BlackArmor NAS Network Storage Server

[winci13]

OK every time I try to access the NAS with Internet Explorer it shows this message XML error: no wixnas object found!.

Here is all I did before It starter showing the message.

Installed Blackarmored Discovery in my pc. Connected the NAS to my PC. I clicked on Manage, it opened IE and started setting the NAS (IP Address, Name, etc). After I finished with general setup I began adding/creating some users and groups, I added 3 groups and 26 users in total.

Up to this point everything was working great. When I added the last user (#26) IE freezed, I waited for like 10 minutes and it was still freezed so I tried to turn off the NAS but it didn't turned off, I pressed the power button for 5-10 seconds and it didn't do anything so I disconected it fromn the power source, waited a few minutes, reconected the NAS to the power source and I just couldn't find it on the network with the IP I configure it.

I decided to reset it pressing the reset button on the back of the NAS. I connected the NAS on my PC and I found it with its original IP using Blackarmor Discovery, it had all the users I created, but when I click on Manage, IE shows the message: XML error: no wixnas object found!.

Any Idea what could be the problem ??? I have worked and setup 2 other NAS before and they are working great, this is the first time I've seen this problem.

[Sector]

I did a search and found:

http://forums.seagate.com/t5/BlackArmor-NAS-Network-Storage/more-errors-on-the-NAS-now-when-I-try-an...

http://forums.seagate.com/t5/BlackArmor-NAS-Network-Storage/NAS-110-Not-Mounting/m-p/54489

It sounds like, from these threads, the NAS need replacement. Hope this helps and I'm sorry to hear about your issues.

There was also this thread but no one from support responded.

http://forums.seagate.com/t5/BlackArmor-NAS-Network-Storage/XML-error-no-wixnas-object-found/td-p/68...

[RAsg]

My guess is no matter what browser you try you still receive an XML error:  

The Manager page runs from the NAS and for some reason may have been corrupted. This is a rare occurrence and it wasn't anything you did.  

I agree with Sector that you should return the NAS to the place of purchase for another one.

If it is too late or not possible to return the NAS contact Seagate Warranty Support as soon as possible and have the NAS serial number ready.  They can help with replacement.

Click Here for Seagate Contact Information

[dherrington]

I encountered this exact same problem after I tried to backup my BlackArmor NAS 440 device to an external USB drive.  I specified "/" as the destination for the backup, thinking that meant the root directory of my USB drive, but I think a bug in the backup program caused data to be copied to the device's root directory, corrupting some internal files on it.

I tried rebooting the device, but that didn't fix the problem.  To make matters worse, now I couldn't mount any of the shares on my Mac (my main computer) to make backup copies of my files.  I could mount the shares on my other Windows XP computer using the BlackArmor Discovery utility, and I could browse through all of the directories on the device and see all of the filenames, but I would get a network error if I tried to actually open a file.  Okay, time to call Seagate.

Seagate Support had me try resetting the device by pressing the reset button on the back with a paperclip, but this didn't fix the problem.  Now, they are recommending a factory reset, which they say will wipe out all of my data (I'm running a RAID 5 configuration).  I explained that the reason that I am having this problem in the first place is because I was trying to backup my data to an external USB drive, so I still need to figure out a way to get the data off the drives, before doing a factory reset.  The tech support rep mentioned that I could try connecting the drive to a Linux box via the network connection, to see if that would work, but he could provide no additional details.  He also referred me to Seagate's Data Recovery services for assistance, which is a paid, premium service.

Before trading in my first born for data recovery services, I decided to follow the Linux lead and tried accessing the box from a Linux machine.  First, I tried FTP.  I could connect to the device, but I couldn't see any files.

Next, I figured I would give NFS a try.  I ran the "showmount" command:

showmount -e [nas ip address]

This gave me back my list of NAS shares in the format:

/[volume name]/[share name]

So far, so good.  I could see all of my NAS shares.  I recall that I (luckily) enabled my NAS shares for NFS access, when I first configured the device.  Next, I tried mounting one of the shares:

mount -t nfs [nas ip address]:/[volume name]/[share name] /mnt

Cool.  It worked.  I tried a copy of one of the files on the NAS to the Linux box's /tmp directory.  Sweet!  That worked, too.

Since I have lots of extra space connected to my Windows XP box, I downloaded Microsoft Windows Services for Unix 3.5, which has an NFS client for Windows, at:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=896c9688-601b-44f1-81a4-02878ff11778&Dis...

I installed it, rebooted Windows XP, and I was able to NFS mount my NAS shares from a Windows command prompt using the command:

mount [nas ip address]/[volume name]/[share name] *

Windows automatically assigned the next available drive letter.

I am now in the process of copying all of my data onto backup drives using Windows Explorer.  It's going to take over 24 hours, but it's well worth it to save the data.

After that, I'll try the factory reset, to see if that works.  Otherwise, I'll have to have Seagate replace the device.

[dherrington]

This is an update to my recovery progress.  I was able to get all of my data off the drive using NFS.  I'm glad that I enabled NFS access, when I first configured my device!

I figured out that the device does not need to be replaced.  Here is what I had to do to restore it to it's factory settings:

I had to make my drives "fresh" again by deleting the partitions on them.  Otherwise, I was getting a "Foreign Disk" error.  This was tricky, because the partitions were "GPT protected" partitions, which Windows will not let you delete.  I had to connect the drives to a Mac using an external USB drive enclosure and use the Mac's Disk Utility program to re-partition the drives using the MBR option.  (I believe there are some other ways to do this on the PC, if you Google "delete GPT partition windows".)  Here are the steps I did:

1.  In the Disk Utility Partition tab, select Volume Scheme: 1 Partition.

2.  Then, Click on Options... and select Master Boot Record.

3.  Click OK.

4.  Select Format: MS-DOS (FAT) and clicked Apply.

5.  Click Partition in the warning window.

6.  Click Eject, once the partitioning is complete.

Then, I connected the drive to my PC using the USB drive enclosure, and I brought up the Computer Management window (right-click My Computer and select Manage), and went into the Disk Management window under Storage.  I right-clicked the drive partition and deleted it.  It said the disk was in use, so I had to click "Yes" to force the delete.

I did this process for all 4 of my 2TB drives.  Then, I put 1 drive into Slot 1 of the BlackArmor NAS and powered it up.  It went ahead and initialized the filesystem on the drive, and the device came up just like it was brand new!  And best of all, no more "no wixnas object found" error!  I was able to connect to the device via a web browser and reconfigure it.

I then added the other 3 drives to the device, and configured the device just as I did originally, when I first received the device.

Again, don't forget to enable NFS access!  That was the only way I was able to get my data copied of the device, after the failure!

Good luck!

-Dave

[dherrington]

Here is a follow-up to my issue.

After the reconfiguration, I did the Firmware Auto-Update procedure using the web interface.  It updated me to Firmware Update - 4000.1101.  Here is some information on that update:

http://www.seagate.com/staticfiles/support/downloads/blackarmor-be/BlackArmor%20NAS%20November%20201...

http://bigbruin.com/content/bafirmware_1

This update didn't seem to fix the NAS-to-USB backup bug, so I did some more research.  I found a more recent update that is available, but it must be manually applied:

BlackArmor NAS – February 2011 Firmware Update

Release Date:

February 17, 2011

http://www.seagate.com/staticfiles/support/products/blackarmor/docs/ReleaseNotesBANAS.doc.pdf

From the release notes, it appeared that this update would fix the NAS-to-USB backup bug that caused my failure in the first place.

Here are the Manual Installation Instructions for this recent update, which include the link to download the update img file:

http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?locale=en-US&name=ba-firmware&vgnextoid=773ea5c909230210VgnVCM...

Both of these updates were simple to apply, only taking a few minutes each.

Following the application of the February 17, 2011 update, I tested the NAS-to-USB backup, and it worked properly.

-Dave

[disjointed]

Hello there,
 
I realize this thread is quite old but I just wanted to say a big thank you to Dherrington for the information posted here, it helped me greatly in getting my Blackarmor 3TB 110 NAS back up and running. The situation was the same as dherringtons, I tried to perform a NAS to USB backup and stated / as the destination which resulted in the XML error: no wixnas object found!. Fortunately I had a full backup already spread over 2 internal drives which the new USB drive was to replace.
 
Having read this thread I performed the following steps to get things working. (This process is how I got things working on MY NAS, it will invalidate your warranty, restore to factory defaults losing any data on the drive so follow at your own risk)
 
0. I initially tried to restore to factory defaults by following the official process, which failed to even start after the initial reboot.
http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?locale=en-US&name=nas-factory-default&vgnextoid=5fbad939812732...
 
1. As the 110 NAS is not supposed to be user serviceable I followed to the below guide to get into it and remove the physical disk.
http://crapnas.blogspot.com/2010/04/opening-box.html
 
2. Hooked up the drive to one of the internal sata connections in my Windows 7 workstation but I imagine a USB enclosure would be just fine.
 
3. Launch Disk Management through administrative tools or by launching diskmgmt.msc from the run prompt and identify the correct disk from the NAS.
 
4. You should see a number of partitions on the disk you've identified from the NAS, right click on each of these and delete each of them, leaving the disk with completely unallocated space.
 
5. Remove/unplug the drive, powering down where necessary and reattached to the NAS.
 
6. Reassemble your NAS, plug it in and power it up and you should see the disk activity and system status light flashing, this should now be restoring the factory defaults. I left this running whilst I went to work and when I came home it was completed and I was once again able to access my NAS, albeit with 2TB of data to restore to it. It's been running fine now for a few days and I consider the matter resolved.

Regards

Dee