My IT experience is mainly in networking, so forgive me if this is a stupid question.
I have seen a trend over 5 or 6 years now that every so often (2-3 times now), I'll have a unrecoverable system failure. What seems to happen is that a machine will hang (it happens) and will not shut down gracefully. When I force a restart, the system will not boot up/post. This isn't OS or system specific, and what I typically do is piece something together to fill the void until I can build a new upgraded system. Because I don't have many "like" parts for these failed systems, my troubleshooting efforts have turned up empty in all cases.
Most recently, I had a VMWare server running on a C2550D4I board. System hung, rebooted, everything powered up but nothing ever showed on-screen. Networking never came on-line. Tried different variations of RAM sticks and slots. Tried different power supply. Removed CMOS battery/reset CMOS. I could not get the system to post. I don't have any RAM compatible with this board other than what was in it at the time it was working.
Funny thing is this isn't the first time I've had almost the exact same scenario happen. I'm curious if this is likely related to a power conditioning problem, and if so the best way to fix it. I'm guilty of not running anything more than a "power strip", although it is one with surge protection. Nothing fancy.
My bin of otherwise-decent parts is beginning to fill up! Thoughts?
I have seen a trend over 5 or 6 years now that every so often (2-3 times now), I'll have a unrecoverable system failure. What seems to happen is that a machine will hang (it happens) and will not shut down gracefully. When I force a restart, the system will not boot up/post. This isn't OS or system specific, and what I typically do is piece something together to fill the void until I can build a new upgraded system. Because I don't have many "like" parts for these failed systems, my troubleshooting efforts have turned up empty in all cases.
Most recently, I had a VMWare server running on a C2550D4I board. System hung, rebooted, everything powered up but nothing ever showed on-screen. Networking never came on-line. Tried different variations of RAM sticks and slots. Tried different power supply. Removed CMOS battery/reset CMOS. I could not get the system to post. I don't have any RAM compatible with this board other than what was in it at the time it was working.
Funny thing is this isn't the first time I've had almost the exact same scenario happen. I'm curious if this is likely related to a power conditioning problem, and if so the best way to fix it. I'm guilty of not running anything more than a "power strip", although it is one with surge protection. Nothing fancy.
My bin of otherwise-decent parts is beginning to fill up! Thoughts?
