From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Feb 29 04:48:48 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8B5DA106566C for ; Fri, 29 Feb 2008 04:48:48 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from tedm@toybox.placo.com) Received: from mail.freebsd-corp-net-guide.com (mail.freebsd-corp-net-guide.com [65.75.192.90]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3E4038FC20 for ; Fri, 29 Feb 2008 04:48:48 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from tedm@toybox.placo.com) Received: from TEDSDSK (nat-rtr.freebsd-corp-net-guide.com [65.75.197.130]) by mail.freebsd-corp-net-guide.com (8.13.8/8.13.8) with SMTP id m1T4mk41044689; Thu, 28 Feb 2008 20:48:47 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from tedm@toybox.placo.com) From: "Ted Mittelstaedt" To: "D G Teed" Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2008 20:49:46 -0800 Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook IMO, Build 9.0.6604 (9.0.2911.0) X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1914 In-Reply-To: Importance: Normal X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-3.0 (mail.freebsd-corp-net-guide.com [65.75.192.90]); Thu, 28 Feb 2008 20:48:47 -0800 (PST) Cc: DAve , FreeBSD Questions Subject: RE: hardware problem X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 29 Feb 2008 04:48:48 -0000 > -----Original Message----- > From: owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org > [mailto:owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org]On Behalf Of D G Teed > Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 3:54 AM > To: Ted Mittelstaedt > Cc: DAve; FreeBSD Questions > Subject: Re: hardware problem > > > On Wed, Feb 27, 2008 at 1:58 AM, Ted Mittelstaedt > wrote: > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > From: owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org > > > [mailto:owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org]On Behalf Of D G Teed > > > Sent: Monday, February 25, 2008 7:22 AM > > > To: DAve > > > Cc: FreeBSD Questions > > > Subject: Re: hardware problem > > > > > > > > > Every system I've seen with his description of the problem, where > > > the power supply can't even run it's own fan, is having a > power supply > > > problem. Power supplies are very often low quality these > days and can't > > > handle the stresses of typical electrical grid fluctuations. > > > > My experience has not been that the power supplies can't handle the > > electrical grid. > > > > What I've mostly seen is that the power supply FANS get dust in them, > > the fans slow down or stop, airflow through the supply drops, and > > then the supply overheats. Once it overheats, the supply will never > > be reliable again and must be thrown out. > > I've been able to routinely clean out the dust with canned air, and > they still die more frequently than say motherboards. Even quality > brands like Antec. I often replace the fan if it is showing signs > of noise from bearing getting burned out. I'm speaking mainly > of home and small office PCs. This is something that won't > happen as much in a server room since the air is cleaner, but > I'd guess the O.P. wasn't in that environment since he is wasting > 3 days before trying another power supply. > > Power supplies do have a limit of life related to the quality > of your electricity Not the good ones. Seriously. I run a NOC that has a 50kva natural gas fired generator. Every Tue. the generator is tested for 1/2 hour (basically we put the entire NOC on generator power for 1/2 hour) There is an automatic transfer switch that switches the entire NOC, under load, including the HVAC unit, onto generator power for 1/2 hour then switches it back to mains power. There is NO feedback circuit that syncs the sinewave from the generator with mains power. As you can imagine the switch is tremendously disruptive. All of the UPSs in the place squawk and switch into UPS power for a couple minutes. All of the UPSes in the place are cut-in types. So far we have only had 1 system lose power supplies on a regular basis, and this was a brand new, very expensive, HP server. (on UPSes of course) HP's replaced at least 8 power supplies in it under warranty. None of the others, including some of the most motley customer-owned clone equipment you might imagine, have suffered power supply failure. The HVAC unit of course heavily filters the air so there is no dust so to speak. I can pull the cover off 3 year old servers and the interior is as pristine as when they are new. And we keep the temp around 68 degrees. Please keep in mind most computer power supples nowadays are auto-switching and will run on anything from 110-220v. It is NOT dirty power that does them in. It is dust. And heat, as you said. Overloading a supply will kill it also - very few (retail) power supplies on the market will run close to their rated power output for any length of time. Today, the biggest problem I see is people demanding these minitower systems, getting these tiny small cases and stuffing them full of hard and optical drives. There's dead air spaces throughout the layout, and small, low-volume "quiet" fans. Hard drives also suffer as a result of this. A disk with good cooling can last many years. But few computers other than server gear provide it to the drive bays. >I can recall the bad > electrolyte scandle with several motherboard brands 5 years ago. > The explanation of the shortened capacitor lifespan due to the > electrolyte missing an ingredient was a bit of an education > into what capacitors do. They do have a limited lifespan > related to heat and the number of hours they are exposed to a high > ripple current. > > Here is an excellent wikipedia entry on capacitor plague > which will explain it in layman's terms. > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague > > If you have not read about this before, it may be an eye opener. > I know all about that. I also own several TV sets that date from late, late 60's early 70's and still work. Electrolytic capacitors have been around a long, long time. They had them during the tube days, and tube gear ran very hot. Like anything, they have a lifespan, but it is in the multiple decades, and little dependent on ripple current or heat. The issue with the self-corroding capacitors was corrected and while the equipment (like for example, Apple eMacs of 1Ghz CPU) that had those suffered, it isn't indicative of normal electrolytic capacitor lifespan. The most heat-sensitive parts are the semiconductors, the IC's and transistors. There is a thing called ion migration that happens to all semiconductors and causes them to go off tolerance. It's a chemical process that is hastened by heat. Ted