Riverbed CX-770 $30BO

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Mithril

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Sep 13, 2019
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Alright, instead of adding another fan, I decided to model and 3d print an air duct. Here's the file should anyone want to try. The attached model is a revision of the one in the photos. This takes the shunt resistor (I think) into account. Print using a 0.4mm nozzle at 0.2mm layer height. I recommend PETG since that heatsink will get hot enough to melt PLA.

It's currently idling at 43c so that's a win in my book. The fan is a little quieter now as well.

[...]

Doing $diety_of_choice's work right there.
 

mrseth1

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Apr 19, 2016
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Alright, instead of adding another fan, I decided to model and 3d print an air duct. Here's the file should anyone want to try. The attached model is a revision of the one in the photos. This takes the shunt resistor (I think) into account and additional vent holes for better airflow. Print using a 0.4mm nozzle at 0.2mm layer height. I recommend PETG since that heatsink will get hot enough to melt PLA.

It's currently idling at 43c (old version) 36c - 39c (new version) in an office that's at 26.7c (80F) ambient temperature. The fan is a little quieter now as well.

EDIT: Updated STL file with a new version with additional ventilation for better airflow.

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Awesome job! I'm gonna have to dust off my 3D printer for this one. Genius!
 
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mrseth1

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Apr 19, 2016
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Thank you. Looks like this is working like a charm.
For some reason the putty and pfsense install is till broken and just dont get a redirect to the install page. Still using the serial image from pfsense. Very strange.
Could it be the USB drive? Sometimes my usb boot drives get funky from laying too many images on them. Maybe try re-downloading the image, checking the checksum, and applying to a new drive. I've been using USB port 2 on the front.

Also, one time I had an issue where the checksums were failing on my image downloads, no matter how many times I download the images. The images would fail to boot properly. Turns out I had a bad stick of RAM, that was corrupting things in memory. Everything started working again, once I swapped out the bad RAM. Just a thought.
 

NachoCDN

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Apr 18, 2016
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has anyone had issues using PC3L-10600R memory in the CX-770 or CX-570? (i received a CX-570 instead of a CX-770). i can't get it to post and it was my impression that one could use PC3L in a PC3 slot but not the opposite.
 
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NachoCDN

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Apr 18, 2016
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in reference to an earlier post, the CX-570 and CX-770 not only support regular PC3 Non-ECC memory, but seem to support mixing ECC and Non-ECC memory.
 
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Kamilion

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Jul 21, 2022
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Sorry, I should have included @Kamilion in my comment (or used the “reply” feature ha!) - I meant to reply to their comment from earlier in this thread.
Yeah, sorry, I included a github link while editing the post and the forum must have flagged me for it. Probably looka-lika-bot.

We've not put our stock up yet; I've been busy trying to mask the logo off the lid. Unlike the rest of the ebay sellers, we're a direct downstream from $vendor. Our units will be physically debranded as best as possible. Also, seems I was wrong about iKVM, I must have been thinking of a different $vendor model variant. Clear this one doesn't have remote video. (Not that it matters for OpenWRT.)

I think the only logo left intact would be the IPMI header. If someone points me at some BMC image editing tools, I can take a stab at returning that to the AMI megarac logo.

the penultimate Question of my post went unanswered though; what parts do you guys wanna see shipped? Power supply's a given at this point, but the open question is storage and preinstalled OS. I *have* a working ubuntu 22.04 install; *(see screenshot) but no sane way to distribute it.

Most of it came down to installing onto storage from a different system with video output, and doing a few console tweaks.

Edit: /etc/default/grub
Bash:
GRUB_DEFAULT=0
#GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=hidden
GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=menu
#GRUB_TIMEOUT=0
GRUB_TIMEOUT=10
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
#GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="console=ttyS0,115200 console=tty0"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""

# Uncomment to disable graphical terminal (grub-pc only)
#GRUB_TERMINAL=console
GRUB_TERMINAL=serial
GRUB_SERIAL_COMMAND="serial --unit=0 --speed=115200"
and

Bash:
update-grub
systemctl enable serial-getty@ttyS0.service
gets you a working Console port login.

for me, since I wanted a working lubuntu/lxqt remote desktop over ssh;

Bash:
systemctl disable sddm.service
apt install x2goserver
and the x2go client on win/mac. No android/ios tho, sadly. (no xorg server builds...?)

I'm just as happy to image OpenWrt on any SKU with storage.
 

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NachoCDN

Active Member
Apr 18, 2016
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Yeah, sorry, I included a github link while editing the post and the forum must have flagged me for it. Probably looka-lika-bot.

We've not put our stock up yet; I've been busy trying to mask the logo off the lid. Unlike the rest of the ebay sellers, we're a direct downstream from $vendor. Our units will be physically debranded as best as possible. Also, seems I was wrong about iKVM, I must have been thinking of a different $vendor model variant. Clear this one doesn't have remote video. (Not that it matters for OpenWRT.)

I think the only logo left intact would be the IPMI header. If someone points me at some BMC image editing tools, I can take a stab at returning that to the AMI megarac logo.

the penultimate Question of my post went unanswered though; what parts do you guys wanna see shipped? Power supply's a given at this point, but the open question is storage and preinstalled OS. I *have* a working ubuntu 22.04 install; *(see screenshot) but no sane way to distribute it.

Most of it came down to installing onto storage from a different system with video output, and doing a few console tweaks.

Edit: /etc/default/grub
Bash:
GRUB_DEFAULT=0
#GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=hidden
GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=menu
#GRUB_TIMEOUT=0
GRUB_TIMEOUT=10
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
#GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="console=ttyS0,115200 console=tty0"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""

# Uncomment to disable graphical terminal (grub-pc only)
#GRUB_TERMINAL=console
GRUB_TERMINAL=serial
GRUB_SERIAL_COMMAND="serial --unit=0 --speed=115200"
and

Bash:
update-grub
systemctl enable serial-getty@ttyS0.service
gets you a working Console port login.

for me, since I wanted a working lubuntu/lxqt remote desktop over ssh;

Bash:
systemctl disable sddm.service
apt install x2goserver
and the x2go client on win/mac. No android/ios tho, sadly. (no xorg server builds...?)

I'm just as happy to image OpenWrt on any SKU with storage.
have you tested 1.35V PC3L memory in the device? so far i only have tested 1.5V for compatibility.
 
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Kamilion

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Jul 21, 2022
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have you tested 1.35V PC3L memory in the device? so far i only have tested 1.5V for compatibility.
Nope. The units we get in have $vendor's sticker on there. We razor off the section of sticker with their logo, typically.
2GB, 4GB, and 8GB ECC sticks are the only things I've seen. I believe they come from ATP.
As far as I've seen, no instances of PC3L in these series of units, only PC3 with ECC. Which leads me to believe the hardware/firmware *does* enable ECC if detected. Other models from $vendor are *very* picky about dimms. I'll have to take a closer look to see if we've been mixing PC3L modules anywhere. That might be one of the culprits with some of the E3s I've been messing with...?

Edit: I've noticed we seem to have mixed stock of 770s, 570s and 255s. All the dimms I've looked at are marked similarly, however.
I'll have to account for the difference in processors, SR1J0, SR1J3, and I've not popped the heatsink off the 255 to get the stepcode off yet.

SR1J0 (Xeon E3-1125C v2)
SR1J3 (Intel Pentium B925C)
SR0NX (Celeron 725C) with one memory channel (two dimms) unpopulated


So, uh, I was working on one of the 770s and tripped over a cable. Smashed the console port in... Had to go grab another.
Before that, I had xen and KVM tested on a unit populated with 32GB, running my usual openwrt VM setup with a pair of openvswitch bridges defined on the host as br0 and xenbr0, buncha service VMs (sentry under docker-compose inside a VM, gitlab, a few others I had dumps of laying around on the fileserver, just to put some idle memory load on it) and it was working without complaint. Fans spooled up a bit when i hit the endpoints, but it's not like I tried to throw some transcoder loads on it. Probably want something like that fan shroud if you wanted to try.

So yeah -- the port housings are *fragile* to inward force. Keep that in mind with how you mount stuff around them and tie down strain relief straps.
Guess I'll be hanging on to that one as my test mule. Dreading having to pull out the soldering iron, I'll probably just do the evil thing and scholastic a USB to UART in the gaping hole, after trimming the rest of the RJ45 jack's remains off the board with ye olde knipex. Be a shame to waste an 1125C V2. Maybe I'll stick one of the Unexpected Maker TinyS3 ESP32-S3 boards in there and ill-advisedly give wifi access to the serial console.

<Chief_Quimby>
Let that be a lesson to the rest of you, nuts.
</Chief_Quimby>
 
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Kamilion

New Member
Jul 21, 2022
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Ah crap, i just found the rules thread in the other trade forum... Guess that means I shouldn't actually be 'advertising', and thus I shan't post any ebay links. Either way, as a hardware nerd, I'll stick with documenting the quirks I find... I guess all the rules allow me to do is tell what platforms I can debrand... which would be supermicro x8-x11/h8 series, pizzabox dells and a bunch of these little advantech embedded boxes. I can only thank STH for years of lurk-assistance with stuff like LSI SAS crossflashing, network boot menus with ipxe, and bios flash freedos images, which has honestly been such a chore beforehand. What was once a sea of vendor-specific tools and arrays of USB sticks is now mostly free software and just a IPXE script away.
 
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Samir

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Ah crap, i just found the rules thread in the other trade forum... Guess that means I shouldn't actually be 'advertising', and thus I shan't post any ebay links. Either way, as a hardware nerd, I'll stick with documenting the quirks I find... I guess all the rules allow me to do is tell what platforms I can debrand... which would be supermicro x8-x11/h8 series, pizzabox dells and a bunch of these little advantech embedded boxes. I can only thank STH for years of lurk-assistance with stuff like LSI SAS crossflashing, network boot menus with ipxe, and bios flash freedos images, which has honestly been such a chore beforehand. What was once a sea of vendor-specific tools and arrays of USB sticks is now mostly free software and just a IPXE script away.
Msg Patrick because there are some other members who are companies as well and there's a way to work with STH from what I gather. :)
 
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Kamilion

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Jul 21, 2022
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Msg Patrick because there are some other members who are companies as well and this a way to work with STH from what I gather. :)
Yeah, I'll definitely do that after I get some free time next week. I can only assume my moderated post was approved cause I was a one-post nooblet. Also, since I've kinda made this thread blow up; maybe someone wants to post about their build in another thread and I'll crosspost the technical parts I've contributed without the job-tint, so they don't get buried. I ended up here from an organic search result trying to figure out how best to tweak the defaults anyway, and that 3D printed duct looks sweet. Makes me wish we had one for value-adds of just that sort.
 
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NachoCDN

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Apr 18, 2016
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I updated the post. After 8 hours, the CPU temp is about 44C and that will probably be the more realistic number after the system has had enough time to warm up.
just curious.. did the CPU temps stay around 44C during more extended term usage?
 
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foureight84

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Jun 26, 2018
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just curious.. did the CPU temps stay around 44C during more extended term usage?
It fluctuates between 44c to 48c. I am running pfSense stock with no add-ons and power settings set to hiadaptive. My office stays at about 77-80F ambient. It does seem to help slightly but not significantly. It used to idle at 50 to 52c without the fan shroud and the fan is a bit louder.
 
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foureight84

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Jun 26, 2018
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just curious.. did the CPU temps stay around 44C during more extended term usage?
I've switched over to using OPNsense instead of pfSense. This is mostly because they're more up-to-date with unbound. Not sure if it's due to stock configuration on pfSense or if the implementation isn't optimized but it's sluggish compared to OPNsense. Anyway, here's actual usage temps with the fan shroud:

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