How to test a auto restart on a PC?

[Rotech]

What is the proper way of testing a auto restart on a PC? I have bios set up for auto start at power failure ( supposedly),but I cannot make it restart. when I shut down the computer and unplug The AC cable from the server and replug it in again, it does nothing. The server has a UPS connected to it, that's why I unplug it from the box itself

Is this the way you should test it?

[Bob_Linux_User]

You would have to unplug the computer with it up and running. I know that this sounds harsh, but that is a power failure. That is why you and I have a UPS.

Bob

[Rotech]

You would have to unplug the computer with it up and running. I know that this sounds harsh, but that is a power failure. That is why you and I have a UPS.

Bob

Hi Bob

I have a event that watches the percentage of battery life in the ups, if there a blackout and the battery in the ups is below 10% it will shut down HS and then the server. What I want to do is, when power is restored, I would like the server to power up and start HS. I already have the start up for HS figured out, but the restart Of the server is puzzling me.

[Bob_Linux_User]

Hi Hector,

I misunderstood your configuration and what you were trying to do. Sorry, i cannot help.

Bob

[S-F]

I don't think this is possible with current hardware. If it's not asleep you can't send a WOL command to it. The only thing I can think of it to have a servo physically press the power button when power is restored.

[NeverDie]

It's a BIOS setting on some PC's: http://www.technewsworld.com/story/78930.html

[rprade]

What is the proper way of testing a auto restart on a PC? I have bios set up for auto start at power failure ( supposedly),but I cannot make it restart. when I shut down the computer and unplug The AC cable from the server and replug it in again, it does nothing. The server has a UPS connected to it, that's why I unplug it from the box itself

Is this the way you should test it?

Hector;

I would add to what everyone else has said, there may be two settings in BIOS that would be similar but have different results. I don't know the brand of computer you have, but many have AMI BIOS. If it is like most you have three choices. From the manual:

Restore on AC Power Loss
Use this feature to set the power state after a power outage. Select Power-Off for
the system power to remain off after a power loss. Select Power-On for the system
power to be turned on after a power loss. Select Last State to allow the system to
resume its last state before a power loss. The options are Power-On, Power-Off
and Last State.

If you chose Last State it would only power back up if it was on at the time of a power failure. If you chose Power On, it should power up as soon as power is restored to the computer, regardless of whether it was running or not. That is the way I have mine configured and they will always power up after a power failure. There is one catch - they sometimes don't do so well with a very brief power outage. If it is more than a few seconds it will restart.

[S-F]

Yeah, but the restore on power loss functionality only applies when the board was energized when the power failed. If it's shut down properly then connecting it to power won't fire up the board.

[Rotech]

Restore on AC Power Loss
Use this feature to set the power state after a power outage. Select Power-Off for
the system power to remain off after a power loss. Select Power-On for the system
power to be turned on after a power loss. Select Last State to allow the system to
resume its last state before a power loss. The options are Power-On, Power-Off
and Last State.

If you chose Last State it would only power back up if it was on at the time of a power failure. If you chose Power On, it should power up as soon as power is restored to the computer, regardless of whether it was running or not. That is the way I have mine configured and they will always power up after a power failure. There is one catch - they sometimes don't do so well with a very brief power outage. If it is more than a few seconds it will restart.

Yes, my BIOS have those option. I have tried the "last state" with no results. I will try "Power on" and see. I'm curious about the battery backUp. If HS shuts down the computer because it has less than 10% of charge and the battery still has at most 5% or less, how does the PC know when power is restored if it still senses power from the UPS?

[Rotech]

Yeah, but the restore on power loss functionality only applies when the board was energized when the power failed. If it's shut down properly then connecting it to power won't fire up the board.

That was my concern. Thk you.

[rprade]

Yeah, but the restore on power loss functionality only applies when the board was energized when the power failed. If it's shut down properly then connecting it to power won't fire up the board.

That is not true on mine, unless "Last State" is chosen. If "Power On" is selected they will always power up on restoration of power. I have a total of 5 Supermicro Servers, each connected to LAN controllable UPS. Every UPS (for Computers and Servers) in my house has a management card for full control over the network. My normal routine to shut them down is to issue a "Shutdown" command from within windows. After the computer finishes shutdown, I shutdown the UPS (because I'm cheap and I don't like the 8-10 watts the UPS burns just idling). To power up any of the servers all I do is bring the UPS online and the computer will always start up. I also have two desktops (Intel motherboards) that behave the same way.

The older X8 Supermicro servers are a little more nuanced - if they are shut down with "Power Off Server - Immediate" through the IPMI, they will not power up when power is removed/restored. They will always power up if they are shut down within Windows or using "Power Off Server - Orderly Shutdown" from IPMI. That anomaly is not true in the newer X9 and X10 chipsets. I doubt Hector's unit has a similar quirk, but it is possible his BIOS ONLY supports Last State.

I suppose the next step would be to find out what brand his machine is and what BIOS it uses.

[Rotech]

Checked in my system property and it says:

Intel(R) Pentium(R) D CPU
300ghz
2.99 Ghz, 2.99 GB of Ram

I am running Winserver 2003 and it does has the option of :

Last state
Power on
Power off

In bios.

[NeverDie]

That is not true on mine, unless "Last State" is chosen. If "Power On" is selected they will always power up on restoration of power. I have a total of 5 Supermicro Servers, each connected to LAN controllable UPS. Every UPS (for Computers and Servers) in my house has a management card for full control over the network. My normal routine to shut them down is to issue a "Shutdown" command from within windows. After the computer finishes shutdown, I shutdown the UPS (because I'm cheap and I don't like the 8-10 watts the UPS burns just idling). To power up any of the servers all I do is bring the UPS online and the computer will always start up. I also have two desktops (Intel motherboards) that behave the same way.

Thanks for the informative post! What brand and model of network UPS are you using? I'd like to look into possibly getting some of the same.

[rprade]

Yes, my BIOS have those option. I have tried the "last state" with no results. I will try "Power on" and see. I'm curious about the battery backUp. If HS shuts down the computer because it has less than 10% of charge and the battery still has at most 5% or less, how does the PC know when power is restored if it still senses power from the UPS?

If your UPS discharges to the point where it kills the power to the outputs, then your computer will restart. The problem is that if HS shuts down the server, but the UPS never interrupts the power to the server, it will never know to restart. Unfortunately this forces you into one of two situations:

• If you do not have HomeSeer shut down the computer when the battery is low, it will run until the UPS is out of energy and it shuts down its outputs. Then the computer would restart when the power (and the UPS) came beck online. The downside is that it is an abrupt shutdown which can occasionally corrupt a HomeSeer database.
• If you have HomeSeer shut down the computer when the UPS is at 10% but the power is restored before the UPS actually shuts down, the computer will not "know' that the power has been restored and will not power back up.

The ideal solution would be UPS software that has the computer do an "Orderly Shutdown" when the batteries are at some minimal level, then follows shutting down, then restoring the UPS output. I think the APC software will do that.

My UPS units are Cyberpower, and I use their Business Edition monitoring software on each server. I have the software initiate an "Orderly Shutdown" of the attached computers at 15% battery and enable Mandatory Power Cycle: When a shutdown sequence is initiated due to a power failure, the connected computers may be ordered to shutdown once and the UPS will be also ordered to turn off after a time delay. If the utility power is restored prior to the UPS shutting off, the UPS will still turn itself off after a time delay, but it will turn on again about 10 seconds later. The UPS has restarted and then all connected computers will boot.

An "Orderly Shutdown" will tell HomeSeer and other programs to shutdown, before shutting down the operating system. This *should* insure the integrity of the HomeSeer database.

[Rotech]

I just did the test putting the bios to "power on" , shut down HS and PC. I unplugged the AC cable from PC and waited a bit. I then plugged AC cable to the PC and it did power up on its own. As you said rprade.