UPS question

[independentpete]

I guess if you like to tinker... But, won't that kind of messing around inside the unit void your warranty (assuming you still have one)?

[huggy591]

You may need to get the updated drivers/software from the APC site for the beep to be shut off under software control (if it has that feature). The drivers that MS supplies may not have all the bells and whistles for each UPS type.

[Barry Gordon]

Steve P,

I did a similar thing on a previous PC motherboard., I actually built a little card and mounted it on a PCI card's metal bracket. It consisted of 2 timers, used the "always on" 5V of the ATX power supply and had a relay whose contacts were wired across the startup pushbutton. First timer was triggered when 5 volts came up, waited 20 seconds and then closed the relay and started the second timer. The second timer waited 2 seconds and then opened the relay. If I recall right I used a 545 universal timer chip and some minor resistors and caps to set the timer values. Mounted the switch on the angle bracket so i could disable the auto restart feature when playing with the machine. Cost me less than $5

[Rick Tinker]

I LOVE to Tinker

[independentpete]

I figured that statement would attract you to this thread.

[DC]

If your UPS doesn't have a feature to disable the alarms, would it be possible to quieten it enough by putting something like duct tape (no, really!) over the speaker? That might be better (ie, less destructive, easier to reverse and more warranty friendly) than ripping something out or cutting wires, etc.

[Rupp]

DC,
I just checked and mine doesn't have any visible speaker "hole" or cover. It must be inside somewhere.

[DC]

I was thinking of covering the speaker itself inside the unit. If you are going to open the unit anyway (something I probably wouldn't do) then it might be better to muffler speaker rather than "rip it out" as someone else suggested.

[1080iAddict]

Rupp... have you thought about going to www.apcc.com and looking up the technical support phone # and asking them for a software update, patch, etc. Just the old "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar" thought and maybe the tech guy sends you an app that kills the beep. They may have the perfect solution for you.

-ach

p.s. here is the link to the phone #s

http://www.apcc.com/support/contact/index.cfm

[Rupp]

Guys,
I use the XP built in UPS software and have no desire to load any other software on my HS server. So I'll either open it up and somehow mute the speaker or forget about it until the next time it happens.

[DC]

I have many APC UPSs installed on computers at my wife's business (about 15). I always use the free APC software instead of the built-in XP feature. In fact, I didn't realize XP could communicate with a UPS natively. Anyway, the APC software is very simple and and has been reliable UNTIL I installed SP2 on one of her computers. Now the software crashes with an "unknown function call" error when it starts up (I don't remember the exact error but it's something like that). After it crashes, the UPS service is disabled. I haven't had time to call APC about it so that computer is running without any UPS software active.

[huggy591]

The software from APC provides additonal features that the base XP software does not. Since your model is a Back-PS and not a Smart-UPS, I doubt that it has the ability to shut off the alarm under software control. You'll probably have to hack it.