What happened??????

[Anonymous user]

I recently purchased several backup UPS, model 901-BN600G, to protect several cash registers/computers and a server.

Last nite we had a power outage after the store was closed. The outage lasted for about 45 minutes, There was no problem with the cash registers. Apparently they just lost power after the UPS ran out of battery and shut down.

Apparently the server took a hit because it will not boot up. It appears to be the memory board got fried. The BIOS info is not even displayed and the screen remains blank. The hard drive has power and sounds normal.

I talked to several technicians and they suspect that the UPS gradually ran out of power and at a certain point did not supply the required power to maintain a steady voltage to the server or may have even caused fluctuation. They indicated to me that the UPS should have shut down when it was unable to supply the needed voltage and cause the server to go down.

I have no idea what really happened, but needless to say, we are in a lot pf problems having to replace the server now. Lucky we save backup to an external drive and should be able to recover with little loss of data.

Not sure what questions to ask, but I would like to know how the UPS should or is handling an extensive outage. I was hoping to avoid losing a server due to a power outage. Now it costs me several thousand to replace it and rebuild it.

[Anonymous user]

Hi there, what type of server is involved here, and how old is it ? ... I have a suspicion that since the Hard Drive spins up normally potentially indicating a healthy server power supply, that some hidden failure may have been lurking in your server (eg bad mo-bo capacitors, loose connection) that only a power cycle (as caused when your ups ran out of battery) would have exposed...?

[Anonymous user]

Thanks for your reply. The server is a Dell Optiplex 745, dual core 3.4 GHZ and 8GB of memory. It's not a sever in that sense, but a desktop computer, but powerful enough to drive multiple cash registers. I purchased this box brand new about 6 months ago. I know it is an older model but saved money because it is.

I guess what I am curious about is what happens when the UPS is about to run out of power and whether this caused the problem. I like to know that so that I can be better prepared the next time around.

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

Hi.

When the UPS no longer can supply the needed power, it shuts down.. Typically, and in most UPS it shuts down completely. I've never seen one that the voltage keeps dropping till reaches 0V.

Like Battman said, that could be some hidden failure, like bad caps or even it could be only ram with errors.. Try and replace some parts to see.