5 Common Causes of Server Hardware Failure and Ways to Troubleshoot Them

Posted by The Team at CXtec on Nov 17, 2022 1:47:16 AM

Server failure can be costly for businesses in terms of lost productivity, profits, and market reputation. It also decreases...

Server failure can be costly for businesses in terms of lost productivity, profits, and market reputation. It also decreases customer trust in your company. Poorly functioning servers can lead to data center outages. Hence, regular monitoring and maintenance are essential to improve your server’s uptime and productivity. Having visibility into the common causes of server hardware failure is equally vital. It helps you fix server issues timely to avoid unexpected downtime. You can also avail services of IT hardware maintenance experts to improve your server's health.

This article will explain some key reasons for server hardware failure and how you can fix them to run uninterrupted operations.

Types of server failure and ways to prevent them

There are five main causes of server hardware failure that you should keep in mind while troubleshooting server-related issues:

1. Hard drive failure

Hard drive breakdown is one of the key reasons for server failures. There are three main reasons for hard drive failure: mechanical instability, electrical faults, and logical failure. Mechanical failure generally happens due to adverse environmental conditions like high temperatures. Electrical faults can arise due to sudden power spikes. Last, improper drive formatting and registry changes can result in logical failure.

Deploying solid-state drives (SSDs) is a great way to tackle most of these issues. Besides, you can use redundant storage like RAID to reduce the risk of hard drive failure. Further, you can check and fix logical hard drive errors using command line tools like "chkdsk" in Windows.

2. Motherboard failure

Dealing with server motherboard issues is often tricky for hardware experts. Motherboards generally collapse due to overheating, electrical faults, and physical damage. Regularly monitoring air cooling systems in your data center can help prevent overheating issues. Short-circuiting is a key reason for electrical faults in motherboards. It can happen if a metal accidentally touches the motherboard while it is functional. Power surges also lead to electrical failure. Hence, it is better to deploy surge protectors.

Physical damage like liquid spills can also result in out-of-order motherboards. However, you can detect and fix such physical issues by being more vigilant. Lastly, motherboards can fail if they are close to their end of useful life. It is better to plug in a new motherboard in such a case.

3. Power supply failure

Power outages can lead to server crashes or failures in your data center. Natural calamities and poor electrical infrastructure are the key causes of power failures. Hence, you should invest in power backup solutions like UPS to reduce the risk of server failure. These tools also ensure that your servers run steadily during power fluctuations. Besides, the power supply unit that provides energy to your server might be faulty. The power supply unit or its associated cable may fail due to short-circuiting or other issues. You can replace such a faulty unit with new, high-quality hardware.

4. Air quality and temperature failures

Keeping a close eye on the temperature and air quality of your data center or server room is crucial. Key environmental issues that affect the server operations include overheating, dust, and humidity. Overheating leads to thermal throttling in the server, decreasing its overall performance. Dust can affect the smooth functioning of air-cooling systems in your server room. This further leads to overheating. Controlling humidity in the server room is equally vital. A humid environment can create issues like hardware corrosion. You can deploy a proper HVAC system to create optimal environmental conditions for smooth server operations.

5. Software failure

The risk of server failure increases if it runs on a buggy or outdated firmware. There can be various reasons for outdated server firmware. These include irregular updates, unvetted patches, and EOL hardware. The firmware on the server may also collapse due to network glitches and server overload.

You can build a proper upgrade strategy to avoid such server issues. Regularly review your software update plans to ensure nothing falls through the cracks. Further, regularly connect with the server hardware vendors to stay updated about the server upgrade cycles.

Prevent server failure with hardware maintenance experts

Server monitoring and maintenance can be challenging if you lack sufficient time and expertise. Hence, it is better to team up with IT hardware experts to improve your server uptime and performance. With over 40 years of experience in the IT hardware domain, CXtec can be the perfect partner for all your server maintenance needs.

CXtec helps improve the performance of your server, storage, and other IT gear with its third-party maintenance service, RapidCare®. This cost-effective, industry-leading service offers customized maintenance plans that suit your business needs. RapidCare also offers high-quality replacement parts, best-in-class support, and flexible contracts.