Crap! Server Motherboard(?) Crashed and Burned

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savvy
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Crap! Server Motherboard(?) Crashed and Burned

Post by savvy » Fri Apr 13, 2012 9:34 am

Yesterday I smelled something burning. It was a familiar smell, burning motor.
At first I thought it was coming from my buildings HVAC system.
Then my computer screen froze, mouse froze.
Frontdesk said her computer was frozen.
Went to the server and smelled the smell.
Turned off the computer.
After about 15 minutes I rebooted.
Everything worked for about 40 minutes, then it froze.
The smell began again.
I figured it was the power unit fan.
I went to the local computer store and bought a new power unit and installed it.
All was well for about 30 minutes. Then everything froze again.
Fortunately it was now the end of the day.
I removed the harddrive from the server.
Attached it to a SATA-USB cable and plugged it in to a workstation.
Long story short, hard drive OK (it seems).
I was able to get running my three most important programs (OD, Cliniview and Quickbooks).
And more importantly, backed them up and confirmed on my laptop....all but Cliniview since they won't give me a home copy program.
However, I have no access to any of my other programs or documents (ie:PaperPort, ACDC images, etc.).

Online research has pointed me to conclude that either the dual processor fan has failed or the motherboard has failed.
I was able to find and purchase (ebay buy it now $85) a used complete replacement motherboard for my Dell Inspiron 530.
The hope is that after replacement of the MB and HD all will be OK....maybe.

I know nothing about the workings of computers, but I have no problem removing and replacing screws, unplugging and replugging wires.....
Which, I think, is all that is required.

If my plan doe not work, what are my viable options?

Forgot to mention.... with the hard drive removed from the server, the server still does not power up.
If all was well with the motherboard, it should, shouldn't it?


ALL COMMENTS APPRECIATED.

CHEERS!!
Candy is dandy, but sex won't rot your teeth.

Cheers!!!
Go Bears!!!!!
Savvy

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Jorgebon
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Re: Crap! Server Motherboard(?) Crashed and Burned

Post by Jorgebon » Fri Apr 13, 2012 10:45 am

Yikes!! Check that all the fans are working so the server doesn't get too hot. The smell is probably from melting components on the old motherboard. I think you should be OK after you have the new motherboard and power supply working, unless the memory modules were fried. Hope all works out.
Jorge Bonilla, DMD
Jorge Bonilla DMD
Open Dental user since May 2005

teethdood
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Re: Crap! Server Motherboard(?) Crashed and Burned

Post by teethdood » Fri Apr 13, 2012 11:54 am

When your Motherboard and/or Power Supply dies, you would not see anything on screen. When you can see something on screen but frozen, that means the heat sink/cooling fan has died and now the processor is getting so hot it is frying and refusing to do any work (kinda like my DAs on a hot day). You probably only need a new heat sink with cooling fan and you're good. On the other hand, your processor life has aged quite a bit. A new MB/processor combo should work, with caveats.

I would recommend you using this as a chance to setup a brand new server. I used to put computers together and I find that the more I mess with it, the faster it dies, so just get something already put together. Then look at making a virtual server to safeguard against this in the future.

What you need:
1) A dirt cheap computer ~$400 with windows 7 (Home is fine).
2) A copy of windows 7 (Professional or Ultimate) ~130-200
3) Look at VMWare and Virtualbox. I use Virtualbox, 50MB free download. Run it, install windows 7 to it. Restore your files to that virtualized server. It should appear just as another computer/server on your network.

When your new dirt cheap computer decides to die in a few years, simply buy another dirt cheap computer, install Virtualbox to it and boot up the virtualized image. Your network/OD/Cliniview/etc won't be any wiser what had just happened. Just my 2 cents.
Philip H. Doan, DDS
http://www.kaweahdental.com/

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Hersheydmd
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Re: Crap! Server Motherboard(?) Crashed and Burned

Post by Hersheydmd » Fri Apr 13, 2012 2:10 pm

Thanks Phil. Sounds really simple. Going to try it.
Robert M Hersh DMD, FAGD
Univ. of Penn 1982
Brooklyn, NY 11234
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Robert-M ... 1471599429

Jay
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Re: Crap! Server Motherboard(?) Crashed and Burned

Post by Jay » Sat Apr 14, 2012 10:06 am

@teethdood/Phil: I have been following your comments with much interest. If you have a moment you should consider starting a thread with a detailed "How To" on (server) virtualization. I have no knowledge of it except for running Windows using Parallels (once) on a Macbook. I didn't like it and switched to Bootcamp. Currently we only have Windows machines, so we'd be running Windows within Windows as you recommended above.

A few preliminary questions

1. Do the Open Dental files and folders reside within the virtualized image that you restore? If so won't the image get pretty big with Xray, scans files etc.

2. Does the virtualized server appear on the workgroup/domain with its own IP address?

3. Doesn't it affect performance? It is another layer. Parallels had this issue.

4. How stable are VMWare and VirtualBox? I mean don't they freeze or crash occasionally? Parallels also had this issue.

5. Do the folks at Open Dental condone such practices? (maybe Jordan can comment on this one)

Again, a detailed thread would be nice if you could spare the time. If you start one, you could answer questions like mine in one place.

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jordansparks
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Re: Crap! Server Motherboard(?) Crashed and Burned

Post by jordansparks » Tue Apr 17, 2012 12:59 pm

5. I've never seen a problem with it. Just keep in mind that our techs are not trained for that. But as far as they are concerned, the virtualized OS will be just like the regular OS.
Jordan Sparks, DMD
http://www.opendental.com

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savvy
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Re: Crap! Server Motherboard(?) Crashed and Burned

Post by savvy » Tue Apr 17, 2012 3:05 pm

Well....
Turns out it was the burned out fan on the graphics card.
Replaced with a new nvidia card ($38)....all is well.
Candy is dandy, but sex won't rot your teeth.

Cheers!!!
Go Bears!!!!!
Savvy

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drtech
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Re: Crap! Server Motherboard(?) Crashed and Burned

Post by drtech » Wed Apr 18, 2012 7:04 am

yes, I have found graphic card's fans are the most common to quit and burn up...if you can get "silent" cards...they will not be as fast...but you don't need blazing fast for office applications...they just have huge heat sinks and no fans to go out...
David Fuchs
Dentist - Springfield, MO
Smile Dental http://www.887-smile.com

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Manny Ramirez
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Re: Crap! Server Motherboard(?) Crashed and Burned

Post by Manny Ramirez » Wed Apr 18, 2012 2:39 pm

Buy an identical spare computer at Ebay, clone your existing sata disk and and dump it into the hard drive of the spare computer. that way if they computer dies again just restore the data and dump it in the correct path into the spare PC :D
By doing this all your settings and applications will be backed up as well and you can get around the clinicview limitation :shock:

Sharing is caring !
Manny Ramirez
Senior Network Engineer
E-ssential Networks LLC

teethdood
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Re: Crap! Server Motherboard(?) Crashed and Burned

Post by teethdood » Wed Apr 18, 2012 4:18 pm

I don't know about Cliniview but certain proprietary dental software get tied to the NIC of the computer (which nowadays is part of the motherboard). XDR is one of them. You can clone it all you want and put it into an identical computer, it still won't play nice. When you call in to reactivate, you get hit with support costs for 1 year even though your software is 4 years old and you don't need updates, etc. I have no problems with paying for future updates IF the updates are for meaningful features, but they are not.
Anyway, I'm just highlighting the fact that we do really have it good with Open Dental. Constantly being updated with nice features but yet doesn't tie you into anything if you don't want/need to update.
Philip H. Doan, DDS
http://www.kaweahdental.com/

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Manny Ramirez
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Re: Crap! Server Motherboard(?) Crashed and Burned

Post by Manny Ramirez » Thu Apr 19, 2012 3:54 pm

teethdood wrote:I don't know about Cliniview but certain proprietary dental software get tied to the NIC of the computer (which nowadays is part of the motherboard). XDR is one of them. You can clone it all you want and put it into an identical computer, it still won't play nice. When you call in to reactivate, you get hit with support costs for 1 year even though your software is 4 years old and you don't need updates, etc. I have no problems with paying for future updates IF the updates are for meaningful features, but they are not.
Anyway, I'm just highlighting the fact that we do really have it good with Open Dental. Constantly being updated with nice features but yet doesn't tie you into anything if you don't want/need to update.


Well... where there is a will there is a way :D You could clone the MAC address of your onboard NIC :mrgreen: The point I was trying to make above was to quickly get back up and running in a "Crap! Server Motherboard (?) Crashed and Burned" type of situation. And yes you should keep your OD support :twisted:
Manny Ramirez
Senior Network Engineer
E-ssential Networks LLC

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