No Power with Apple Xserve RAID after prolonged power outage

[Auggie]

After a prolonged power outage (approximately 10 hours), my Xserve RAID no longer powers up. The indicator LEDs on both power supplies don't lite up in any way. I've confirmed that the power cables/outlets are working fine. The system was powered down when the power outage occurred.

I don't believe that both PS's went dead at the same time. Both cache battery modules are dead, but I don't think this will have anything do with the power supplies not showing any power status. Or could they? I'm thinking there's a problem with the logic board.

Although new cache modules appear to be plentiful on eBay, I don't want to arbitrarily replace parts in hopes of hunting down the problem.

I did pick up a cheap ($30), complete RAID chassis sans drives, but it's 2,000 miles away from the problematic system, and won't be brought over for at least three months.

Any suggestions until then?

If not, would I be able to transfer the intact RAID configuration to the new chassis by simply moving the drives over? I'm thinking not but hoping it will.

 

[Les Kern]

At one time I had a server farm of Xserves, and after a few years the power supplies started to give out after doing exactly what you describe, many after prolonged outages. At first it was easy to get a new or refurb PS, but then became harder and harder until it was almost impossible to find replacements. I settled initially on just buying whole refurbished/used units. My experience says that's your issue, and wish you the best of luck. (I hope I'm wrong)

 

[Longer Lane]

Check if your Xserves have backup batteries (e.g. CR2016 or CR2032). There are plenty of reports that failure of those batteries cause boot issues with macs which rely on them. Cheap and easy to test.

 

[Auggie]

At one time I had a server farm of Xserves, and after a few years the power supplies started to give out after doing exactly what you describe, many after prolonged outages. At first it was easy to get a new or refurb PS, but then became harder and harder until it was almost impossible to find replacements. I settled initially on just buying whole refurbished/used units. My experience says that's your issue, and wish you the best of luck. (I hope I'm wrong)

Well, I have a complete unit without drives so I can swap PS's from it, and other modules, to assist in troubleshooting.

Check if your Xserves have backup batteries (e.g. CR2016 or CR2032). There are plenty of reports that failure of those batteries cause boot issues with macs which rely on them. Cheap and easy to test.

I'm assuming you are referring to the cache battery modules, yes? Both of mine are dead (no longer hold a charge) according to the battery status LED's on them.

As mentioned above, I have another complete chassis, but don't yet have power cords to confirm functionality or cache battery condition (machines are currently located at different sites very distant from each other).

 

[Longer Lane]

I guess the Xserves have backup batteries (e.g. CR2016 or CR3237

I'm assuming you are referring to the cache battery modules, yes? Both of mine are dead (no longer hold a charge) according to the battery status LED's on them.

These are the ones I am referring to: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Button_cell
Some of the older xserves have different ones: https://support.apple.com/kb/TA27193?locale=en_GB&viewlocale=en_US

Cost you a dollar or two to replace and worth trying.

There is also this thread which suggests the same thing: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2070960?tstart=0

 

[Auggie]

I guess the Xserves have backup batteries (e.g. CR2016 or CR3237

These are the ones I am referring to: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Button_cell
Some of the older xserves have different ones: https://support.apple.com/kb/TA27193?locale=en_GB&viewlocale=en_US

Cost you a dollar or two to replace and worth trying

I must clarify that I have the Xserve 14-bay RAID system, and not an Xserve Server computer.

I was hoping to avoid confusion between the two, but Apple's official nomenclature for the RAID chassis is "Xserve RAID", which can be easily mistaken for the "Xserve" server computer, which may also contain a RAID module.

 

[Longer Lane]

Irrespective of Xserve or Xserve raid, i would check for that PRAM backup battery. The Xserve RAID has enough computing functionality in it, that it is quite possible to find one in there as well.

 

[Flint Ironstag]

Check batteries first. I seem to recall something in the manuals about a hard reset sequence as well. Been a while, though...

 

[Auggie]

Irrespective of Xserve or Xserve raid, i would check for that PRAM backup battery. The Xserve RAID has enough computing functionality in it, that it is quite possible to find one in there as well.

I finally got ahold of an Apple Service Source manual for the Xserve RAID and from what I could ascertain, there is no such "PRAM battery,", neither on the Midplane Board nor on the processor boards in the two controller modules.

Check batteries first. I seem to recall something in the manuals about a hard reset sequence as well. Been a while, though...

According the above Service Source manual, the cache battery modules are optional, therefore should not impact the power supply status at all. There is a "hard reset" pin-head sized button on each controller, but I don't think that will solve my power supply problem.

Per this manual, no LED lights on a power supply indicates "No AC power to either power supply." Which implies that there is no AC via the power cords themselves, which doesn't seem possible as I've tried different power cords and tested the outlet themselves as functional.

Since I'm no longer at the site of the defective RAID, I can't troubleshoot further. I don't have any power cords for the RAID chassis that is at my present location but when I have the time, I'll buy a pair to do some testing of the bare chassis here to check on some theories of mine.

 

[warragul]

The universal fix (in my humble experience) is to remove power and other cables, hold down the power button for 10 sec, release and reconnect. In most cases the device will now power up.
It's not just for Apple stuff, either. It works on PCs as well. Some sort of power control chip (SMC?) gets into a lockup state, apparently.

 

[Auggie]

Just a follow-up:

I finally moved back to the site of the problematic RAID, with a complete chassis in tow (2,000 mile journey). Swapped in the power supplies and voila: the LED's lit and the system was able to startup. One of the replacement PSU's is showing a fault, so I'm going to pop for a brand new one (well, they say brand new open box on eBay) for $25. The "source" chassis also had fully functioning cache battery modules; I got the whole complete chassis for only $35.

Otherwise, it's good-to-go and my data is intact.

I guess coincidences do happen: in this case, both PSU's went completely dead after the aforementioned power outage.

 

[Les Kern]

Just a follow-up:

Otherwise, it's good-to-go and my data is intact.

I guess coincidences do happen: in this case, both PSU's went completely dead after the aforementioned power outage.

EXCELLENT news, but sorry for the 2000M trek.

 

[ratsg]

it seems that here, or at some place in the near future, there is a market for repair or rebuild services for Xserve and Xserve RAID power supplies.

Or, is there something else out there that uses these same power supplies?

 

[Auggie]

it seems that here, or at some place in the near future, there is a market for repair or rebuild services for Xserve and Xserve RAID power supplies.

Or, is there something else out there that uses these same power supplies?

The new replacement PSU that I bought off eBay the seller mentioned "Compaq" as being a compatible target along with "other brands..."