Hi there. I have an EX495 that has worked without trouble for several years. Recently, I notice that I do not see the server from my local computers. The Windows Home Server Console cannot connect. I have tried the following:

Reboot the EX495 (since I can't log on or RDP i have to just hit the power button)
Result: Upon restart, the server is (sometimes) visible to where i can connect through the WHS Console and i get the green health icon. But then the icon goes grey and i cannot connect through WHS Console. I can still ping from the router though.


Unplug All Other Network Connections and Test Ping from Router:
Result: Can ping to EX 495 from router. WHS Console works initially. But after a few minutes, WHS Console seems to get cut off. I can still ping from router.

Any ideas what is happening? I thought there may be some IP conflict that is coming up but the fact that i can ping really confuses me.

Thanks,

Jeff

Based on other posts I've seen around here, oftentimes the culprit is a failing hard drive. This can cause the OS to blue screen or lock up, and unless you have a debug cable, you can't see the server's console to see what is actually going on.

My recommendation is to download the Home Server SMART add-in from http://www.dojonorthsoftware.net/Freebi ... SMART.aspx

Reboot your server, install the add-in and then take a look at the health of the HDDs via the Console. Hopefully your server will stay up long enough for you to see what's going on. If you have Alex's Remote Notification add-in installed, and HSS detects problems, you will get notified of them that way as well, since HSS will raise alerts within WHS itself. Check out this post and you'll see an example of a user's problems when his system HDD started dying a hideous death: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=12014

_________________
Matt Sawyer
Owner, Dojo North Software, LLC

HP EX490, 4GB, E5300, 15TB - Server 2012 - Sharing and Streaming
HP EX487, 4GB, E5300, 13TB - Server 2012 Essentials - Backups

Thanks much. I installed the SMART add-in during the brief moments after the EX495 boots before it goes incommunicado. It said i have errors on physical drive 2. I started the process of "removing" that drive from the pool but that seems to hang up too, with the end result that I have to do a hard reset and the process starts all over.

Can I just remove Drive 2 physically without removing it from the drive pool through MHS Connector?

Thanks! Strange this is just starting to happen for me in the past few weeks and that I see it happening in another thread as well. Maybe we are reaching the end of the lifespan of drives around the same time...

Yes, you can do this. If you've got folder duplication enabled on all of your shared folders, then you won't lose any data from these. Yank it out and install a new drive. Via the Console, remove the old drive (even though it's gone, it still shows up in the storage pool). You'll be warned about potential data loss, and you'll have to repair your backup database. Yes, you will lose some backups, but not shared folder contents where duplication is enabled.

Then add the new drive to the pool. Folders that have duplication enabled will automatically replicate files to the new disk that need to be re-duplicated.

_________________
Matt Sawyer
Owner, Dojo North Software, LLC

HP EX490, 4GB, E5300, 15TB - Server 2012 - Sharing and Streaming
HP EX487, 4GB, E5300, 13TB - Server 2012 Essentials - Backups