DL380 G5 Random Restarts

[Jeff Pine]

I have a Proliant DL380 G5 which has started to randomly restart without warning. It was fine up until a week ago, now will run for several hours at a time and them reset three or four times in a row before continuing to run. There are no error messages when this happens, nor is there a B.S.O.D memory dump. The only clue is a series of references to Power Supply Failure inthe IMS log. (The machine has Dual Redundant Power Supplies). The machine is out of warranty, so before randomly purchasing parts to swap, wondered if anyone had any better suggestion? (I was going to try a Power Supply and/or the power Backplane next!)

[Johan Guldmyr]

Hey!

I would run the power supplies one at a time, in each slot.

Maybe that way you can locate the problem to a specific slot or PSU.

[Jeff Pine]

Thanks for the suggestion! I have tried swapping the PSU's over and also taking the supply via a different UPS. I will run it for a day to see if I get any further re-sets or different error messages.

[Johan Guldmyr]

Oh yeah, different incoming power is a good idea =)

[Christopher Redden]

If your server has a Power Factor Corrected (PFC) power supply, like the Proliant ML 350 servers, it is NOT COMPATIBLE with a ups that has stepped-approximated sine wave, or does not respond fast enough.

Check the specifications of the UPS you are connected to. For example, APC Back-UPS 1500VA (BR1500LCD) produce a stepped-approximated sine wave when on battery. Very short decreases in line voltage could cause the UPS to go on battery. This would explain the random nature. Other equipment can remain uneffected, but the newer Proliants with PFC power supplies don't like it.

I had the same symptoms you described. The only thing that caught my eye was when the server stopped, the red "Health" LED blinks while the system power LED is amber. Nothing in any error logs or hardware logs. The server just halts. A quick test would be to unplug your UPS to simulate a power outage.

Make sure you have a UPS that produces a pure sine wave and/or has a fast response time. The APC Smart-UPS series is designed for servers. CyberPower makes some "Pure Sine Wave Output" UPS' too. I am sure there are others.

See:
http://nam-en.apc.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/8883/kw/power%20factor

Also See #5 and #6 of:
http://nam-en.apc.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/20/kw/drop%20load

Christopher