Shipping your server UPS!
 

Today our server arrived at the data center, but not with out some problems. The dam CPU fan broke off!!!! Our server is a mid size tower, we built a mid size tower for better cooling. Our processor is a LGA 775 processor. In case you have never seen one its held on by four snap in pins. My question to you is how high do you have to drop a server before the CPU fan breaks off? Did the UPS driver say hell with it and gave it a 10ft drop? :mad: Was the UPS driver having a bad day and wanted to get back at his boss. So he slammed our server against the ground?

The guy at the data center told me it is uncommon, but he has seen CPU fans break off before during shipping. I am going to chalk this one up as lesson learned. If you value your equipment don't ship it UPS. This isn't the only ups horror story I have heard/seen. I think for our next server I will be shipping it FEDEX.

Soulwatcher

I've had great luck with UPS, I prefer them over FedEX and USPS for anything. Did you get UPS to pack your server or did you? I took mine to the local UPS store and had them pack it, they did a great job. My server was wrapped in bubble wrap, then inside a box, put a layer of foam-peanuts on the bottom of another box, then the other inside and finished the sides and top off with the foam-peanuts. I think it cost me $15 but that was $15 well spent.

Ah well, I shipped my server in the original case box. It was just a box and some hard foam. That could have been the reason the fan broke off. But I am not going to let them get off that easy.

If I would have drove it to the data center in my car. Their is no way the fan would have broke off. Now when I say broke off I mean it sheared off two of the 4 pins holding the fan on. That had to be one hell of a shock! I am not going to try and get any money from UPS over this. Everything else is in working order. Maybe next time I will go to the UPS store and let them pack it. Maybe I will have better results.

Just be grateful it didn't damage any of the mounts on the motherboard, then you would have really been SOL. From my understanding UPS won't ship any pre-built computers/servers from residential customers unless it is double boxed. I heard this from one of my Uncle's who ships computers often but I do believe it, one of those save our a$$ policies. Considering how they boxed mine, I would assume so...

Ya thank god they didnt damage any mounts on the motherboard. I thought the orignal packing would be good enough. Boy was I wrong! Next time I ship a server I am going to leave the packing to the pros.