Can You Upgrade a Processor on a Server? You Bet Your System Board. The Basics...

  For those more familiar with the world of consumer or "end-user" devices such as laptops and small form factor desktops, upgrading the system's CPU is a likely foreign concept. While you can easily upgrade RAM and hard drives, most CPUs for laptops are fused to the system board, making such an upgrade not feasible (if not downright impossible!). And once you get into having to replace a whole system board on a laptop – the cost-benefit analysis usually shows...

TechMike's Quick Fix Troubleshooting Guide – RAID

  As part of our continuing series of TechMike's Quick Fix Troubleshooting Guide, we tackle common errors triggered by RAID controllers. (For your reference, here are links to our previous posts: PSU Quick Fixes and RAM and Cables).  RAID is such an integral component of virtually any Enterprise rack server that we had to dedicate an entire blog to it – it's TechMike's Quick Fix Troubleshooting Guide, Part 3 – RAID.   RAID Controller Errors If the system fails to...

TechMike's Quick Fix Troubleshooting Guide – Cables & RAM

  Our previous Quick Fix blog post focused on troubleshooting common startup issues associated with PSUs. In this post, we'll continue with the spirit of Quick Fixes and look at other issues that can cause problems right out of the gate, specifically, RAM and cabling. It's TechMike's Quick Fix Troubleshooting Guide – Part 2! Let's go Under the Hood! Cabling While our server builders test every device before it leaves our warehouse, we have found that shipping carriers don't always...

TechMike’s Quick Fix Troubleshooting Guide - PSUs

  Every day our support techs answer questions from our customers – and potential customers – on technical questions with Enterprise servers. We thought it would be helpful to create a blog post series that summarize the common issues that come up and provide the quick-fix solutions and troubleshooting steps that we frequently offer. It’s our first entry in TechMike’s Quick Fix Guide – Power Supply Units. Zip, Zero, Zilch. The server Won’t Power On. Nothing is more frustrating than...

Server Software: Questions Answered

  Enterprise servers run on unique software applications that you don’t frequently see in the laptop and desktop consumer market. We’ve answered countless customer questions on these unique applications. We thought it would be helpful to add another installment of our “Customer Questions Answered” series: Software (SPOILER ALERT: Be prepared for a heavy dose of VMWare’s ESXi and Windows Server questions!).  Hi Mike. I’m looking to get a Dell PowerEdge server. I’m looking at either an R610 or R620 and...