Zimablade Randomly Dies

ZimaBlade ZimaBlade - Support
1

I am having an issue where the Zimablade will randomly shutdown. It requires me to take out the CMOS battery in order for it to post again. Below are some things I have tried and some details.

Details

  1. Zimablade 7000 N3450 with 16 gb Icewhale branded RAM
  2. Have the zima power adapter 12v/3A
  3. The zimablade Y-cable with 2 8TB HDDs attached
  4. The board itself seems to be running fine with very little heat issues
  5. Nothing running on the board aside from the base install of CasaOS (no containers or anything yet)

Steps I have tried:

  1. Installed TrueNas as the base operating system in case it was something software related
  2. Attempted to run without the hard disks attached and same issue
  3. Tried an off brand 8GB ram stick and same issue

I have considered running a different power cord as the next steps thinking it might be faulty but I know the zimablade is sensitive to having a full 3 amps available when running the hard disks. Very frustrating and would be happy to provide more details or if anyone has any ideas of what else to try. I have also tried looking into the system logs and I don’t see anything super crazy but there is a lot of noise too so I very easily could miss something.

2

What are the power needs of the drives? The Amps needed that is printed on the drive label is normally the average, not the peak load when spinning up / down.

Most HDD’s can draw 1 to 2A of power at peak load. I’d start by removing one HDD and leaving it running for a few days. If it stays up and then starts faulting again when you put in the 2nd HDD its almost certainly going to be a power related issue.

3

Yeah good thought. I had the same thought. It dies even without the drives as well. When it dies too I don’t even get the red light at all indicating no power to the board.

4

If you have tied the obvious get in touch with support. Could be a faulty unit or PSU - Contact information – Zima Store Online

5

Cool. Will try that. Still would be open to hear any more ideas in the meantime.

6

You could try to reflash the factory image but if its falling over with no HDD’s attached there isn’t a lot more to test.

Maybe a different 12V/3A PSU but be careful many USB C PSU’s do not do that output, real the printed info on the charger carefully…

7

Just bought a replacement and will try that. I found your guide in another post which was helpful. None of the power bricks/adapters I have meet spec so will wait for the replacement.