Motherboard Problems - Rorke Data Galaxy Aurora Series Configuration And System Integration Manual

G A L A X Y ® A U R O U R A
the system has a Nehalem 900-series CPU, it isn't currently possible to use
the air baffle, because the CPU fan required by Intel is too tall.
Mounting Hardware: While it is not likely that a piece of mounting hardware
will fail in the field, one problem was discovered when developing prototypes:
Not all motherboard standoff positions are used in the chassis for any given
particular motherboard. If a standoff is placed in a position where there is no
corresponding hole in the motherboard, it can short part of the motherboard to
ground which wasn't intended, leading to possible damage or a blank screen
on bootup.
Environment/Care: Environment can play a large factor in the lifespan of the
array. The two harshest environments are near beaches, and in climates with
high humidity. Rust forms as the result of a chemical reaction, where electrons
leech out of the iron in the chassis, into the surrounding oxygen. Water and
salt accelerate this reaction because they contain minute traces of electrolytes.
Rust can be removed via the use of Royal Naval Jelly. But bear in mind, if
there's rust on the outside, electronic components on the inside could also be
rusting – and those can't be cleaned with the Royal Jelly.
4.8

Motherboard problems

Connectors: As with the plugs which plug into them, many connectors can be
damaged – especially SATA connectors on the motherboard. Here are the
various connectors used and considering which could be damaged:
LED/switch/Chassis connections, IPMI socket, RAM sockets, CPU sockets,
PCI/PCIe slots, power connections, fan connections, SATA connections, and
I2C connections (to power supply or to LEDs).
i801: The motherboards we've tested, have Intel i801 chips used for the
sensors. While this is a fairly reliable chip, the symptom you might see if it fails
is that all of the sensors will go dead simultaneously (Assuming there is no
software problem), and/or the chip can't be found by the computer.
Northbridge: The Northbridge controls higher-speed functions of the
motherboard, such as the on-board VGA (ATI ES1000 or Matrox G200) and
RAM. If the on-board VGA dies, the unit is still capable of being operated
remotely, however the only fix is to replace the motherboard. Note that on
some motherboards, the Northbridge also controls the PCIe slots.
RAM: RAM can fail. If the amount of memory is suddenly decreased, it could
indicate a problem with one or more of the memory modules. If the module is
intermittent, try swapping around the modules and see if the problem goes
away. If the module failed completely, the best way to troubleshoot it is to try
swapping the modules one-at-a-time.
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C O N F I G U R A T I O N A N D S Y S T E M I N T E G R A T I O N
Section 4 Troubleshooting Guide
G U I D E