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Should boxen have PM checklists?

I

ICE_9

2[H]4U
Joined
Feb 28, 2005
Messages
3,459
Should dedicated boxen have Preventative Maintenance checklists? If so, what should the checklists be? Every week, month, quarter, year? How do you track one? What do you recommend?

I only thought of this since I was checking uptime on boxen. One is up and down within hours, one has been up since April 9th, the Linux boxen has 50 days on it.
 
I don't have a set schedule, but I do check mine every now and then. Its a good habit especially with the warmer temperatures coming.

And for anyone with a 40GB PS3, there's an undocumented way to dust out the inside without having to open the unit.

1.put the ps3 on standby(red light is on)
2.turn off main power switch in the back of the ps3
3.place finger on the eject button and hold
4.turn on the ps3 from the back while holding the eject button this will cause your fans to kick in on full blast blowing all the dust inside your ps3 out it'll sound like a loud blow dryer the fans will stay on for about 1 min then shut off by themselves when this happens turn off the switch in the back of the ps3 and wait 5 sec and then turn it back on and your good to go. This trick only works on the 40 gig PS3.

Thanks to Poonking over at Blu-ray.com forums for this one.

 
I wonder if their is a program that server admins use so that when a processor hits a certain temp, or a fan goes out, they will get notified.
 
lm_sensors can send mail to the root account under linux. Don't know about windows boxes though.

 
Every morning when I go down to the basement to get a shirt for work I check the rack to make sure nothing had melted :D

 
Kendrak said:
Every morning when I go down to the basement to get a shirt for work I check the rack to make sure nothing had melted :D

Click to expand...


While this is a very sound strategy, I usually prefer to become aware of a situation before melting occurs. Molten plastic and copper on the floor is quite unsightly. :D

 
Depending on how dusty the location of your boxen is you might want to hit them with a can of air every few weeks.
 
I generally don't worry as long as the boxen are still running. The main way I find that out is by monitoring with FahMon. If the boxen goes down, I'll know it and then hook up a monitor or something to see what's wrong and fix it.

I only worry about cleaning every once in a while. I'll just look inside the box to see how dusty it is if the box isn't hooked up to the monitor or something to monitor temps. Then I'll do what is needed after that.

I do believe that gkrellm and lm_sensors can send boxen temps across the network if setup a certain way but I have not yet messed with it to figure out how to do this.

 
Boxen should be cleaned out (dusted) every three months for the quads; and for the lesser boxen, they should be cleaned before they are sold to customers for more quad boxen :D
 
alan2308 said:
And for anyone with a 40GB PS3, there's an undocumented way to dust out the inside without having to open the unit.

1.put the ps3 on standby(red light is on)
2.turn off main power switch in the back of the ps3
3.place finger on the eject button and hold
4.turn on the ps3 from the back while holding the eject button this will cause your fans to kick in on full blast blowing all the dust inside your ps3 out it'll sound like a loud blow dryer the fans will stay on for about 1 min then shut off by themselves when this happens turn off the switch in the back of the ps3 and wait 5 sec and then turn it back on and your good to go. This trick only works on the 40 gig PS3.
Click to expand...

Going to try this tomorrow.
Thanks!
 
I was just thinking the same thing as I have to do machine PMs at work.

Monthly - Open it up, inspect. Defrag hard drive (if it has one).

Quarterly - Clean it out.

Yearly - Check power supply rails.
 
To make the list, I would break it down: Internal - External or Software - Hardware

Here is my list
Internal / Software
1) Defrag - Monthly
2) Drivers / Bios - Monthy

External / Hardware
1) Inspect Hardware - Monthy
2) Dust - Clean (Can Air)- Every Other Month
3) Inspect Hardware - Every Other Month
4) Check / Test Battery Backups -( Every Three Months)

That is about it. Since we check Fahmon daily / thrice daily .. you are covered there.

Since most of us in the F@H community have built and rebuilt so many boxen - and most are boxen in the fact they have minium hardware not much can really go wrong.

 
I think in most complicated human endeavers that a man/woman should have some kind of quality control checklist, from the simple "in your head" checklist, like seeing if your baby or older loved ones are OK, to the complicated redundancy of an airline pilot having a co pilot and others to double check his/her pre flight before taking off.

I think, depending on the number of checks, the person responsible for a computers operation, whether it be 24/7 operation or less, needs some type of checklist for maintenance. (probably kind of like an automobile, time to change oil, spark plugs, tune ups, etc)

I know myself I may go overboard sometimes (defragging too much, checking for dust or dirt too often, changing my boxens water cooling water too often, etc), but I've always believed "to err on the side of caution is best".

I also think this forum and other forums like it (of course I don't think there are any forums as good as this one :p) are the best places to ask any questions about anything remotely concerning a computer or it's maintenace.

Only my $0.02 cents worth :D

 
Personnally, I don't have a specific maintenance list or schedule. At work, they run with minimal check and if it's ok, I don't mess at all. Some boxens ran for months without any intervention till I stop to be put in production.

At home, since I'm starting a new farm, I might build some checklist for maintenance since I want them to be trouble-free for a few years. Right now, I'm in the building phase and awaiting a lot of parts from NCIX.

Anyway, I think it's a good idea to do a regular checkup, especially to dust off (most folding boxes everyone have at home is overclocked so airflow is more critical) and if the OS have updates, do it monthly to keep them safe.

 
natermeister said:
I was just thinking the same thing as I have to do machine PMs at work.

Monthly - Open it up, inspect. Defrag hard drive (if it has one).

Quarterly - Clean it out.

Yearly - Check power supply rails.
Click to expand...

Same here at work.

Weekly surf scans (looking for particles)
Monthly recipe backup
Quarterly lube and clean
Annual rebuild
 
I tend to use Outlook Task Manager to keep me on track with tasks and when I last did something.

I'll set up the appropriate task and set the recurrence. It'll then ping me to let me know I need to do something. If I can't get to it, I can snooze it and then get to it when I have time. I am TERRIBLE about remembering what I am supposed to do and when. Without Task Manager and Calendar, I would forget my wife's birthday (not really, because it's 3 days before mine, but you get the picture).

When I was in the Army, we had 100 page manuals on PM for everything. No need to get that elaborate, but I do tend to do a detail list. Again because of my ADD, I will do every task but the one that I started out to do in the first place (this is evidenced by my going to the grocery store and forgetting the one thing my wife sent there to get in the first place).

 
Yeah. you could get super elaborate on this. Have specific process controls on daily temps and PPD charts letting you know something is causing a slowdown. Standardize your toolsets (boxen) and such for optimal repair solutions and accuracy between WU.
 
I personally check the water level about every month or so to make sure we're not too low. My 6inch T line holds way less reserve water than my microres did. Running too low on water in a watercooling loop is NOT a good idea.



 
capreppy said:
When I was in the Army, we had 100 page manuals on PM for everything.
Click to expand...

Thats bringing back a lot of nightmares. I got stuck as the pubs clerk for my shop once. Over 10,000 manuals, and adding in changes to a couple thousand a month. Worst 6 months of my life. :confused:

 
alan2308 said:
Thats bringing back a lot of nightmares. I got stuck as the pubs clerk for my shop once. Over 10,000 manuals, and adding in changes to a couple thousand a month. Worst 6 months of my life. :confused:

Click to expand...

Yeah, it does bring back some nightmares. I always wondered with the many manuals we had in the service if maybe the manual writers were getting paid by the word :p

Nahhh..., if they were paid by the word there'd be more millionares in this country :D


 
alan2308 said:
While this is a very sound strategy, I usually prefer to become aware of a situation before melting occurs. Molten plastic and copper on the floor is quite unsightly. :D

Click to expand...

Meh....


If something really goes wrong the outlet is fused :p

FAHMon tells me if something might be "in progress" and needs shall we say attention.

Otherwise I just let it run. Every time I fiddle with my boxen I lose a WU or I create a problem that wasn't there.

 
Kendrak said:
Every time I fiddle with my boxen I lose a WU or I create a problem that wasn't there.

Click to expand...
Been there, done that. I'm pretty sure, I've lost a few tinkering with my box. I've learned to just leave it be. Every time I think about tinkering, I slap my wrist as a reminder of what happened the last time I touched it :)
 
__ client reporting
__ fans spinning
__ blow dust off nekkid boxen if MB color no longer visible
__ make mojo for party
__ have party
__ take two advil and big glass of water before passing out
__ substitute scotch for mojo during week-long recovery period
 
relic said:
__ client reporting
__ fans spinning
__ blow dust off nekkid boxen if MB color no longer visible
__ make mojo for party
__ have party
__ take two advil and big glass of water before passing out
__ substitute scotch for mojo during week-long recovery period
Click to expand...

Admit it, that’s not your annual or semiannual check list, it’s your weekly ritiual;):p

 
alan2308 said:
And for anyone with a 40GB PS3, there's an undocumented way to dust out the inside without having to open the unit.

1.put the ps3 on standby(red light is on)
2.turn off main power switch in the back of the ps3
3.place finger on the eject button and hold
4.turn on the ps3 from the back while holding the eject button this will cause your fans to kick in on full blast blowing all the dust inside your ps3 out it'll sound like a loud blow dryer the fans will stay on for about 1 min then shut off by themselves when this happens turn off the switch in the back of the ps3 and wait 5 sec and then turn it back on and your good to go. This trick only works on the 40 gig PS3.
Click to expand...

This works as described. Thanks alan2308.

 
relic said:
__ client reporting
__ fans spinning
__ blow dust off nekkid boxen if MB color no longer visible
__ make mojo for party
__ have party
__ take two advil and big glass of water before passing out
__ substitute scotch for mojo during week-long recovery period
Click to expand...

True advice :D

I think a client will have a kernal panic long before anything melts or go boom (unless it's a craptastic PSU)

 
Kendrak said:
True advice :D

I think a client will have a kernal panic long before anything melts or go boom (unless it's a craptastic PSU)

Click to expand...

Well, it sorta depends on how much you have going through one circuit. I'm still surprised I haven't tripped a circuit yet with the amount of electronics I have running in my living room. Normally I have at least 6 boxen running in there of which 3 are overclocked quads along with an overclocked X2.

 
relic said:
__ client reporting
__ fans spinning
__ blow dust off nekkid boxen if MB color no longer visible
__ make mojo for party
__ have party
__ take two advil and big glass of water before passing out
__ substitute scotch for mojo during week-long recovery period
Click to expand...
I think you should add "check hardware warranty and return policy for boxen" just before the making of mojo. :D

 
SmokeRngs said:
Well, it sorta depends on how much you have going through one circuit. I'm still surprised I haven't tripped a circuit yet with the amount of electronics I have running in my living room. Normally I have at least 6 boxen running in there of which 3 are overclocked quads along with an overclocked X2.

Click to expand...

I just pull more romex and add another 20A breaker. ;)
 
relic said:
I just pull more romex and add another 20A breaker. ;)
Click to expand...

Well, I'm in an apartment and they don't allow me to do any electrical work.

With they would since I would also have the chance to run some CAT5 to every room. That would be a lot better than having to use wireless.

 
SmokeRngs said:
Well, I'm in an apartment and they don't allow me to do any electrical work.

With they would since I would also have the chance to run some CAT5 to every room. That would be a lot better than having to use wireless.

Click to expand...

Thank god I bought the condo while there is no drywall installed. I ran cat6 to every room last weekend. 9 outlets total + 6 RG6 + phone.

 
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