DELL PowerEdge R240 do a windows server shut down, but I didn't scheduled that.

Question

We have five dell PowerEdge R240 servers.

Today, at 3 PM, I was doing some remote maintenance on the server, and I suddenly see on the screen that the machine started to shut down by itself.

Called some guy at the office, and he power it up back on.

Two hours later, the same thing happened. He double checked all the BIOS settings, and all windows logs. Nothing.

About 7 PM, the same thing happened again.

The server shut downs by itself.

We have four more servers like that one, purchased on the same date.

Any help or advice would be appreciated.

DELL-Shine K · Accepted Answer

Can you check Events logs on the operating system for any messages related to shutdown?

DELL-Charles R · Accepted Answer

Hello d5184,

The description sounds like Windows is shutting down the system.

First thing that comes to my mind is;

Is the OS activated?

Is OS up to date?

To test out the hardware you can run the built in hardware diagnostics using either the iDRAC virtual console or locally at the system using these steps:

Boot to F11 on Dell Splash screen, selecting Boot Manager -> System Utilities -> Launch Dell Diagnostics. Note any messages and continue testing.

DELL-Shine K · Answer

Can you login to iDRAC and check SEL and LifeCycle Logs and see is there any messages related to shutdown of the server?

d5184 · Answer

Hello, Thank you for your prompt response. Can you point me out in the right direction? Those parameters could be found in the BIOS?

DELL-Joey C · Answer

Hi @d5184,

A couple of ways. You mentioned doing some remote maintenance, are you using iDRAC remove console? If you have iDRAC access, then navigate to Overview > Server > Logs. The first page shown is the Server Event Log (SEL). Alternative, you can access to Lifecycle Controller via F10 while the server is booting.

d5184 · Answer

Once again, Thank You.

I work for a security company. That server is in charge of handling a lot of camera streamings. I use the ZOHO assist client to run diagnostics on those cameras and the video footage recording software.

For some reason, Windows Server 2016 decides to shut down all by itself after two or three hours.

I'm working on the cameras as usual using Google Chrome, logs me off or windows, and I get the same blue screen with white letters that says "Shutting down". We didn't schedule any maintenance shutdown.

I ran some statistics using the DW spectrum client software, and the server loads doesn't go above 31%.

Is this hardware related?

d5184 · Answer

This is what I get every three hours:

d5184 · Answer

Hello!

It was a licensing issue. Apparently, someone did a typo while writing the license number on WinServer 2016.

That leads the OS into trial mode. After this period ends, It shut downs automatically every few hours. The OS was in a trial mode, and that time expired.

Thank you so much!

PowerEdge Hardware General

DELL PowerEdge R240 do a windows server shut down, but I didn't scheduled that.

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