HP ProLiant MicroServer Owners Club! (Attempting to sell here will result in bans)

It's just that we did it over and over. Anyway, I'm glad everything is sorted now.
Maybe I just need more coffee, it's still very early for me.

 

Yeah unfortunately that's part of a common issue for me from my issues with Autism and confidence and just wanted to make sure I understood correctly before investing anything in the old N40L

All good mate

 

Next time you are unsure, just preface what you asking with "Sorry, I don't understand" or you just private message me and I'll always help you privately --> Anytime!

 

I've recently revived my long-dormant G8 Microserver, and as I'm looking to increase the utilisation a bit to run a Minecraft server as well as provide more headroom for Plex transcoding, I'm looking to upgrade the CPU/ram.

I saw the ram link from Blinky so that seems to be sorted (it looks like the consensus is that 16Gb works and 32Gb is very hit and miss?)

For the CPU, is the E3-1265L V2 still the best bet with the stock heatsink? Are the ones available on AliExpress worth chancing, or is eBay a better bet? Alternatively, are there any decent options for a replacement cooler that doesn't cost the earth or require some delicate parts fabrication, and an accompanying CPU recommendation?

 

32GB won’t work as the ram slots are limited to 8GB
1265L works great with the stock cooler

 

I've got spare E3-1265L_V2 and ram kits if you want some, just private message me.

 

I've acquired a cheap used microserver, but it's behaving a bit temperamental. It works some times, and sometimes just refuses to boot, with the fast red blinks, fan spinning for a second or two. ILO stil works, and I've seen an error like "1 Power 01/01/1970 00:0101/01/1970 00:01 1 System Power Fault Detected (XR: 20 00 MID: FF F5 FE 01 FF FF FF 06 06 00 00 02 00 05 40 08 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00)".

From what I've learned online, this seems to be an issue with voltage regulation on the motherboard itself. I'm wondering if anyone else have had such problems and in that case know how to fix? Do these suffer from bad caps after a number of years?

 

How much did you get it for?

 

If its the original n36l, n40l etc..

perhaps its time to retire / get another onr

these things are close to 10 years old now..
Well past their working lifespan

they are cheap enough on the secondhand market

 

I paid $50. It's a gen 8 with the celeron 1610. I installed OMV on it and ran for a few days, then the power issue happened. I replaced the cpu yesterday with an i3 3220 I had spare, and it initially refused to boot, but then after sitting for hours it booted. Now it doesn't again. So I think it's component related on the motherboard. Too bad there's no DIY motherboard upgrade path, the case is really nice and compact.

 

Ah you're in the wrong thread for a Gen8 Microserver, come over here --> https://forums.overclockers.com.au/threads/hp-proliant-generation-8-microserver-club.1092937/page-57

 

As a general question about geriatric hardware - I maintain two N36L's which are working alarmingly well (the were moved half way around the world too). I only power them on to receive archives so perhaps woken once or twice a month, both are heavily laden with old drives but seem happy enough so far.
My concern is with a group of three N40L's which are run from a mate's house in Brisbane (I maintain them remotely for him). He unplugs them from mains to avoid thunderstorm risks but powering them up again is extremely hit and miss; some frequently fail to power up. They're old and of course well past their lifespan but they suit his role perfectly; as a general and broad question is there a first point of practice that most of you use for this type of powering up problem?
I had him take them to someone's place (he semi-dismantled and reassembled them) and all three powered up happily so I'm wondering if we're looking at an issue brought on by the disconnection from mains, etc. I was thinking CMOS settings being lost but I'm not seeing any indication of that (I get him to film them booting via video stream from his phone).

 

The power supply. CMOS battery. Motherboard connectors coming loose.

 

thanks Mactheknife, I was thinking in those general directions. Such aged gear in a humid environment as Queensland is a thing, I remember we had HP terminals which had serial connectors which we had to get users to unplug and re-plug (they thought we were having a go at them but I had to explain corrosion on crappy copper connectors, even sent a photocopy of an article to one guy who didn't believe me).
The power supply is a constant concern for me - is there a good (and by good I mean cheap!) 3rd party option in Oz for those parts? Generally I've been sourcing used replacement microservers to get him running but if I could find a better option I'd be happier. I'm on the other side of the planet so I can't do an on-site sadly.
Is the CMOS battery a standard CR2032 arrangement or something more irritating?

 

At this point in the lifecycle of these boxes the only source is just buying second hand and tearing them down for parts.

Yes it's a typical CR2032.

 

Not cheaply. (edit) Winner! ~ See 303-Acid's post below.

Yes it is a CR2032.



Beaten by Mack while searching for a PSU.

 

When my PSU died I ordered one from AliExpress - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32798161159.html

It came with 2x Molex and 2x SATA power connectors so I snipped off the SATA ones and soldered on MOLEX. You could always use Molex splitters.

 

I"m curious - why did you remove the SATA connectors given that the 5th drive would require it?

 

Sorry, I cut off one of the SATA connectors and soldered on a pair of Molex. So I do have one SATA going to a 2.5" HDD in the top.

 

he has two old N40L's and a 3rd one in the cupboard - but the main one (it has five drives in it) has started dumping the red HP light of death again, it was dismantled and rebuilt only in November so I'd say this is deader than flared trousers. The take-apart is too much for him to do as he's not a technical guy; I might have to see if I can find a later microserver for sale in Queensland (will check out forsale forums for that). If anyone has something PM me if you are in SE Qld.