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My Dell PowerEdge 2900, running Windows Server 2012 powers off after 1 - 1.5 hours automatically. Is a fan speed fault on the front panel is, but that should not stop the server. I swapped a redundant power supply but it is switching off automatically after 1 hour, with any software settings.

I have even swapped the faulting fan with the other one, but to no avail. It says the same fan number is defective, even though the fan is running, aAd when I swapped with the other fan, I see a fan redundancy error.

What's wrong?

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    The fan is faulted, so you swapped out ... the power supply?! Sep 10, 2014 at 2:48
  • Check the logs in BIOS : Thermal problems should be logged and displayed. Do you open and clean your server ?
    – Dom
    Sep 10, 2014 at 6:47
  • I cleaned the system, thoroughly and fan rpm fan is still on display. and system automatically switches off after 1-1.5 hr of running
    – raju
    Sep 11, 2014 at 2:08

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Thermal threshold. Modern server equipment is designed to shut itself off to prevent damage to the hardware under a number of conditions. In this case, with a faulting fan, the most likely cause is that the server's internals are getting too hot, and it is shutting down to prevent melting circuit boards and pesky electrical fires... either of which would cause the server to power off in much less controlled, more spectacular and more expensive fashion anyway.

(The other common cause would be electrical component failures - severe voltage variances, blown capacitors, etc., but that seems like the less likely cause here.)

This information is generally logged by the system, and assuming you have an iDRAC subsystem in this server, you'd login to it to verify the cause is a thermal threshold being surpassed, which is just a technical way of saying something in your server is getting too hot to operate safely.

The obvious remedy would be to replace the faulty fan, but there may be other solutions as well, like unplugging unneeded components, improving airflow to the server, providing cooled intake air or even blowing out dust with canned air (dust is a surprisingly good thermal insulator and will cause your components to retain heat).

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Replace the faulty fan unit. Forced air is vital in these very cramped servers, without the airflow they will rapidly overheat.

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