Dual Xeon-D

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craig5571

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May 31, 2020
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@craig5571 Sata drive did not work in that slot for me, however NVME does work. Strangely, the bios did not detect the drive but linux picked it up. Did you boot into an linux installer to see if it is picked up?
no I did not, I will try that and get back to you.. Thanks for the help
 

Navy_BOFH

Active Member
Aug 2, 2013
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Well my board finally came in - I bought one of the "defective" ones due to CMOS battery carriers being loose - which is a VERY easy fix by the looks of it...

Until I noticed my board has one of the M.2 connectors completely torn off the board which was NOT part of the item description.

He said "as-is" - but that is beyond described damage. So time to return it. Shame because I was looking forward to getting one of these boards going for a mini-lab.
 
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Fritz

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Apr 6, 2015
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Well my board finally came in - I bought one of the "defective" ones due to CMOS battery carriers being loose - which is a VERY easy fix by the looks of it...

Until I noticed my board has one of the M.2 connectors completely torn off the board which was NOT part of the item description.

He said "as-is" - but that is beyond described damage. So time to return it. Shame because I was looking forward to getting one of these boards going for a mini-lab.
That sucks. Hope he accepts it back without issues.
 

Navy_BOFH

Active Member
Aug 2, 2013
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That sucks. Hope he accepts it back without issues.
Well I received a refund - no return shipping info. Guess he’s calling those boards a loss.
I cannot solder something as fine pitch as the M.2 connector - I wonder if I can find someone that can and have them rework the board for cheap.
 
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fake-name

Active Member
Feb 28, 2017
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Well I received a refund - no return shipping info. Guess he’s calling those boards a loss.
I cannot solder something as fine pitch as the M.2 connector - I wonder if I can find someone that can and have them rework the board for cheap.
That depends heavily on whether the part tore the pads off the PCB or not.

If the pads are all still there, it's a pretty easy fix. If they're gone, it's still fixable, but you need someone who REALLY knows what they're doing with a soldering iron, and it still may not really be worth it.
 

Navy_BOFH

Active Member
Aug 2, 2013
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That depends heavily on whether the part tore the pads off the PCB or not.

If the pads are all still there, it's a pretty easy fix. If they're gone, it's still fixable, but you need someone who REALLY knows what they're doing with a soldering iron, and it still may not really be worth it.
Pads look to be all there - and surprisingly still shiny. Looks like it was a poor soldering job from the factory if it pulled off that cleanly! Only piece remaining is a piece of the mounting for the M.2 connector that usually anchors/grounds it to the board.
 

bob_dvb

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Sep 7, 2018
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Okay, now I am stuck and worried...

I've put in 16GB of Samsung PC4 2400T 2Rx8 from a retailer, and I've also put in 4 sticks of same, but its still showing POST code 3, which I originally took to be a RAM missing error before I got the RAM? But even with RAM its still showing that error. I have tried the top and bottom slots and all the slots populated, still error 3 (no count or other numbers, straight to 3).

I have tried clearing the CMOS and removing the CMOS battery as well, same "3". I have also tried the reset button and power on button, nothing. The USB console cable is empty the whole time. There is no visible damage to the motherboard and it's plugged to a 600W Bronze PSU with no power splitters, dedicated PCI power to each chip. The SFP+ ports are lit on the whole time and the fans don't run. Power light on the FP is also on and SBPwr LED is on in the middle of the board.

I can't see single digit post codes in any manual but ASRock generally said Dr Debug codes and single digits usually means RAM issue.

@zjr8 did you see anything like this?

Edit: Interesting, I took out the small chip in BU9 (fpga?) and then I got no numbers, no 3, nothing. Could this be the same flash corruption?
 
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craig5571

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May 31, 2020
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no I did not, I will try that and get back to you.. Thanks for the help
ok,
i got the hard drives installed in the m.2 ports and i can console in via the usb to serial.. but how do i get linux variant installed ..

i tried making sense of the above but its greek to me..

is there a linux distro somewhere. that is already preconfigured to send output to the serial port?
thanks alot my linuxfu is a bit weak..

the end goal is to try and install vmware on the box. but i get the message secure uefi boot isnt enabled exiting... any idea how to turn that on, i went through the bios and it didn't jump out at me...

definitely alot of learning going on here... and im loving that.
 

bob_dvb

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Sep 7, 2018
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ok,
i got the hard drives installed in the m.2 ports and i can console in via the usb to serial.. but how do i get linux variant installed ..

i tried making sense of the above but its greek to me..

is there a linux distro somewhere. that is already preconfigured to send output to the serial port?
thanks alot my linuxfu is a bit weak..

the end goal is to try and install vmware on the box. but i get the message secure uefi boot isnt enabled exiting... any idea how to turn that on, i went through the bios and it didn't jump out at me...

definitely alot of learning going on here... and im loving that.
The main thing you need to do is to set the boot loader on the boot drive to enable the console.
 

craig5571

Member
May 31, 2020
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The main thing you need to do is to set the boot loader on the boot drive to enable the console.
is it possible to enable uefi secure boot on this board? i have tried and tried what i thought it might be... and i keep getting the same error that says it is not enabled, this is when i am attempting to install vmware 6.5 or vmware 7.0.
 

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zjr8

New Member
Jun 3, 2020
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3
Edit: Interesting, I took out the small chip in BU9 (fpga?) and then I got no numbers, no 3, nothing. Could this be the same flash corruption?
On mine with the dead/corrupted flash I got SPF port lights but nothing more if memory is correct - no cpu fan spin etc... been a long week though so I might be remembering wrong. I did have a chance to re-attach the CMOS battery which didnt resolve my node B USB UART issue... however I didnt think to try it w/ my linux laptop where it works w/ screen without any issues vs Windows + Putty which either throws a device descriptor error or cant configure serial port error when windows actually does install a driver.... so thanks for that weird issue windows .....

If you have a usb flash programmer / socket I can send you my dump or I can program one and mail it off in an Antistatic Plastic IC Tube.... I didnt really trust myself to not mess up so I ordered a few extras lol

Edit: @bob_dvd - I just noticed you said PCI power - is that a typo? I dont think you can physically fit an 8PIN PCI power connector into a 12V eps cpu connector without force / possible damge... If its not a typo someone else want to chime in but im 99.99% sure that will let some magic smoke out somewhere

EPS Connector spec / pinout - https://www.molex.com/pdm_docs/sd/039012080_sd.pdf
PCI Connector Spec / pinoit - https://www.molex.com/pdm_docs/sd/455870002_sd.pdf

Better image from Stackoverflow
Spsgx.png
 
Last edited:

tp1

Member
Feb 5, 2016
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@craig5571 while booting edit the grub boot line to add this: console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200

It should show the boot output on the serial console



ok,
i got the hard drives installed in the m.2 ports and i can console in via the usb to serial.. but how do i get linux variant installed ..

i tried making sense of the above but its greek to me..

is there a linux distro somewhere. that is already preconfigured to send output to the serial port?
thanks alot my linuxfu is a bit weak..

the end goal is to try and install vmware on the box. but i get the message secure uefi boot isnt enabled exiting... any idea how to turn that on, i went through the bios and it didn't jump out at me...

definitely alot of learning going on here... and im loving that.
 

zjr8

New Member
Jun 3, 2020
23
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3
Cousin It's Me Lets Go Bowling.PNG

If anyone gambles on the X7P-MB that I linked earlier that looks like this board cousin - BIOS password is also AK4MA1 like these boards
 
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fake-name

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Feb 28, 2017
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Edit: Interesting, I took out the small chip in BU9 (fpga?) and then I got no numbers, no 3, nothing. Could this be the same flash corruption?
Not likely.

From other people's comments, it seems like the FPGA is responsible for starting the CPUs, so if it doesn't have firmware the actual Xeon's are probably never coming out of reset. As I understand it, the bios self-test facilities are what then drive the LED, so if the CPU is never starting, you won't get anything.
 

bob_dvb

Active Member
Sep 7, 2018
214
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Not quite London
www.orbit.me.uk
On mine with the dead/corrupted flash I got SPF port lights but nothing more if memory is correct - no cpu fan spin etc... been a long week though so I might be remembering wrong. I did have a chance to re-attach the CMOS battery which didnt resolve my node B USB UART issue... however I didnt think to try it w/ my linux laptop where it works w/ screen without any issues vs Windows + Putty which either throws a device descriptor error or cant configure serial port error when windows actually does install a driver.... so thanks for that weird issue windows .....

If you have a usb flash programmer / socket I can send you my dump or I can program one and mail it off in an Antistatic Plastic IC Tube.... I didnt really trust myself to not mess up so I ordered a few extras lol

Edit: @bob_dvd - I just noticed you said PCI power - is that a typo? I dont think you can physically fit an 8PIN PCI power connector into a 12V eps cpu connector without force / possible damge... If its not a typo someone else want to chime in but im 99.99% sure that will let some magic smoke out somewhere

EPS Connector spec / pinout - https://www.molex.com/pdm_docs/sd/039012080_sd.pdf
PCI Connector Spec / pinoit - https://www.molex.com/pdm_docs/sd/455870002_sd.pdf

Better image from Stackoverflow
View attachment 14820
No signs of smoke and no force required, but I will check the power pins.

I would like a fresh flash, I am in London so probably quicker for me to get a programmer and order a couple of NORs myself. If you could supply the image then I will buy a TL866 programmer, because this is an excuse to get another toy!

Bob
 

bob_dvb

Active Member
Sep 7, 2018
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Not quite London
www.orbit.me.uk
is it possible to enable uefi secure boot on this board? i have tried and tried what i thought it might be... and i keep getting the same error that says it is not enabled, this is when i am attempting to install vmware 6.5 or vmware 7.0.
You should be able to set the boot options in the Bios, the password is in the thread. But others have said they should be set to UEFI.
 

tp1

Member
Feb 5, 2016
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bob_dvb

Active Member
Sep 7, 2018
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Not quite London
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Okay, @zjr8 you were right about power connectors. A thousand curses on Pci and Atx for using the same connector in reverse. But I think my PSU must have short circuit protection because it isn't broken as far as I can tell.

When I disconnected the second reversed power connector I now get a boot and Bios from the node which has proper ATX12V. I got into the Bios and weirdly the RAM is recognised as 2133MHz despite it being Samsung 2400MHz.

I made a Pci 6pin to ATX12V 8pin adapter by splicing some cables around but weirdly the machine pluses on and off several times before booting. And I did not yet see the Bios on the second node but the diag gets to AA similar to the other node which gets to AB.
I don't know if the PSU is sagging but that shouldn't be the case as the Pci rating should be as high as the CPU TDP? But as a precaution I may order a ATX12V splitter.
 

zjr8

New Member
Jun 3, 2020
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The Dr Debug code list says AA is handed off to ACPI and may not actually be an error state but I can go watch mine boot in a little bit just celebrating Canada day at the moment.
 
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