Doremi ShowVault/DCP-2K4 with standard ATX power supply?

[Carsten Kurz]

Did someone ever manage to operate a ShowVault or DCP-2K4 off a standard ATX power supply? While the redundant power supply will contain some electronics that go between the power supplies and the mainboard, I assume that the mainboard has a standard ATX-style power connector? Would it be possible to run the server off a standard power supply as a temporary measure?

- Carsten

[Kieran Hall]

Maybe this is not too much help, but I can tell you that the inverse is possible (we put our non-sync playback PC in the chassis of a dead DCP-2000) and the power connector was indeed just standard ATX. I presume the same is true for the DCP-2K4/Showvault.

[Dave Macaulay]

Yes, no problem. I think the stock modules are 250W (check the label). I use a standard ATX supply to power up motherboards (used pulls from old PCs) to test them and install the Doremi BIOS in preparation for use in Doremi servers with failed motherboards.
You may need some drive connector Ys, adapters, or extensions to get power to all the drives and other things that get power, like the display unit (on a DCP2000 or SV3) and the USB hub.

[Carsten Kurz]

Thanks. A colleague called me yesterday about his DCP-2K4 not starting up. Looked as if both PSU are dead. According to him, the wall circuit breaker tripped twice. Not sure what happened there. Trying a standard ATX PSU would allow to diagnose this further, before they order two new power supplies.

[Dave Macaulay]

The DC4/SV4 power supply modules have a known issue of not starting when left powered but with server off for a while - overnight can be enough time. Their +5SBY standby supply, powering some motherboard circuitry (power button and network ports plus who knows what else), heats the PSU up enough that its thermal sensor inhibits the main supplies. Unplugging or switching the supplies off for 5 or 10 minutes lets it start normally. That is not your problem if the thing is popping circuit breakers though!
You only need to connect the two multipin power supply cables from an ATX supply to test if the system will start, but it won't boot because it can't find the flash drive unless you connect a floppy power cable to the USB hub. It does not cause future problems if you boot it with the drives unpowered although you will get a warning that the RAID is missing.

[Marcel Birgelen]

Thanks. A colleague called me yesterday about his DCP-2K4 not starting up. Looked as if both PSU are dead. According to him, the wall circuit breaker tripped twice. Not sure what happened there. Trying a standard ATX PSU would allow to diagnose this further, before they order two new power supplies.

It's hard to imagine a common issue at the low-voltage side of things that would cause this. But they both trip the breaker?
Most common issue of a dual-PSU failure is where the other PSU failed long ago, people simply pulled it to avoid the annoying beep and then the other fails...