I don't see the Mellanox supporting it either, if this is the one: http://www.mellanox.com/page/products_dyn?product_family=63
Just Bought a Norco RPC 4220 have a couple of questions
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The Intel X540-T1/-T2 doesn't have them either. I wound up modifying the X540-T1 (new connector on back lower right, near bracket):
And creating a custom interposer cable for the Supermicro chassis which extends the NIC 1 activity LED to the card:
The Supermicro case assumes you are using a Supermicro motherboard, so it doesn't split the motherboard connector out into different sets of pins. If it did, then I would have just needed an extension cable and not a whole interposer cable.
Thanks I am not too worried about Nic lights, if I ever update past my mellanox then I can use these lights...The Intel X540-T1/-T2 doesn't have them either. I wound up modifying the X540-T1 (new connector on back lower right, near bracket):
And creating a custom interposer cable for the Supermicro chassis which extends the NIC 1 activity LED to the card:
The Supermicro case assumes you are using a Supermicro motherboard, so it doesn't split the motherboard connector out into different sets of pins. If it did, then I would have just needed an extension cable and not a whole interposer cable.
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You could use these with lepa which has enough Molex i even doubled up just to be sure , or another PSU with a few of these -
Nippon Labs SATA to Molex Power Adapter SATA-FM SATA 15 Pin male to Molex 4 pin female adaptor for SATA I and SATA II Hard Drive Model SATA-FM
Nippon Labs SATA to Molex Power Adapter SATA-FM SATA 15 Pin male to Molex 4 pin female adaptor for SATA I and SATA II Hard Drive Model SATA-FM-Newegg.com
I have a Norco 4224, with about 13 drives installed in it. A couple of points I want to make:
If you swap the fans out, you really, really have to watch the static air pressure. While quieter fans may free flow the same or have similar CFM specs, pulling air through those tiny slots once you are nearly full with drives will be a problem for those fans with lower static pressure. There is a reason the servers are equipped with louder deltas.
Norco SAS/SATA backplanes can be unreliable in certain circumstances. When you get your server, loosen each of the backplane thumb screws and reseat the each board by hand, then re-tighten them before installing your drives. In my specific case, I have a single backplane that will cause the server to not boot at all if any drive is connected to any port on it.
WD Green drives constantly throw SATA interface errors when connected via the Norco backplanes. I've had these longer than the Norco case, and they are fine, direct connections don't have issues. It doesn't matter which slot they are in. I have read that some people don't have problems with them, but I've had much better experiences with higher tier (NAS grade) drives.
Edit: In my setup, I discovered the slots were numbered right to left. Made it a PITA to find a particular disk when I was troubleshooting.
4321
8765
etc.
Overall I'm happy with the case, but it does have it's quirks.
Good luck.
If you swap the fans out, you really, really have to watch the static air pressure. While quieter fans may free flow the same or have similar CFM specs, pulling air through those tiny slots once you are nearly full with drives will be a problem for those fans with lower static pressure. There is a reason the servers are equipped with louder deltas.
Norco SAS/SATA backplanes can be unreliable in certain circumstances. When you get your server, loosen each of the backplane thumb screws and reseat the each board by hand, then re-tighten them before installing your drives. In my specific case, I have a single backplane that will cause the server to not boot at all if any drive is connected to any port on it.
WD Green drives constantly throw SATA interface errors when connected via the Norco backplanes. I've had these longer than the Norco case, and they are fine, direct connections don't have issues. It doesn't matter which slot they are in. I have read that some people don't have problems with them, but I've had much better experiences with higher tier (NAS grade) drives.
Edit: In my setup, I discovered the slots were numbered right to left. Made it a PITA to find a particular disk when I was troubleshooting.
4321
8765
etc.
Overall I'm happy with the case, but it does have it's quirks.
Good luck.
Last edited:
So one of my backplane lights has burned out, The HD in the slot is online and healthy so the actual backplane is working just the light is failed. Now I could swap with the bottom row backplane (not being used) for now. I searched the Nortek site and Ebay for a backplane and come up dry. Anyone know where to get a New or Used one? any idea on cost too?
Thanks AJ
Thanks AJ
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Last I knew Norco had them on their website. But good luck getting ahold of them. I have (4) RPC-2212's that I bought new and got Norco to replace a single a plane then they stopped responding to email and voicemails. They are a pathetically crappy company with horrible product support. I have since got wise and switched all my gear to Supermicro.
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I heard some rumblings about them while i was researching and building. Well I guess the hunt is on..... Anyone else have any ideas on a place to find a backplane?
Don't they all still use the same backplane? My old 1204's, 2208's and 2212's all basically had the same ones, just more of them.
Assuming that's still the case, wouldn't the 4220 and 4224 share the same backplanes? Unless they recently changed their design.
4224 RPC-4224 SAS or SATA to MINI-SAS storage enclosure backplane BP-001
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Assuming that's still the case, wouldn't the 4220 and 4224 share the same backplanes? Unless they recently changed their design.
4224 RPC-4224 SAS or SATA to MINI-SAS storage enclosure backplane BP-001
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If you've never emailed them you will probably get a response. I did initially and when I asked about a second backplane that failed, they refused to respond. I then wrote from a different email address and they again responded right away. I brought up my old issue and received no further communication.
I am now confident that they have the internal policy of "If you ignore the issue, it goes away". I'm sure that's great for profit but leads to the mountains of negative reviews for their lack of support.
I wish you the best of luck
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I am now confident that they have the internal policy of "If you ignore the issue, it goes away". I'm sure that's great for profit but leads to the mountains of negative reviews for their lack of support.
I wish you the best of luck
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Sorry to hear that but it's what I expected. Their support is some of the worst I have ever seen.No email just like Cyberskull pointed out - going day 4
Does any know if the 4220 and 4224 share the same backplanes?
Thanks AJ
If you never end up hearing from them, I'll sell ya some backplanes (assuming they fit) out of my units that are sitting here collecting dust. I have the backplanes from 1U RPC-1204's and 2U RPC-2212's. Since the chassis aren't worth anything on the used market I just as well strip them parts like backplanes and drive sleds and scrap the rest of the chassis. Sad since they still have the plastic on them
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Hi cyber I bought my Norco used and did some tweaking, mid 120 fan wall with noctura fans on the wall and rear. it's actually really quite. There are a couple of things that I wished for the activity lights really don't flicker like other videos I've seen when there getting access, not sure if it's just unraid OS, maybe I'll flip the LED wires and also take out the bottom backplane and swap it out with the one with the light out. Then I can get a measurement to see if your backplane will work?
Aj
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Aj
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You referring to the activity light on the actual drive sled or the HDD activity light beside the power button/LED?
I only ask cause I have 6 unRAID Pro servers in Supermicro 846 chassis. So I know the HDD activity light beside the power LED won't blink to my knowledge as that's looking for activity on the motherboard SATA ports. But the drive sled LED should be blinking for activity. When I was trying to build new servers in my Norco 2212 chassis (before I switched to SM) the LED's on the drive sled's lit up. Constant blue for power and the green would flicker for activity.
Now on my SM chassis Red is the HDD failure so glad I never see those! And blue is for activity so when accessing a disk the blue LED does in fact blink. It's actually more of a constant than it is blinking. So unless your a backplanes are wired differently, as in a old model, that doesn't blink, they defiantly should.
**edit: frikin iPhone autocorrect!**
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You referring to the activity light on the actual drive sled or the HDD activity light beside the power button/LED? On the Drive Sled - I see Green and Blue and it looks like Green is brighter on all sleds and the Blue is probably activity... They just dont flash like I have seen on videos on the Net with other people.
I only ask cause I have 6 unRAID Pro servers in Supermicro 846 chassis. So I know the HDD activity light beside the power LED won't blink to my knowledge as that's looking for activity on the motherboard SATA ports. But the drive sled LED should be blinking for activity. When I was trying to build new servers in my Norco 2212 chassis (before I switched to SM) the LED's on the drive sled's lit up. Constant blue for power and the green would flicker for activity.
Now on my SM chassis Red is the HDD failure so glad I never see those! And blue is for activity so when accessing a disk the blue LED does in fact blink. It's actually more of a constant than it is blinking. So unless your a backplanes are wired differently, as in a old model, that doesn't blink, they defiantly should.
**edit: frikin iPhone autocorrect!**
So I switched out the backplane and i am back in business on the light situation - I left out the one backplane (with the 1 light out) to take pictures I cannot see anything unusual with it. see the pix and let me know if you have any backplanes like mine?
PS: after confirming the lights and Unraid booted fine, I shucked a 5tb external and replaced my oldest drive - Gotta love Unraid I am at 44tb total
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Length and width are the same but mine have taller capacitors on them. Probably just a newer revision. They are 6GB MonSAS-001 (Ver 1.2).
I'll have to pull one out of my 1204's and see if they are the older style.
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I'll have to pull one out of my 1204's and see if they are the older style.
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