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[dalearyous]

i am trying to cover anything i might have missed. i have a server with asus KGPE-D16 motherboard with 8 core opteron 6128 and 16gb of ram. it has been working great since i built it.

randomly one day i notice that i cannot connect to it using vsphere. i go over to the server room and find that the screen that is connected to it isn't showing the normal esxi screen. i power it off and power it back on and it reboots just fine. i go back to my laptop to reconnect and it wouldn't. i walk back to the server to find the screen off. i power down then power back up and it posts and starts its normal boot then screen goes off and its unresponsive.

basically, now, if i am lucky when i turn it on i will see the onbard video bios information and thats it. sometimes i get nothing. other times i get the bios splash screen and then it goes unresponsive and screen goes black. i have tried moving ram around or trying less ram. i have unplugged everything but the bare essentials and still can't get it to boot.

thoughts?

(excuse crappy cable management)

 

[Deleted member 88227]

Well sadly this can mean three things.

If you have unplugged/disconnected everything non essential (All but one stick of RAM trying different sticks, all hard drives, optical drives, any RAID controllers, discrete GPUs if onboard is an option) then...

That usually leaves three things. Motherboard, CPU or Power Supply. If you have a spare PSU laying around, I'd suggest trying it. Otherwise you're looking at either a Motherboard or CPU replacement. I'm not too familiar with the KGPE-D16, about to Google the manual in a second, but it might be possible to boot from either socket using a single CPU.

edit
Upon my Google-Fu, I see they have a few BIOS updates.
http://www.asus.com/Server_Workstation/Server_Motherboards/KGPED16/#download

Which BIOS are you running? When the system POST, are you able to enter into the motherboard BIOS Utility?

edit2
After looking over the manual, it doesn't specify which socket needs to be populated for the system to boot. With that being said, after trying to steps above with updating/entering the BIOS I would attempt to reset the BIOS using the jumper. If that fails, then it's most likely a motherboard issue (CPUs failing are rare) and contacting ASUS for further information on getting it replaced/fixed if under warranty still.

 

[dalearyous]

thanks for your post!

i cannot get into the BIOS on most boots. i have cleared the CMOS using jumpers but didn't reset the BIOS yet.

i am going to try a couple more options and then post back.

*edit*
ok gets weirder. i unplugged everything including raid controller card, EVERYTHING except mobo, cpu, ram (1 stick), monitor and keyboard. i actually got it to post and into the bios. i looked away for a second to grab thumb drive and look back and the screen is out/not getting signal.

the bios reset did nothing as it doesn't seem to even post that far when i do. im thinking maybe PSU but i don't have a spare

 

[Jay_2]

I wonder if a rail on the PSU is faulty?

 

[XenIneX]

PSU or motherboard; one of them's gone.

Do NOT(!!!) attempt to flash the BIOS until you are absolutely certain you have this problem fixed. If the PSU craps out mid-flash, you will find yourself enjoying the dulcet tones of the thick Russian accents of Asus support, begging a replacement chip.

 

[dalearyous]

the PSU is the oldest piece of hardware so i will lean that way and see. ill probably go buy one tonight and see if it fixes the issue.