Dead Windows Home Server 2011

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kiwifidget

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Topic # 222880 1-Sep-2017 19:38

I posted a day or few ago about my dicky server and enquired about Nas's.

Seems the server may have overheard as it seems puckeroo for good now.

Of course I dont have a NAS yet and all my data is on the server (I do have a backup of the major stuff).

It powers on, in as much as drive lights and LAN light come on.

But no display, not even BIOS.

Its not just a display issue though, as if I leave it for 15 minutes it does not appear on the network, so I presume its not booting.

What would the lack of BIOS signify?

Life is too short to remove USB safely.

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Reply # 1856919 1-Sep-2017 19:49

Does it beep at all? Any sequence of long or short?

Any blinking lights on the keyboard? (as in, the numlock light and/or scroll-lock lights flashing)

Often a BIOS that is failing POST will signal what the failure is that way.

Obvious suspects would be failed video card or failed RAM, by the way.

kiwifidget

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Reply # 1856927 1-Sep-2017 20:09

No beeps.

The mouse light underneath is out and the keyboard capslock/numlock lights do not go on and off when you hit the CL/NL keys.

Dead motherboard maybe? Although the LAN light comes on and thats on the mobo.

Life is too short to remove USB safely.

andrewNZ

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Reply # 1856931 1-Sep-2017 20:16

What sort of computer is it?

I had a PC fail in a similar way recently, turned out to be bios corruption. Pulled the bios battery for a few seconds and away we went.

If it has more than one stick of ram, pull that one stick at a time and see if it boots.

If all else fails, WHS 2011 doesn't do anything fancy with disks, so any machine should be able to read them. Just dont buy a NAS and bang them in, you'll loose everything.

Location: Dunedin

kiwifidget

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Reply # 1856934 1-Sep-2017 20:21

Its a box from PBtech, its an older Core 2 quad core (Q6600) cpu.

It doesnt owe me anything, I'm kind of surprised its lasted this long.

Good point about the drives.

Life is too short to remove USB safely.

kiwifidget

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Reply # 1858015 4-Sep-2017 11:44

OK, I opened up the box.

When I turn it on, the fans spin up then spin down.

I took the CMOS battery out, same thing.

I've replaced the battery.

Now the fans spin up and stay spinning, but nothing else seems to happen.

What should I try next?

Life is too short to remove USB safely.

gzt

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Reply # 1858027 4-Sep-2017 11:55

Bios reset jumper if you have nothing special like raid configured.

ech3lon

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Reply # 1858039 4-Sep-2017 12:02

Faulty psu usually will not power on at all but worth mentioning, it may have flaky components but hasn't completely dead.

MadEngineer

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Reply # 1858071 4-Sep-2017 12:36

Unplug everything except the power cable and see if it beeps on powerup

kiwifidget

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Reply # 1858078 4-Sep-2017 12:48

Hooray, its going again.

I had to reset/clear the CMOS, easy once I found a spare jumper.

It should be good for another 12 years now!

Thanks everyone for your help and guidance.

Life is too short to remove USB safely.

kiwifidget

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Reply # 1858220 4-Sep-2017 15:29

Forget that, I spoke too soon.

It does now start up, but after a while it goes into some sort of coma.

The fans and lights are still on, but no display, keyboard, mouse or presence on the LAN.

I cant see anything in the logs but I may be looking in the wrong place.

Is there a wee utility that can ping the server and alert me when it fails?

Life is too short to remove USB safely.

Sideface

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Reply # 1858307 4-Sep-2017 16:51

kiwifidget:

<snip>

Is there a wee utility that can ping the server and alert me when it fails?

You don't need a wee utility, you need a new server.

You are flogging a dead horse - cut your losses and move on.

Sideface

kiwifidget

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Reply # 1858319 4-Sep-2017 17:06

I suspect you are right @sideface , but for now, giddy up!!

Life is too short to remove USB safely.

hairy1

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Reply # 1858348 4-Sep-2017 18:35

One person supports this post

I would pull out the RAM and try it with only one stick at a time (if there are multiple sticks)

My views (except when I am looking out their windows) are not those of my employer.

PhantomNVD

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Reply # 1858359 4-Sep-2017 18:59

Next step after RAM would be to do a big clean out for dust buildup (leading to overheating) and then swap out the PSU and see if it’s on its last legs too?

kiwifidget

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Reply # 1858557 4-Sep-2017 23:04

the ram is in pairs, which could be tricky.

I took out two at a time, but not sure if i can run an odd number of sticks.

@phantomnvd swapping out implies I have spare parts to hand, sadly I do not.

Life is too short to remove USB safely.

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