Intel Atom C2538 defect in Synology DS1815+

For the past 3 years, I have used the Synology DS1815+ with 6 WD 6.0TB Red hard disks (in a RAID-5 configuration) for backup and Plex duties.

It has served me well so far (though it can be a bit slow during Plex transcoding) until recent events. All of a sudden, I started to receive messages of unexpected system shutdowns. On some days, the unit was entirely off, and when I pushed the power button, it would not turn on.

I did some research on the internet and learned that the Intel C2538 Atom Processor used in the Synology DS1815+ had a reliability defect that will fail eventually. Intel has fixed the defect in the new C0 stepping of the processor.

I filed an RMA ticket with Synology and selected Advanced RMA, where a refurbished unit will be sent to you. It took about a week to get here (and Synology placed a $799 hold on my credit card until the defective unit was returned).

Earlier steppings (B0) of the Intel Atom C2538 processor have the defect. To find out if your Synology has it, open the command windows on a Windows 10 PC. My replacement (RMA) unit has the B0 stepping (hopefully with the board fix).

Intel has the errata listed here. There is a long thread on the Synology forum of all the users experiencing DS1815+ failures. 

ssh admin@192.168.1.104

admin@proton:~$ cat /proc/cpuinfo

processor       : 0
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 77
model name      : Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU  C2538  @ 2.40GHz
stepping        : 8
microcode       : 0x121
cpu MHz         : 2400.000
cache size      : 1024 KB
physical id     : 0
siblings        : 4
core id         : 0
cpu cores       : 4
apicid          : 0
initial apicid  : 0
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 11
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc aperfmperf pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm sse4_1 sse4_2 movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes rdrand lahf_lm 3dnowprefetch arat epb invpcid_single tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid tsc_adjust smep erms
bogomips        : 4800.19
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 36 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

I finally received the replacement DS1815+ from Synology. It was a refurbished unit and not a new one (disappointingly). I would like a new unit that will last me another couple of years.

I had to open the refurbished unit to install the 4 GB DDR3 SRAM (installed in my previous unit) and update the firmware with a new hard disk. It was annoying having to install a hard disk just to enable updating the unit's firmware.

Once I installed the backup configuration, I moved all of my 6 hard disks from my old DS1815+ to the refurbished one and rebooted. Surprisingly, the migration worked well, and the new unit behaved like the old one.

Let's hope this unit lasts longer than the previous one.