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Date:         Thu, 7 Aug 1997 11:00:42 -0500
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Randy Newell" <rnewell@epower.net>
Subject:      Re: Vanagon List at SDSC - What Happened

Chris, We have been working with HP PC's and servers for about three years now, and I have never heard of HP using or promoting the use of third party cache chips. They are, however, one of the more tollorate big name vendors with respect to 3rd party vendors. And VERY good quality machines. We have most of the IN school systems using HP Netservers. As far as I know, the XU has allways had a 3 year warrany on ALL parts. Including the cache module. You say it's dual pentium so I would guess about 2-3 years old? By the way, if it turns out that you do need to purchase the parts I may be able to get them at wholesale. All I need is the spare part #'s and I'll let you know how much.

Hope this helps,

Randy Newell rnewell@epower.net

-----Original Message----- >From: Christopher M. Smith <csmith@sdsc.edu> To: Multiple recipients of list <vanagon@lenti.med.umn.edu> Date: Tuesday, August 05, 1997 8:34 PM Subject: Vanagon List at SDSC - What Happened

> >First, I want to thank Gerry Skerbitz at UMN for re-hosting the VANAGON >list while we repair our server at SDSC. And extend a personal apology to >the list. Since the list was less than one week old, I had not yet >established our back-up systems (list) for such a severe server failure. >This will be remedied as soon as our server is back on line. > >Here's the scoop on the Vanagon List at SDSC: > >Last Saturday, the 26th of July, the NT server ("gerry") that hosts the >VANAGON List at SDSC experienced a hardware failure. This is the >Hewlett-Packard Vectra XU dual-pentium machine that was donated to the >list. I was off-site til' Tuesday morning, July 29th. I spent most of >Tuesday morning on the phone with HP technical services trying to diagnose >the problem. We finally came to the conclusion that the problem was with >the motherboard or some component of the board. I immediately drove gerry >over to the nearest HP authorized repair center and was told the tech >would get to the machine sometime within the next 24-48 hrs. Upon my >arrival back at work, I was VERY surprized to get a call from the repair >tech. He not only had the machine, but had a preliminary diagnosis, the L2 >memory cache chip was blown. A replacement chip from HP was an >exhorbitant $324. The tech was going to check with the maker of the >third-party chip (note: this is not the original HP memory cache chip) in >the machine to see what kind of warranty they had, and check on a few >leads for less expensive alternatives. I did the same. > >The warranty had expired on the memory cache chip, he's leads and mine >bore no fruit. After trying for a day to get a less expensive chip, >Thursday morning I gave the go ahead to get a new chip >from HP and hurry-it-up with FEDEX next day delivery. The tech put in the >order. As standard business practice, HP sends all parts to their service >centers using UPS Overnight. Unfortunately, the HP parts distribution >center, on the East Coast, 1) did not send our chip FEDEX, and 2) made NO >accomodation for the impending UPS strike. They sent our chip UPS which >should have arrived sometime Friday. Well, you guessed it UPS went on >strike ! Need we say more ... > >It was obvious on Monday, August 4, (yesterday) that our chip wasn't going >anywhere, whereever it was. So with Ron's urging, I ordered a new chip >personally from HP Direct Sales for FEDEX delivery to SDSC. It arrived >this morning at 10:31 am. I rushed the chip over to the repair center as >soon as I got in. I was fortunate in that the tech, Bill, working on our >server was there and he invited me in for the supposedly final touches to >the repair of our machine. > >He swapped out the old with the new chip, turned the power on, AND nothing >happened. Obsolutely nothing! He removed the new memory cache chip and the >machine power'd up. So it looks like the motherboard (cache chip slot ?) >is the source of our problems. That's not to say that the memory cache >chip is also at fault. Well, a new motherboard costs $225. I ordered it1 >Meanwhile, the tech was going to check with HP about their warranty of the >motherboard (given the serial number of the machine). With luck, and I'm >not counting on it, we could get a free motherboard replacement. > >Worst case scenario: we will end up purchasing a new motherboard and >memory cache chip. If both the old and new cache chips work with the new >motherboard, then it's my opinion that the third-party chip may have >contributed to the motherboard failure. Based upon our experience looking >for a replacement cache chip for our machine, the cache chip we need is >VERY machine/model-specific (thus the third-party chip may have >contributed to the demise of our machine). Because of this, I would also >like to replace the "old" (third party) functioning memeory cache chip >with a new HP chip. Thereby, minimizing the potential for future cache >chip-induced motherboard failure. I'm not a physical systems expert, so if >someone has a comment (pro or con), I'd like to hear it! > > Est. Cost: $150 2-3 hours tech labor > $387 memory cache chip > $260 motherboard > ------ > $797 > >We have approximately $550 in the reserves. Obviously, we need more >funds. One mechanism for this is to host another VW group from our server >and have them contribute to the equipment reserves pool. In the meantime, >I'll carry the excess charges. We need to get the LIST back on-ine. > >I think the server we have is a fantastic machine. For the time it was >running it delivered mail exceptionally FAST and without a hitch. In >addition the set-up and configuration of the machine, NT OS, LSMTP, and >LISTSERV software was for the most part seamless and required very little >effort on my part. This is a $6-8K machine (excluding the 24 Mg extra RAM) >and 4 GB HD), and was donated. In condsideration of the fact that it has >been in storage for some time, I was very surprized that it was NOT a >problem from the beginning. It wasn't! Although I was surprized at the >degree and timing of the hardware failure, it was not entirely unexpected. > >Once we make the appropriate repairs, I feel that we'll have a robust >machine that will serve us for many years, with little, if any, future >hardware problems (but don't quote me on it!). > >Cheers, Chris >Vanagon List Co-Admin > >San Diego Supercomputer Center >P.O. Box 85608 >San Diego, California 92186-5608 >(619) 534-8370 (office) >csmith@sdsc.edu > > > >


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