How hot swap is a hot swap power supply?

A great email from Nancy over at a small business in North Dakota, I’ve removed her company details but her question is below followed by my reply:

Hi Martin,

How hot swap is a hot swap power supply? I don’t want to break anything.

I got an email from tech saying ‘general failure for power supply 2’ which apparently means one of the power supplies is broken and when I checked with them on the phone it isn’t lit any more on our HP Proliant DL360 G5 server. The tech guys in our service provider is saying we should remove it and reseat it before they visit with a new one, that a problem? Also is it difficult, I’m not comfortable taking computers apart.

Thanks

Nancy

My reply:

Hi Nancy,

Not a problem at all. Right you mention you have two power supplies, each one has a handle on the back of the server and a little LED to show that the power supply is working and to identify it. They are designed so that you can remove one without breaking the server.

I would choose a relatively quiet time or make sure everyone has saved their files (if it’s a file server), then do the following on the broken power supply (the one that has no LED light showing on the back):

Remove the power cable and reseat it

If the LED does not come on try removing the power cable, removing the power supply (pull the handle and it will come out) then plug it back in, plug the power cable on.

If that doesn’t work an engineer will need to come on site and take a look, maybe replacing your power supply. This can normally be done without shutting the server down.

If in any doubt call your service provider and request an engineer visit.

Regards

Martin

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