish) then it turns off and the unit bleeps.

But when i scan fro the drive through the Thecus software it doesnt detect it anywhere. Maybe i am not connecting it properly.

I have the ethernet wired to my router but i dont connect the unit to the PC in any other way (only through the router)

Any further advice would be greatfully appreciated

Thanks

Patrick

[Mark]

Hi,

It sounds to me like things are working.

When you start the N299, it does take about a minute to boot up (never actually timed it), and then beeps as if to say "ready".

If you cannot detect the unit on the network, I suspect you may have things cabled incorrectly?

The manual states the default IP address for the N299, which is 192.168.1.100. You need to make sure you could get to this on your local network.

Mark.

[Patrick]

Hi Mark

Thanks I am really stupid on this side unfortunately.

I thought the blue light should be on to indicate the HD had been detected.

You mention i should set the LAN to detect this IP i guess as well as the IP for the router/modem. Can you give me a brief lesson how and where to enter this IP please - i hate to play with this type of thing in case i loose everything as my cable provider is never much help to get it all back.

Thanks if you or anyone else has time

Regards

Patrick

[ppgg]

Hi Patrick,
ok, as I suspected your n299 is behaving normally and waiting for some work ...
The network thing is simple... ok, it should be simple by using the Thecus program because it should detect the drive even if there are different subnets. It didn't here either. As I am using rather unusual subnets it seemed no big deal just changing the network address to setup the NAS as I have mostly been forced when setting up routers or other network devices defaulting to 192.168.1.x or something like that. Didn't work this time. Before going crazy I switched the network cable to the other network port and bingo: Works as expected. The ports are named WAN and LAN and have different default settings. Unexpectedly (for me at least) the LAN port is _NOT_ the one defaulting to the mentioned 192.168.1.100, it defaults to 192.168.2.254.
Of course it is completely indifferent which port to use. Now I am using the WAN port (after changing the IP to something within my subnet) which is the upper of the both ports! Perhapy simply switch the cable to the other port and try again if the thecus tool will detect it.
If it won't you have to go the harder way and change the IP of your network card. Go to the properties of the network connection where you will find some protocols and open the properties of tcpip. There you can choose between automatic (DHCP) or manual assignment of the IP address. Remember what the working settings are (simple if it is automatic otherwise write it down) and assign manually a static IP within the subnet of the N299 (eg. if the n299 still defaults to 192.168.1.100 take something like 192.168.1.110, a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0, the gateway doesn't matter for now, you may set it to anything in the subnet). You maybe forced to reboot after the change. Anyway control the assignment by opening a command window and entering "ipcconfig -all" (without the quotes). You should see the assigned IP mentioned with your network card. As you are there try pinging the n299 by "ping 192.168.1.100" (change the IP if it not the default one). It should be reachable and then you can access it with the thecus tool and your browser with "http://192.168.1.100/". Remember to configure the raid and go through the firmware update before transferring data. And remember to assign an IP address within your subnet and change back the IP address of your network card after that. Of course you will loose contact to the n299 when assigning a new IP within your subnet and regain contact when reassigning the - hopefully - matching former IP.
HTH

Regards
Peter

[ppgg]

Hi Patrick,
just forgot one thing: Regarding the lights have a look at page 10 of the user manual (not the installation sheet!) on the cd ;D... the description of the "system status LED" seems clear enough:

Blinking orange: system is starting up
Blinking red: system error
Off: system startup complete; system operating normally

Regards
Peter

[Patrick]

Hi Peter

I did what you suggested and changed the TCIP - IP address and it wouldnt detect it through the Thecus find software but did through the browser? GREAT - Then i rebooted and it didnt detect it no more AHHHHH!. However i pushed the reset switch on the back of the box and great it found it through the software but guess what wouldnt through the browser this time.

I went through the set up etc then it said click go to browser i did this and it states "no internet connection". I had a similar problem with a wireless router i purchased before .

I am now very baffled because it knows it is there - but i cannot get to where i need to be to config it now

You have been a great help so far any further words of wisdom - by the way i ping it and it works.

The only other thing i can thing to do is to change the IP/Subnet and Mask address that appears during the set up (through the software) - i set it to auto detect DHCP then put my IP to auto detect in TCIP?

One more thing should i be changing the IP on the 1394 connection as well as the LAN in my network settings?

Sorry and thanks

Patrick

[PPGG]

Hi Patrick,
ok, don't mind the Thecus tool if you can reach the box with the browser though it seems a bit strange to me.
Perhaps we should try to be a bit more concrete and have a look at the IP addresses. If your network card and the box are within the same subnet there should be no problem in accessing the box via the browser (and the thecus tool which should detect it independently of different subnet should detect it as well...). When you lost contact after reboot (rebooting the PC or the n299?) the reboot changed the ip of one of them. Of course contact will be lost after rebooting the n299 if you changed the IP of the n299 because it will come back after reboot with its new IP.
Ok, perhaps an example will clarify:

The n299 (WAN port) defaults to 192.168.1.100. If your subnet is different e. g. 192.168.20.x and your network card according to that has an IP of e. g. 192.168.20.10 you will not be able to reach the n299 with your browser. If you change your network card IP to e. g. 192.168.1.10 (same subnet as the n299) you should be able to reach the box. You should then change the IP of the box to something in your usual subnet e. g. 192.168.20.100, reboot the box and of course now you can't reach is because now the box is in your usual subnet but your network card is not. So you have to change back the IP of your network card (perhaps your PC has to be rebooted for the IP changes to have effect) and then you have:

PC network card: 192.168.20.10
N299: 192.168.20.100

Both are in the same subnet (assuming standard network mask of 255.255.255.0) and should have contact without problems by using the IP of the n299 (of course you can add IP and name of n299 to your hosts file and access it by name instead of IP).

This is using static IP as I don't use DHCP in my small home network. Setting the n299 to getting the IP by DHCP should work too (of course first you need access to the n299 for changing the setting...) and if your network card is set to getting the IP by DHCP to there should be no problem.

I don't understand the "no internet connection" error because accessing the n299 in your local network doesn't require any internet access and private networks (as 192.168.x.x) are known for that. I suspect there is still a problem with the IP settings...

What IP does your N299 have? And which IP has your network card?

The 1394 connection is another "network" connection which means your firewire adapter. If you have a bluetooth or wlan adapter or another network card there might be even more network connections. Only the LAN connection of your network card connected with your network (router, switch, hub) where the n299 is connected is important. And of course any network adapter has to have its own IP (if tcpip is setup for this adapter).

Regards
Peter

[gwynner]

Hi Patrick, something else to try is to remove the two drives and plug the unit straight into your computer - the steps are outlined in the troubleshooting section of the manual. I bought a Thecus at the weekend and put two 500gig seagate Baracudas in it. Initial attempts to get the thing running were met with failure but removing the drives and logging in via a browser showed it to be working. I finally tracked my problem down to the 60W psu that ships with it, it just wasn't meaty enough to get the drives to spin up and consequently the quick start wizard couldn't find them. I swapped the psu for an 80W one that I had lying around and the Thecus has been running fine with the drives since.

[Patrick]

Thanks all you have been very helpful

I now have the Thecus being recognised - but only through the web browser , thats better than what i had

However i cant get it to act like a second drive - eg i cant map the drive as the book suggests. It is a nightmare to work through all the problems.

I want to be able to move a load of files at once - drag and drop and leave it - but i cant

It does accept data but it is slow and arduos eg one file at a time.

Any ideas? could it be the power supply do you think?

My friend suggested creating a folder on it and mapping the folder but i have no idea how to go around doing this.

Regards

Patrick

[ppgg]

Hi Patrick,
sounds to me your problem is with your network preferences not with the n299. You should always be able to see the n299 in your network environment the same as any other PC in your network. I don't know the names used in english versions but you should have a look at your network environment where with other shares the n299 should be visible if UPNP is activated. In any case you should see it by looking at the list of the computers of your working group which is the same as using "net view" in a command window. Can you see other computers in your network this way? If not netbios (over tcpip) might be deactivated or not installed.
Here all shares on the n299 are shown in the network environment and the n299 itself too. And of course I can copy directories or multiple files there by drag and drop, using the clipboard or in a command window. There must be something wrong with your network installation or preferences. Perhaps you have some sort of software installed blocking something (personal firewall etc.)?

Bye
Peter