Help needed on Synology networking issue

Posted by: Goon525 on 31 August 2015

I realise that I could - and may have to - post this on a Synology forum, but I know there are a lot of knowledgeable people here, so I thought I'd give this a go first.

 

I have used for about 3 years a Synology DS411j for two purposes (i) as a music store and server for my Naim SU, connected using Ethernet via an Apple Extreme; and (ii) as an Apple Time Machine wirelessly connected to my iMac. I keep the NAS up-to-date - in fact this is now largely automated. Over the years, very occasionally I've lost network connection to the NAS, and a switch off, switch on of the Synology has cured the problem. Unfortunately, what was very occasional has become rather frequent, maybe daily. The problem is not helped by the protracted length of time it takes to go through a re-boot. Sometimes it's just the iMac which can't see the NAS, sometimes the SU, most often now both. Any ideas, anyone? Once it comes back to life, it's just fine - until the next time.

 

Thanks for reading this far.

Posted on: 31 August 2015 by Bart

I had a similar issue, and after one-by-one removing items from the network, realized that the Time Machine was the culprit.  I did a 'factory reset' on it, and all has been fine for months now.  

 

It's worth a shot, if you can remove it from the network or just do a reset.

 

I never did figure out WHY this worked, but it sure did.

Posted on: 31 August 2015 by Mike-B

I agree Bart,  for sure worth a try,  especially as the connection issues have increased for no obvious (reported) reason,  I would also suspect both ends of the wireless link  ........ altho' better to junk wireless IMO.  

I would also suspect IP Address mngt,  is anything on static (fixed) IP, or DHCP,   best revert to everything fully DHCP in these network discovery issues - back to basics.

Posted on: 31 August 2015 by Goon525

Thanks, Guys. But Bart, how do you do a 'factory reset' on Time Machine, which is a piece of software built into my Mac OS, which is otherwise running fine? 

On the subject of running wirelessly, I moved the Synology box so I could stream music via Ethernet, persuaded by Simon-in-Suffolk that this was much better for music than wireless. (He's right.) But I'm afraid this means that the iMac and the NAS are on different floors, so I have to run the connection between them wirelessly. Lesser of two evils?

Posted on: 01 September 2015 by Bart
Originally Posted by Goon525:

Thanks, Guys. But Bart, how do you do a 'factory reset' on Time Machine, which is a piece of software built into my Mac OS, which is otherwise running fine? 

On the subject of running wirelessly, I moved the Synology box so I could stream music via Ethernet, persuaded by Simon-in-Suffolk that this was much better for music than wireless. (He's right.) But I'm afraid this means that the iMac and the NAS are on different floors, so I have to run the connection between them wirelessly. Lesser of two evils?

Sorry you wrote "Time Machine" and I read "Time Capsule."  It was my Time Capsule (an Airport Extreme + storage capabilities) that I did a factory reset on.  Try a factory reset on your Airport Extreme.
 If you Google that, you'll find the instructions on how to do that.

 

It's just process of elimination . . . you can try turning off Time Machine on the nas and see if it helps.  I'd also buy a long run of relatively inexpensive cat-5 cable and just see if connecting it all that way makes a difference.  You just have to keep eliminating one piece 'til you find the piece that breaks it.

Posted on: 01 September 2015 by mutterback

Have you checked the energy saver settings? There's an option for the NAS to automatically turn off/on based on a schedule. Might have shown up on the sly in one of your updates.

 

I've never had any luck with Time Machine (the software - saving to a NAS) where it wasn't on a dedicated drive.  It doesn't like to share in my experience. The NAS might be dropping off the network when Time Machine is backing up your iMac.