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Power cycling and xserver

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  Power cycling and xserver Haines Brown <haines@histomat.net> - 2014-08-15 08:35 -0400
    Re: Power cycling and xserver Pascal Hambourg <boite-a-spam@plouf.fr.eu.org> - 2014-08-15 15:00 +0200
      Re: Power cycling and xserver Haines Brown <haines@histomat.net> - 2014-08-15 11:10 -0400

#2524 — Power cycling and xserver

I have what seems to be a set of unrelated problems on 2008 hardware
running Wheezy and GNOME. 

The problem started with a loss of both keyboard and mouse inputs. When
I did a hot reboots I found the results to be unpredictable.

Sometimes the power LED comes and then goes off after a second and
starts an unending cycle that resumes if the power cord is detached and
re-attached. 

Sometimes the power LED and the HD LED both on for a few seconds
and then both go off to start the on-off cycle for both. 

For a while the machine could reach GRUB menu, when it rebooted itself. 

Once it actually started X server and allowed user log in. Everything
worked for about 12 hours, and then mouse and keyboard were again lost. 

Right now when I tried to boot DebLive from USB key, the power supply
LED is on without recycling, but no power to HD and boot process is
hung.
 
What connection could there be between the faulty operation of the X
server and errative power? The hardware is from 2008, Could it be that
the BIOS battery needs replacement? The HD is being supplied with 5 and
11 volts in its power connector. 

Haines Brown 

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#2525

Hello,

Haines Brown a écrit :
> I have what seems to be a set of unrelated problems on 2008 hardware
> running Wheezy and GNOME. 
> 
> The problem started with a loss of both keyboard and mouse inputs. When
> I did a hot reboots I found the results to be unpredictable.
> 
> Sometimes the power LED comes and then goes off after a second and
> starts an unending cycle that resumes if the power cord is detached and
> re-attached. 
> 
> Sometimes the power LED and the HD LED both on for a few seconds
> and then both go off to start the on-off cycle for both. 
> 
> For a while the machine could reach GRUB menu, when it rebooted itself. 
> 
> Once it actually started X server and allowed user log in. Everything
> worked for about 12 hours, and then mouse and keyboard were again lost. 
> 
> Right now when I tried to boot DebLive from USB key, the power supply
> LED is on without recycling, but no power to HD and boot process is
> hung.
>  
> What connection could there be between the faulty operation of the X
> server and errative power?

IMO, an aging power supply. Or aging electrolytic capacitors on the
motherboard.

> The hardware is from 2008, Could it be that
> the BIOS battery needs replacement? The HD is being supplied with 5 and
> 11 volts in its power connector. 

11 V for the 12 V output is below the ATX specification minimum ; it
should be at least 11.4 V.

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#2526

Pascal Hambourg <boite-a-spam@plouf.fr.eu.org> writes:

> Hello,
>
> Haines Brown a écrit :
  
>> What connection could there be between the faulty operation of the X
>> server and errative power?
>
> IMO, an aging power supply. Or aging electrolytic capacitors on the
> motherboard.

I don't see any expanded electrolytes, but never been comfortable that
it is a reliable indicator. The PS is high quality: Enermax Liberty, 400W.
>
>> The hardware is from 2008, Could it be that
>> the BIOS battery needs replacement? The HD is being supplied with 5 and
>> 11 volts in its power connector. 
>
> 11 V for the 12 V output is below the ATX specification minimum ; it
> should be at least 11.4 V.

Unfortunately, my "11" was really a bit over 11.0, but I don't remember
how much, for I just was checking to see if voltage was there. It may
have been near 11.4. But when I now measure it, it is 11.98. I will do
some more voltage checks. If they turn out to be OK, and the boot
process does not begin, the problem may be the MB. The CPU fan is
working, incidentally.

Other volages seem ok: 

      standby voltage  5.19
      latching circuit 4.06 when machine off and 0.25 when machine on
      grey wire (rail level) goes from 0 to 4.4
      orange           3.34
      red              5.11
      yellow          11.98

Possibly the one time when I did manage to loggin in and start the X
server, the power supply barely managed to support its requirements and
after a few hours gave up and the server no longer worked.

Right now the power LED is cycling off and on every few seconds, and now
it seem to have settled and is permently on.

Haines

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