Drobo-S Gen2 power switch wont power on - fixed

Drobo - End of Sale Drobo S
1

hi guys, i guess it was just a matter of time…

my Drobo-S gen2 wont power on after clicking the on switch(toggle)

I tried another power socket, and the psu brick seems fine, with a solid green light.

I tried unplugging the usb cable and power cable and re-inserting the power cable, but still the switch will only click and not actually power anything up.

I rang support and luckily still had some drobocare in warranty, and we even tried ejecting all the drives with the same test, but it seems that the unit had a fault - so hopefully i’ll go through the rma process in the next few days and ship the old one back etc.

very good support experience so far… lets see if i can get my data working again from the original disk pack :slight_smile:

just wondering if any of you have seen or had a similar problem with the power toggle microswitch?

2

Sorry to hear about your experience, Paul. I’m pretty sure your diskpack will work just fine in the new Drobo, especially given it was a “sudden death” of the unit itself.

But what makes you suspect it’s a toggle switch problem? For what it’s worth, it could be just about anything.

3

It could still be the power supply too - just because it shows a green light, doesn’t mean it provides adequate and proper power under load. :slight_smile:

4

thanks guys,
i actually completed the rma that day and the replacement unit+psu should arrive today/tomorrow.

ah i had a psu a year ago which would sometimes spark, and replaced it with a new one to play safe (which was working fine all this time) but didnt want to risk using that old one just in case it did more damage) :slight_smile:
ive still got that old one sitting in the drobo packaging box somewhere.

i assumed it was the toggle swtich, as the drobo and psu go through 2 surge protectors, and when i just begin to apply some pressure to the toggle switch, it seems to trigger (something) like a very low tick or hiss, but then nothing happens.

you’re right zbig, it could be something else, i just was using it like i usually do, and the toggle switch was the part that didnt power up so i thought it was that :slight_smile:

when the new unit arrives and is working, i might try the old psu (cable&brick) on the old chassis temporarily just to see if it starts up, in case it was a psu issue bhigga,

i dont move the drobo around, and only use the toggle switch when powering it on, usually 1-3 times a week, and i use the dashboard to shut it down. i chkdsk it maybe once every month or 2, and it seems fine, and its protected on the same surge protector as the computer it’s connected to. i thought maybe its just a spring or something which wasnt connecting / closing the toggle circuit, but i’ll try and find out from the support team what the issue was, as am now curious :slight_smile:

5

If only every time someone’s car won’t start it always turned out to be the ignition switch, world would be so much nicer place :wink:

6

Indeed! Took a extra hours for my wife’s old car before they discovered the problem wasn’t a faulty starter at all, but the crank position sensor (which controls the starter).

7

lol nice one zbig :smiley:

(maybe in the future they will blame it on the Flux Capacitor) :slight_smile:

8

Good news - the new replacement arrived and i did the swap and it works with my drive pack :slight_smile:

it took a while to get back to an all clear status, (including bootups, volume chkdsks, and data compare/verify etc) but thankfully a nice and swift recovery :slight_smile:

as a test, i tried it with the same (old) psu/brick so it’s definitely something else…
i’ll switch to the new psu/brick for completeness of replacements, and will ship the old one back with the faulty drobo soon.

as long as the upgrade/migration path still exists from a Drobo-S to a 5D, i’ll be happy in case anything goes wrong after this, as theres no more drobo-s drobocare available anymore :frowning: