Question

Server powers off Randomly

Asked by: sim2k_support

We have a Dell Win 2003 server that runs fine normally but seems to randomly shut down for not apparent reason.  The server is mainly used as a remote terminal server that users log into.  The last time it went down, it had to be powered back on, and there were no errors in the log before it shut down.  It is plugged into the same UPS device as another server that stayed up when it went down.  There are no power supply errors and there were no users logged in the hours before it shut down.  It has worked fine since Sunday.  Is there a way to check the power supply or can anyone think of any reasons why it would shut down on its own with no errors in the event logs?

Thanks,

This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2007-03-21 at 14:10:57ID22464374
Tags

dell

,

down

,

server

Topics

Microsoft Server

,

Windows 2003 Server

,

Power Supplies / UPS

Participating Experts
7
Points
500
Comments
13

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

  1. NetWare6.5/GroupWise6.5 Randomly shuts down
    I am running a Windows Server 2003 Domain along with a Netware 6.5 server exclusively running GroupWise 6.5. The Netware server seems to be randomly shutting down Netware but the physical hardware is still running. All I can see on the monitor is a blank screen. All of my e...
  2. Computer shuts down randomly
    I have a computer that runs on an AMD Athalon 1.2gig processor and Windows XP. For some reason the computer randomly shuts down without any error message and starts doing a 2 tone beep. I'm wondering if it my might be a heating issue or if there could be some compatibility ...
  3. computer randomly shuts off
    I've got a new custom built machine which I installed centos on. It runs ok for an hour or two then randomly shuts off. The only thing I can think of is that it's overheating but I've got pretty sufficient cooling on it, is there anyway to check temps in software + if it wa...
  4. Computer Turns on Randomly
    I have a fairly new (bought Summer 2006) HP, running XP Home, replaced the PS with a more powerful one right when I received the system. Background about me: I have oddly bad luck with computers, even though I keep them meticulously clean, etc. Most people have a (total) cras...

Free Tech Articles

  1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
    It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
  2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
    SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
  3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
    This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
  4. Create a Win7 Gadget
    This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
  5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
    There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
  6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
    There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

  1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
    Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
  2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
    Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
  3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
    Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
  4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
    Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
  5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
    Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
  6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
    Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

 

by: jared_lukerPosted on 2007-03-21 at 14:21:21ID: 18767409

The power supply would be my first guess on this one.  It's possible that there is something shorting out the motherboard and causing the system to power off, but not very likely.  Has someone been playing under the hood lately?

Check the power connections to all the devices like the HD's, CD's, and floppy drives.

The only good way to test it is to get Dell to send you another one and swap them out.

 

by: Jay_Jay70Posted on 2007-03-21 at 14:38:50ID: 18767521

if its is power supply, its going to be very hard to trouleshoot it.....if you are under warranty call dell as you dont want this doing any more damage

 

by: FixingStuffPosted on 2007-03-21 at 15:15:52ID: 18767788

As mentioned, the P/S would be suspect. Also, if you have Dell OpenManage running, take a look at it for any errors, warnings etc. If you don't have OpenManage, get it! There are also diagnostics to run from OM.
The other possibility is a thermal shutdown. If you have a dead fan (or two) it could result in this behavior.
Also, to help us out, please post the Dell model and config.
fs

 

by: KCTSPosted on 2007-03-21 at 15:42:40ID: 18767929

Anything in the event log?
Overheating can sometimes result in this behaviour - check temperatures

 

by: jamietonerPosted on 2007-03-21 at 16:23:33ID: 18768141

What model dell server is it? If it has an ESM light or Lcd on the front is it blue or amber?

 

by: woohahPosted on 2007-03-21 at 16:31:30ID: 18768175

Do your users have the ability to shut down the computer? Did you set the GPO to take away the shutdown  to users?

 

by: mattyfonzPosted on 2007-03-21 at 17:10:38ID: 18768352

do you have a failsafe set in bios or with the dell openmanage software which is set to  shutdown the server if a certain temperature or condition is reached?

 

by: sim2k_supportPosted on 2007-03-22 at 07:40:09ID: 18771526

It is a Poweredge SC1420 with Win2003.  I am going there today to look at it, we are going to put it on its own UPS battery backup as it may be sharing one with another server now.  The other servers do not appear to go down.  Users can shut down but there was no users logged in in the log the day it went down last.  I am also going to check on the warranty status and make sure the fan is running.  There would be a heat warning before it went down if it was overheated, correct?

 

by: jamietonerPosted on 2007-03-22 at 15:43:44ID: 18775536

You wouldn't get the error before it shutdown but when it started up there would have been an error that the system had been shutdown due to a thermal event.

 

by: FixingStuffPosted on 2007-03-23 at 12:32:01ID: 18782504

If you run Dell OpenManage, it will log the event and show an alert in the interface until you acknowledge it. As far as OM or the machine itself warning before it went down would only happen if alerts in OM were configured to do so.  Many times an overheat condition does not give much if any warning. It will shut down as a hardware protection feature... smoke is a bad thing.
fs

 

by: sim2k_supportPosted on 2007-04-05 at 08:09:30ID: 18858335

It has stayed on for almost 2 weeks since we placed it on its own battery backup UPS.  

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...