I have had some problems with my home server over the past couple of weeks. It all started when I tried to install the latest Power Pack (Power Pack 2) for Windows Home Server. In reality the problem had nothing to do with Power Pack, but the update process highlighted that my Internet connection for the home server was down. This was due to the issues with my Netgear router (see previous blog entry), but in trying to fixing it I thought it was a firewall issue. In trying to identify the problem, I set the firewall settings back to their defaults.Normally, this wouldn't be an issue, but I am using a Tranquil Harmony Home Server and you can only connect to it remotely (via a remote desktop connection). The firewall defaults are to deny file & print sharing AND remote desktop connections. Duh! I realised about 10 seconds after hitting the restore default button what I had done.
To fix this, you need to connect to the Tranquil server directly. Fortunately this is fairly straightforward. Remove the rear face plate (just three screws) and you will find a VGA, keyboard and mouse sockets (see photo above). This will allow you to logon to the machine directly without having to use a remote desktop. Just set the firewall settings back to normal (firewall set to "ON", but file & printing sharing and remote desktop selected on the "Exceptions" tab). And bingo, you are back in business.
Once you have the back plate off, the motherboard assembly just pulls out of the front of the unit. The motherboard and hard disk all come out as a single unit. There are a couple of screws on the top of the unit that allow you to remove the hard disk and access the memory. There is a single module - PC2-5300 DDR2 - I just happened to have a spare 1GB module, so I swapped it for the 512K already installed.
