Fileserver Troubles Part 2

Having spent several weeks slogging through a plethora of seemingly random problems with the fileserver, we are seeing increased stability once more and *hopefully* an end to the crashing. Many of the changes to the system, like removing hard drives and disconnecting various USB devices seemed to go a long way toward increasing system stability, but the crashing continued, albeit more rarely.

I have confirmed that the surge protector installed in the data closet for the fileserver is faulty and it has been replaced. I feel I have also confirmed that the power supply for the fileserver was adversely affected by the failure of the surge protector. The power supply has also been replaced. (Additionally, although my own power calculations indicated I only needed a 450W PSU at peak loads, a more "official" power requirement calculator indicated I needed a 750W PSU instead. Unwilling to risk overwhelming my current 600W PSU and wanting to ensure further expansion of the fileserver would be possible [i.e. potentially adding 2-6 more drives] I purchased an 850W PSU to run the system.) It is hard to measure the impact of the new PSU as the computer was running stable for as much as three days at a time prior to the switch. It is still too early to say whether the change made a difference in system stability or not, but it will be interesting to see as the days pass by.

There is a very real possibility that the surge protector issue not only overwhelmed the old PSU, but also damaged the motherboard, RAM or CPU. At least one of the USB ports on the motherboard has stopped functioning entirely and several others are suspect. This indicates some form of damage from the incident. It only remains to be seen whether this damage is minimal enough to live with or if it has compromised the stability of the motherboard to the point that it will need to be replaced.