Hallo everyone

Some time ago i posted this topic: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=6127 regarding problems with my unraid server restarting. As most of you suggested, i bought a UPS and that seemed to solve the problem for some time.

Unfortunately, recently my server started unexpectedly restarting again. The only thing i have changed is that i added a new HDD but i am not sure the restarts started right then.

 

As I mentioned before, the syslog isn't helpful because, i guess, this is a hardware problem and there is no time to write anything in it, it just restarts abruptly. So i started looking at my PSU. It seems that according to the forum, my PSU is not the best choice for unraid. Besides being 420W (which is small but still much higher than my maximum consumption) it is single rail but the only 12V rail works at 18A (if i read the specs right):

 

DC Nominal Voltage Minimum CurrentMaximum Current Peak Current

+12 V DC 0.0 A 18.0 A 23.0 A

+5 V DC 0.1 A 42.0 A 54.0 A

+3.3 V DC 0.3 A 26.0 A 28.0 A

- 5 V DC 0.0 A 0.5 A 0.8 A

- 12 V DC 0.0 A 0.8 A 1.0 A

+5 V SB 0.0 A 2.0 A 2.5 A

 

My question is:

Do you think that this PSU could be the problem? Bear in mind that i have  8 HDs and that the restarts do sometimes happen when not every disk is spun up. Also, there have been some occasions where all my disks were spun up and there was not an immediate restart...

 

Also, even if it is not the problem, do you think i should get rid of it and buy a new one?

 

UPDATE:

i forgot to mention another strange behavior that i have been noticing lately: my UPS had a digital led displaying the Watts used. Up to recently it would show 80-84 W when idle (all drives spun down). Now it constantly moves between 80-111 which is a great difference. Could tha also mean that the psu is problematic or is it indicative of some other hardware malfunction?

 

UPDATE2: i bought a good PSU (Corsair 850W) and it seems to solve all my problems (for now). Moreover, i see great differences in consumption. before, when i was using a 10 years old PSU (sapphire SAF-420 - quite decent and expensive in its time) i used to get a consumption of 80-83 Watts when all drives where spun down. Now i get precisely 60W (approximately 25% lower). not only the consumption is much lower but it also seems that this PSU is more stable (the consumption does not fluctuate). I guess that the low consumption is due to the much higher efficiency of the new PSU.

 

I went through the same problem with a Windows Box.  I started replacing parts.  Started by replacing my Power Supply and that seemed to fix the problem for a while (I already had a UPS on it).  Eventually like you the reboots came back.  It got so bad that it wouldn't even make it into Windows before the next reboot.  I finally replaced the CPU, Motherboard and Memory because I couldn't afford the down time any more - they were all that was left from the original box - and solved the problem.  Just recently I got a new motherboard for unRAID and pulled the CPU and memory off the old failed system and paired them up with the new motherboard.  So far it is working.  Long story short.  It could just be your power supply it could also be your motherboard.  If I have restart problems again in unRAID I'm going to replace the CPU next.  The memory is likely to change sooner than that because I will be upgrading my memory.

8 green drives should use about 16A (2A each).  8 7200rpm drives should use about 24A (3A each).  So if you have any 7200rpm drives in your server, then the PSU is possibly not powerful enough.  I think it is a good place to start with your hardware replacements.

 

However, as BobPhoenix said, your mobo could also be the culprit.  Replacing the PSU is generally cheaper, so I would still recommend starting there.    If 8 drives is your server's max, then I would recommend the Corsair 430W (28A on the +12V rail).  If you plan on adding more drives later, then you'll need to go bigger.

I have added an update of the symptoms i have been noticing.

 

Rajahal, BobPhoenix, thanx for your input.

 

If you notice my signature i have at least 2 non-green drives (hitachi) although according to their specs they only need 2A. also, one of the seagates i have is 5900rpm but at its peak, according to specs, needs ~3A. finally, 4 other seagates are 7200 for which I cannot find the amperage.

 

I probably need a PSU although I am not sure that it is source of the problems. I am thinking along the lines of Corsair 650W. although it is more expensive, it will cater for future needs since i can easily imagine having 15-20 drives in the foreseeable future (especially since we wont be seeing >2T HDDs very soon)

 

 

I have updated the post to show that the problem is probably solved

i use 'probably' because i need 1-2 weeks to be certain there is no reoccurrence of the symptoms i have mentioned. if the symptoms reappear i will return to this post...

It sure sounds like that power supply will pay for itself based on the lower current draw when idling.