Server Wont boot

TopTrainer · 12 Feb 2011 at 13:54

Hi

I am in need of some advice last night we had a big power cut and it appears to have affected my server quite badly.

The server is linux based on 24/7 (not built by me)

On trying to reset it this morning I had no video signal and whilst I could here the fans going I heard no beeps or anything.

The CD drive bay light powered and then went off, but there was no apparent light on for accessing the drives and it just stayed lifeless.

I have looked inside the box and there is not a separate graphics card so I presume its an on board thing. the board is a Gigabyte GA-MA69G-S3.

I have tried the box on two separate monitors with no change and both monitors work.

Has this blown my board?

If I have fans running can I assume the power supply is ok?

I am assuming the data on the drives will be ok though I am not sure?

If I took the drives out would I be able access files via external disk caddy? I believe its set to raid 0 so would removing the disks break that up?

Sorry for so many questions but I am in a bit of a panic.

Thanks

Pete

PhillyDee · 12 Feb 2011 at 13:56

You cannot assuem the PSU is fine. There are many rails and many parts in a PSU, a surge could have blown different ones. Only way is to test the system with a different PSU. The hard drives are likely to be ok, but in RAID0, they must be as part of an array, so an external caddy would be useless. Why would your server be in raid0 though? This stripes the data across 2 drives, and doubles the risk on your data.

Sin_Chase · 12 Feb 2011 at 17:25

RAID-0? That's no redundancy. I'm not sure if you can plug in a single disk from a stripe and get data off, my gut feeling is a resounding "No". RAID-1 yes, each disk has the same replica set but in a stripe it's...well...striped across all drives.

If it came to it you would likely need to chuck the stripe on a compatible controller and then use some kind of bootable environment to try recover data. What FS is being used will also complicate things. Is it an embedded controller or an expansion card? (Latter leaves you in a much better position)

Do you not have backups?

TopTrainer · 13 Feb 2011 at 07:05

Thanks for your replies. I am fairly certain it is in Raid 0, not my choice, but at the time I was not consulted on that issue and I am not sure I would have known what to choose anyway.

Looking in the box it does not look like there are any cards in there whatsoever, just the M/B and two drives. and the power supply.

Funny how something like this makes you re-think everything. I will I think replace the power supply first.(hoping thats what has gone)

If the mother board has blown and requires replacement, would replacing it impact upon the data?

Sin_Chase · 13 Feb 2011 at 07:24

Yes.

If you want to bring the array up you need a compatible controller. The fact that it is embedded complicates this as you will likely require the same board, or at the very least a board with the same raid controller.

TopTrainer · 13 Feb 2011 at 15:58

Update

I have taken the battery out for a few minutes and replaced it no change.

I have now replaced the power supply with a better quality more powerful one. It looked hopeful in that the DVD activity light intermittently came on but the machine did not boot neither was there a video response.

Clearly the surge has popped the motherboard fortunately the motherboard is quite a common one so I will replace it with identical and hopefully boot .................please !!!!!

PistolPete · 13 Feb 2011 at 16:45

You don't necessarily need the same RAID controller, or even a RAID controller.
I've successfully recovered a several RAID0 array using R-Studio using a normal onboard controller in non RAID mode.

However, before you panic about lost data, try swapping the PSU and you may find the system just powers and boots fine.

TopTrainer · 13 Feb 2011 at 21:42

PistolPete said:
You don't necessarily need the same RAID controller, or even a RAID controller.
I've successfully recovered a several RAID0 array using R-Studio using a normal onboard controller in non RAID mode.

However, before you panic about lost data, try swapping the PSU and you may find the system just powers and boots fine.

I have never heard of R Studio but it looks like its good stuff. I have located an identical second-hand motherboard so when it gets to me I might as well use it.

I have already put a new PSU in and it still did not boot.

RimBlock · 14 Feb 2011 at 04:40

I have an issue like this with a motherboard and although I have not got fully to the root of the problem, there are some things I do which gets it back running. Not knowing the full spec, not sure if they will help at all.

Syntoms,

On power on there is no video signal, hard drive lights come on and fan spins. Internal fans which have led lights come on (don't ask

). Server sits there with no post etc.

Resolution,

Pull power lead. Press power button (to discharge remaining power). Set bios reset pin. Pull raid controller card (this seems to conflict sometimes with the VGA controller but not always the issue). Disconnect the hard drive hot swap bays (12 drives all spinning up at once). Turn on. If I get the POST message then turn off. Replace Raid card. Turn on. If I still get post then turn off and reconnect the drives and turn on. All is now usually working. Move BIOS reset to 'safe' position.

Not sure if it will be of any use but my machine usually recovers using this method. I believe I may have tracked the underlying issue, at least in part, to a Samsung drive which is now on my raid card rather than on the motherboard chipset.

RB

PistolPete · 14 Feb 2011 at 12:19

TopTrainer said:
I have never heard of R Studio but it looks like its good stuff. I have located an identical second-hand motherboard so when it gets to me I might as well use it.

I have already put a new PSU in and it still did not boot.

R-Studio is worth EVERY penny. I've used it to recover both RAID0 and RAID5 arrays on a basic machine without a RAID card, and in the case of RAID5, is was able to do it with -1 drive (ie recreating the parity in the the software).

Sorry to hear about the progress so far - maybe the PSU fail took other hardware with it. Try the replacement board with the newer PSU, and swap the rest of the hardware over bit by bit until it's all over and you are happy it posts - then try recreating the array (if it's using the motherboard RAID0 and NOT initialising it and see if the thing boots.

TopTrainer · 14 Feb 2011 at 15:44

PistolPete said:
R-Studio is worth EVERY penny. I've used it to recover both RAID0 and RAID5 arrays on a basic machine without a RAID card, and in the case of RAID5, is was able to do it with -1 drive (ie recreating the parity in the the software).

R-Studio sounds like its something everyone should have!!. There webpage is full of info. Would the Windows version also be suitable of recovering in a Linux OS I.E. my server or would I need to get the Linux version?

I think I will by this software whtever happens.