Cheap Intel Dual E5-2620 system

Notice: Page may contain affiliate links for which we may earn a small commission through services like Amazon Affiliates or Skimlinks.
W

wildpig1234

Well-Known Member
Aug 22, 2016
2,242
491
83
49
gregsachs said:
Already flashed with 2.0.006, from intel. Need to update with the 2.0.0.e06. I fully expect this to work with v2, but it may be a while until I test that unless someone sends me a couple! As far as I can tell, this is a normal s2600gl/gz system one straight from intel.
Click to expand...
Here's a cheap v2 cpu you can get for $20 that's officially on the s2600 cpu compatibility list:

Intel CM8063501375902 SR1AY Xeon E5-2603 v2 1.8GHz 10MB L3 Cache LGA 2011 CPU | eBay

You should get one to have one for testing anyway..

Here's the S2600 cpu compatibility list:

Processor Compatibility for Intel® Server Board S2600CP Family and...

I would not try anything outside that list since it might or might not work. I can say for definite 2696 v2 doesn't work with s2600 MB. so based on that experience as well as the fact intel limiting the pcie to 2.0 for non v2 cpu for no real good reason, definitely only use cpu on that list to test compatibility.
 
Dawg10

Dawg10

Associate
Dec 24, 2016
220
114
43
My S2600GL arrived today. I prepared a new USB stick with 02.06.006 firmware, inserted it and a brand new Dell mouse & keyboard and pressed go... and... boot loop. No POST, nothing but the blue Intel splash screen with beeps every 10 seconds and restarting every 90 seconds. Well shit.

Checked the jumpers, swapped out the memory, reseated the power supplies, switched the USB devices. Nothing. Downloaded the tech service manual to interpret the system status LED and LED diagnostic codes: POST is hanging at "DXE USB Enable". Strange. The mouse, keyboard and stick are all virgin. Very strange.

Went back to the server and pulled the 3 USB devices during the boot loop and the sucker advanced to the RAID setup page... Going to be tough to upgrade without a keyboard or mem stick.

It's late; will look at it tomorrow.
 
G

gregsachs

Active Member
Aug 14, 2018
563
193
43
wildpig1234 said:
Here's a cheap v2 cpu you can get for $20 that's officially on the s2600 cpu compatibility list:

Intel CM8063501375902 SR1AY Xeon E5-2603 v2 1.8GHz 10MB L3 Cache LGA 2011 CPU | eBay

You should get one to have one for testing anyway..

Here's the S2600 cpu compatibility list:

Processor Compatibility for Intel® Server Board S2600CP Family and...

I would not try anything outside that list since it might or might not work. I can say for definite 2696 v2 doesn't work with s2600 MB. so based on that experience as well as the fact intel limiting the pcie to 2.0 for non v2 cpu for no real good reason, definitely only use cpu on that list to test compatibility.
Click to expand...
Down the road, I think.
I got the BMC reset(syscfg), finally, and flashed the latest intel/lsi firmware to enable jbod mode on the built in raid. About to install h-v 2012 r2, finally, give it a few days to burn in, then migrate my other storage and machines over.
 
G

gregsachs

Active Member
Aug 14, 2018
563
193
43
Dawg10 said:
My S2600GL arrived today. I prepared a new USB stick with 02.06.006 firmware, inserted it and a brand new Dell mouse & keyboard and pressed go... and... boot loop. No POST, nothing but the blue Intel splash screen with beeps every 10 seconds and restarting every 90 seconds. Well shit.

Checked the jumpers, swapped out the memory, reseated the power supplies, switched the USB devices. Nothing. Downloaded the tech service manual to interpret the system status LED and LED diagnostic codes: POST is hanging at "DXE USB Enable". Strange. The mouse, keyboard and stick are all virgin. Very strange.

Went back to the server and pulled the 3 USB devices during the boot loop and the sucker advanced to the RAID setup page... Going to be tough to upgrade without a keyboard or mem stick.

It's late; will look at it tomorrow.
Click to expand...
Do a bios password clear via the jumper, may have usb disabled.
Given my experience, I'd start by reset bios password, then reset bmc settings via the sysconfig util.
Once that is done, do the updates.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Dawg10
Dawg10

Dawg10

Associate
Dec 24, 2016
220
114
43
I’ll do that, thanks. Thing is, the vendor has pictures of the system setup screens in the listing...
 
Last edited:
Dawg10

Dawg10

Associate
Dec 24, 2016
220
114
43
My problems are USB related but I seem to have worked around them; the system setup indicates there's 2 keyboards and a mouse installed when there's only a keyboard. I was able to update all firmwares after adding one USB device at a time, having it recognized by setup, save, rebooting and adding the next USB device. Did this for keyboard, mouse and mem stick. Even after the update and reboot, setup shows inaccurate USB info, but it doesn't seem to impact any process.

I installed 128GB memory, a MCX353A-FCBT HCA, 2x 500GB SSDs in raid 1 as Disk Group 0 and 4x 1T SAS drives in raid 5 as Disk Group 1, loaded and configured ESXi 6.5, linked to vCenter, configured iscsi storage to access .iso's and ran up a Ubuntu 18.04 VM utilizing both disk groups. Running without a hitch. Fast too; much more responsive than the 420 or any of the 320's. But it's not working too hard either, and the MCX is recognized but not connected.

Still waiting on a carrier for a 128GB SSD to replace the DVD drive and a couple more 2.5" hd's to fill out the system until high-density SSDs come down in price.

The console cable for the ICX6610 also arrived; time to run with the big dawgs...
 
W

wildpig1234

Well-Known Member
Aug 22, 2016
2,242
491
83
49
msg7086 said:
Could that be virtual keyboard and mouse? like, from virtual KVM?
Click to expand...
that's what it is.... the virtual keyboard and mouse also prevent proper sleep implementation. You have to uncheck allow device to wake computer up for all usb keyboard and mouse under device manager for sleep to work properly. then you can only wake it up by pressing the power button since the keyboard and mouse are disabled from waking computer up
 
  • Like
Reactions: Dawg10
G

gregsachs

Active Member
Aug 14, 2018
563
193
43
K

kiteboarder

Active Member
May 10, 2016
101
48
28
45
My offer of 150 was declined a few weeks ago.

The raid card is nice, but the listing doesn't specifically clarify if it's 3.5 or 2.5 drives. Also sucks that only one picture is shown. The seller really doesn't care on this one... Looks like take it or leave it.

And just FYI, the CPUs are nearly worthless at this point.
 
arglebargle

arglebargle

H̸̖̅ȩ̸̐l̷̦͋l̴̰̈ỏ̶̱ ̸̢͋W̵͖̌ò̴͚r̴͇̀l̵̼͗d̷͕̈
Jul 15, 2018
657
245
43
gregsachs said:
Ah, but this gives you an entry to E5 V1 and v2 processors.
Click to expand...
The power efficiency gains alone will pay off the difference between an Exxxx processor and an E5 in a handful of months at the most. Sandy/Ivy Bridge was a huge performance/watt leap.
 
W

wildpig1234

Well-Known Member
Aug 22, 2016
2,242
491
83
49
arglebargle said:
The power efficiency gains alone will pay off the difference between an Exxxx processor and an E5 in a handful of months at the most. Sandy/Ivy Bridge was a huge performance/watt leap.
Click to expand...
not to mention the ability to go faster with e5 v2 cpus. and quad channel ddr3. 2011 v2 platform is still very competitive if you can get the cpu and ddr3 at good price.

It's too bad that you are capped at 2696/7 v2....:(
 
G

gregsachs

Active Member
Aug 14, 2018
563
193
43
EMC Avamar gen4s looks like another relabel of this same generation intel box, in a 2u 12x3.5" format. I can't be sure it isn't an earlier, V1 only capable motherboard though. On the intel version the power button goes on the rack ear, on the EMC it is folding and sits in front of the right most bays.
EMC Avamar ADS Gen 4S M1200-Storage Node 32GB 2x E5-2603 1.8ghz - 2x Power 750W | eBay
At least one person on reddit says these are s2600GL motherboards
Intel S2600 - Internal SATA SSD? : HomeServer
That would be better, as it is the 24 dimm version, vs the 16 dimm version of the motherboard.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom