[Info-vax] rx2620 power supplies / VRM voltage low

[George Cornelius]

In article <6121c501-45e6-4408-b993-77bf8fcbc2cc at googlegroups.com>
 , Hans Vlems <hvlems at freenet.de> writes:
> So if you swap a power supply then the message goes away for a certain time?

Yes.  This is basically a fatal message (actually level 5 - critical, I think).
Sometimes you can resume from it if you wait awhile, but it will degenerate
from there.

> Which seems to indicate that they deteriorate, possibly owing to a high load?
> Are there devices connected to the rx2620 that draw power, like an external
> USB disk. If you could hook up volt meters to the power supply and monitor
> them daily you might be able to figure out which power rail is failing and
> measure the current drawn. Compare that with the system and parts specifications.

Great idea.  I don't know if the manual goes into that kind of detail, but I
suppose there are test points somewhere.

> It's not that there are very fast disk drives installed that run too hot
> and draw too much power?

Just the standard internals, which are probably 15K rpm.  I think
a boot disk and a spare and an empty slot.  Everything else is in
an external Storageworks pedestal.

> If so check your fans, you might want to do that anyway. If they're
> dirty and run less efficient they might use more current. I'm
> guessing that too much current is drawn somewhere which leads to
> a voltage drop.

Have thought about that from the point of view of power supply
cooling.  If they have failed the system can detect that.  If
they are inefficient or failing, or if there are airflow
problems, maybe  not.

Worth a try.

> Hans