Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater
Some time this morning, probably around 6:30, the power supply on my web server went buh-bye. I noticed later, after I'd gotten up, when I couldn't get to anything on ye olde Intarnette (my web server is also my name server, ah the joys of multitasking).
With minimal grunting and swearing, I dislodged the server from the rack, and opened it up. Nothing was obviously wrong, so my first guess was the power supply. Fortunately, my first guess was right, and swapping in a spare power supply got everything up and working again.
Of course, I couldn't leave it at that. The spare power supply I have is an el-cheapo, and I didn't really want to leave it in this computer that will be running 24/7 for the next several years, if all goes right. I headed out into the pouring rain, and dropped into the local computer store, where I picked up a "nice" supply (ie, one which has a recognizable brand name, and might even use actual bearings on their fans).
I got it back, and went to hook it up, but there were two things obviously wrong: first, the device itself was clattering ominously, and I first thought that one of the fans had disgorged all its ball bearings; second, the connector which hooks to the motherboard was a different style, and I didn't think it would work. So, I bundled it all back up, and plowed back through the rain. The rattling was probably loose silica gel beads, but I figured if I was going to spend $65 on something, it should probably be nearly perfect.
The store didn't give me any trouble about the exchange, and showed me how to modify the power supply's plug to work with my older hardware. Back to home, watching the rain soak into my riding suit (which seems to have lost any pretensions of waterproofness in the outer fabric).
I plugged it all together, and it worked on the first try. Delighted, I put everything back together, and laboriously loaded it back into the rack. I flipped the switch, and nothing happened. Well, something happened, but it wasn't good: the monitor just showed a series of flickering lines, as if the vertical hold were out of whack.
Grr. So, I pulled all the cables, and unbolted it from the rack, sliding it back out again. Off came the cover. The only thing which looked likely was a power pin which had worked itself out of a connector, so I shoved that back together, and powered it on. Success! Well, hopefully.
Fortunately, when it all went back together in the rack, it continued working. I did have to stop half-way through, though, since I was approaching the point of just kicking the computer until it was in tiny pieces.
So, finally, around 3 o'clock today, obairlann.net came back up. Sorry for the outage, those of you who are mysteriously addicted to my bizarre little corner of the intarweb.
Posted at 18:28 permanent link category: /misc
Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater