256GB on Supermicro A2SDi-H-TF

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Nugget

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Jul 13, 2017
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I'm hoping to stuff 256GB (4x64GB) onto a Supermicro A2SDi-H-TF (it's a FreeNAS Mini XL+) but I'm not having much Luck. This is a supported config according to the manual, but Supermicro doesn't supply any certified part numbers for this config (or even a 128gb config of 32gb sticks).

I bought some sticks on Amazon that I thought would work, but with them installed in the box the machine hangs on POST with "PEI--Intel MRC Execution... 60". I did find this thread which was similar (but a different code). Based on that, though, I have let the frozen POST screen sit for 12 hours with no effect, so I don't think it's just the timeout mentioned there.

Any guidance or advice would be greatly appreciated. Worst case I'll just do 128GB, but I'd really love to max this thing out.
 
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T_Minus

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Feb 15, 2015
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Is that amazon RAM you acquired known working in another system?
 

PigLover

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Check compatibility of the DIMMS you are using. IIRC, for 64GB DIMMS in that board you have to use "Load Reduced RDIMMS", aka LRDIMMS.
 

Evan

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Jan 6, 2016
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Oh I read it the the other way that you can’t use LR dimms in the C3000 series systems. That the memory controller was not setup for that. Have to dig deep but may also find there is a limit to the number or ranks supported, most 64gb are 4Rx4 but for sure not all.

Just as a reference 128gb config with 4 x 32gb works.
Samsung 32gb 2Rx4 PC4-2400T M393A4K40CB1-CRC4Q

I never thought anybody would go to 256gb as they would run out of CPU for for your application I see why.
 

Nugget

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Interesting, that does seem definitive. Going by the "MEM-DR464L-SL01-ER24" part number, that should be what I bought (according to Supermicro), but looking at the actual sticks they sent they're labelled as 2Rx4. So I didn't get what I ordered. I guess now I just need to find a source for 4Rx4 sticks. Thanks so much, @Evan! I learned a thing today!
 

Evan

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Jan 6, 2016
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And I think that needs to be 4Rx4 regular RDIMM... not sure how common what your looking for.
2Rx4 RDIMM if what you mostly use in cascade lake systems.

I got stuck with some 16GB ddr4 rdimm 1Rx4 which is an odd config... that seems to only work in the full Xeon systems also.

Intel do some odd things with supported memory for sure and things that don’t make sense but it’s just what is made or coded to support.
 

Evan

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Not much use saying it supports 256gb ram and then not having tested and certified any dimms for it. Bit poor from SM, you probably are a real edge case though , I think most will be happy and have never looked past 128gb for those CPU’s.
 
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EffrafaxOfWug

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Feb 12, 2015
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I've just had the same hang at boot ("PEI--Intel MRC Execution... 60") after upgrading a A2SDi-8C+-HLN4F to BIOS 1.2 - a system that was previously working for over a year.

The system contains two bog-standard 4GB sticks of Crucial ECC RDIMMs (Kit no. CT2K4G4RFS8266, P/N 9ASF51272PZ-2G6B1) which have been working fine up until now. I'm not convinced it's memory yet but rolling back the BIOS hasn't fixed it either so it looks like I'll be having to get in touch with their support...

Edit: rolling back to BIOS 1.1b, erasing the SMBIOS, cold boot and then warm reset and a veeeeeeery long POST finally got me in to a bootable state, so I'll hopefully be able to get some sleep tonight at least...
 
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geppi

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Jan 24, 2013
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@EffrafaxOfWug Did you receive any feedback from SM support ?

I'm running a A2SDi-H-TF with 128GB memory myself on BIOS 1.1c without problems.

The system is currently only the backup for my main server but roles will soon be swapped between the two.
Usually I bring the BIOS to the latest released level before I take a system into production and then never touch it again as long as there are no issues that would require a BIOS upgrade.

Therefore I would upgrade the BIOS from 1.1c to 1.2 before swapping roles but probably better avoid it if there is a major issue lurking in revision 1.2.
 

EffrafaxOfWug

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Not had time to get in touch with them yet, I didn't get to bed until past 2 ;)

Given SM's usual stance on BIOS upgrades ("don't do it unless you need to do it and we take no responsibility if doing it breaks it or not doing it doesn't fix it" and their lack of any sort of changelog unless there's a CVE involved) I'm not holding out a huge amount of hope; next time I get a change window I'll try upgrading the BIOS and making sure the SMBIOS is cleared as well (it defaults to being retained) but for now I'm avoiding the 1.2 series.
 

geppi

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Jan 24, 2013
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.... Given SM's usual stance on BIOS upgrades ("don't do it unless you need to do it and we take no responsibility if doing it breaks it or not doing it doesn't fix it" and their lack of any sort of changelog unless there's a CVE involved) ....
Unfortunately this is also my experience and seems to be their general support policy.
They generally do not publish the BIOS changelogs but it looks like you can get a particular when asking for it within the communication on a support case. At least I was successful in getting the BIOS changelog of a different MB from SM support some time ago.

@EffrafaxOfWug Should you decide to open a support case on the experienced issue would you mind asking for the BIOS changelog and post it here please ?
 

victorhooi

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Apr 18, 2018
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I also appear to have encountered this issue.

I had a SuperMicro A2SDi-8C+-HLN4F based system, running 1.1c of the BIOS.

Al was well.

Then I tried to upgrade to 1.2 and now it appears to constantly bootloop :(.

Does anybody know where I can download the 1.1c BIOS to try a downgrade?

I like SuperMicro in that they're cheap - but their BIOS quality seriously leaves something to be desired sometimes.
 

rogerquake

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Jan 13, 2021
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I was able to successfully get the A2SDi-H-TF to function with 256GB of RAM using these: MEM-DR464L-HL02-ER29 64GB

The catch is that the RAM caused the system to be unstable (completely freeze after being on for a few minutes) at the maximum supported speed by the motherboard: 2400 MT/s. However, once I adjusted the speeds down to 1866 MT/s in the BIOS, everything has been great!

I'm using this system for a ESXi home lab, so I really wanted to get the full RAM capacity working so I didn't have to buy a seperate system to fit all my VMs. I did upgrade to the latest BIOS, but this was after another set of RAM modules didn't work.
 
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rogerquake

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I thought everything was working as expected, however the system ended up freezing multiple times after different period of times with all 256GB of RAM. Once it took 2 weeks and the next only a few days. Looking like i'm going to end up buying another board and split the RAM across them, assuming the system seems stable with only 128GB in it.
 
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bob_sacamano

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Jun 14, 2018
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So the consensus seems to be no LRDIMM on A2SDi and likely atom c3000 in general?

I've tried two 32GB SK-Hynix HMA84GL7MMR4N-TF LRDIMMs but they get stuck at PEI--Intel MRC Execution 2F during POST.

Other RAMs that at least booted and passed memtest on my A2SDi-H-TF have been:
  • Kingston 16GB KSM29RS4/16MEI (RDIMM?)
  • SK-Hynix 32GB HMA84GR7AFR4N-UH (RDIMM)
  • SK-Hynix 16GB MTA18ASF2G72PZ-2G3B1QK (RDIMM?)
@rogerquake fwiw, the 64GB MEM-DR464MC-ER29 is listed as tested though I don't know what the difference is between the models.
 

goon369

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Nov 4, 2021
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Just to add a few data points if someone else comes across this thread.

the Amazon seller talked about in these posts sells garbage ram. I ordered 4x64gb stick and the IPMI was only able to see 1 stick as a legit part number(hynix). the other 3 were undefined(2) or a completely unknown part number(1). So buyer beware with NEMIX RAM.

Also, Is there a reason why no one on here has contacted Super Micro? I did(first tech sucked, second one was good), and they are able to reproduce the stability issues when running with 256GB of RAM(4x MTA36ASF8G72PZ-2G9B1 in my case).In my case all you had to do is boot memtest86 and let it run for ~12 or so seconds. the fixed was North Bridge -> Chipset Configuration -> command mode to 2N in BIOS.