HP ProLiant MicroServer N40L Owner's Thread *Part 5*

There are two aspects to transcoding media files. The easiest (from a computational point of view) is re-packaging the content in a new container, or extracting and sending the content via DLNA. The N40L/N54L are certainly up to doing that. The second is re-encoding the content - I don't think the N40L/N54L are powerful enough to do that.

Everything I throw at it. The only problem I've ever had is high-res matroskas (and possibly a couple of other odd formats), however this was more down to ps3mediaserver being a wagon to configure more than anything else.

I installed Plex to test a couple of months ago in preparation for the N54L I bought to set up as a proper HTPC - I currently use a PS3 with an N40L streaming to it from somewhere else in the house - and that's never balked at anything.

That's the thing though, that isn't transcoding. It's just changing the container format.

ps3mediaserver stuff just wants a container that the PS3 likes, it's not the actual format of the video stream itself so no encoding/decoding...I think at least :confused:
 
I'm playing directly from the server to the TV via Hdmi to cut out the amp and streaming having any effect on the playback.

Do you think swapping OS from server 20008 to Windows 7 ultimate will have any effect ?

Can anyone with the nl40 and asus 6450 graphics card playing bluray iso directly let me have the utilization of the processor when playing back the file.
 
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swapping os from windows 2008 to windows 7 ultimate resolved the issue

cpu utilization now 30%

cheers for all your help guys
 
XBMCBUNTU, I made a Live USB stick, and I can get it to boot into XBMC but then after a few seconds the screen goes black. Any ideas what's wrong and how to remedy it? Id say it's a graphics card problem as it's fine with the onboard VGA output.

Would the GT430 overheating cause it to shut itself down? I took the card out and it was scorching hot? Think I'll need to but thermal paste and see if that helps.
 
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Hi,

Has anyone replaced the 40mm fan in the PSU? the noise from my N40L (with the original PSU fan) is noticeable from a few feet away.

If so can you tell me the type of fan that you used to replace the original fan, there seems to be a lot of options out there and i'm not sure which one to get.

Cheers,
Chris
 
Hi,

Has anyone replaced the 40mm fan in the PSU? the noise from my N40L (with the original PSU fan) is noticeable from a few feet away.

If so can you tell me the type of fan that you used to replace the original fan, there seems to be a lot of options out there and i'm not sure which one to get.

Cheers,
Chris

Papst 412.

Rather than repeat myself, these are the most relevant posts on the replacement in chronological sequence: post #1, post #2 and post #3.
 
XBMCBUNTU, I made a Live USB stick, and I can get it to boot into XBMC but then after a few seconds the screen goes black. Any ideas what's wrong and how to remedy it? Id say it's a graphics card problem as it's fine with the onboard VGA output.

Would the GT430 overheating cause it to shut itself down? I took the card out and it was scorching hot? Think I'll need to but thermal paste and see if that helps.

Turned out it was the grahics card. A clean up, dust off and new application of thermal paste has sorted it out. I had to butcher the fan to a degree in order for it to fit in the case (dremel off the bottom and move it further up the heatsink). Not had a chance to try out the fan mod yet

buglegum and any other GT430 owners, have you had any issues with your GT430 and stuttering frames in XBMC? I have been testing mine out tonight (Xbmcbuntu), not to an amp just straight into a tv via hdmi. I've noticed that it's not as smooth as my Dune 301 with some 24p content. I notice slight stuttering, especially on mkv's I've ripped with HD/FLAC audio?

Some of my rips get displayed at 60hz instead of 24p which is strange considering they were all ripped using makeMKV. The dune has no problem playing these at 24p. I suspect this may be an XBMC bug though.

Also what temps do you get from your GT430 in XBMC? (frodo if possible)
 
Thanks for this, do you think I would be OK connecting a 5v fan directly to the PSU (I realise I would need to solder this onto the existing wires), the PSU seems to give out a similar voltage.

I was looking to maybe get one of these 5v fans

Noiseblocker BlackSilent Pro Fan PM2 - 40mm [ITR-PM-2]

The fan header in the PSU appears to be running off 5V but outputting slightly less than that (4.8V) so I guess that fan might work - it has a starting voltage requirement of 5V and working range of 4.5V-13.8V. If your voltage is substantially lower than 5V, it might not be enough to start the fan.

In terms of performance, the Noiseblocker seems to be on par with the Papst 412 - looking at the Noiseblocker spec sheet it's about 5.4CFM/17.7dBA compared with the Papst 6CFM/18dBA @12V.

Assuming you have no problems starting the fan, it should be fine.
 
The fan header in the PSU appears to be running off 5V but outputting slightly less than that (4.8V) so I guess that fan might work - it has a starting voltage requirement of 5V and working range of 4.5V-13.8V. If your voltage is substantially lower than 5V, it might not be enough to start the fan.

In terms of performance, the Noiseblocker seems to be on par with the Papst 412 - looking at the Noiseblocker spec sheet it's about 5.4CFM/17.7dBA compared with the Papst 6CFM/18dBA @12V.

Assuming you have no problems starting the fan, it should be fine.

Thanks again,

I've ordered one of these Noiseblocker fans, hopefully it will start off of 5v (ish)

Cheers
 
Does anyone run any of there media through virtual machines? I have been considering setting up a VM to host just all my music and stream it through the house via home sharing so I don't have to clutter up my main server with it all.

I just cant make up my mind if I do try it what OS would be best to use? Any ideas guys
 
I thought Wake-On-Lan was problematic with these? I just had a play with it now waking it up from my iPad and it worked first time! Brilliant!
 
I thought Wake On LAN was fine on these - just annoyingly slow as no S3 sleep :(
 
Without S3 sleep, what state are you guys waking-on-LAN from?

I shut my microserver down from Nas4Free's webGUI so whatever state that leaves it in!? Im not too clued up on all this, the microserver power button is illuminated orange.
All I did was enable WOL in the BIOS (Russian hacked version), went into lan management in Nas4Free and got the built in NIC's mac no.

Added the mac no, and ip address to an iPad app called mWOL and it booted.

I may have spoke too soon though, my other microserver which runs XBMCbuntu wont WOL, haha :rotfl: typical
 
Without S3 sleep, what state are you guys waking-on-LAN from?

from Hibernate

I shut my microserver down from Nas4Free's webGUI so whatever state that leaves it in!? Im not too clued up on all this, the microserver power button is illuminated orange.

Thanks. Unfortunately XPEnology does not support system hibernation though it will happily shutdown and restart the system on a schedule.
 
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I've had my server a few weeks now and it's finally up and running how I want. ImageUploadedByTapatalk1374099666.326358.jpg

Does anyone else use pooling software? I'm using drive bender.
 
Buglegum, the GT430 card I bought had only a 2pin connector for the fan. As Id butchered the card a fair bit already by taking a dremel to the bottom of the fan I didn't want to solder on the Zalman because it'll be hard enough to resell.

I got a 2pin to 3pin fan adapter (see pic below), so what would I need next, a molex to 3 pin adapter to power the fan?

gb0cubm.jpg
 
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I've had my server a few weeks now and it's finally up and running how I want. View attachment 410764

Does anyone else use pooling software? I'm using drive bender.

Me too, just Win 7 with drive bender.

I put the OS on the drive in the optical bay, and run 4x 2TB drives in the others.

iTunes installed for music streaming, and Universal Media Server for streaming to my TV. Everything else just uses normal windows shared folders over SMB. Easy to set up with drive bender as the drives all look like one big drive and I can selectively protect those files I want to keep safe. Drive bender is a great piece of software, DB and I have had absolutely no issues with it at all.

Also installed Teamviewer so I can run it 'headless' and remote access from anywhere in the world on my laptop, tablet or even phone.

Still can't believe how quiet this server is, even in this crazy heat it is running virtually silent.
 
Me too, just Win 7 with drive bender.

I put the OS on the drive in the optical bay, and run 4x 2TB drives in the others.

iTunes installed for music streaming, and Universal Media Server for streaming to my TV. Everything else just uses normal windows shared folders over SMB. Easy to set up with drive bender as the drives all look like one big drive and I can selectively protect those files I want to keep safe. Drive bender is a great piece of software, DB and I have had absolutely no issues with it at all.

Also installed Teamviewer so I can run it 'headless' and remote access from anywhere in the world on my laptop, tablet or even phone.

Still can't believe how quiet this server is, even in this crazy heat it is running virtually silent.

I have 2, a 36 and a 54, neither are quiet even stock.
 
Quiet is relative - I wouldn't want it in my bedroom, but I don't notice it in my front room next to the TV and speakers etc. I reckon it's about as loud as my fridge.
 
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Quiet is relative - I wouldn't want it in my bedroom, but I don't notice it in my front room next to the TV and speakers etc. I reckon it's about as loud as my fridge.

Yes I'd happily use it in the living room. Definitely no worse than a PS3 or Xbox, and quieter than my homebrew gaming desktop.

Maybe I'm just comparing it to the old Dell server it replaced, which emitted nothing short of a deafening roar at all times and on a hot day could be heard anywhere in the house!
 

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