Resolved Connection to Synology NAS from 8.6 stopped working

[Nermal]

I turned on my iMac G3 for the first time in a month or so today, and upon starting up I got this error:

The User Authentication Method required by this server can't be found, please check the AppleShare folder in the Extensions folder and try again.

It proceeded to boot the rest of the way up, but there's a blank space on the desktop where I normally have an icon for a share on my Synology NAS.

There is no AppleShare folder in the Extensions folder, just a Chooser extension called AppleShare. Is that normal? I'm not sure what's gone wrong here and I'm at a bit of a loss as to how to troubleshoot it.

If I go into Chooser and AppleShare then enter my NAS' IP address, I get the same message. As far as I can tell I haven't updated the NAS software itself since it was last known to work (other than the 'Web Station' which shouldn't be related), so I'm guessing that the issue is on the Mac itself, but I don't know what to try.

Help!

 

[repairedCheese]

Some reading up on the NAS tells me that Synology, if not now, at least use to support Appleshare. Can you check to see if the NAS can be reached by any other Mac using the Apple Filing Protocol/AppleTalk Filing Protocol? That would at least rule out the NAS for being the problem here. I honestly have doubts that it's the NAS, but it would be good to make sure it's not.

And if it's not, then Mac OS 8.6 has crapped the bed. In that case, either the file it's asking for never existed and everything worked without it, or the file was there, and is not there now. Either way, it would be good if you could throw the drive in your iMac at a more recent version of Disk Utility, just to check to see if it's dying. Either way, I suspect you're going to end up having to reinstall the Mac OS on your iMac.

Does yours have firewire? Because that would generally make it easier to access.

 

[Nermal]

It definitely used to work, and it still works from my 10.15 machine via AFP.

I don't believe the drive is dying as everything else seems to still work fine, but I'll give the 10.3 version of Disk Utility a go (it's the latest I can run easily; no FireWire).

 

[Nermal]

Disk Utility didn't report any problems. I haven't reinstalled the OS, but I did check the Extensions folder on the restore CD and there's no AppleShare folder there either. I suspect that the error message is leading me astray!

 

[repairedCheese]

Disk Utility didn't report any problems. I haven't reinstalled the OS, but I did check the Extensions folder on the restore CD and there's no AppleShare folder there either. I suspect that the error message is leading me astray!

Hmm, we're running out of "it broke when I wasn't touching it" problems, and I'm not a huge fan of that. By any chance, did the iMac have the ability to see the NAS when running OS 10.3? Because as much as I know Classic can crap the bed, it usually gives evidence of that when it does.

At this rate, I'm not sure what else you can do other than reinstall. I know the two major choices for these old systems is OS 8.5 and OS 9.2, I just wish I could tell you which had the better chance of not having this problem.

 

[Nermal]

I don't actually have 10.3 installed (it's a bit too slow); I just booted from the CD and ran Disk Utility from there.

I realised that I was playing SimCity the other day (when it was working) so I can check the date of my saved game to figure out exactly when it was working. I can then cross-reference that date against the software updates for my NAS, to verify that I hadn't installed anything there.

 

[bobesch]

I turned on my iMac G3 for the first time in a month or so today, and upon starting up I got this error:



It proceeded to boot the rest of the way up, but there's a blank space on the desktop where I normally have an icon for a share on my Synology NAS.

There is no AppleShare folder in the Extensions folder, just a Chooser extension called AppleShare. Is that normal? I'm not sure what's gone wrong here and I'm at a bit of a loss as to how to troubleshoot it.

If I go into Chooser and AppleShare then enter my NAS' IP address, I get the same message. As far as I can tell I haven't updated the NAS software itself since it was last known to work (other than the 'Web Station' which shouldn't be related), so I'm guessing that the issue is on the Mac itself, but I don't know what to try.

Help!

Has the Synology NAS any kind of auto-update for the inbuilt software?
Maybe an update has broken compatibility to os9-network protocols.

 

[bobesch]

I can then cross-reference that date against the software updates for my NAS, to verify that I hadn't installed anything there.

Ah, same idea at the same time ...

You may try to boot from an os8.5- or os9-CD and check, if the NAS can be found ...

Here's a list about AFP versions and compatibility:

GTAS: Die Große Tabelle der AFP-Server - Knubbelmac.de

www.knubbelmac.de

So question is, if the NAS still supports AFP 2.2 (this might have been removed by an update).
The proper function of 10.4 DiskUtility might be due to it's AFP 3.0/3.1/3.2 compatibility.
Have you got another os8/9 machine to check, if AFP2.2 is working between both Macs? If yes and if the second Mac also fails, when trying to connect to the NAS, then probably there's something wrong on the side of the NAS.

 

[Nermal]

I don't have another Mac of that vintage. The latest NAS update was released in mid-July and it's definitely worked since then. There is also nothing in the release notes about AFP (although there is a mention of 'security updates' with no further detail).

I think I'll make a backup of the System Folder and then copy a fresh one from the restore CD, and see whether that fixes it. That's certainly less intrusive than reinstalling the whole thing.

 

[NathanJHill]

Hey I wrote about setting up AFP on my Synology recently - maybe it will help:

AppleTalk on your Synology NAS – G5 Center

g5center.net

But it sounds like something got goofed up and you may need to reinstall AppleShare. That’s a weird error. Maybe the file that holds AppleTalk configuration info got scrambled. OS 7-9 could do that.

Another option is to to Control Panel and AppleTalk and try to do a new configuration. Sort of wipe the slate clean.

 

[Nermal]

I have the DS418j which I believe is the 4-bay equivalent to yours. Which version of DSM is yours running? (Mine's 6.2.3-25426 Update 2).

Moving everything out of Preferences and rebooting didn't fix it (obviously I had to set AppleShare up again, but it gave the same error). Replacing Extensions with a fresh copy from the restore CD also didn't help.

Have bitten the bullet and am currently restoring the whole OS...

Edit: Argh! Still happening on a fresh install! Either I've accidentally changed a setting somewhere on the NAS or the latest update has broken it. I haven't been able to find any details on how to tell when an update was installed; it was definitely working a couple of weeks after the update was released, but I may not have installed it immediately.

Edit 2: Argh again! What a complete waste of everyone's time this has been. Rebooting the NAS fixed it...

 

[Project Alice]

Edit 2: Argh again! What a complete waste of everyone's time this has been. Rebooting the NAS fixed it...

I run an FreeNAS server, and on occasion I’ll run into a problem like this (though much more common on SMB than AFP). I’ve never used Synology, but in FreeNAS I’m able to easily turn off or on services on the fly, so resetting SMB for example is fairly effortless.
That’s usually where ai start when this happens, then I start investigating the computer if it doesn’t fix it.

 

[Nermal]

I've just always thought of the NAS like an appliance; I never reboot it unless an update requires it. It simply didn't even cross my mind.

It's possible that turning AFP off and on again might've been enough too. If it ever happens again...

 

[NathanJHill]

That's wild. I'll keep that in mind if I experience some weirdness.

I am running an instance of AEServer in virtual box on my Mac Server, and it started crashing and not booting after an update of virtual box. I thought I hosed the instance. It turns out I had to disable sound on the virtual box machine. Everything was fine. Technology stinks sometimes.

 

[timidpimpin]

@Nermal
Has there by chance been any firmware updates on the Synology recently? It could simply be a slight protocol change that caused intermittent function with an older device. I've seen it several times.