Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Gdc server trouble

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Posted by Koroye Seitonkumo (Member # 10558) on 11-01-2019, 05:42 AM:

Hello all

I have a gdc server SA 2100A, and while trying to link this up to a projector, it went off on its own and wouldn't power up properly since then..

If I put it on now, it comes up and goes off after 3 seconds without powering up well, with a beep.. This process just continues until it is turned off..

Any thoughts or advice with this?!

I don't have local technicians here.

Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 11-01-2019, 06:52 AM:

I'd say the most likely culprit of this is a dead power supply in the machine. Maybe it's not powering one of the power busses correctly and the motherboard isn't sending the "All Clear".

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 11-01-2019, 08:23 AM:

It sort of does seem like a power supply however, the GDC servers all have dual parallel operating power supplies. If one or the other or both should die then the power supply failure alarm will sound. I just find it hard to fathom that both died at exactly the same time. But anything can happen. Those supplies were very reliable for me, I only had one supply die in 8 years out of about 300 servers. Dolbly needs to find out who this power supply manufacturer is!

Mark

Posted by Koroye Seitonkumo (Member # 10558) on 11-01-2019, 09:30 AM:

We came back to it and it's powering up properly now.. We actually didn't do anything apart from put it off and then put it on after a while..

Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 11-01-2019, 09:56 AM:

It sounds like a bad capacitor somewhere. You might shop for some spare PSUs for the machine, you may find some of them on-line on eBay.

Next time, when it happens, try to pull out the PSUs and test them one by one.

If it isn't the PSUs, then the most likely culprit is the power regulator on the mainboard.

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 11-01-2019, 04:13 PM:

Koroye - we told you you're walking on thin ice buying second hand equipment of that age where you are located. Now, the same is true for your friend's investment. I understand that doesn't help you much, but, you have to be prepared that some issues may either be very expensive to repair, or take a very long time to be repaired, or, can not be repaired (practically) at all.

- Carsten

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 11-01-2019, 04:16 PM:

What Carsten said!

Posted by Connor Robertson (Member # 10317) on 11-11-2019, 03:50 PM:

I've had the same thing happen on one of our GDC servers. It would try to power up, but immediately beep and shut off. Sometimes I would get it to boot but it wouldn't last long before shutting down again. After troubleshooting with GDC they found it could be one of two things, a faulty memory card, or the motherboard.

Try removing both memory modules and boot the server without memory

- Does the server give off error beeps?

- If Not; the motherboard is likely dead and will need to be replaced

- If Yes; Re-seat one module and try again (better yet, use a memory module from another server)

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 11-12-2019, 08:40 AM:

Connor, I had memory problems once as well. But it caused random skips in the picture and sound. I swapped with another server in the same complex and the skipping followed the bad memory. I was able to buy memory locally for it.

Mark

Posted by Koroye Seitonkumo (Member # 10558) on 11-12-2019, 09:00 AM:

Yes, it beeps.. I'll try this and get back.. This is the exact trouble I have..

Posted by Connor Robertson (Member # 10317) on 11-12-2019, 01:39 PM:

Mark, I've noticed that skipping too on a couple of servers. I pulled one out before that had a film of oil coating it. Figured it was popcorn grease since that particular unit was closer to concession than the others. Still amazes me how far that popcorn oil gets.

Anyways, there's also a built in memory test you can run (ideally overnight) to check each card individually if you wanted to. Sometimes it can be a pretty long process. Luckily they're cheap, so usually replacing both is the easier way to go.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 11-13-2019, 07:27 PM:

Yes, I've used that test before. It wasn't conclusive on the bad memory in he one server and we confirmed it by swapping memory with another server. It's pretty common memory, fortunately.

Mark

Posted by Emmanuel Nwokafor (Member # 11090) on 12-05-2019, 04:43 AM:

quote: Koroye Seitonkumo
I don't have local technicians here.

How is your projection booth temperature I guess is too high, We've experience such in one of our clients location where the server behaves exactly as you just mentioned after rebooting it will work fine with the room temp changes. we didn't swap/chamge any server parts. the fault was resolved by keeping the booth cool and clear.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 12-05-2019, 07:16 AM:

I once had an issue with a Doremi Showvault that produced similar symptoms those described by Koroye. I could sometimes persuade it to boot by pulling out one of the PSUs and powering it up on the other alone (didn't matter which one went and which one stayed). I can't remember the exact details, but it turned out that it was a known issue, I think to do with temperature sensors in the PSUs refusing to let them come on. That booth got pretty hot, and the server was in a tightly stuffed rack, so that figured. Replacing both PSUs fixed it, and I haven't heard from them since.

Posted by Dave Macaulay (Member # 813) on 12-05-2019, 07:58 AM:

The Doremi 4U chassis servers are known to overheat the PSUs when shut down. When plugged in and switched on (these have a power switch) the PSUs produce 5V standby power that keeps the motherboard NICs and a few other things going, and allow a pushbutton start. PSU fans do not run, and sometimes the innards heat up enough to trip some safety circuit so the main outputs don't work and the server won't start up. Often they will give a short beep and run the fans for a moment then nothing when the go switch is pressed. Unplugging the power for a few minutes resolves this: once the system starts and the fans go, all is well again. I never got a good explanation from Doremi/Dolby about this, and replacement supplies have shown the same problem.
Not really a huge deal and affected sites have put a small fan blowing towards the PSUs or just power off completely overnight.