1st post here, and honestly didn't think I would ever need to post.

I have a EX485 (I think its a 485, had it since 09 without a minutes problem). I remoted into it the other night to shut it down before a serious thunderstorm. When I plugged it back in after the storm, it doesn't work. Not sure exactly what happened. I have 2 hard drives for a total of 1.5 TB (the original HD, plus a second). Neither HD light comes on, the health light flashes red, and the network connection light is out. I can't connect to it, or do anything with it.

HELP !!!!!

If I had to guess I would say its the power supply or the system hard drive. It they are the original hard drives then you got your moneys worth. Check the power supply to so if it has any bad caps (capacitors). If the power supply looks good then check your system drive for any errors.

I would agree, if that is the original seagate main drive (in the bottom bay only) then 90% chance that drive is having problems.
1) Did you have the FREE SMART program that would have told you the drive was going bad before it did?
http://www.dojonorthsoftware.net/dl/InstallHomeServerSMARTClassic.zip a must have IMHO.

2) Did you turn on duplication for the shares? If you did then you are looking at buying a new main drive 1 or 2tb and doing a recovery (not a factory reset) and you should be good to go. After all the updates and settings/etc.
3) If it is the power supply, then hopefully you are someone that can work on a PC and you will find lots of info on getting and replacing power supplies in the forms. FYI, a normal small power supply is NOT wired correctly, you would need to get one of the ebays supplies that have been rewired.

Shout out if you have any questions or concerns.

Having a usb to sata dock is good to work on drives and check them out.
Remember that main drive will only work in the bottom bay, so making a mark on it so it can be put back is a good idea.

Good luck

P.S. yes you can pull drives out and see what is on them, grab what is on them if needed just like a thumbdrive.

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I have not upgraded, or added anything to the system since it was bought. It still has the original drive, and I'm almost positive the 2nd drive (which was bought at the same time) is a WD.

Duplication was turned on for some files, but not others. I hope the important stuff was turned on.

I'm not a computer savvy person at all, but I'm fairly mechanical, and follow directions VERY well. If someone could tell me how to check the power supply, and how to "pull the drive and see what is on them", it would be great. Just remember, I would need almost step by step for dummies, lol.

Like I said, everything was fine until I turned it off. Never had any indications of overheating, on anything. The thing that gets me is I had told the wife a couple of months ago that I needed to buy a secondary, external drive to backup the server in case something took a dump (because of its age), but haven't had the chance to buy the drive. I have a desktop with a 500 gig HD that I could move some things to if someone can tell me how to do it. I've searched the site a little bit, and seen several tutorials, but most of them were over my head.

THANKS for the help !!!!! I was concerned with the server being so old, that there was no way to get any help.

For whatever reason, I decided to turn on the server just to see what happened. Surprisingly, it booted up without any problems. Does that give anyone any additional clue what it might be?

Since it's running, I don't plan to shut it down before I can get an external HD and backup the important stuff. However, I'd like to keep using some type of server system in the house. It's just easier for everyone. So, is there a better (and affordable) server on the market ? If not, is there some way to upgrade this one to be more reliable in its old age ? Better drives, hardware or software upgrades (what is free smart) ?

Thanks again for the help !!!!

Well, I spoke too soon. It just shut down the hard drives, and network lights. That lasted about 15 minutes.

To check the hard drives you have to remove them and place them in a docking station of enclosure. Like these.

http://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-External- ... +enclosure

http://www.amazon.com/Plugable-SuperSpe ... ive+reader

http://www.amazon.com/C2G-Cables-30504- ... ive+reader

http://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Sup ... ive+reader

After you install the hard drives in one of these you can connect it to the computer and check the hard drive for any errors. The hard drive should show up on your computer just like your other hard drives.

Right click on the hard drive in "Computer" click "properties" at the bottom. Then hit the "tools" tab. Now you can check your hard drive for errors. You can also see and copy your hard drive info. Remember that the folder will be hidden so you have to unhide it.

If you don't see your hard drive displayed on your computer it might be toast. If you hear the hard drive clicking a lot that is a good indication that it is bad.

THANK YOU, Helo !!!!
I'll order one of those and see what happens.

Is there a thread here somewhere that describes to check/ repair the power supply ? I did a couple of searches, but either not using the right terms, or in the wrong place.

I forgot to mention that you should mark your hard drives as you remove them. The lower drive is your system drive and it has to back in that same slot. Assuming it is still good.

Thanks again Helo.

Here's my plan of attack for this thing:

1- Ordered one of the above adaptors last night. Going to check the drives, and if they check out ok, I'm going to see about replacing the power supply.

2- Confused about the power supply. Various searches have found multiple "plug and play" power supplies for this thing. I guess my question is :Are they truly plug and play ? I've dug up quite a few threads where people have talked about having to modify the power supplies to make them work. They mentioned something about switching wiring around and adding resistors, but I didn't find anything that said specifically what they did in a manner I could understand. If I can just unplug the old one, and plug in a new one, that would be ideal.

3- If I can get this thing running, I plan to get an external HD to use as a secondary backup. I don't have anything vital to national security on it, but we have plenty of important family stuff we need to keep. Will probably do a backup once a month.

4- If I can get it running, I'd also like to add a 1TB drive into the 3rd bay. Is there a certain type, or specs I need to be compatible ?

5- Any way to make this thing more reliable with its age ?

If anybody has better ideas/ suggestions, PLEASE let me know.

I never had to replace a power supply but I here Overtek makes a plug and play one. You can get it on ebay. I believe there is another plug and play power supply but can't remember who makes it.

http://www.mediasmartserver.net/2012/02 ... t-servers/

For the hard drives I use WD red drives 2TB. I have never had a problem with them and they are plug and play. You don't have to make any adjustments to the jumper settings. I have 3 of those in my server. I have used other hard drives but the reds are much more reliable for me. Just don't get anything over 2TB

http://www.amazon.com/Red-1TB-NAS-Hard- ... +drive+red

http://www.amazon.com/Red-2TB-NAS-Hard- ... +drive+red

The server has been reliable for me. Just keep it clean and make sure all the fans work. Heat is the worst enemy for your server.

It is crucial that you get the FREE SMART program that Gardian suggested. It tells you when your hard drives are getting errors before it takes a complete dump.

Its a good thing to run a secondary backup. I don't use one but that's just me. I run duplication and the chance that 2 hard drives on my server take a dump at the same time is not that high in my opinion. I always have a spar hard drive on hand. I guess I could have a fire that could destroy the server or something like that but then it would probably also destroy the backup. Unless you keep it at a different location.

Helo,

You've been a TREMENDOUS help, pal. THANK YOU !!!!!!

I took the drives out today and hooked them up to my desktop via the adaptor I bought. Both drives spun up fine, and i could see all the files on both drives. So can I safely assume my problem is a bad power supply ?

My 2nd drive is a 750 gig WD green corvair drive. I want to add at least 1TB, but if you say I can do a 2 TB, I might do that. I would assume I need to stay with a green drive, or can I mix them, and throw in a red ?

EDIT: I got the power supply out, and it smells burned. So I'm sure that's my issue. I couldn't find an Overtek unit on ebay, but I sent a message to the company. Hopefully I can still get one.

The nice thing about WHS is you can mix and match drives up to 2TB in size. Quite a few people are using the WD Red drives but search the forums for the drives people are using and see what they have to say about them.

Good Luck with getting a new PSU but you might want to run a CHKDSK on your two drives just to make sure they are in good working order before you put them back into the server and boot her up.

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Migrated from WHS2011 to WS2012E: HIGHLANDER

~ Norco 4220 Enclosure
~ Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5
~ AMD Phenom II X4 995 3.2 GHz
~ 8 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
~ 3 Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8

Your search on ebay might not show Overtek since its in the UK. There are probably some settings you can play with in ebay so it shows UK items.

As for the hard drives.... I have used both green and red drives. I really like the red drives since they seem more reliable. I like the green because they run cooler. You can intermix them as you like. Just don't get a single hard drive that is over 2TB.

Make sure you run CHKDSK on the hard drives you took out to see if there are any errors like Comp1962 said.

I took a peek for Overtek listings on eBay and do not see them listing PSU's. There are times when John over at Overtek is on holiday and does not list PSU's. I have also used KDM PSU's and they work well. Others have used the KDM PSU's here and written about them so you might want to search to see what others have to say. There is another vender on eBay names something like Best Power or something like that selling PSU's but I have never tested those but they do list their PSU's are custom wired for the MSS.

_________________
Exploring the possibilities!

Migrated from WHS2011 to WS2012E: HIGHLANDER

~ Norco 4220 Enclosure
~ Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5
~ AMD Phenom II X4 995 3.2 GHz
~ 8 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
~ 3 Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8