Issue setting up APC UPS, server won’t POST

BillP · ‎2021-06-30

Hi all, hoping someone can help. I purchased an APC Smart-UPS (SMT1500IC), to help my home server shutdown safely in an outage.

First time using a UPS, I followed the basic setup steps as described in the box, but I’m seeing some really strange behaviour. The server is the only device connected to the UPS.

I booted the server up and entered the Bios. I was about to select the boot device manually when the server suddenly died and then kept trying to turn on and off in a loop constantly. I had to kill the switch on the PSU to stop the loop.

After flicking the PSU back on I tried to turn it back on but no joy, so I unplugged the power cable coming from the PSU and reconnected a standard power cable from the mains socket. This time the server POSTed, although it showed a "Chassis Intrude! Please Check Your System Fatal Error" message.

I powered down and reconnected the power cable coming from the UPS. This time the server would power up (I can hear the drives spinning up), but the activity light didn’t flash nor did the POST screen appear.

I powered down and swapped to mains power, at which point it boots up as expected.

I’m probably missing something obvious, but something clearly isn’t sitting right between my PSU and the UPS. Any guidance anyone could give would be appreciated !

PSU: SuperFlower Leadex Titanium 750w
UPS: APC Smart-UPS SMT1500IC (showing input 251v, output 223v - FYI I am based in the UK)

BillP · ‎2021-06-30

Hi,

The input should be 230v so it appears the UPS is trimming the output to bring it to within range. It is possible the PSU is not handling the change properly. I recommend you contact local Schneider Electric Support for assistance. They will help you adjust the transfer points.

Local support contact information will be found at this link. https://www.apc.com/us/en/support/contact-us/index.jsp

You will need to change the region in the upper left of the contact us web page.

If adjusting the transfer points does not resolve the issue you may need to contact your local electric supplier to get the incoming voltage corrected.

See Answer In Context

BillP · ‎2021-06-30

I tried to boot the server up again with power connected via the UPS this evening and it successfully booted.

I checked the screen on the APC at this time and it was showing input and output voltage at 249.

Everything was operating as expected for about 7hrs, when I noticed I could no longer remote into the server. I went to take a look and found that the monitor was off and keyboard/mouse didn't wake the system, server was on but no activity lights flashing. The screen on the APC now read input 249v, output 221v.

I turned off the mains power socket leading to the APC, forcing it into battery mode. As soon as I did that the server came back to life and the monitor came on, showing that the system had rebooted.

can anyone shed some light on where things are going wrong with my setup?

BillP · ‎2021-06-30

Hi,

The input should be 230v so it appears the UPS is trimming the output to bring it to within range. It is possible the PSU is not handling the change properly. I recommend you contact local Schneider Electric Support for assistance. They will help you adjust the transfer points.

Local support contact information will be found at this link. https://www.apc.com/us/en/support/contact-us/index.jsp

You will need to change the region in the upper left of the contact us web page.

If adjusting the transfer points does not resolve the issue you may need to contact your local electric supplier to get the incoming voltage corrected.