Hi all,
Ive got a reoccurring issue that has been effecting a couple of dedicated machines that operate remotely. Users are reporting that their systems are unable to turn on. Walking them through the troubleshooting, there is no issues with the monitor. Power is being applied, the system lights turn on. We can confirm the network activity lights on the LAN port and the router has negotiated a link speed. But if we log into the router, we see no packets coming from the PC.
Now, the weird part. When the computer is shipped back, it magically starts working again. Ive tried running a memtest to see if maybe its bad ram, but it always comes back passed. I believe the issue is due to a multiport pci serial card. Sometimes if the cable is removed that connects to that pci, the system will boot. Other times, it completely kills the pc. Until of course it gets shipped back, then it will work again.
Ive really hit a dead end with this issue. Im not sure how to diagnose a no post situation without physically being there. At the very least, I wish I could replicate the issue in person. Unfortunately, the issue is occurring with multiple computers and pci cards. Doubtful its a one off bad piece of hardware.
If anyone has any experience troubleshooting a no post situation remotely or has had issues with pci cards, I'd really appreciate it!
It's an issue with the power plug or outlet on site, not the PC or network. At least that's my best guess. The magical healing when shipped back is a strong indicator. Issue like that drove me crazy once with a PC that wouldn't get an IP address from the router until I plugged the router into a different outlet.
The problem could also come from the ethernet side but that would be easy to check by having on site staff boot the PC with the ethernet cable unplugged.
Oh and we recently had a similar issue with Lenovo laptops that would just sit there with a black screen after turning on and not reaching the windows bootloader, that was a compatibility issue with the USB C docking station.
Were you able to access the BIOS? We're unable to access the bios when the computer stops working.
Also, even more frustering, we have a dedicated power supply to run the whole operation. If the system was able to turn on, I could read the voltages and amps going into the system. Weve swapped out the power supplies as well but that doesnt seem to resolve the issue.
Is it localized to a room? Or a subnet? A router? A PC model? A time frame?
With such issues, I like to apply the scientific method, take everything into account no matter how strange, and try to find a way to isolate it.
I've had monitor issues that were caused by an office chair before.
Of course that's hard to do remotely.
Oh that sounds like a nightmare lol how did you even realize it was the office chair?
The ticket said "Every time I sit down at my desk, the screen turns off."
So I went on site and told the user to demonstrate the issue.
She sat down on her chair and the screen shut off, then turned on again a couple seconds later.
It was a combination of static electricity and the telescoping chair stem, which induced a magnetic field that disturbed the monitor.
No BIOS access, no. But after a hard poweroff and disconnecting from the dock they booted fine. We connected them to the dock after logging in to Windows and then a firmware update of all components fixed it.