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Technical Trials And Errors

Hardware is, well, HARD…

I haven’t posted about it before but we’ve an ongoing saga in attempting to get together a 1U server for a customer.  Normally…this isn’t an issue.  Our regular vendor (QSol) though has made some business decisions which means, atleast for the time being, for our lowest level/cheapest 1U machines/dedicated servers they’re a little outside of the price point we’re willing to look at.  They did their best to get us something as we have a long standing business relationship with them, and so they sent along a machine.  We basically *never* have issues with our QSol 1U’s.  We unfortunately had to send the unit back, it displayed a number of progressively weirder and more serious errors the longer we left it under burn-in.  QSol really didn’t have anything else on-hand that was within the budget point for this particular customer, and believe us, they tried, and QSol is *AWESOME* don’t EVER anyone think that I am bad-mouthing them.  They’ve saved our asses so many times I long ago lost count.

SO to that end we cast a net to find a vendor of a cheap 1U…and got exactly what we deserved…we went and tried not once, but twice to order a system from AVADirect.  Both orders had to be cancelled because of unavailability of the requested configuration, or chassis.  The sales people were/are very apologetic about it but we didn’t have time to try to submit yet another order and potentially have it also cancelled.

So OK fine.  We’re running out of time, lets “barebones it” from NewEgg.  Ordered an Intel 3065 Xeon CPU, a gig of Crucial RAM (DDR2-667), a pair of SATA HDDs, WD2500KS’s, a 3Ware 8006-2LP and a SuperMicro SYS-5015M-T+. NewEgg came through with the hardware today so I’m thinking SWEET.  Get this beast together and get going, so I hand the whole pile of parts to the other SysAdmin here.  Except that the SuperMicro PDSMI+ based 1U won’t POST.  Just one long warble and a Flashing or Steady on OH/Fan Fail LED.  Cept nothing is overheating, all the fans are running.  Checked the seating of the heat sink on the CPU die, looked good, cleaned it, applied Arctic Silver to it and reinstalled it to no avail.  Pulled all memory, tried a different stick of memory, still, no luck.  

So now at this point all we have left is to unmount the motherboard from the chassis and check to see if there’s something conductive under there.  If that doesn’t work then we’re left with no choice but to return atleast the chassis, and maybe the whole damned kit as DOA.  There’s a documented “long repetitive beep” for the PDSMI+ that stands for no memory connected error, but I would classify this as a “warble” not a beep.  high/low/high/low at about 1-2 second intervals (it’s steady but I don’t know how long).

So we’re back at square one.  Really should just pay for the extra cost at our usual vendor.

*headdesk*

SysOp

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6 responses to “Hardware is, well, HARD…”

  1. FYI, I fell for this too. The PDSMi+ in the 5015M-T+B (PLUS) chassis ONLY supports up to 1066 Front Side Bus (FSB). You needed to put a Xeon 3060 [Intel Xeon 3060 Conroe 2.4GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor BX805573060 1066MHz 65nm
    ] in there for this configuration to work.

    Why Intel made a frigging 3000/3010 chipset (Mukilteo-2) that doesn’t support 1333MHZ FSB CPUs is simply retarded.

  2. Oh hell. Yanno. I never checked the FSB speed because the PDSMI+ Manual, web page, etc say 3000 and 3200 *SERIES*. Which one would figure to include the 3065. Definitely owe you a beer should our paths cross. And a kick to the head of Intel,a nd even moreso to Supermicro for NOT DOCUMENTING IT. *grumble*

  5. Let me know how things turn out. I too was surprised they said the “Series” would work without clearly excluding the 1333 FSB… I have it running now here is the output of various commands:

    # cat /proc/cpuinfo
    processor : 0
    vendor_id : GenuineIntel
    cpu family : 6
    model : 15
    model name : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU 3060 @ 2.40GHz
    stepping : 6
    cpu MHz : 2394.049
    cache size : 64 KB
    fdiv_bug : no
    hlt_bug : no
    f00f_bug : no
    coma_bug : no
    fpu : yes
    fpu_exception : yes
    cpuid level : 10
    wp : yes
    flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe lm pni monitor ds_cpl tm2 est
    bogomips : 4771.02

    processor : 1
    vendor_id : GenuineIntel
    cpu family : 6
    model : 15
    model name : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU 3060 @ 2.40GHz
    stepping : 6
    cpu MHz : 2394.049
    cache size : 64 KB
    fdiv_bug : no
    hlt_bug : no
    f00f_bug : no
    coma_bug : no
    fpu : yes
    fpu_exception : yes
    cpuid level : 10
    wp : yes
    flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe lm pni monitor ds_cpl tm2 est
    bogomips : 4784.12

    # lspci
    00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation E7230/3000/3010 Memory Controller Hub (rev c0)
    00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation E7230/3000/3010 PCI Express Root Port (rev c0)
    00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 01)
    00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GR/GH/GHM (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 5 (rev 01)
    00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GR/GH/GHM (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 6 (rev 01)
    00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller (rev 01)
    00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller (rev 01)
    00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller (rev 01)
    00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller (rev 01)
    00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 01)
    00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev e1)
    00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GB/GR (ICH7 Family) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 01)
    00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) IDE Controller (rev 01)
    00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801GR/GH (ICH7 Family) SATA AHCI Controller (rev 01)
    00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 01)
    09:00.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6702PXH PCI Express-to-PCI Bridge A (rev 09)
    09:00.1 PIC: Intel Corporation 6700/6702PXH I/OxAPIC Interrupt Controller A (rev 09)
    0d:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82573E Gigabit Ethernet Controller (Copper) (rev 03)
    0e:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82573L Gigabit Ethernet Controller
    0f:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc ES1000 (rev 02)

    # dmidecode 2.9
    SMBIOS 2.51 present.

    BIOS Information
    Vendor: Phoenix Technologies LTD
    Version: 6.00
    Release Date: 08/25/2007

    System Information
    Manufacturer: Supermicro
    Product Name: PDSMi
    Version: 0123456789
    Serial Number: 0123456789
    Wake-up Type: Power Switch
    SKU Number: Not Specified
    Family: Not Specified

    Handle 0x0002, DMI type 2, 8 bytes
    Base Board Information
    Manufacturer: Supermicro
    Product Name: PDSMi+
    Version: PCB Version
    Serial Number: 0123456789

    # biosdecode 2.9
    ACPI 1.0 present.
    OEM Identifier: PTLTD
    RSD Table 32-bit Address: 0xDFEE25A4
    SMBIOS 2.51 present.
    Structure Table Length: 1016 bytes
    Structure Table Address: 0xDFEEA000
    Number Of Structures: 31
    Maximum Structure Size: 86 bytes
    BIOS32 Service Directory present.
    Revision: 0
    Calling Interface Address: 0x000FD470
    PNP BIOS 1.0 present.
    Event Notification: Not Supported
    Real Mode 16-bit Code Address: F000:B16F
    Real Mode 16-bit Data Address: 0040:0000
    16-bit Protected Mode Code Address: 0x000FB18D
    16-bit Protected Mode Data Address: 0x00000400

    ./sdparm -alv /dev/sda
    >> mapping /dev/sda to /dev/sg0 (in lk 2.4 series)
    /dev/sda: ATA ST3250310NS SN04
    Direct access device specific parameters: WP=0 DPOFUA=0
    Read write error recovery [rw] [0x1] mode page [PS=0]:

  6. Yeah we got it going….

    # cat /proc/cpuinfo
    processor : 0
    vendor_id : GenuineIntel
    cpu family : 6
    model : 15
    model name : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU 3050 @ 2.13GHz
    stepping : 2
    cpu MHz : 2128.129
    cache size : 2048 KB
    physical id : 0
    siblings : 2
    core id : 0
    cpu cores : 2
    fdiv_bug : no
    hlt_bug : no
    f00f_bug : no
    coma_bug : no
    fpu : yes
    fpu_exception : yes
    cpuid level : 10
    wp : yes
    flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe nx lm constant_tsc pni monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 cx16 xtpr lahf_lm
    bogomips : 4259.34

    processor : 1
    vendor_id : GenuineIntel
    cpu family : 6
    model : 15
    model name : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU 3050 @ 2.13GHz
    stepping : 2
    cpu MHz : 2128.129
    cache size : 2048 KB
    physical id : 0
    siblings : 2
    core id : 1
    cpu cores : 2
    fdiv_bug : no
    hlt_bug : no
    f00f_bug : no
    coma_bug : no
    fpu : yes
    fpu_exception : yes
    cpuid level : 10
    wp : yes
    flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe nx lm constant_tsc pni monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 cx16 xtpr lahf_lm
    bogomips : 4256.31

    # lspci
    00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation E7230 Memory Controller Hub (rev c0)
    00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation E7230 PCI Express Root Port (rev c0)
    00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 01)
    00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GR/GH/GHM (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 5 (rev 01)
    00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GR/GH/GHM (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 6 (rev 01)
    00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #1 (rev 01)
    00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #2 (rev 01)
    00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #3 (rev 01)
    00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #4 (rev 01)
    00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 01)
    00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev e1)
    00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GB/GR (ICH7 Family) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 01)
    00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) IDE Controller (rev 01)
    00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 01)
    09:00.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6702PXH PCI Express-to-PCI Bridge A (rev 09)
    09:00.1 PIC: Intel Corporation 6700/6702PXH I/OxAPIC Interrupt Controller A (rev 09)
    0a:01.0 RAID bus controller: 3ware Inc 7xxx/8xxx-series PATA/SATA-RAID (rev 01)
    0d:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82573E Gigabit Ethernet Controller (Copper) (rev 03)
    0e:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82573L Gigabit Ethernet Controller
    0f:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc ES1000 (rev 02)

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