question regarding meager up time

[mcamann]

Hi all--

I'm somewhat new to the RPi although I have an old original Model B that I waited in line for, back in the day. I'm trying to run my RPi as a headless music server in console mode using mpd and, via ssh, nmcpcpp. The Pi does a fine job of feeding music from my NAS to my stereo receiver, even without a DAC, however it NEVER runs even a full 24 hours.

Typically, I'll restart it in early evening, listen to music until bed time, then turn down the music. When I wake in the morning, the Pi is invariably stopped, although still powered up. No login prompt unless I unplug the power and restart it. Frankly, I don't have a clue whether it's a hardware or a software problem. Uptime is limited to less than 12 hours, generally.

Any advice about where to start to solve this problem would be greatly appreciated!

Best regards,
--Mike C.

[rpdom]

Power.

The usual problem is inadequate power.

Forget what the label says on the PSU. Try another one. Try another power cable. Measure the voltage between TP1 and TP2 on the board - it should be between 4.75 and 5.25V, the closer to 5V the better.

I don't tend to run my Raspis for long periods, but I have let them run for a week or two running important tasks without problems.

[DeeJay]

In parallel with considering the suggestions already made about power, perhaps you could think about whether it might be a cumulative problem in the software you are running. I have had my RPi, running Raspbian, up for several weeks at a time, so what you describe is not inherent in the combination of an RPi and Raspbian.

As an experiment, could you halt all the added software, servers etc and just leave the basic, fairly idle and 'useless' Raspbian system running overnight, and see what happens?

[mcamann]

In parallel with considering the suggestions already made about power, perhaps you could think about whether it might be a cumulative problem in the software you are running. I have had my RPi, running Raspbian, up for several weeks at a time, so what you describe is not inherent in the combination of an RPi and Raspbian.

As an experiment, could you halt all the added software, servers etc and just leave the basic, fairly idle and 'useless' Raspbian system running overnight, and see what happens?

That's my next step. I've also ordered a new charger (the Kootec power supply that PROMISES 5v at 1.5A). We shall see. The RPi is such a great little device for serving music files.

Best,
--Mike C.