Gigabyte R180-F34 1U Server (2011-3) $94-109 + Shipping

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ptcfast2

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Feb 1, 2021
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Well at least the sleds are very generic and I think there's a bunch of servers that share the same basic design. So picking up some shouldn't be too hard.

Seller relisted the servers here: Gigabyte R180-F34 1U V3/V4 Server w/ MD90-FS0 Sys Bd/No CPU/No Mem/No HDD | eBay

They have 50 left. Shipping increased by $5, but they are $10 cheaper before Best Offer. More than likely they will take $60 per server as they took $70 per on the last lot.
 
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eptesicus

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Jun 25, 2017
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Well at least the sleds are very generic and I think there's a bunch of servers that share the same basic design. So picking up some shouldn't be too hard.

Seller relisted the servers here: Gigabyte R180-F34 1U V3/V4 Server w/ MD90-FS0 Sys Bd/No CPU/No Mem/No HDD | eBay

They have 50 left. Shipping increased by $5, but they are $10 cheaper before Best Offer. More than likely they will take $60 per server as they took $70 per on the last lot.
Shipping is $34.99. Wasn't it $29.99 on the last listing?
 

ptcfast2

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Feb 1, 2021
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Shipping is $34.99. Wasn't it $29.99 on the last listing?
Yeah they added $5 to shipping, but decreased the total base price by $10. So if you Best Offer @ $60, it would be $5 cheaper now. Which, if you needed to locate drive sleds, still not as great a deal as before, but also still a solid deal for sure.
 

Zalouma

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Aug 5, 2020
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Luckily it's just a hidden setting option that can be shown. Gigabyte hid a bunch of stuff in this BIOS, as well as not really putting much thought into the general layout.

Ideally I was thinking of just applying the microcode updates (we're missing a few) and getting some of the settings back in the BIOS that can be quite helpful for those facing issues with board stability. That and fixing some of the horrible grammar and spelling...

Only downside is you would need to force the flash via a bootable USB drive as you won't be able to flash via the BMC due to signing issues. I technically don't need it for my usage (microcode would be good to have though) but if there's enough interest I can dig out my AMI tools and actually author a proper R16_STH BIOS revision. :p
That would be awesome if you have the time to do it, I wanted to do this for very longtime and never had the time. I ordered an EPPROM with special clip from china 16 dip to 8 sop as my EPPROM is only 8 sop for an attempt to try to do a similiar thing and never had the time or received this yet.. I know it has a jtag on the board but also had no time to play with it. i know this would be a time sink for me but if you are able to do it, would love to try out as well.. I just ordered more of these and I can try on it
 

eptesicus

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Jun 25, 2017
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There is a long threads about the Quanta server
https://forums.servethehome.com/ind...ta-d51b-1u-lga2011-3-server-best-offer.25949/

I checked my purchase record of the Quanta server 1u , 12 SFF ( 10 x 2.5") , dual 10gbe , LSI card

Sep 27, 2019
QuantaGrid Server D51B-1U, Barebone System, No CPU, No RAM, No HDD with dual AC

Quantity 2
Subtotal $170.00
Shipping Free
Total $170.00
8% ebay bucks
If there were good deals on the SFF D51B-1U, I'd be all over that over the Gigabyte. Those GB servers should be delivered tomorrow, so I'll finally get a look at them. Still waiting on CPUs, boot disks, NVMe cache drives, etc before I can really get to play.
 

kfriis

Member
Apr 8, 2015
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I am getting a BMC error.

After waiting for while on the "Wait for BMC Initialize" screen, after several minutes I get "ERROR: BMC failed to initialize!!"

After this, the chipset initializes and the system POSTs (and can boot). However, the BMC appears to be non-functional. Basically, it turns into a regular consumer board with no management.

Running v3 CPUs and just one 32GB stick of DDR4 in slot A0 to keep things simple. Nothing else.

Has anyone seen something like this or have any suggestions? Thanks!
 

kfriis

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Apr 8, 2015
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......

For the SATADOM concern someone listed here, another work around, I am using a PCI that takes NVMe and M.2, and just using this sata port (there is 2 sata port "red one" next to PCI slot, Port 4/Port 5) and it normally get the power from PCI, something like this one will work Amazon.com: Dual M.2 PCIE Adapter for SATA or PCIE NVMe SSD with Advanced Heat Sink Solution,M.2 SSD NVME (m Key) and SATA (b Key) 22110 2280 2260 2242 2230to PCI-e 3.0 x 4 Host Controller Expansion Card: Computers & Accessories or even skip this all together and add something like OWC ssd PCI and the board itself provide power through PCI to the extra SATA Drive, I have seen some of these by Starcom that can carry 2 M.2 and 1 NVMe in 1 single card PCIe M.2 SSD (NGFF) Adapter Card | SATA Cards | StarTech.com, so if you combined the 4 caddies + the 3 starcom and 1 OWC you are ending up with 6 SSD and 2 NVMe working drives, there is also ASUS and Supermicro version of these that support RAID you will just need to do some search for it, I can help with model number as i own the supermicro ones if anyone need it

.....
@Zalouma - I have the exact Dual M.2 PCIE Adapter for SATA and NVMe you have linked above. Have you tried it or a similar adapter with just an NVMe drive (not SATA)? I have and the server/BIOS does not seem to recognize the NVMe drive. Is there some BIOS setting that needs to be changed? Wonder if this type of M.2 adapter only works with bifurcation, which I don't think this motherboard support.
 

Default User?

New Member
Sep 5, 2020
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@Zalouma - I have the exact Dual M.2 PCIE Adapter for SATA and NVMe you have linked above. Have you tried it or a similar adapter with just an NVMe drive (not SATA)? I have and the server/BIOS does not seem to recognize the NVMe drive. Is there some BIOS setting that needs to be changed? Wonder if this type of M.2 adapter only works with bifurcation, which I don't think this motherboard support.
I used the same exact M.2 PCIE with proxmox and was able to see both the Sata and the NVME drive with default bios configurations.
I later switched to nutanix and move the devices to another machine because CEPH was bad.
Eitherway, the m.2 adapter should be working in your machine, unless it is faulty. remember the sata ssd will not work without the sata cable being attached.
 

kfriis

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Apr 8, 2015
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Thanks Default. Good to know that it works for someone else.

I only have one NVMe drive in the adapter so I am not using SATA or cable. The same adapter with the same NVMe drive works in another server (both with Windows Server 2019 and ESXi 7.0).

Could you specifically tell me where you "see" the NVMe drive? In the BIOS (where)? Only after boot to proxmox? For reference, I am currently on Windows Server 2019.
 

Default User?

New Member
Sep 5, 2020
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Thanks Default. Good to know that it works for someone else.

I only have one NVMe drive in the adapter so I am not using SATA or cable. The same adapter with the same NVMe drive works in another server (both with Windows Server 2019 and ESXi 7.0).

Could you specifically tell me where you "see" the NVMe drive? In the BIOS (where)? Only after boot to proxmox? For reference, I am currently on Windows Server 2019.
I didnt see it in bios only in proxmox itself.
check with diskpart if you can see the disk listed or clean it.
 

AviationLogic

New Member
Feb 23, 2021
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Well at least the sleds are very generic and I think there's a bunch of servers that share the same basic design. So picking up some shouldn't be too hard.

Seller relisted the servers here: Gigabyte R180-F34 1U V3/V4 Server w/ MD90-FS0 Sys Bd/No CPU/No Mem/No HDD | eBay

They have 50 left. Shipping increased by $5, but they are $10 cheaper before Best Offer. More than likely they will take $60 per server as they took $70 per on the last lot.
I've convinced my boss to get a few of these for work, do you have any leads on drive sleds that would work?
 

ptcfast2

Member
Feb 1, 2021
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I've convinced my boss to get a few of these for work, do you have any leads on drive sleds that would work?
I think there's a bunch of server cases that share the same generic design, so the same drive sleds should in theory fit between them all. Don't hold me to that though - I'll post a picture of the sleds tomorrow if someone does not beat me to it and hopefully we can work together to track down some that fit.

Also, for those interested, I'll post a new BIOS with microcode updates soon. I'm going to at least start small here, and see if there's anything we might want. I think the microcode updates are the most important thing for now, then can tackle giving back PCI Express settings like bifuriciation and other things that can tweak board stability. I only have so much time in a day is all, and microcode is the easiest bit to do. :p
 

eptesicus

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Jun 25, 2017
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I think there's a bunch of server cases that share the same generic design, so the same drive sleds should in theory fit between them all. Don't hold me to that though - I'll post a picture of the sleds tomorrow if someone does not beat me to it and hopefully we can work together to track down some that fit.

Also, for those interested, I'll post a new BIOS with microcode updates soon. I'm going to at least start small here, and see if there's anything we might want. I think the microcode updates are the most important thing for now, then can tackle giving back PCI Express settings like bifuriciation and other things that can tweak board stability. I only have so much time in a day is all, and microcode is the easiest bit to do. :p
That's awesome!

Until then, what's the safest firmware to update these to? I just got my servers this morning, and am battling with resetting the BMC password now.

Also, people... If you get ones that come with the drive sleds, they have mounting holes for 2.5" drives too... Don't make the mistake that I did and order 2.5" to 3.5" adapters... No need, so long as your SSDs have bottom mount screw holes.

Also, one of mine came with bent CPU pins. I bent them back and am testing now to see if it's adequate. Otherwise, I'll have to RMA it.
 

ptcfast2

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Feb 1, 2021
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Until then, what's the safest firmware to update these to? I just got my servers this morning, and am battling with resetting the BMC password now.
I wrote a few posts back, you can just use the latest firmware. Update via the BMC - do the BMC firmware first, then the BIOS file via the BMC. The BMC won't let you flash the wrong thing and it worked perfectly 3 out of 3 times so far.

Also, one of mine came with bent CPU pins. I bent them back and am testing now to see if it's adequate. Otherwise, I'll have to RMA it.
Sorry to hear that! Must be a fluke. :(

I am actually going to use the 4th server I have coming in tomorrow as the +1 in my N+1 design for vSAN. I was going to run slimmer, but realized if I want to actually sleep at night, instead of using it for management stuff, just outfit it like the others and have it join the party. I managed to snag 2(!) NetOptics xBalancers that I can use for the backend network for only $100. It's all coming together after lots of finagling with parts and being economical. Designing something like this is quite the exhausting experience when you don't have the budget of a corporation.
 
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eptesicus

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I wrote a few posts back, you can just use the latest firmware.
Awesome, thanks. I'm also assuming the Gigabyte firmware, and not the Penguin, yeah?

Sorry to hear that! Must be a fluke. :(
=
I am actually going to use the 4th server I have coming in tomorrow as the +1 in my N+1 design for vSAN. I was going to run slimmer, but realized if I want to actually sleep at night, instead of using it for management stuff, just outfit it like the others and have it join the party. I managed to snag 2(!) NetOptics xBalancers that I can use for the backend network for only $100. It's all coming together!
Nice! That's my plan too is for the 4th node to be a sacrifice for vSAN. You'll have to reply with a picture when it's all put together.
 

AviationLogic

New Member
Feb 23, 2021
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I think there's a bunch of server cases that share the same generic design, so the same drive sleds should in theory fit between them all. Don't hold me to that though - I'll post a picture of the sleds tomorrow if someone does not beat me to it and hopefully we can work together to track down some that fit.

Also, for those interested, I'll post a new BIOS with microcode updates soon. I'm going to at least start small here, and see if there's anything we might want. I think the microcode updates are the most important thing for now, then can tackle giving back PCI Express settings like bifuriciation and other things that can tweak board stability. I only have so much time in a day is all, and microcode is the easiest bit to do. :p
I ordered one for myself a week or so ago when the seller had drive sleds. So i'll also have some physical models to go off, but would love to get an early start.
 

Firebug24k

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Apr 12, 2017
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Also, for those interested, I'll post a new BIOS with microcode updates soon. I'm going to at least start small here, and see if there's anything we might want. I think the microcode updates are the most important thing for now, then can tackle giving back PCI Express settings like bifuriciation and other things that can tweak board stability. I only have so much time in a day is all, and microcode is the easiest bit to do. :p
If you get bifurcation working that would be fantastic!!