How to Install

• How to install:
• Diagnosing Installation Problems
• How to upgrade:

How to install:

To use Alt-F you have to flash it using the same method used to upgrade the vendor’s firmware.
This method replaces the D-Link firmware and probably will void the box warranty.

Being an OS replacement means that all settings such as host name, IP address, created users, defined shares, etc will be lost.
Your disk data will not be touched in any way and it is thus safe to try Alt-F, and you can recreate all those previous settings using Alt-F webUI.

Alt-F firmware upgrade web page can flash the vendor's supplied firmware, so you can always do a "downgrade".
In the eventuality that you want to do that, it is advisable to save the current D-Link settings in your computer disk before trying Alt-F, so you can latter restore it.

Several D-Link firmware versions have been tested ON A DNS-323-rev-A1/B1, a DNS-320L-rev-A1, a DNS-325-rev-A1 and on a DNS-327L-rev-A1 BOARDs .
Reports say that it also work on other box model and boards: the DNS-320-rev-A1/A2/B1, DNS-321-rev-A1/A2, DNS-323-rev-C1, DNS-325-rev-A2, (and on the Conceptronic CH3SNAS, and Fujitsu-Siemens DUO 35-LR, which are just rebranded DNS-323-rev-B1)

OF COURSE THIS IS DANGEROUS, AND CAN TURN YOUR BOX INTO AN EXPENSIVE BLACK BRICK IN YOUR DESKTOP. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

1. Reboot the box before start performing any upgrade.
2. Start uninstalling ffp if you have it installed. That's enough to rename the 'ffp' folder to 'ffp-orig'.
   You can latter install ffp using Alt-F "ffp Package Manager" and recover configuration files from the previous 'ffp-orig' install.
   When Alt-F starts, if a ffp directory is found in the root directory of any filesystem, its init script will be executed, so all non needed ffp init scripts should be disable, and only services that Alt-F don't have should be kept.
3. Look at the box bottom attached label to see its hardware revision level, then select the appropriate Alt-F-0.1RC4 bin file for it and use the normal firmware upgrade method to flash it.
   For example, the Alt-F-0.1RC4-DNS-320-rev-Ax.bin file is to be used on the DNS-320 rev-A1 or rev-A2, but not on the DNS-320-rev-B1.
   Don't try to flash firmware if your box is not supported.
4. After the reboot clear the cache of the browser, as this often causes problems. Also, try using Chrome or Firefox, as IE might also cause problems (and was not tested at all).
5. Read the Release Notes and Known Issues and aplly any needed fixes. Check the forum for updates.

Diagnosing Installation Problems

1. The blue power led keeps blinking (with a slow heart beat rate on the DNS-321/323/325), the blue disk leds blinks randomly.
   This means that fsck is running and checking your disk filesystems.
   This happens when the box is not cleanly shutdown, what happens with the vendors firmware.
   During the disk checking your data is not available, and you have to wait until the disk checking finishes, at what time the blue power leds stops blinking and stays on steadily.
   It can take a very long time for fsck to finish, depending on the disks capacity and usage. As an example, checking a 82% full 900GB disk takes about 30 minutes on a DNS-325; on the DNS-323 it would take much longer.
   On power-off or reboot, Alt-F will properly unmount the disks, so the long check/fix step will not happens at the second and subsequent reboots, but only at schedule intervals or if there were a power cut.
2. If the power led is not blinking and you can't access the Alt-F web home page, you can check if Alt-F is running by pressing its buttons and observing its orange leds before pulling the power cord, read the [About Buttons and Leds] wiki.
   On the DNS-321/323/325 by pressing and keep pressing the power button, if Alt-F is running after three seconds the right orange led starts flashing, and three seconds later the orange left led; three seconds later the the leds stop blinking and you can release the power button.
   On other boxes the power button pressing deploys an ordered power down, so you can instead press the USB button and the two orange leds should start blinking and stop blinking when the button is released.
   In either case, If the orange leds blink than Alt-F is running, but you can't communicate with it -- there are network problems, see 3) below.
   If the above does not work, you have to restart the box by pulling the power cord and probably solder a serial 3.3V serial adapter, in order to try to recover its. Check the forum.
3. The most common problem here are network problems.
   If your box is using DHCP, assign it a static IP instead, using the vendor's web page. Alt-F will use that IP. If using DHCP, the current IP might be in use by another computer, or the router might ignore communications with a device using a IP not assigned by it.
   You can also try to ping, telnet, ssh or ftp the box, post the results.

How to upgrade:

1. If you are still using the "on top"/"reloaded" method, which is now discontinued, you will have to flash Alt-F and after rebooting you can delete the 'alt-f' folder (NOT the 'Alt-F' folder, notice the case) and the fun_plug script.
2. Reboot the box before start performing any upgrade.
3. Save current settings to a desktop computer (System->Settings, in the "Computer Disk" section, "Save current settings to file", hit the Download button)
4. Look at the box bottom attached label to see its hardware revision level, then select the appropriate
   Alt-F-0.1RC4 bin file for it and use the normal firmware upgrade method to flash it.
   For example, the Alt-F-0.1RC4-DNS-320-rev-A1A2.bin file is to be used on the DNS-320 rev-A1 or rev-A2, but not the DNS-320-rev-B1, which is not supported.
   Don't try to flash firmware if your box is not supported
5. All Disk-installable packages must be updated (Packages->Alt-F, UpdatePackagList, then UpdateAll)
   Stop all services before doing that (System->Utilities, Services section, hit the StopAll button)