My personal server

Hi,

I doubt anybody is using my personal server (the ddns.net one), but just in case you are – it is currently offline for an indeterminate period.

Between 8h06 and 8h09 this morning, the Vonets WiFi adaptor failed. My alarm goes off at half eight, so I don’t know if there was a brownout or surge or if this was just a case of “**** happens”.
Unfortunately it failed short circuit, so it pretty much killed my little power supply thingy – it’ll output a nice 5V provided nothing is plugged into it. Try giving it a load, it wimps out – can’t even manage an LED light.

The Pi is currently running off of an old powered hub, as that’s the only USB power source I have that’s over an amp.

I’ve ordered a new Vonets, €15 with free delivery, and I’ll need to get a new power lug when my pay comes in, as the powered hub uses an old-style transformer instead of switch mode. That means it runs kind of warm and takes four times as much space…

Anyway – server’s offline. Just thought I’d let you know.

Hmm. Powered up the Pi and noticed the ethernet light was on. The Vonets was stilled plugged into the hub. Crap. Oh, wait, hang on, if it has lit up the network light, that means it has actually started up.
After some experimentation, and turning the Vonets on and off literally a hundred times, it seems the adaptor will attempt to start up, only to die when it comes to sending information. I can configure the adaptor on a PC, but trying to fetch ROOL’s Recent Posts kills it. It is worth noting that it is running obscenely hot, so it’s probably a good guess that the SoC got damaged somehow and this limping along is the best it can do, sort of like the sadness of a Beeb that is stuck going “burrrr….”.

I note that the Vonets always used to run kind of warm, so I have the casing from the dead terminal care one, I might see if I can punch a hole in it and fit a fan – if I can find a low current fan that’s around 2-3cm and runs quietly off 5V (just piggyback it off the Vonets supply). Found one, 2.5mm, 100mA, 5V. €3,74 with free postage. Probably comes from China. Just ordered it, will bolt it onto the Vonets casing and swap the casing when the new unit arrives.

This has got me thinking. I’m wondering if the events happened the other way around – if the power lug failed and this is what broke the Vonets? The first thing I noticed was Vonets appeared dead (and also appeared short circuit?) and the Pi’s red light was blinking as it kept trying to start and failed.
I’ve yanked open the power lug. Nothing looks wrong – no exploded ICs or bulgy capacitors. But since it’s a switchmode with mains a whisker away from 5V, I’m just going to lick my wounds and bin the thing.