Server issues baffling me...

Greg Rundlett greg.rundlett at gmail.com
Thu Oct 23 01:26:01 EDT 2008


Not server related, but a related tale.  We repaired our broken vacuum
cleaner by replacing the motor (which definitely was starting to burn
out).  The funny part was that we returned for warranty service a
couple times because the vacuum would not work when we brought it
home.  The problem turned out to be that the one easily accessible
outlet in the living room was no longer working properly.



On Wed, Oct 22, 2008 at 11:55 PM, Dan Jenkins <dan at rastech.com> wrote:
> Neil Joseph Schelly wrote:
>> I have a server that I can turn on in our office, plugged into the
>> wall, and it will work fine for days, weeks, whatever.  I have never
>> had a problem there.  When I bring it to the datacenter, it won't
>> finish booting before it starts to get hda DMA timeouts.  It's the
>> errors I typically associate with a failed drive.  Without fail, the
>> machine does it every time it's booted up in the datacenter.  And
>> without exception again, it works fine in the office.
>
> Is the visiting server connected to the exact same power source as the
> datacenter equipment? Is the monitor/serial console plugged into the
> same power as the computer?
>
> Years ago, we had a client with an odd problem, where the system became
> intermittently unstable, and the hard drive sometimes failed, when the
> equipment was moved into another room. We discovered there was a 400
> volt difference in ground between the outlet into which the computer was
> sometimes plugged and another outlet used by a peripheral, which was
> occasionally connected to the computer, when the computer was in that
> room. When the peripheral was connected and turned on and the computer
> was plugged into the other outlet, the computer became unstable and
> ate hard drives. It took a lot of visits for our tech to find that one.
>
> We had a vaguely similar problem once with network cables with differing
> ground voltages.
>
>
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