Poweredge 2900 III - Input Lost

 "Could the installation of the UPS cause this message to show?"

It could if the UPS is not working correctly, or more likely, if a power fault occurred before the UPS batteries were fully charged.

 

Another possibility, the particular power supply is very sensitive to power fluctuations when the BBU goes to battery; on the units I have used, the line voltage is generally slightly higher then the output of the BBUs when running on battery. A normal  power supply (within specifications) should be able to handle normal power fluctuations without going into an error state. 

 

 

"If the error message goes then that would suggest it's the UPS that is faulty (or set to the wrong voltage perhaps?)"

Not necessarily, the UPS, on battery, may be introducing power which 99.99% of power supplies handle well, but the particular PS does not.

 

"What is a normal power supply within specification?"

Power supplies (or any power monitoring circuitry associated with them) within spec do not balk as to line power due to normal voltage variations, slight frequency changes, normal harmonics variations, sine wave characteristics, etc.

 

If you remove the BBU, sounds like the error will not occur. Do you have another BBU which you can swap with the new unit. Do you have another power supply (exact same) from another server to do a swap test?  I assume the BBU has been plugged in for at least 15 hours.

 

If you have redundant power supplies in this server, shut down and reverse the power supply order. If it happens on the same PS in the other PS bay, it is an "out of spec" PS.

 

 

Thanks Again

 

"If the error message goes then that would suggest it's the UPS that is faulty (or set to the wrong voltage perhaps?)"

Not necessarily, the UPS, on battery, may be introducing power which 99.99% of power supplies handle well, but the particular PS does not.

 

Is it possible to adjust this?

 

"What is a normal power supply within specification?"

Power supplies (or any power monitoring circuitry associated with them) within spec do not balk as to line power due to normal voltage variations, slight frequency changes, normal harmonics variations, sine wave characteristics, etc.

 

If you remove the BBU, sounds like the error will not occur. Do you have another BBU which you can swap with the new unit. Do you have another power supply (exact same) from another server to do a swap test?  I assume the BBU has been plugged in for at least 15 hours.

 

Yes, it has been plugged in for 2 days. They only have one server which is this one and it was only installed last weekend. By BBU do you mean UPS? They dont have any other UPSs to test but this is an old one so I may just buy them a new one.

 

If you have redundant power supplies in this server, shut down and reverse the power supply order. If it happens on the same PS in the other PS bay, it is an "out of spec" PS.

 

This is all new to me so how can I reverse the power supply order? What if the PS does turn out to be out of spec?

Is this really that critical or just a case of mixed messages from the hardware because it seems like there may be nothing wrong with the PS despite its error message.

Forgot to mention the obvious, it could be the cord going to the power supply is not making contact either at the power supply or where you plug it into the UPS, or you have it plugged into one of the outlet on the UPS which is a plain line feed, and not part of the UPS circuitry. Many UPS units are setup like this, read the small print near the oulets on the back of the UPS. 

 

"Is it possible to adjust this?"

Not unless you know the workings of all the circuitry involved.

 

"By BBU do you mean UPS?"

Sorry... yes, it means battery backup unit

 

"This is all new to me so how can I reverse the power supply order?"

If you have redundant power supplies, you will see two Identical power supplies localled in the back of the server. If you plug in two power cords to the server, you have redunant power supplies. If so remove both (with server off) , reversing the order of power supplies you place back into the PS bays.

Thanks

I think the panic is over for now.  The error message was as relayed but all lights on the rear were green. One of the cables had loosened though. Once i connected all the cables up and switched the server back on the error disappeared.

 

Hopefully that is the end of it but thankyou for your help.

 

Much appreciated 

I had simillar problems. As mentioned in below thread I down the server, and re-connected both the cables. That solved my problem.

Now its showing Blue blinking display with server name.

Hope this is the required display. Or does blinking mean something wrong ?

My server has 2 Power Supply, one of them was desconnected to the energy... I found the solution connect it. Power Edge 2900 E1624 PS Redundacy E1614 PS 1 Status E161c Error message disapeared inmediately... Augusto.