From Newsgroup: uk.comp.homebuilt

Hi all
on the off chance...

I have a Supermicro server which I have used for home NAS and VM
experiments etc. It is only occasionally powered up these days. I last
ran it successfully a couple of weeks ago; it was fine then. Two days
later, I tried to power it up ... nothing.

To cut a long diagnostic story short, I think it is a motherboard issue.
A DVM measures basically a short between 0V and 12V, with no CPUs, DRAM
or boards plugged in. I have tested the PSU(s) separately, they seem fine.

I can see no issues from a visual inspection of the motherboard. It is economically a non-starter to get the board repaired commercially, and
there are currently no similar boards on eBay.

So before I just cut my losses - in a way this server has done its work
for me - I might just poke around and see if I am lucky and able to find
the fault. I just thought I'd come here and see if anyone has advice or experience to offer. Most of the YT videos and web pages on 'Motherboard
fault diagnosis' are worse than useless.

I'm currently thinking that I could apply 12V from a current limited supply(*), and try to see if anything is getting warm. I don't have a
thermal camera, but I do have one of those temperature 'guns' you can
use for radiator balancing. Unsure if that will be any use.

I realise I have a low chance of success but thought I'd ask regardless.
The Motherboard is a Supermicro X9DRH-iTF - Dual LGA2011 sockets.

(*) I think the fitted PSUs are detecting the short and failing to power
up the board. The BMC, running on 5V standby, runs fine

Thanks
J^n
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From Newsgroup: uk.comp.homebuilt

jkn wrote:

To cut a long diagnostic story short, I think it is a motherboard issue.
A DVM measures basically a short between 0V and 12V, with no CPUs, DRAM
or boards plugged in. I have tested the PSU(s) separately, they seem fine.

Fried VRM? See various YT channels for diagnosis/repair techniques ...

Necroware
Bits und Bolts
Adrian's Digital Basement

or EEVblog's forums
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