Drobo Help Needed!

[mpschaefer]

Hi - I know that Drobo is no more and my Drobo 5N2 is dead.  The fan runs but no lights (including the power light) come on.  I am thinking there is a 5V regulator somewhere which has failed.  The backup battery also shows some signs of damage but that is NLA.

Long term I'd like to learn more here and buy another current backup solution - possibly a QNAP or Synology.  Short term I would like to repair this Drobo.  With the disappearance of Drobo and their community support forums, what have Drobo users found is the best support forum to work through problems, share sources of supply and repair techniques?

Update on this.  I have removed all the drives, battery and fan and am just applying power the the main board. I can monitor 5V in several places so the buck regulator is working to step down the 12V.  I have checked for damage or overheating and don't see any evidence of that.  All the LEDs, including the one in the switch are still off.  

Please help!  What are the troubleshooting steps I should go through?  What normally fails on these?

Hi - I assume you have tried this but this has worked for me in the past with my 5D and DroboMini.

1. Remove all drives, power and cables from Drobo Chassis.
2. Wait about 15 minutes...
3. Plug only the power back into the Drobo Chassis and try to turn the unit on.

I've had to hold the power button down physically to allow the unit to boot and then a bit over half way through the boot sequence I let go and the unit will turn off but then power cycle itself and turn on.

If this works, then turn it back off and put the drives back in and try again. Once it's booted with drive reconnect the cable.

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My Drobo 5D has chewed through two power supplies and a fan in it's life and I now just use one of those selectable laptop power supplied with a bunch of connections as it has the Drobo (I think it was a Dell connector) connector and a suitable voltage rail.

I know there is a reset button on the unit but I've never used it so I don't know if that impacts the Disk Pack on the unit when they are reinserted.

Sort of wish I had downloaded their Support Portal before they went offline...