Revert Buffalo Linkstation Mini To Stock Firmware

Overview
The following process reverts the firmware and hard drives in a Buffalo Linkstation Mini to their factory default configuration. Here is how the process works:
 * 1) Delete all partitions on both hard drives
 * 2) Use TFTP Boot software to boot device in EM Mode
 * 3) Use LSUpdater software to rebuild entire device

Requirements

 * 1) Buffalo LinkStation Mini
 * 2) * These instructions were tested successfully with Linkstation Mini model LS-WS1.0TGL/R1
 * 3) * Other models may work as well; however, users should download the correct TFTP and Updater software from Buffalo.
 * 4) Ubuntu 10.04 Desktop Edition CD-ROM (download and burn this disc image)
 * 5) A computer which can mount SATA hard drives (required to erase hard drives)
 * 6) A computer running the Microsoft Windows operating system (required to rebuild device)

Procedure


Erase Both Hard Drives
If the device is already running Debian/GNU/Linux, then disassembly is not required; Instead, log into the device, run the commands to erase the master boot record (below), and skip to the next section.

Otherwise, follow this procedure:  Disassemble device and remove both hard drives  Attach both drives to the SATA ports on your computer  Boot Ubuntu 10.04 Desktop Edition CD-ROM  Select language as desired (English)  Click on "Try Ubuntu 10.04 LTS" (to use Ubuntu without making any changes to your system)  Open a new terminal window (Applications | Accessories | Terminal )  Start a new bash shell with root privileges sudo bash



 Erase master boot record (and partition table) on both hard drives (TFTP Boot only works when all drive partitions are missing) swapoff -a dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=512 count=1 dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdb bs=512 count=1 sync



 Shutdown computer shutdown -h now



 Power off computer and remove drives  Reassemble device, but do not power it on yet

Install and Configure Software
 Use a computer with the Microsoft Windows operating system (the LSUpdater software requires it)  Download and extract TFTP boot recovery software ( ftp://24.153.165.234/mnt/array1/share/nas-recovery/TFTP%20Boot%20Recovery%20LS-WSGL%201.05.exe )  Download and extract LSUpdater software ( http://www.buffalotech.com/support-and-downloads/download/lswsgl-106.zip )  Adjust [Flags] section in LSUpdater.ini [Flags] VersionCheck = 0

</li>

 Add section to LSUpdater.ini [SpecialFlags] Debug = 1

</li>

 Disable firewall software (firewalls can interfere with network traffic) </li>  Change computer IP address to 192.168.11.1 (subnet 255.255.0.0). The device expects to find the TFTP server at this address </li>  Run "TFTP Boot.exe" </li>

Boot Device
 Attach device to network (or directly to computer using standard ethernet cable) </li>  Boot device in EM mode using TFTP </li> <ol>  Move device power switch to "off" position </li>  Remove power cable from device </li>  Attach power cable to device </li>  Wait several seconds for lights to turn off </li>  Press and hold function button while moving power switch to "on" position </li>  Release function button when single blue light starts flashing </li>  Press and release function button again </li> <li> Press function button when red light starts flashing (repeat until red light stops flashing) </li> <li> Wait for TFTP server to send images to device (initrd.buffalo and uImage.buffalo) </li> </ol>

Do not proceed unless the TFTP server indicates successful transfer of initrd.buffalo and uImage.buffalo

<li> Wait 30 seconds for device to complete boot process </li> <li> Close TFTP Boot window </li> <li> If your network is DHCP-enabled (i.e. wireless router), then restore computer IP address </li>

Rebuild Device
<li> Disable firewall software (otherwise the update will likely fail and might brick the device) </li> <li> Run LSUpdater.exe </li> <li> Configure updater software </li> <ol> <li> Right-click on title bar of the window (i.e. on the word "BUFFALO") </li> <li> Select "Debug(D)..." from the context menu</li> </li> <li> Select all checkboxes in both "Update" and "Config" frames (Update BOOT, Update KERNEL, Update initrd, Update rootfs, Do not check version, Rebuild partition table, Delete user-config, Force update) </li> <li> Make sure "Execute the change as following" checkbox is not checked </li> <li> Click on the OK button to save choices </li> </ol>

<li> Make sure that you have selected the correct device, then click on the "Update" button to rebuild the device </li> <li> Confirm that you want to format and update the target device </li> <li> Wait for update process to complete (ignore any "couldn't confirm a response" error messages) </li> <li> Close LSUpdater utility </li> <li> Enable firewall software</li> </li> <li> Restore the IP address on your computer (undo prior change to 192.168.11.1)</li> </li>

'''This will restore the device to factory settings; however, the web interface will be in Japanese language. The next section explains how to change the language and character set as desired:'''

Configure Device Language
<li> Open the device web interface in your browser (should be http://192.168.11.150... or use the new IP address assigned by your network) </li> <li> Login to device (user = admin, password = password) </li> <li> Click on second menu item (the icon looks like folded paper) </li> <li> Change the language and character set (the last two dropdown lists) as desired (English and ISO8859_1) </li> <li> Click on the button at the bottom of the page </li> <li> Click on the TOP menu and verify that the language settings took effect </li> </ol>

'''Congratulations! You should now have a Linkstation Mini reverted to factory settings.'''