---
title: "Hardware diagnostics for a dedicated server"
description: "Learn how to diagnose hardware issues on your server."
url: https://docs.us.ovhcloud.com/en/bare-metal-cloud/dedicated-servers/hardware-diagnostics-dedicated-server
lang: en
---
> For AI agents: the complete documentation index is available at https://docs.us.ovhcloud.com/en/llms.txt, the full documentation bundle is available at https://docs.us.ovhcloud.com/en/llms-full.txt.

# Hardware diagnostics for a dedicated server

**Learn how to diagnose hardware issues on your server.**

At some point during the life of your server, you may encounter a fault due to a hardware issue. When the server is booted into the OVHcloud rescue mode, you have several diagnostic tools available to help identify faulty hardware components.

 

## Requirements

- A [dedicated server](https://us.ovhcloud.com/bare-metal/) in your OVHcloud account
- [Rescue mode](https://docs.us.ovhcloud.com/en/bare-metal-cloud/dedicated-servers/rescue-mode.md) activated

 

## Instructions

This guide details the tests you need to carry out to diagnose:

- Processors
- Network connection
- Memory
- Disk health
- Disk partitions

 

### Processors

The processor tests check the working order of your server's processor and need about 30 minutes to run successfully. If the server crashes during this test, it could indicate issues with the CPU, RAM, or motherboard.

#### To check the CPU:

```bash
WRKR=$(grep -c "^processor" /proc/cpuinfo)
stress-ng --metrics-brief --timeout 60s --cpu $WRKR --io $WRKR --aggressive --ignite-cpu --maximize --pathological
```

#### To check the RAM:

```bash
stress-ng --metrics-brief --timeout 60s --brk 0 --stack 0 --bigheap 0 
```

 

### Network Connection

The network connection test checks your internal and external bandwidth. This data is provided for information purposes only and is not a performance test.

```bash
ping -c 10 proof.ovh.us
for file in 1Mb 10Mb 100Mb 1Gb ; do time curl -4f https://proof.ovh.us/files/${file}.dat -o /dev/null; done
```

 

### Memory

The memory test checks the integrity of your server's RAM modules. If the server crashes during this test, then it means that one or more of your RAM modules is faulty.

**Warning:**

**NOTE:** This test can take a long time to complete.

```bash
RAM="$(awk -vOFMT=%.0f '$1 == "MemAvailable:" {print $2/1024 - 1024}' /proc/meminfo)"
memtester ${RAM}M 1
```

 

### Disk Health

You can use _Smartmontools_ to check the status of your disks by reading their `SMART` data. For example, to display all the details of the disk labeled `nvme1n1`, enter:

```bash
smartctl -a /dev/nvme1n1
```

To learn more about the output of this command and how to interpret it, consult the [official Smartmontools documentation](https://www.smartmontools.org/wiki/TocDoc).

 

### Disk Partitions

The partitions test is comprised of a disk access test and a file system check. The disk access test checks if the system can communicate with your server's hard drives. The file system check uses the `fsck -fy` command to check the entire file system.

To check the file system, run the following command:

```bash
fsck-fy
```

For a read test, run the command below. Replace `sd(x)` with your own values.

```bash
hdparm -t /dev/sd(x)
```

 

## Go further

Browse all the [Dedicated Servers guides](https://docs.us.ovhcloud.com/en/bare-metal-cloud/dedicated-servers/landing-page-dedicated-servers.md).

Browse the rest of the [OVHcloud US documentation](https://docs.us.ovhcloud.com/en/index.md) for guides on our other products and services.

Learn more about [Dedicated Servers](https://us.ovhcloud.com/bare-metal/) on the OVHcloud US website.