A system administrator is dispatched to a data center to investigate a server that has become unresponsive. Upon arrival, the administrator observes a solid amber light on the server's main chassis health status indicator. The server is not responding to network pings or remote management connections. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause for this indicator light?
A network cable has been disconnected.
A power supply unit has failed.
The UID light has been activated for identification.
A solid amber or orange light on a server's main health or fault indicator almost universally signifies a critical hardware fault. Common causes include a failed power supply unit (PSU), a motherboard or CPU fault, a critical thermal event, or a memory error. A PSU failure is a frequent and critical fault that would render the server unresponsive and trigger this specific LED. High CPU utilization is a performance issue, not a hardware fault, and would not typically cause a solid amber fault light unless it leads to a thermal shutdown. A network link disconnection is indicated by the LEDs on the network interface card (NIC) itself, not the main chassis health indicator. The Unit Identification (UID) light is a separate, typically blue, light used to physically locate a server in a rack.