Remote Reboot - how?

[Mainstay]

We have a W7 Pro system connected to a domain at a remote site that crashes each morning. We don't know why and we are replacing the system soon.

In the meantime, the system responds to pings, but all remote access is denied (RDP and LMI).

I've scheduled reboots using both shutdown -r -f -t 0 and with powershell, but these commands do not seem to execute (as in, the system has already locked up by 2 am).

We have to have a user physically reset the box - (no errors are ever written to event logs).

While we bandaid this situation and cross over to a new box, does anyone have a better way of remotely power-cycling this workstation? Maybe one of those cloud-based power strips? (I have no experience with the capabilities of what these can do).

Thank you all!

--Matthew

 

[MichaelBits]

What about just creating a task to have it reboot at a specific time daily?

 

[Mainstay]

What about just creating a task to have it reboot at a specific time daily?

Yup - tried but it doesn't seem to work on this beast - I don't know "when" it crashes - just some time at night. I've tried getting ahead of that crash time but can't catch it.

 

[Mick]

Are you just trying to get it to restart after crashing - whenever that is? Control Panel > System Properties > Advanced > StartUp and Recovery. Ensure 'Automatically Restart' is ticked.

 

[timeshifter]

One of the home theater companies I work with had something like that at a customer's house. It think it's made called a Watt Box. They had it programmed to power cycle every night at 3:00 AM.

 

[Mainstay]

Are you just trying to get it to restart after crashing - whenever that is? Control Panel > System Properties > Advanced > StartUp and Recovery. Ensure 'Automatically Restart' is ticked.

That's one of the issues - it doesn't actually crash crash - just services stop responding. It still replies to pings and doesn't actually SHUT DOWN.

One of the home theater companies I work with had something like that at a customer's house. It think it's made called a Watt Box. They had it programmed to power cycle every night at 3:00 AM.

Looking into this... thank you.

 

[fencepost]

Is there a reason it needs to be on all the time? Can you simply have it set to sleep or hibernate after a certain period, or just script a shutdown at the end of the day? For powering on, it depends on the BIOS - you might be able to configure scheduled power-on events from there, or you may be able to enable Wake-On-LAN and use something like NirSoft's http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/wake_on_lan.html (or something built into some routers).

Re: the Watt Box, some of the Podnutz folks swear by them, particularly IIRC Marvin Bee

 

[Mick]

That's one of the issues - it doesn't actually crash crash - just services stop responding. It still replies to pings and doesn't actually SHUT DOWN.

Ah - got you! Sorry, I misunderstood. I'm sure you'll have scanned, but services shutting down sounds a little like malware...

 

[Mainstay]

little like malware...

LOL - it does, but this is actually our EndPoint server =)

System is clean.

 

[ohio_grad_06]

Open command line.

To shutdown your PC type: shutdown / s

To restart your PC type: shutdown / r

To logoff your PC type: shutdown / l

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/shutdown-options-in-windows-7-using-the-command-prompt

Maybe a batch file can be created from that?

 

[nlinecomputers]

LOL - it does, but this is actually our EndPoint server =)

System is clean.

Ouch. No clue at all what is causing it to hard lock? Is this during a backup?

 

[Mainstay]

Maybe a batch file can be created from that?

Tried and failed (btw, we use these commands on all of our servers to reboot them at scheduled times, so it isn't a syntax or usage issue).

Ouch. No clue at all what is causing it to hard lock? Is this during a backup?

A new RAID controller was installed with two SSD's attached. At approximately this time the server stopped behaving correctly. I have asked the technician who installed it to revisit his work but he guarantees me that all is well. I cannot push harder on him as he is another outside technician servicing this remote location (and he really does know his stuff... but things happen, right?). I have no diagnostics on this card so I cannot actually say with perfect authority that this is "it".

The backups occur using Acronis Cloud and it was proven to be stable and happy before it was moved to this remote location. It also could have been damaged in transit - I have not personally had eyes-on after it left our service area.

We are replacing the unit, but in the interim just need some way of essentially killing power and re-powering up. Maybe the Christmas Tree timer trick I've used in the past.... but man, this is hard on the already taxed system.

 

[Moltuae]

Had a system like this a while ago. It would lock up after several hours of running at no particular time.

As a temporary measure I created a batch file containing the following and dropped it into the startup folder (to make it reboot every 2 hours):

shutdown /r /f /t 7200

I also added a shortcut to a batch file containing 'shutdown /a' to allow the shutdown to be aborted.

For remote power cycling, I've often used these:
http://www.edimax.co.uk/edimax/merc...x/global/home_automation_smart_plug/sp-1101w/

 

[Markverhyden]

That symptom is what I call going zombie. At any rate I've run into these several times and they seem to work quite well.

http://www.digital-loggers.com/lpcfaqs.html

 

[nlinecomputers]

If it is happening during the backup, perhaps adding a reboot before the backup begins might make it run smoother?

 

[nlinecomputers]

Ideally you'd shut it down before it locks up, not after - much less chance of data corruption/loss that way.

What you need is a Mark 1 Human. Get someone to turn it off at the end of the day and then back on the next morning.

Technology is overrated.

This and I would just suspend the backups until you get new hardware as they failing anyway and as @Computer Bloke said you are just inviting corruption.

 

[fencepost]

That symptom is what I call going zombie. At any rate I've run into these several times and they seem to work quite well.

http://www.digital-loggers.com/lpcfaqs.html

Looking through the site(s) those look really nice (the sites themselves are pretty crude). Not sure how their pricing compares to the Wattbox that I've been hearing recommended, but I'm tempted to look into the Enterprise one for the rack in OUR office, and one for a customer location where they occasionally have cooling problems, since it also has a temperature sensor and scripting.

 

[Mainstay]

What you need is a Mark 1 Human. Get someone to turn it off at the end of the day and then back on the next morning.

We have tried this... I've even tried playing with reboot times (8 pm, 9 pm, 10 pm, etc.) to see if I can catch the failure point... no dice. I reboot at 2 am... log in, confirm everything is perfect for the next day. Go to sleep. Wake up to 5 texts, 7 emails, and 2 lines calling saying it is down again.

and I would just suspend the backups

We replaced the backup engine with a different one (Acronis) because we were concerned there may have been a conflict with KineticD (the previous backup engine). No change. System still unstable. They can't ship it back to us because it is so mission critical but they need it to run like a champ.

Looking at migrating them to the cloud, fully.

 

[Markverhyden]

A new RAID controller was installed with two SSD's attached. At approximately this time the server stopped behaving correctly. I have asked the technician who installed it to revisit his work but he guarantees me that all is well. I cannot push harder on him as he is another outside technician servicing this remote location (and he really does know his stuff... but things happen, right?). I have no diagnostics on this card so I cannot actually say with perfect authority that this is "it".

The backups occur using Acronis Cloud and it was proven to be stable and happy before it was moved to this remote location. It also could have been damaged in transit - I have not personally had eyes-on after it left our service area.

We are replacing the unit, but in the interim just need some way of essentially killing power and re-powering up. Maybe the Christmas Tree timer trick I've used in the past.... but man, this is hard on the already taxed system.

Standard troubleshooting says to go back in time starting from the present. So the RAID and SSD's would be a significant step. Have you looked at firmware updates for the card and SSD's? You can do that remotely, hopefully with no ill effects. Of course being remote, even if the other tech is great, you're limited to what he's willing to do. I'd also want to put the spindle(s) back in.

 

[ComputerRepairTech]

This does sound familiar and as I was reading it the first thought that came to mind was to ask if the system had an SSD but I can't recall where I have seen this before. I wonder if it was another post on technibble.

Edit: Nope not on here that i replied to at least, i did see https://www.technibble.com/forums/threads/nailing-down-the-cause-of-a-hard-freeze.73481/ but didnt mention ssd.