Intel S2600C0 Issues

[ptyork]

So I'm actually on my second of these LGA2011 boards from eBay. Both have issues. The original seems to work OK with 1 CPU, but doesn't post with CPU 2 installed. So I have 1/2 CPU's and 1/2 PCIe slots working. Woo hoo. Seller sent a replacement board which arrived today, and it won't post at all with even a single CPU. I get a 1-5-1-2 beep code, which is "VR watchdog timer sensor assertion" (VR controller DC power on sequence was not completed in time). What the what?

Any idea whether I'm just unlucky and 0-for-2, or whether there's something I should be checking.

Or whether I'm doing something stupid. Even the working one has been finicky. I'm wondering if I'm chasing after something I shouldn't be. I'm trying to use one of these for a home lab / NAS in a cheap Rosewill 4U chassis. I'm using a standard ATX power supply (I've tried multiple from EVGA and Corsair). Is an Intel Server mobo outside of an Intel chassis and without Intel PSU's just a bad idea?

 

[ptyork]

I THINK I was able to do a BIOS reset. Now I'm getting a 1-5-4-4 beep code which apparently is a "Power Control Fault" (Power unit sensors report soft power control failure offset). I love Intel-glish...

 

[pricklypunter]

Try booting with both CPU power plugs connected, even with just a single CPU installed, also make sure nothing is touching the board that shouldn't be, like edge of chassis, rogue standoff etc

 

[RageBone]

i have had the experience that some Boards, those intels included sometimes dislike specific Powersupplies.
Can you check with another one?

 

[ptyork]

Thanks for the advice, y'all. I've tried it with 2 separate 8-pin CPU plugs from a Corsair RM 750. I've tried it with an EVGA 600 B1 (with just a single CPU connected). And, I've tried it with an EVGA GT 650 (with an 8-pin splitter). The latter is the one that is "working" on the 1/2 functional board.

I'm not even sure what PSU's to go to at this point. I think at least 2 of those are "good" ones.

As for rogue items, I've got it sitting on a piece of cardboard on the little rubber feet (that will have to be removed to fit in the case). I've tried to blow off the entire thing. The only things I think are touching the board are 1 Xeon E5-2650 v2 in slot 1, 1 known good stick of Samsung PC3L-12800R (in the blue A1 slot), and the 3 power connectors (ATX + 2x CPU). Do you think I could be missing a connection that it "wants" in order to boot properly?

 

[RageBone]

i had two of those boards in the beginning of my dabbling with Server stuff, if i didn't missgoogle the name of the board, i hate intel for their naming on their boards.

I remember mine beeping a "power good assertion Failure" code indicating an issue with the PSUs and my testing has shown that it can even be an individual dislike against one single PSU. Some cheap crap PSUs worked, some didn't some good ones didn't some good ones did.
Overall, all PSUs that i considered as good and that are working with other systems.

As far as i remember, i didn't need to populate both EPS for it to work once i found a compatible PSU.
So i doubtyou are missing a connection or something like that.
With modular PSUs, a reseating / plugging of the cables is a good idea, i recently had issues on my RM650i that i fixed by re-plugging the PSU side.

On the other hand, your mention of quote: "VR watchdog timer sensor assertion(VR controller DC power on sequence was not completed in time)",
makes me suspect that that board might be physically and possibly electrically damaged.

Have you given them then a visual inspection for transport damage, missing or bent pins, scratches, ripped off parts and burnmarks?

your test-bench setup seems rather good to me, sadly ruling out the easy issue with standoffs.

 

[ptyork]

Thanks again. I spent a long while examining the pins. Found one very bent one on socket 1 and got excited. Broke out the xacto and my super magnifying iPhone app and went to work. Got it straight. Sadly no change. Straightened a couple other slightly out of wack pins. No go. No obviously bad looking caps. No burn marks. Couple of missing pins I THINK on CPU 2, but I don't think that'd cause this. But then, who knows?

And there's so much on the board that is basically impossible to diagnose for a novice like me. A ton of SMT resistors on the bottom...who knows if one of them got popped off? I'd never know. These good quality caps...I don't even think a failure in one of them is visible. Dunno.

Regardless, I've tried everything I can think of. May just cut my losses and spend a bit more for something less than 8 years old. Maybe Skylake or first gen Epyc? Need to research all that. Uugh...