QNAP NAS Failure - Anyone Gone through QNAP RMA Process?

autolux on 29/04/2020 - 10:19
Last edited 11/05/2020 - 14:15 by 1 other user

Recently had a QNAP TS-453b fail. Unit no longer turns on, fails to post, so systemboard failure likely.

Going through the RMA process with QNAP, I'm just out of warranty and the charge to even start the process is $270USD or ~$415AUD

I'm assuming thats possibly before charges to fix (parts/labour), but i dunno, let alone charges to send it Taiwan and back has gotta be around $100AUD…

Guessing I'm looking at $500-600 or so all up, plus the wait time…

Has anyone had to go through the QNAP RMA process? and have experience with the costs?

If its around $500, its close to what i paid for it so there is literally ZERO point in me doing it, i might as well just buy a new unit…

• 

  thecakeisalie on 29/04/2020 - 10:42

  Where did you buy it?

  Given the high price tag, there is a reasonable expectation for the device to last a fair chunk of time, not just the warranty period. Statutory Warranty in Australia is the best consumer right we have for goods that cost an arm and a leg and only toss you a 12/24 month warranty.

  For reference, I've had things replaced 2 years after warranty period (PS3, TV), have read about people getting fridges/washing machines sorted out as well. Can't see why the QNAP is an exception.

  • 

    autolux on 29/04/2020 - 17:06

    on ebay from an ozbargain deal, computer store in sydney. sept 2017, so about 2.5 years old.

    have contacted them, but they want me to go through the QNAP RMA process, they'll only facilitate.

    • 

      thecakeisalie on 29/04/2020 - 17:09

      If it is a computer store in Sydney, they are on the hook for the warranty, they can't pass the buck and have you fork out $100s for an RMA. 2.5 years for a NAS is atrocious, HDDs generally last far longer than that, let alone the box housing them.

      I'd really press them to do a statutory warranty claim, they can do the RMA process with their distributor. Really don't recommend bending over backwards for local companies that don't want to go through their own warranty process with the distributor.

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  JimmyF on 29/04/2020 - 12:03

  +1

  Unit no longer turns on, fails to post, so systemboard failure likely.

  Did you check the power supply? As these are the first thing that normally fails.

  • 

    vinni9284 on 29/04/2020 - 12:15

    This.

    I would check the PSU as it is very similar to a laptop PSU however with a DIN plug.

    See if you can purchase one from a PC shop or ebay.

    Cheers

    • 

      autolux on 29/04/2020 - 17:04

      i haven't yet, gonna try and get my hands on one somehow and give it a quick test before spending a fortune on replacement or RMA.

      if anyone in sydney area with a QNAP PSU wants to help me out, feel free!

      its an external psu, it has a green light on it once plugged in, and seems to be fine but yeh you're right, it could be shot and not delivering enough power to the qnap somehow. either that or something on the mainboard or the mainboard itself has died (have tried replacement known working RAM & CMOS battery). the NAS just dosent post at all, no beep nothing. status light just blinks red after 5 seconds.

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  autolux on 11/06/2020 - 20:05

  Seeing as nobody answered this, i'll answer it for any future people.

  Postage for my QNAP NAS via AusPost international standard 4-8 days was $65 for the 2.75KG package.

  The RMA cost itself, was $270USD, or $385 AUD at the exchange rate I got, this includes fixing the unit AND return shipping back to me at least… but still around $450-500 depending on exchange rate is basically the cost of these units themselves.

  • 

    antmcbane on 13/06/2020 - 09:41

    so you read your legal rights to the sydney-based computer store and got it fixed/replaced for free right?

    • 

      autolux on 17/06/2020 - 16:09

      Yes, and in person. They refused to do anything and stopped responding.

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  JediNite77 on 24/09/2021 - 17:25

  @autolux,

  I have a similar unit to yours (TS-453Be) and purchased in July 2018 which has just died in the last week. I logged a ticket with QNAP and have been told basically the same as what you have been told ($220 USD for them to look at it, ship it back to Taiwan and pay postage as well). From what you have said and also that to get a TS-453D now is around $950, I am thinking that might be a better investment. The downside being of course that chances are it might also fail after a similar time period (a number of people are hinting the issue may be due to a fault with the CPU at https://forum.qnap.com/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=157459, https://forum.qnap.com/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=135089 and https://forum.qnap.com/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=16092.

  I've taken a different tact and pointed out to them that since the unit is not in warranty, how much is it to buy just the mainboard component by itself and then try and self install it. Will see what they say.

  Cheers,

  JediNite

  • 

    JediNite77 on 25/09/2021 - 15:06

    Hi all,

    QNAP came back and said not possible to purchase a replacement motherboard and install yourself. I also tried the soldering 100ohm resistor trick that is out there and did not work. Perhaps the issue is something different for my NAS.

    JediNite

    • 

      datsocheap on 02/11/2021 - 15:23

      @autolux & @JediNite77 Did you guys end up sending your NAS' to QNAP to repair? How did it go?

      I have a slightly different issue, but I'd thought I'd post in the interest of adding my experience and associated costs and document the RMA process for others.

      I have a 4.5yr old QNAP TS-451 that failed to boot following a firmware update.
      - All LED's appear normal (status & HDD's).
      - Connected an exterior monitor and keyboard to see what was happening during startup - unit goes through 'starting…' message then fails with 'reboot and select proper boot device'
      - No beeps after 5mins
      - Same thing happens with no HD's installed
      - I was going to create bootable USB and try and re-flash the NAS, but it seems the NAS won't even boot up the BIOS
      - No luck trying to enter the BIOS using F11 or delete key during startup

      I've reported the issue to QNAP and have been quoted $150 USD out of warranty repair for a 'level 1' issue (I'm guessing your issues were likely level 2-3 issues and be more expensive to fix)

      I'm going to mail the device to Taiwan tomorrow. I'll update once I receive the unit back from QNAP.

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  JediNite77 on 04/11/2021 - 22:49

  @datsocheap,

  I did not end up sending my unit to Taiwan and it is spending it's life as a doorstop in my study at the moment. To get my data back, I was able to take out the 4 RAID 5 disks I had in it and connect them up to a desktop PC. I then booted Ubuntu from another USB drive and installed KVM onto it. Within the KVM instance I was able to follow some instructions at https://github.com/mkke/qnap-recovery with a few changes and basically get my data drives to be viewable within a VM running a hacked version of the QNAP firmware. From here I could slowly trickle the data I had back out to some USB drives, so avoided the need to send the unit away.

  I have since gone out and bought a new Synology 920+ NAS for $795, as I was really disappointed with the responses from QNAP support.

  Not sure this info is helpful to you, but if you decide you want to try and recover your data yourself, I can give you some tips.

  Cheers,

  JediNite