That time a dust storm killed two servers in Phoenix last August

I was working remote support for a small manufacturing plant outside Phoenix. Around 3 PM, a big dust storm rolled through, the kind that turns the sky orange. About 20 minutes later, I got a frantic call that both their file servers were down. I drove out there expecting a software issue, but when I walked into the server room I smelled burning electronics. Turns out the building AC had cycled off during a power bump, and the dust got pulled into the intake fans on both units. One had a popped capacitor, the other just kept throwing RAM errors. I ended up swapping in a spare tower from my truck, and we had to ship the other two out for repair. Cost them about $800 in parts and a full weekend of lost productivity. Has anyone else dealt with environmental stuff taking out hardware like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

foster.oscar1mo ago

Yeah, seems like the stuff nobody thinks about always ends up causing the biggest headaches." Tell me about it. I'm picturing that poor AC unit just giving up like "sorry boss, can't handle the dirt and a power hiccup at the same time." $800 in parts is practically a steal when you think about how much a weekend of lost productivity costs a place like that. Bet they never looked at their server room air filters the same way again.

robinson.matthew1mo ago

Yeah, seems like the stuff nobody thinks about always ends up causing the biggest headaches.