I recently upgraded my server to Windows Server 2008 and soon after that the problems started. No, not because of the greatest server operating system there is, but because of a hardware issue.
The symptom was always the same: computer would suddenly reboot, then turn off. Power led, fans etc were on and keyboard LEDs (caps lock, scroll lock and num lock) were flashing very fast. I couldn’t find many similar symptoms by searching the web, either.
The server started crashing after variable periods of time and it was difficult to find the reason. I had upgraded the memory to 2GB at the same time, so that’s where it was natural to start troubleshooting. I tried various memory tests, old memory DRAM’s etc, but still the computer kept crashing.
It could have been a heating issue, but it hadn’t been a problem before and the hardware monitor in BIOS showed low temperatures. By the way, crashed happened in CMOS-setup, too, so it had to be a hardware-related issue.
I also suspected faulty hard disk, motherboard or PSU, but luckily I found the reason: my old Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro that I had reserved for random uses like this.
I had attached the keyboard for the fresh install of the Windows Server 2008 as Remote Desktop can’t be used in the early phase of installation. After installation, I had left the keyboard attached, just in case there were problems and I needed to login directly. Never would I have thought that the keyboard could actually cause this severe problems. How ironic.
At one point I guessed that maybe the keyboard from 1999 could be the reason with the odd blinking after the crashes and because usually I don’t have any keyboard or mouse attached to the server.
So I detached the old PS/2-keyboard from the server and the server has been running fine ever since for several days. The PS/2 -connector could somehow be faulty, too, but either way, I’ll use only USB-keyboards from this century/millennium from now on.
Not sure if I should blame Microsoft or IBM (who invented PS/2-port) for my problems. Of course I’m not the one to blame for using too old hardware! 
Hopefully this post helps someone with similar symptoms.
This time I really had to think outside the box to solve the problem 
February 27, 2008 at 17:48 |
Ouch, sorry to hear you ran into that.
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Fred Reckling
Microsoft 2008 Joint Launch Team
http://www.microsoft.com/2008jointlaunch/
March 17, 2008 at 18:15 |
Amazing how a simple piece of hardware can crash a computer.
I mainly work from a laptop, but feel unfortable using its keyboard for long hours. I was going to buy a brand new keyboard, but found an old Compact keyboard I’ve had since the 90’s. Unfortunately it had a PS2 connection, and my laptop uses USB, so I’ve order a PS2->USB adaptor. I’ve read that PS2 connection into USB adapters keyboards can cause problems like this, I just hope it won’t happen when my adaptor is delivered in the next few days.
I guess connecting any new piece of hardward to a computer you should do a backup just incase, like you should do when you install software, hmm.
- Lee
August 3, 2008 at 09:55 |
Very interesting site, i have added it to my fovourites. Greetings