# Dell PowerEdge 2950 power problem



## crcook84 (Aug 12, 2010)

We recently aquired 2 Dell PowerEdge 2950s. They seemed to function well at first. However, something was amiss with one of them which should have clued me in on the fact that there was a problem. I plugged a power cable into the secondary power supply on one of the servers to see how well it worked. After reading the user manual, I found out that the secondary is only in case the primary fails. So, it shouldn't boot to that unless the primary goes down. Anyways, I'm able to get so far until the server randomly dies on me. I keep trying to turn it on long enough to configure the settings so that I can repurpose it. Finally, when I power it up, it sounds like it's struggling to turn itself on until it finally gives up after 10 seconds. I try both power supplies and neither one can seem to keep the computer running.

The next day, I try turning that server on one more time and I get the same result. I pull out both supplies and see how well they work on the second server I got. Not only does that computer work, all 4 power supplies provide enough power individually to keep the server running. That seems to tell me that the first server has some sort of internal power problem. Now, before I gut it, does anyone have any suggestions as to why the first server struggles to keep itself turned on?


----------



## crcook84 (Aug 12, 2010)

I didn’t realize this until now but there are some error codes showing up:

E1000 Failsafe

E1216 3.3V PwrGd

As for calling Dell, it's a safe assumption that, because these were used, they're out of warranty.


----------



## zx10guy (Mar 30, 2008)

From the sounds of it, you definitely have some sort of internal issue with the first server. And your assumption, they're out of warranty is correct; not because they're used but because they're really really old. Those servers are Dell's 9th generation servers. Dell's current generation servers are 13th gen. The 11th gen servers are now about to fall off of any extended warranty support.


----------



## crcook84 (Aug 12, 2010)

Well, it looks like they both had problems. Server 2 had an interesting problem. I couldn't add hard drives, with existing data, as virtual hard drives without loosing what was already on them. I know it's possible through boot through CTRL+R. However, the computer would just stop when I'd get to that point. I tried the OpenManage software DELL offers for their PowerEdge line. It works; however, I can't seem to create the VD without it dumping the existing partition. So, unless someone can give me some tips on utilizing the OM software to create a VD without loosing the data in a partition, I'm just going to end this and start a new post on making a custom built server.


----------



## pkokkinis (Dec 19, 2003)

Could be that the servers are drawing too much power and then everything is turning to sh1t pretty quickly. Be sure you're not plugging them into any home-grade ups. If you don't have any Fluke tools laying around, plug in a blow dryer to the same outlet you had the server plugged into and see it it stays on for more than 15 seconds.


----------



## crcook84 (Aug 12, 2010)

pkokkinis said:


> Could be that the servers are drawing too much power and then everything is turning to s**t pretty quickly. Be sure you're not plugging them into any home-grade ups. If you don't have any Fluke tools laying around, plug in a blow dryer to the same outlet you had the server plugged into and see it it stays on for more than 15 seconds.


It wasn't the outlet. We have two Dell PEs and I plugged both into the same outlet one at a time. Only the one with the power modulator problem won't turn on.


----------



## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

Sounds like the power regulator is shot but you could try stripping it down to the bare minimum removing all card and any back planes or riser cards. Looking up the error codes it may actually be a problem with the riser card. Since you have two you can swap a few parts after that. But it's an ancient server, these were released in 2006 and can be bought for under $100 on eBay.


----------



## crcook84 (Aug 12, 2010)

Triple6 said:


> Sounds like the power regulator is shot but you could try stripping it down to the bare minimum removing all card and any back planes or riser cards. Looking up the error codes it may actually be a problem with the riser card. Since you have two you can swap a few parts after that. But it's an ancient server, these were released in 2006 and can be bought for under $100 on eBay.


I, actually, tried all that. Never got anywhere. Instead, we got some more servers from that company and are just going to re-purpose the parts. I imagine the Xeon 5000 CPUs in those servers (even though they're old) should be reusable in some capacity. I'd hate to junk them.


----------



## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

You can get better performance from many single i5's compared to a pair of Xeon E5400's series processors.


----------

