AS4002T starting beeping today - is it now broken?

[migry]

Didn't know where to look for help. This seemed about the most approriate place to look for an answer.

Look like I registered this NAS on the ASUStor website in Jun-2021. It is a 2-bay with only a single 2Gb HDD, used for backup and holds a few videos (which can be viewed on the TV with the built in app).

Heard a beeping noise today, and tracked it down to the AS4002T NAS. I think a red front panel LED was flashing too. Tried to open a webpage to the web interface, but webpage did not appear.
Powered down the unit.
Powered up the unit.
Heard unusual pulsing disk noises
Tride to re-open the web interface. Still not working.
Tried "PING" from Windows CMD.EXE shell, and device was responding.

No idea if disk is bad or the NAS.

Powered down.
Removed drive.
Powered up.
Still cannot bring up webpage.
A few minutes later - just heard it make a single beep. I now think this means it has booted and the web interface can now be accessed. Tried that and got "Welcome to ASUSTOR Data Master (ADM OS)" ... "no hard drives detected".
Used the tiny reset hole in the rear of the unit.
Powered down.

Found the other caddy. Already had a hard disk in it. Possibly it was used to initially test/play with the NAS when new.
Installed the other caddy with presumably good hard disk.
Front panel light appeared to indicate disk recognised.
Was able to go into the web GUI <ip_address>:8000. See the webpage "Welcome to ASUSTOR Data Master (ADM OS)" ... "no hard drives detected".

Found a new identical drive to the first 2Gb drive (both bought at the same time). Opened the package. Installed iin the caddy. Inserted and powered on. Heard to same pulsing noise. Once the webpage appeared got the same message "no hard drives detected". This leads me to believe that the fault must be with the AS4002T NAS and not the hard disk. Possibly the original hard disk is good. Whether I can get the data off it, IDK?. At the moment the data is not important as I have another copy.

Also tried slot #2. Same "no drives" error message.

Can I log into the unit from my Windows10 PC and run some diagnostics? The GUI is stuck on the "no drives" page.

Any ideas would be gratefully received.

I can't help but think that since it doesn't work

[snapshot]

I agree that your testing points to the AS4002T rather than the drives. I would make a guess that it might be something to do with the power supply to the drives. If the SSH service has been enabled you should be able to log on to it using a terminal program like putty but I've no idea what you could do once you're there.

If you raise a support ticket Asustor support staff may be able to log on remotely and see what the problem is but I fear it may be terminal.

You should be able to put your original disk in a new NAS and it will be recognised.

[migry]

Thank you for the reply.

I did raise a ticket. I was told that the "backplane" is faulty.

Whatever I do, even inserting a known good drive, I get the GUI screen saying "no drives inserted". At this screen you are simply stuck with no options.

Today I disassembled the NAS unit, more out of curiosity. There is a small PCB with two SATA connectors screwed to the back of the metal card cage. The PCB plugs into the main PCB by means of a high densiry connector (sort of like PCIe). It is possible that simplt this small PCB is broken which would explain why neither slot is recognised. Googling does not find any replacements, even on Ebay.

[snapshot]

Yes, that's the backplane and it will be proprietary to Asustor so only available direct. It should be a standard part, used across many models in the same chassis, but I don't know what Asustor's policy is about selling spares.