Curious Case of the NAS Power Button and the Random Shutdowns

Good evening all,

Some bad news incoming, as you may or may not have experienced, the media server has been unavailable at random intervals. This would be due to a curious problem being experienced with the NAS that contains a bulk of the media on the network. The NAS consists of two units, a main fully featured NAS with a SAS card installed, and a secondary “dumb” chassis with a SAS based interface. Given that QNAP features on the main unit enable the system to detect when one or the other disappears and stops the flow of data temporarily however the issue isn’t that the secondary unit isn’t going down, it’s the main unit.

The expansion unit features a rocker style power switch on the rear however the NAS main unit utilizes a button rather than a switch.

Recently the dehumidifier used to keep humidity down around the equipment died and a replacement has subsequently been arranged however the issue began around this time so I suspect from what I can see with the cover off, there is a small board behind the power button and I can see where some dust may have accumulated and become moist.

QNAP support has been very helpful with regards to the issue and have been provided with an array of logs to sift through. The latest of which were submitted to engineering on Friday afternoon so here’s hoping to hear back early next week.

Tonight I plan to bring everything down when traffic slows to reduce the disruption (sorry you other night owls out there) perhaps around 3:00 AM or so on November 29th, 2020, to disassemble the chassis of the main unit as carefully as I can to see if I can clean the button or repair it somehow.

One idea is if the board behind the power button connects to the main unit, if I unplug it, as the logs are indicating a power button input, perhaps the issue can be isolated to the power button board rather than a soft issue.

Wish me luck.

P.S The contact forms were down for a while due to a configuration issue which has since been remediated.

-LST