Returning used ebay H11SSL-C +EPYC 7551P + 128GB ram combo, going to post experience here

[bjdea1]

Hi,

I'm new here, I joined because I noticed the ebay seller (tugm4470) I bought a motherboard combo (H11SSL-C + EPYC 7551P + 128G RAM) from is active here and hope he will refund this defective motherboard. This will be another chance for him to show he's a good ebay seller. Obviously if it doesn't go well everyone will know that also. But this is the second time now I have purchased used Supermicro boards (from different sellers) on ebay and both have been defective - just to clarify only one from tugm4470 was defective - the other defective board was from an Australian ebay seller.

The low price always tempts me and I've resolved myself now to never buy used Supermicro boards again. The time it wastes and the hassle of returning is something I don't really want to keep repeating. I did recently buy a 100% new Supermicro board + ram and CPU on Amazon and from local suppliers here in Australia - NO ISSUES - everything worked beautifully and all top notch. Compare that to my buying experience on used ebay items and it has been the complete opposite - twice now - from an Australian ebay seller and from a chinese ebay seller - defective parts. Before buying I asked both sellers the same question. Do you test the used parts before you send them out? Both times they reply with a reassuring "yes", but it's obvious that whatever testing they do, if there is any - its inadequate.

My verdict - don't waste your time buying used ebay server parts. So far every time I have tried its been a FAIL, defective items.

Regarding this recent purchase on ebay from tugm4470 I will say that all the memory sticks were good - so 8x16GB samsung memory sticks were all good, just the motherboard had a dead dimm and something else was wrong with it. I tried re-seating the CPU a few times but I could never get the dead dimm to work. I also found that when I tried to install any linux operating system that it was extremely slow (8+ hours) and it always ended in a failed install. After recently using the same install media on the brand new H12SSL-i I just bought - that all installed lightning fast without any issues. So it became obvious to me that the motherboard has some issue - or maybe the CPU itself. Anyway I'm just sick of wasting days on testing and fiddling, I just want to return it now and get a refund and move on.

Just hoping tug4470 comes through with refund and all ends well.

 

[SnJ9MX]

"Extremely slow" is a symptom. What was the cause? How do you know the memory sticks were good? Did you run memtest? I'd say it's quite rare for a bad motherboard to cause slowdowns.

 

[bjdea1]

The main issue I was concerned about was that the H1 dimm even though populated was never recognised. I purchased 128GB as part of the combo and when looking at the bios it only ever stated 112GB and digging through the bios further I noted it stated that the H1 dimm was not populated. So my first concern was whether the motherboard was the cause (or CPU) or whether the memory stick itself was the cause.

I was hoping it was just a memory stick that was bad, I would have been ok with that as I could just buy another memory stick. So I swapped the memory sticks around to see if that caused the location of the unpopulated dimm to change. Even when swapping the memory sticks around - to different slots the same error occurred, it was always the H1 dimm slot that was unpopulated.

So the memory sticks were good, just the H1 slot was bad. I read that the CPU can sometimes cause memory slots to appear to not work, because it's not seated correct, or the screws (EPYC CPU) are not tight enough or too tight. So I unscrewed the CPU slot and took a look at the CPU and the pins. I could not see anything wrong with either the CPU or the slot, all looked good. So I re-seated the CPU and tightened the screws with a torque wrench set to 14-lbs/in - as recommended. I got the same error, the H1 dimm was still not populated. I then loosened the CPU screws a little to see if that would help - same - still got H1 dimm error. No matter what I did the H1 dimm was not working.

So I was then thinking - ok maybe I can accept this still with just a single memory slot not working, I could maybe live with 112GB - although I wasn't happy as it could mean the motherboard has more issues. So I then tried installing Ubuntu server 22.04 using the same usb I just used in another new system I just purchased - on which it installed fine. It was extremely slow running the ubuntu install (hours). I stopped the install and tried again and this time left it running from about 6pm to about 6am. When I checked on it in the morning it was still installing - more had completed overnight and about 7am it showed a install failed message.

I also had an ssd preinstalled with centos 7, so I put that in the server and started that up. It took forever to boot, in fact it never finished booting, I waited like 30 minutes just for it to boot and ended up just turning it off. It seems to me there is some IO issue on the board, maybe the sata ports?

Anyway I don't want to spend the week testing this motherboard, got other things I need to do. The memory slot is clearly faulty - the cause is unknown, but I the memory sticks seem good. It's disappointing but I understand these things happen. tugm4470 has a good reputation so I'm hoping he will come through on this one and do the right thing.

 

[bjdea1]

I can update that tugm4470 has approved the ebay return - so that's a good sign. Thank you tugm4470 for responding quickly to my ebay return request, much appreciated. Now just waiting for him to supply me with a return postage label.

 

[bjdea1]

Ok I got an automated email from ebay saying my return is ready to post, it had a link which went to an ebay page that basically had his return address on it. Address is all Chinese characters, can't make heads or tails of it, would prefer tugm4470 to confirm address (in english) before I post if possible.

Been hard to get him to respond in person on ebay, he must be busy. So far all correspondence with him has been by automated ebay emails, like "your return request has been approved" and "Return ready to post". He must just be clicking buttons in his ebay account.

Anyway I just want him to confirm postage address, don't want to send it to wrong place in China. I put the address into chatgpt and it says it's missing street name and number but that in China sometimes that's common. If I enter the address into google maps, it only says partial match and gives me a big area. I haven't been able to find the actual address in China yet. If I google the address I get nothing of any use.

I'd just like him to confirm the address and give me an english version of his address if possible. I've never sent a parcel to China before from Australia and I'd prefer to write English and Chinese on the package, also chatgpt and google translate give different translations of the address he supplied.

Anyway I'll wait for him to respond, just giving a log here of what's happening for other peoples benefit - if others find themselves in similar situation.

 

[bjdea1]

Ok turns out I was correct to wait and not post it yet, the address supplied by automated email from ebay was indeed missing details. Anyway doesn't matter as Tugm4470 just supplied FedEx postal labels for me - which was good (well maybe). So I have created a new account for myself on FedEx website and figured out how to schedule a FedEx pickup, just a little shocked by the shipping price of FedEx (Australia to China). I noticed on the ebay listing that the buyer is responsible for return shipping cost (in tiny letters). I will update the final price once I find out, but looking to be more than AUD$100+ to ship back to China, in fact closer to AUD$200. But I'm not 100% certain of final shipping price yet. I'm certain tugm4470 did not pay that much to ship it out to me, he used speedpak.

Anyway there's the first lesson for everyone else when returning defective goods to China, you have no idea what the return shipping cost will be, in my case it's ridiculous. You're also given a deadline to send the item back so there's a little pressure to get it done and to use better quality shipping.

He does not want me to use a different shipping carrier (he thinks it will get damaged) and sending the item back via a different (cheaper) carrier would mean I need to fill out more forms, and maybe there is greater risk of something going wrong (you just can't know these things in advance). While it's something I could do, I'm feeling like I'll just pay the expensive shipping and get this all over with, I have other things going on in my life atm.

This is what happens in these situations, unless you have time to fight every little bit of the process, you end up making compromises and it ends up costing more than you first conceived.

Lesson I have learnt - don't buy used server parts from China. Stick to NEW components and forget Ebay, use Amazon or local suppliers, Amazon returns are much easier and there's no added cost.

tugm4470 has been very good in communicating - so far he's been responding well to my questions about the whole process - but there's certainly a fair amount of time & cost involved in returning an Ebay item to China. Been bit of a learning curve for me.

 

[bjdea1]

FedEx guy just picked up package. Tugm4470 provided 2 x A6 postage labels (with Fedex barcodes etc) and an A4 sized commercial invoice (for customs I assume?). I just sticky taped both A6 labels on the front (fully covered with wide clear sticky tape) and sticky taped the A4 commercial invoice on the back also fully covered with clear tape. The FedEx guy seemed ok with it all. This is the first time I have been through this process, just writing it down so others will know what to expect.

 

[bjdea1]

Ok parcel arrived at destination (China) and tugm4470 has initiated a refund. Once funds arrive in my account I will update that all is good.

 

[bjdea1]

Refund came through and all has ended well. I can state here that tugm4470 acted honestly and fairly and honoured his obligations as an Ebay seller. While I found the process a little tricky - since it's the first time returning a product to a Chinese ebay seller - in fairness it was handled very well by tugm4470. So anyone else here who wants to purchase used server components from tugm4470 - he is ethical and does everything fairly and correctly. Personally I won't be purchasing used server components over ebay again (had to return items too many times) but if you do decide to take a risk - tugm4470 can certainly be trusted and relied upon to accept returned items, process refunds quickly and communicate well during the process.

Thank you tugm4470 for processing my refund quickly and helping with it all.