I’ve just acquired a faulty Unitiserve (aka. “US”) 2TB; the seller tried changing the CMOS battery but that didn’t fix it.
I’ve bought it home and plugged in a monitor(VGA connector) & keyboard (USB connector); I booted (pressing the Del key) it into the BIOS screen and set the date & time and set the Naim defaults option, saved and exited.
But when it starts it reports an error:
Verifying DMI Pool Data …
DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER
I’m guessing that means the HDD is kaput.
I did try the BIOS option to reset to Naim defaults, but still got the error.
So, my choices are:
1. Pay Naim £400 to sort it (that's a no).
2. See if I can repair the drive, via another PC (unlikely).
3. Get a new 2TB HDD or SSD to replace the faulty one and load the Naim software onto it.
3.1 See if I can get a disk image from Naim to restore it to working.
3.2 -or- see if I can get a disk image from someone else.
3.3 -or- get another Unitiserve and clone the disk.
4. Repurpose the unit with Linux/Kodi* (I'm not sure it has sufficient horsepower & RAM though).
5. Perhaps replacing the innards with a more up to date mobo would be appropriate, as the US one's 10+ years old; one with integral WiFi and an NVMe SSD slot.
I currently use Linux/Kodi on a Dell micro PC with a 2TB SSD to share flac* files to my NDX & MuSo Qb.
**I use Exact Audio Copy (EAC) to rip my CDs, running in a Windows VM.
Yes, too slow to be used as a full time interactive desktop environment, but works fine as a media server. Had this for a while as an experiment really, now back in box.
Option 3 doesn’t work. Naim just won’t ever supply the disk image, at least that’s what was the situation the many other times people have asked them. And the hard disk, the software on it and the mother board have to be paired in a process that was described by Naim in a posting here a few year’s back. I forget the details now, but it described a one time opportunity that if not done correctly meant was not easy to repeat. I think it was @NeilS or maybe @Stevesky who wrote the post, the purpose of which was to explain that just cloning the faulty disk, or another US disk, wouldn’t work.
Anyway good luck. I’m sure lots of people will be interested if you succeed.
Well, I’ve been trying to look at the disk via a USB docking station, but that’s not getting me where I need; all I see is one 3.9GB partition and nothing can read it (Windows and Linux).
I’m going to try putting it into another PC I have and connecting to SATA; if no luck there then the drive has had it.
I’m not hearing nasty noises from the drive as it starts/spins, so I’m guessing the issue is with its controller board rather than the disk platters themselves; however, trying replacing that is probably a rabbit-hole I don’t want to go down.
So, Naim do have an image they clone from, but they just don’t consider support (other than send it in) a viable option or duty; they seem to have shifted to the “just buy one of our more recent products” business model.
As has been explained there is a specific order of operations that has to be undertaken or the drive will not be adopted. This is out of scope for the average consumer.
Sure - they could provide an image and instructions on a goodwill basis and leave it to folks in these fora to share.
It’s a business choice Naim have made, but I’ve generally had blind confidence in Naim’s support over my decades of Naim ownership (starting with a Nait 1 when they first came out in the 80s).
Whilst I get that it’s old tech, the “Pay us more than it’s worth to fix it” doesn’t really live up to that.
Loyalty works both ways.
In the end, I’m going to have a network share in a black box with a green light on it; it’s just whether the innards are Naim or something else.
In the interim, I’ll have a little meandering tech journey to see how I get there.
I now think that the likely issue is the HDD’s onboard controller, so I’m going to pop in to a local repair shop to see about a replacement part.
It’s an OEM license from Microsoft. It has to be provided on a hard drive or they are in breach of OEM license distribution.
I must say, I’m sort of keen on getting my hands on a pristine but knackered US to retrohack. But I noticed the US is still commanding serious money on the second hand market. I saw a broken one going for $500 on a well known auction site. Working ones for $4000!!
Yes, tried those (Win & Linux respectively).
I’ve tried dd /dev/sdc
I went to a PC repair shop and the chap said it sounds like the disk head is sticking.
He did suggest try giving it a tap to see if that frees it, but no luck.
I think, as the saying goes, that disk is fsck’d.
So, the US becomes a project box.
This one cost me £125, so that’s not too bad for a Naim case, a slot-load CD drive, and a power supply.
I think it’s the end of the road for the hard disk and the obsolete mobo…
…and on to the new-pc-in-a-naim-box project.
I cannot remember whats inside but I think its a pretty standard internal 24 pin connection for the mobo, plus sata power that connects to the barrel socket for incoming power, you can find these all over amazon for a few quid if you need another one.
For a standard mobo to fit you will need to adjust the case though, I seem to recall the height was right for a standard IO shield but its not wide enough.