Power outage and computers

[bigbearbear]

I have a Windows Home Server that I use to backup all my computers in my home office, it runs great but I've noticed that this particular server (and only this one) has a strange issue.

Whenever there is a power outage, either when the circuit breaker is tripped by the space heater running on full power or when PG&E had a scheduled maintenance period, this server will zap 1 of the memory module on the motherboard.

This has happened twice already, always the same memory slot, the memory module will be zapped and I'll need to replace it.

Anyone know what's the best way to fix this issue without too much cost? A surge protector or a UPS perhaps?

[spetsnaz]

a good solid UPS should help, do you currently have one?

[DVSmith]

Put a UPS on it. Not sure why a memory module would get killed, by the time power gets to components on the mother board it has gone through the power supply and should have been pretty cleaned up, even crap on the ground should be isolated. But, we have seen some weird stuff over the years.

[Montu]

UPS...also sounds like the power supply on that machine is doing a crappy job of providing clean power.

UPS would fix your problem though.

[Merc1138]

Why don't you have a UPS? You don't even need much of one to just power the system long enough for it to properly shutdown, $75 tops.

[yellowsulphur]

^This and a UPS works great for brownouts where the power tends to be dirty.

[odysseus]

A quality UPS is highly recommended regardless. However also just to advise, I have heard bad PS units as well can cause issues. Of course there are also capacitors on the MB itself which may not be tolerating these power fluctuations well and also be a culprit for these oddities.

[GraySquirrel]

Usually you have four slots. If you're only using two then try using the other two. Sometimes if this happens, just boot up without the memory in that slot, shutdown, place the memory back into the same slot and it may work again. Worth a try instead of spending money on a new module.

[parcours]

Your problem is a grounding issue.

You may have an open equipment grounding conductor. Without a reference to ground, especially if your connected to other computing equipment via ethernet, you just created a alternate ground path. That alternate ground path is in parallel with the chassis (DC grounding on the MH) and will create a overvoltage condition when the power is restored.

Make sure your neutral and ground are bonded at the service to your grounding electrode system (cold water pipe, gas pipe, ground rod, etc). Then make sure that NO other equipment ground conductors are connected to any neutral buss downstream of the main N-G bond at the service.

[dynamomark80]

Your problem is a grounding issue.

You may have an open equipment grounding conductor. Without a reference to ground, especially if your connected to other computing equipment via ethernet, you just created a alternate ground path. That alternate ground path is in parallel with the chassis (DC grounding on the MH) and will create a overvoltage condition when the power is restored.

Make sure your neutral and ground are bonded at the service to your grounding electrode system (cold water pipe, gas pipe, ground rod, etc). Then make sure that NO other equipment ground conductors are connected to any neutral buss downstream of the main N-G bond at the service.

sounds legit but it made my head explode trying to understand the tech speak.
so make sure a good ground is in place and used? Im now expert in electrical wiring but I have found some 3 prong plugs with only the hot and neutral wires connected no ground wire at all.

another thing...why would you have a server on a circuit with so much other stuff it pops the breaker? that is just crazy

[parcours]

You need that ground reference for your server power supply to work correctly.

More important is how that ground is derived. Make sure that at your main panel the neutral and ground (white and green wires) are bonded (connected together). Make sure that your branch circuit has both a white (neutral) and green ground to the receptacle. The ground is more important that you think. The DC power supply gets its reference from the green ground conductor, if that reference is not there the issue you're having is 100% caused by your lack of or incorrect grounding.

The server should be on it's own branch circuit with nothing else connected to it. You should run a dedicated 20amp (#12AWG conductor for each conductor) to a 20amp receptacle.

sounds legit but it made my head explode trying to understand the tech speak.
so make sure a good ground is in place and used? Im now expert in electrical wiring but I have found some 3 prong plugs with only the hot and neutral wires connected no ground wire at all.

another thing...why would you have a server on a circuit with so much other stuff it pops the breaker? that is just crazy

[dynamomark80]

You need that ground reference for your server power supply to work correctly.

More important is how that ground is derived. Make sure that at your main panel the neutral and ground (white and green wires) are bonded (connected together). Make sure that your branch circuit has both a white (neutral) and green ground to the receptacle. The ground is more important that you think. The DC power supply gets its reference from the green ground conductor, is that reference is not there the issue you're having is 100% caused by your lack of or incorrect grounding.

The server should be on it's own branch circuit with nothing else connected to it. You should run a dedicated 20amp (#12AWG conductor for each conductor) to a 20amp receptacle.

I learn something new everyday. thanks

[ldivinag]

ups... ups... ups...

i have had an eMachine running windows media center 24/7 for over 14 months now.

it's connected to a ups. previous WMC machine was an refurb HP that was also ups'ed. but i left it running on the ground on carpet so it sucked it all sorts of crap that i never cleaned... that ran for just about 2 years.

[parcours]

A UPS will do noting to protect the overvoltage condition caused by the turning off and turning on transient between neutral and ground.

The issues he's having is the reference between the DC power supply and the AC input. When the power is restored, the overvoltage condition caused by energizing the circuit is 1.5pu to 3pu for a few micro-seconds, that's enough to blow out the memory.

By properly grounding the chassis with a correctly derived neutral to ground bond and an equipment grounding conductor, the problem will go away.

Now, if he wants back up power, then yes a UPS should be used to prevent data loss.

[bigbearbear]

Thanks for the info everyone, appreciate it. I work from home and have many computers, laptops, monitors, servers etc. running from my home office. I guess this created a heavy load on that particular circuit, when I added a space heater recently (to avoid having to run the whole house gas furnace), it tripped the circuit.

I'll have an electrician come out and see what can be done, perhaps upgrade the circuit in my home office so that it can better handle heavy loads.

I'm going to check and grounding issue, and I've since discovered that I do have a spare UPS available (it has a few non-essentials connected to it). I used to run a few servers my customers connect to but those were move to a data center recently. I'll move it (its on a different floor at home) to this server's location and connect it up.

Thanks everyone.