Repetitive Power Failed / Power Restored Emails

[Anonymous user]

I have had 2 APC Smart UPS 1500 VA 980 Watt Rack Mount units in our office for about a year. Ever since we installed them we will get occassional "Power Failed on Agent xxx" followed immediately by "Power Restored on Agent xxx" emails. I often see the restored email arive before the failed ones.

Some times this will go on for 10 minutes or more with 5 or 10 emails a minute. Other times it will happen once, and then again 10 or 30 minutes later... just constantly causing a worry that something is wrong with the System and it is about to go down. Sometimes one of the UPS units will report the outage, sometimes the other.

I sit less than 15 feet from the server and there is never the slightest indication that the power has flickerd.

On the rare occassion we will get a email stating that there was a site wiring fault, and I suspect that it could be part of the problem... .but what is indicated by the UPS saying the power has failed, when it obviously is still flowing.

[Techie_apc]

Randy,

Have you checked the UPS data logs to see if there were short power failures when you received these emails alerts? The data logs show you the input voltage that the UPS received. Check if there was any short blackouts that triggered these alerts.

If possible, could you please post the data and event logs which was recorded during the email alerts? May I know the version of the Power Chute software? Are you using the Serial cable or USB cable?

[Techie_apc]

I do not see any blackouts in the data logs. Unfortunately, I am not able to open the event logs which you posted for some reason. Could you please re-post the event logs same as the data logs?

[BillP]

Hi Randy,

Are you using a USB cable to connect your UPS into the computer? If you do, would it be possible for you to change it to serial? The problem that you are experiencing might be related to communication issue. Please do let us know what kind of cable you are using.

[Anonymous user]

Yes, I'm using USB for both. It is logging these as events as well, would it do that if there was a USB issue?

I'll have to see if I have serial cords/ports and take some time to make that change if other items don't work out.

Thanks,
Randy

[BillP]

Randy,

If you have multiple USB devices connected on the computer where the UPS is also plugged in they tend to collide with the data that our UPS is sending. We are using USB1.1 on our UPS and as you may already know USB devices now are on the USB2.0 which is much more faster that what we use. Also, if you are using a USB hub to connect the UPS to the computer, please try to plug the UPS directly into the USB port of the computer.

Please be informed as well that you need to use the APC serial cables with part numbers 940-0024 or 940-1524, if you connect non-APC cables this can cause your server to drop its load. Prior to changing the cables you need to braindead the Smart-UPS, I've listed the steps below we need to do this to disable the USB function of the UPS.

- Turn off the equipment that is connected to the UPS
- Disconnect the UPS from is AC (input power) source
- Press the Off button to turn the UPS off and release it.
- Press and hold the Off button for approximately five seconds to turn off the DC (battery) power. You may hear the unit click and flash its front LEDs.

After doing the braindead procedure you may now connect the APC serial cable and you also need to uninstall and reinstall the PowerChute Business Edition software on your PC.

[Techie_apc]

Thanks for the screen shots. What lights are on the front of the UPS when you get these alerts? If the UPS works normally during these alerts, then this might be an erroneous report via the USB cable. APC Smart UPS SUA also ships with 940-0024/1524 serial cable. Please try connecting the serial cable(940-0024/1524) and check if the issue lies with the USB cable or some other thing.

Message was edited by: Techie

[Anonymous user]

It is hard to tell what the lights are doing when I get the email after it is over...

On some occassions I do see the lights acting odd as well. I'll watch for it, and see if I can see something change when it is particularly active.

The procedure for changing the UPS to serial seems quite invasive. I will have to schedule some time to take the servers down to switch.

Honestly, we have had more outages from having a UPS than we would have if we never purchased it at this point it has cost us a fair amount of time and worry and productivity, exactly the thing we bought them to avoid.

[Techie_apc]

Randy,

I understand what you are going through. Please go through this troubleshooting exercise to find the root cause.

Have a nice day!

[BillP]

Please keep us updated with the problem and what have you done so far. We will do our best to help you with it.

I am sorry for the inconvenience this has caused you. Please feel free to contact APC Customer Care Center if you are not comfortable doing the braindead procedure by yourself. Our center is open Mondays to Fridays from 8:00AM until 8:00PM Eastern Time.

[Taomyn_apc · Accepted solution]

I just purchased an SMT1000I to replace an older SMART-UPS and I am experiencing this issue, again! I say again, because I used serial before and thought that when I got this brand new unit APC might have actually got around to fixing this issue, that I would switch to USB. I obviously overestimated their abilities and wish I hadn't.

Why on a 2010/2011 piece of hardware is this error still happening? I don't buy the "interference" excuse as USB is a protocol not a dumb connection, plus I the only other USB device plugged in is my keyboard so it's hardly going to be taxing the bus.