UnitiServ 2TB SSD not powering up

Posted by: Chopin29 on 11 April 2017

My 3 year old UnitiServ is powered through Thor PS10 power filter, using Naim's 2-section cable supplied with US. The 'box' on the cable illuminates, indicating it is receiving power, but no AC wakes my dormant US. We've had a number of total power outages recently (monsoon season, lightning strikes). Now the US will not power up. Its companion SuperUniti works perfectly (it's on a custom-built power filter of its own), so do my other components (Oppo Blu-ray player, Panasonic DVR). The Thor power filter, always excellent, indicates that it is working normally. Shall I send the UnitiServ to my supplier (Len Wallis Audio, Sydney: I live at the opposite end of Australia)? Or just throw it away and make an insurance claim? If so, what do I replace it with? I am devoid of tech knowledge, and don't know what repair prospects are.

Posted on: 12 April 2017 by ChrisSU

My Unitiserve was destroyed by a lightning strike, but via the phone line/ network cabling. It looked fine from the outside, apart from a tiny bit of blackening around the RJ45 socket, but inside it was a mess. It was replaced through the house insurance. I subsequently installed an optical network rather that copper Ethernet for isolation, as our house, and especially the phone line, is in an exposed location. 

Posted on: 12 April 2017 by Chopin29

Thanks for that.  So I'll send the Unitiserve to my AV dealer in Sydney to establish whether it's fried via the network cabling. SU is Cat6 cabled, not wi-fi. The router itself is on a separate Thor PS 10 power filter in another room, and no other problems were experienced. Just the US not powering up. 

Posted on: 12 April 2017 by Adam Zielinski

Is there any way you could test the SU's power supply? Perhaps this one got damaged?

Posted on: 12 April 2017 by Jan-Erik Nordoen

As Adam suggests, the first suspect is the power supply. Perhaps your dealer could send you a new one to try.

Posted on: 12 April 2017 by ChrisSU
Chopin29 posted:

Thanks for that.  So I'll send the Unitiserve to my AV dealer in Sydney to establish whether it's fried via the network cabling. SU is Cat6 cabled, not wi-fi. The router itself is on a separate Thor PS 10 power filter in another room, and no other problems were experienced. Just the US not powering up. 

I mentioned the network cable issue because you mentioned that you have lightning strikes, but if this was the cause of your current problem, you would more than likely have noticed other damage, in particular to other network equipment. If your router is still OK, then I doubt it has affected your Unitiserve. Still, something you might want to think about safeguarding against in the future? So I guess the prime suspect would be the PSU.

Also, have you tried connecting it without the power conditioner, just to eliminate the chance of a fault there?

Posted on: 13 April 2017 by David Hendon

Perhaps a silly suggestion, but worth checking that inadvertently the power switch on the back of the US hasn't somehow got switched off. It should be with the lower edge of the rocker switch in (and the upper edge out!).

You could switch it off and on once too. If the US is shut down properly, you have to flick the switch off and on again, or turn the AC feed off and on again, to get the US to restart. Maybe the power surge shut the US down properly and it just needs wakening again.

best

David