Quick specs: I have an original 15 drive (built by Tom system).  It is the white/beige case with the locking front on it.  It has the original ASUS board and is about 4 years old.

 

So my unraid went offline yesterday, rebooted it, everything was fine.  Today it went offline again and I went in to look at it.  I noticed after hard rebooting there were no lights on the front panel (you know the green, yellow, etc), however, they flash on immediately for a split second after you turn it on, then nothing. The fans are on, the light on the motherboard is on (green dot between the 2 SATA cards) and the ethernet port is blinking yellow (no green).

 

I have hooked up a VGA monitor to the the machine, and there is no video.  There is no lights on the Drive cages (I have 15 drives).  It sounds like they start to maybe spin up but don't quite get there. Obviously it is offline and I can not Telnet it either.

 

I need some help troubleshooting this.  Not sure if this is motherboard, processor, power supply.  I assume my data is fine, but need a place to start or troubleshoot.

 

Any help appreciated.

First instinct is power supply, just based on the symptoms.

If I unplug the power to each of the cage fans for the hard drives, the cages light up red and it beeps like insanely loud.

 

All other fans, etc power up, is it possible the power supply is just failing?  Anyway to actually test these things without having to buy all new pieces?

 

EDIT: I see they make power supply testers or multimeter type things for this.

Yeap I would just replace the power supply, they are not that expensive.

 

Took it out and taking it to be evaluated today.  It does say 5 year warranty so I contacted PC Power to see if it is still under warranty. Not sure since I didn't buy it from them directly.

 

Here is a link to the one in my Unraid box http://www.pcpower.com/power-supply/silencer-610-eps12v.html

 

Replaced power supply, not the problem.  Took out RAM one at a time, didn't work, tested USB drive that is also fine.  Not sure what else it can be besides MOBO or Processor?

Do an overnight MemTest. If RAM is good, find a new MB that takes the current CPU and RAM.

Replaced power supply, not the problem.  Took out RAM one at a time, didn't work, tested USB drive that is also fine.  Not sure what else it can be besides MOBO or Processor?

unplug all devices from power supply and MB.  Power up without RAM.  You should hear beeps from MB indicating lack of RAM.  (consult manual for what pattern to listen for...  assuming you have MB speaker, of course)

 

Then, add RAM, one strip at a time.  (Might have to fill one specific strip first, again check MB manual)

If it boots up to the BIOS it might be one disk, or one fan that is loading down the power supply and not allowing the rest to boot.

Assuming you can see BIOS setup, plug one disk back back in at a time., rinse, lather, repeat.

 

Joe L.

Had to take into a local PC repair shop.  It turns out the Promise SATA PCI card was bad. After a whole new mobo and chip ram was installed but no SATA card it got video.  Put the card in and bam, nothing.  Took the promise card out of the original asus mobo and fired right up.  Newegg still has it in stock so i ordered it.

 

Will report back once it is in.  He said he's never seen a PCI card cause this issue before.