IBM Comp Server

[Dsrt]

Ok, I have already made my assumptions, would just like a little feedback to see what everyone else thinks.

I have an IBM compatible (no brand name) server. On boot, sometimes it won't put power to the monitor during the bios screens. This is an intermittant problem. Sometimes it boots fine, more often than not, it doesn't.

Steps I've taken:
Pulled out everything but the video card...same issue.

Changed video cards...same issue.

Sent it to the computer shop, they switched video cards, said it ran fine.

They also found that the CPU's weren't matched...bought two new CPU's, got it back to the office...same issue.

It has dual power supplies so I made sure I was running on a UPS...same issue.

The only thing I have left is a bad mainboard. Just ticks me off that it worked fine for them at the shop (and they had it a week!), get it back and it does the same thing.

 

[catorze]

Could be timing related, or environmental - where is your server. Could be an interrupt issue...try locking down the IRQ for the video adapter. also confirm what kind of "test" the shop did. Did they run your installed OS or leave it in diags? Have you tried a different driver? A different video card - different make, not just a new card. Could be a software conflict with your installation and that particular chipset.

 

[Dsrt]

They ran the installed OS and it failed to start once. They swapped out video cards (which I'd done several times before), and they said it worked. It worked fine for me too for a little while, then you'd reboot and bam...nothing.

I've tried with two different OS's. It originally had NT4 on it. I found another harddrive laying around and stuck Win2k Server on it. Still does it even with that OS.

We have tried several different video cards including different manufacturers...still does it.

When I got it back to the office, I fired it up fine. It ran for several days, then I rebooted it started doing it again. It's just so unpredictable, that it's hard to track down. You make a change it works fine for 10 reboots then all of a sudden...here it is again. Really annoying. lol

 

[catorze]

I'll stick to my original guess that it's timing-related. Try looking at the system board/adapter component vendor's website for any BIOS/firmware updates as a starting point.