Scenario: Soekris 5501, with 80GB PATA disk and RaLink mini-PCI card installed. Has been running for several years flawlessly as a combination firewall / wireless AP / server of all kinds. Power is from the original Soekris-supplied 12V supply, the 12V 1.5A model. Never had any unexplained crashes or failures.
Beginning this weekend, the machine crashes frequently, then refuses to boot. After powerup, it tries to spin the disk up, fails. Keeps trying, and eventually succeeds. Symptoms: Power light, error light, and disk light all blinking rapidly. Connect serial console: It identifies itself, runs POST, and succeeds the first time (POST runs all the way until X or Y), then does the memory test, then you hear it spinning the disk up, and then POST restarts. When POST restarts, it only gets up to test 5, then restarts. Remove the disk drive: The 5501 itself runs fabulously well (except it is useless to me without the disk). Take the disk drive and put it into a desktop system: The disk drive is perfectly OK, all data is readable, no errors. My theory: Either one of the power supplies has become weaker with age (either the external brick, or the internal converter), or the power consumption of some component (most likely the disk) has increased. Anyone have a better theory? Does this match the symptoms? Is failure at POST 5 a typical indication of marginal power? Proposed fix: I'll try a few different things. First, replace the current 80GB PATA disk (a Fujitsu) with an equivalent IBM drive I have sitting around (easiest). Second, replace the PATA disk with a SATA disk, and get the power for the SATA disk from an external supply, instead of from the Soekris-internal switcher. Third, connect a more beefy external 12V brick. Lastly, put a small fan into the Soekris case, to keep the internal temperature a little lower (good thing in general, and with power problems in particular). Any other ideas? Do the observed symptoms match the proposed cure? -- Ralph Becker-Szendy ra...@lr.los-gatos.ca.us (408)395-1435 735 Sunset Ridge Road; Los Gatos, CA 95033 _______________________________________________ Soekris-tech mailing list Soekris-tech@lists.soekris.com http://lists.soekris.com/mailman/listinfo/soekris-tech
