Hard Drive Problem with WHS and Acer EasyStore H340
- Hello:
I'm desperate here. . . My small law office bought an Acer H340 - it came with 1TB storage. I set it up and pretty much everything was working perfectly - copied over all files from old server, had access with all 5 computers, etc . . .
Just received another 1 TB hard drive which I was going to set up as folder duplication. Tried to add the drive and got the message "Drive partitioning and restart required", under that it reads, " The drive does not seem to have a partition. Please create a partition and restart WHS before trying to add the drive."
I ran a search on here and found this thread:
http://social.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/whssoftware/thread/f81ea5dc-35fc-49f1-bee3-158695c461eb
I managed to log onto the Acer Server and went into disk management.
I think I screwed up at that point.
I was looking at the two drives on the server and I think I chose the wrong one. They both showed as partitioned, one was unallocated. Rather than creating a partition (which seemed rather pointless since both drives read "partitioned"), I chose to make a partition active (I fear I accidentally chose the wrong drive) and then closed disk management and the remote console. I then restarted the Acer Server.
Or I should say I attempted to restart the server. . . several times. . .
The power light is on. The "i" is blinking. The hard drive light comes on briefly and then doesn't come on at all.
Normal power off on the Acer is by holding down the power button for 4 seconds. Now it goes off if I simply touch the power button for a 1/2 second.
If I try to log into WHS, I get a long message which starts "This computer cannot connect to your home server. Check your network connection. . ."
Remote desktop can't connect for similar reason.
I have access to the rest of the network and the internet, so I don't think it's a network problem.
Any ideas?
Thanks
Rob
All Replies
- Oh yeah - the Server doesn't show either hard drive on the external lights.
- The most likely option for getting the server running again is going to be to go through Acer's server recovery process, which should be described in the documentation you received with the server.
I'm not on the WHS team, I just post a lot. :) - Thanks - Tried the recovery . . . Cannot contact the server. Thus, cannot recover. Removed the 2nd drive and the 1st drive will still not show up on the external light of the server.
- Edited byrobwbright Friday, July 31, 2009 4:08 PM
- By making the partition (probably on the main drive) active, did it essentially make the WHS unusable?
- It shouldn't have bricked your server. Did you put the server itself into recovery mode?
Do you have data on your server which can't be replaced? If not, you may want to remove the system drive from your server, connect it to another PC, and delete all the partitions on that drive. Then put it back in the server and try another recovery. Also, given that this is an OEM device, you should be able to call Acer for support.
I'm not on the WHS team, I just post a lot. :) - On the phone with ACER right now. Sounds like India. . . Thus far, not much help from them, although they've been quite friendly.
We transferred 20+ gig of legal documents to the Server. I still have the originals (minus the last 24 hours), so I can do what you have recommended without hurting us too much. I suspected that's what I was going to need to do.
Thanks again. I do wish ACER had an online forum like this - this is far more efficient than phone calls with persons with heavy accents. - BTW, I'm not sure how to put the server into recovery mode as I cannot access the server at all.
- Cannot find the server at all on the network - thus, cannot restore to factory default.
I'm at a loss. It appears that sending the server off to Acer is the only fix - and it's only three days old.- Proposed As Answer byFoden Sunday, August 16, 2009 4:28 PM
- I'm fairly certain there is a manual reset to factory defualts procedure. Did you try reading the back of the manual? I don't have it on me at the moment, but I think you can press some things physically on the server to reset it.
To recover the home server:
1 Place the Aspire easyStore H340 Server Recovery DVD in the DVD
drive of a computer connected to the network.
Or, double-click on the Acer ServerRecovery Utility.exe file to
begin installation. The Server Recovery window appears.
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2 Click Next.
3 Read the End-User License Agreement. If you agree with the terms
of the agreement, then select the “I accept the terms of the user
license agreement” option button.
4 Click Next.
5 Uninstall the Acer Aspire easyStore H340 and Windows Home
Server Connector from your computer.
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6 Troubleshooting
6 Recover the home server.
(1) Hold down the power button for 4 seconds to turn off the
home server.
(2) Press the power button to turn it on.
(3) Turn the system around so that you have access to the back of
the unit.
(4) Insert the end of an unfolded paperclip into the opening, and
then press and hold the recovery/reset button with the
paperclip end.
7 Click Next.
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8 Select the “Server Recovery: Use this option to recover from a
system failure. You will lose your system settings and user
accounts. Data recovery will be attempted. (Recommended)”
option button.
9 Click Next and follow all onscreen instructions until you finish
recovery process.
To restore the home server to factory default setting:
1 Place the Server Recovery DVD in the DVD drive of a computer
connected to the network.
Or, double-click on the Acer ServerRecovery Utility.exe file to
begin installation. The Server Recovery window appears.
2 Click Next.
3 Read the End-User License Agreement. If you agree with the terms
of the agreement, then select the “I accept the terms of the user
license agreement” option button.
4 Click Next.
5 Uninstall the Acer Aspire easyStore H340 and Windows Home
Server Connector from your computer.
122
6 Troubleshooting
6 Recover or reset the home server:
(1) Hold down the power button for 4 seconds to turn off the
home server.
(2) Press the power button to turn it on.
(3) Turn the system around so that you have access to the back of
the unit.
(4) Insert the end of an unfolded paperclip into the opening, and
then press and hold the recovery/reset button with the
paperclip end.
7 Click Next.
8 Select the “Factory Reset: Use this option to restore factory
defaults. All your data and settings will be erased” option button.
9 Click Next and follow all onscreen instructions until you finish
restore process.
Cannot find the server at all on the network - thus, cannot restore to factory default.
I'm at a loss. It appears that sending the server off to Acer is the only fix - and it's only three days old.
I guess this may be a little late for you now, but may help others in a similar position. I also had an issue that required me to recover my Acer Aspire Easystore H340. No matter what I did, following the instructions to the letter, could i locate the server. I tried from a number of machines and none worked. After number ous failed connections I decried to start experimenting with the start-up process to put the server into recovery mode. To cut a LONG story short, Acer's instructions are WRONG!!!!
Here’s what you have to do
1. Run the Server recovery CD on a PC and follow the instructions with regards to removing software (IGNORE THE REST FOR NOW)
2. Turn off the Acer, hold power button for 4 seconds
3. Using a paper-clip, or similar, push in the recovery button on the back of the unit and KEEP it pressed in WHILST you turn on the unit
4. If you have done this correctly the i will flash RED on the front of the unit
5. WAIT patiently until you see the network icon, on the front of the unit, flash BLUE
6. Now you can press the NEXT button on the Server Recovery Software and it WILL find the server very quickly
7. Follow the instructions now from the Server Recovery Software. It DOES take a long time to recover (best part of 1 hour on a Gigabit network). Shame they didn’t put the 3Gb image on the 1Tb drive to save time!!!
Hope that helps someone save a few days of struggle
PS Acer support are useless- Proposed As Answer byvris Monday, August 31, 2009 6:18 PM
- Wow... Thanks so much Foden. Amazing how well written instructions make a world of difference... Worked Beautifully. The easystore server could not be found for recovery till I followed those instruction:
3. Using a paper-clip, or similar, push in the recovery button on the back of the unit and KEEP it pressed in WHILST you turn on the unit
4. If you have done this correctly the i will flash RED on the front of the unit
5. WAIT patiently until you see the network icon, on the front of the unit, flash BLUE
Thanks SOOOOO Much - Gosh, THANK YOU so much. I've been fighting this very issue for over a day now. Currently restoring the system and hope to get it up and running soon.
- In the same boat, but any attempt to restore the server comes back to the same password prompt. I'm running the server restore from Windows 7. Any problem with that?? I've tried both the "Server Restore" option AND the "Factory Defaults" - on my 4th time.
I got the blinking "i" light, the network LED is blue, the "restoring server" progress bar proceeds until it says "Finish" & I click Next & then Finish & it reboots the server & I am right back where I started!
Dang this is frustrating!!! - Unfortunately, after several minor variations of the above directions I kept getting a message stating something similar to "broken, send back to vendor for repair). So I mailed it back and am waiting for it to return. I did have it up and running for about an hour before it failed, during that time I was quite happy with it. I hope I can get more than an hour's use out of it when it returns.
Yep, second the motion--this is frustrating!!! - Great write-up,
I get to the same point though, red light on, network light finally on, but still - server not found. grrr... - Thank you very much for the info, your a genius! All my problems were solved. Acer was no help. On hold forever. Then bounced all over then hung up on, nice eh. Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- I can't thank you enough! I had wasted 4hrs trying to follow the SIMPLE instructions given by the s/w - had my rebuild started in 4 minutes with yours.
One minor revision - on #4 (wait for flashing red led) - is correct - clip/pen/etc can be removed once the light is flashing red - hand almost fell off after three mins. - If I "Restore" my WHS will I lose all my data? What is the difference between Restore and Recover?
I am having a problem where the WHS Console and RDC will not let me in. It lets me connect but when I enter my username and password it will fail at logging in. If I "Restore" my WHS will I lose all my data? What is the difference between Restore and Recover?
I am having a problem where the WHS Console and RDC will not let me in. It lets me connect but when I enter my username and password it will fail at logging in.
You would have to check with Acer to find which term represents which mode, but there should be 2 different recovery modes: 1 which wipes the OS partition, but leaves everything else alone, the other which wipes everything. For OEM the options are Server Reinstallation (wipes only the OS) and New Installation (wipes everything). The HP MSS call them Server Recovery and Factory Reset, respectively.In the same boat, but any attempt to restore the server comes back to the same password prompt. I'm running the server restore from Windows 7. Any problem with that?? I've tried both the "Server Restore" option AND the "Factory Defaults" - on my 4th time.
I'm getting the same issue, however with Win XP 32bit on the clients.
I got the blinking "i" light, the network LED is blue, the "restoring server" progress bar proceeds until it says "Finish" & I click Next & then Finish & it reboots the server & I am right back where I started!
Dang this is frustrating!!!Powers on - hard drives are running - blue flashing "i" - network doesn't light up - hard drive bay lights don't light upI did the recovery method with the paper clip, after about 15min of red flashing "i" the network was finally connected, OS re-installed, asked to reboot.....annnnnd back to square 1:Powers on - hard drives are running - blue flashing "i" - network doesn't light up - hard drive bay lights don't light upVery frustrating as just this morning I transfered my entire collection of digital pics to the server.
