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I have since yesterday a weird "bip" every minute in the server room. It comes from the unit, where 2 servers, one switch and a router are installed. Can anyone help me with this? I'm working in an office right near it! Thanks.

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I hope you mean "beeping". I'm not sure what "bipping in the server room" is, but it doesn't sound like something you'd want to the Internet about. – ewall Jun 20 '11 at 14:01
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closed as not a real question by Dave Cheney, Jeff Atwood♦ Jun 18 '09 at 3:03

It's difficult to tell what is being asked here. This question is ambiguous, vague, incomplete, overly broad, or rhetorical and cannot be reasonably answered in its current form. See the FAQ for guidance on how to improve it.

9 Answers

up vote 19 down vote accepted

I hope it's not the smoke detector. ;-)

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Ok, now I feel like an idiot, thanks anyway! – waszkiewicz Jun 16 '09 at 12:57
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Nice, I'd have guessed a failing UPS.. – Greg Meehan Jun 16 '09 at 13:13
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I guess waszkiewicz chose this answer not because it was the smoke detector. Now I am really curious, what is causing that beeps. – splattne♦ Jun 16 '09 at 13:16
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splattne; <gallows humor> If we end up never getting a response, I'd like to change my guess to carbon monoxide detector.. ;) </gallows humor> – Greg Meehan Jun 16 '09 at 13:20
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Indeed, the batteries of the smoke detector were low, causing a nice beep every minute... Hope this entry will help a lot of IT people to solve their problems! I need rest-> week-end. Thanks splattne! – waszkiewicz Jun 16 '09 at 14:39
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up vote 11 down vote

I'm an old man these days and sometimes struggle to find the source of infrequent sounds - I have resorted to using the cardboard inner tube from some paper kitchen wipes to place over/round my ear and act as a 'finder' for odd sounds.

God that's the saddest post I've ever made :(

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OMG, I saw that you're just one year older than me! :-) – splattne♦ Jun 16 '09 at 13:14
Just wait till you turn 50! – Knox Jun 16 '09 at 13:26
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Knox: I thought sysadmins had to use the Carousel: imdb.com/title/tt0074812 ;-) – splattne♦ Jun 16 '09 at 15:13
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What's sad is when the smoke alarm actually goes off and it's too high-pitched for you to hear it at all. Calmly eating a sandwich thinking "That's odd, why are all these youngsters running to the doors or clasping the sides of their heads" – username Feb 8 '10 at 3:39
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up vote 4 down vote

If you're not the sysadmin, DONT TOUCH ANYTHING! If you are the sysadmin, shame on you for not knowing.

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Hey!! I'm the pseudo-sysadmin! I never encountered such a problem before! I cheked everything I could. ?? – waszkiewicz Jun 16 '09 at 12:55
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Don't mind the reflexive panic at the thought of a "helpful" user trying to turn off the source of irksome beeping. :) It's a survival trait! – Kara Marfia Jun 16 '09 at 14:35
@Kara spotted it - I wish I had a dollar for every production server that's been killed by somebody who had no business touching anything in the data center. I could retire. – Paul Tomblin Jun 16 '09 at 16:03
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up vote 3 down vote

Usually such "bipping" is an indication that a redundant component has failed.

Check the status of RAID arrays and PSU inputs.

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up vote 2 down vote

While I agree with Paul, is there a UPS battery backup in the room also? Most of the time when I've encountered this, it is because the battery needs to be replaced. Make sure you work with your IT personnel before attempting any changes. You could also look to see if there are any smoke detectors in the room that need their battery changed.

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up vote 1 down vote

One possible reason is, that one of there servers has temperature monitoring enabled in the BIOS. Maybe one of the CPUs is running hot.

Try to check the cooling/ventilation fans if they are still working.

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up vote 0 down vote

Do you know what OS the servers use? The only OS I've experienced that beeps (or bips, even) when unhappy is NetWare. If you don't know or are unable to find out, then please hedd Paul's advice and call someone that does.

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up vote 0 down vote

I'd vote for a complaining UPS unit based on "it comes from the unit"

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up vote 0 down vote

Along with all the above, check the back of the units. There are models of switches/routers with redundant/hot-swap power supplies. Maybe one of them died. Or if they have add-in cards, maybe an add-in card died.

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