Supermicro X9SCM-F-O - No boot, post, beeps????

[Ricoks]

Hello,
I am hoping someone here can help.
I just took delivery of my new server board (suggested wisely here, thank you) and I am not getting it to boot. This is not my first build, I have been building computers for the last 10 years...... (my first was a celeron 300a..... oh the days............ ).
I have tried multiple configurations, but I cannot get the board to post. I get no beeps, no video, nothing, except the fans turn on.

I bought the following for my config:
NEW - Supermicro X9SCM-F-O
NEW - E3-1230
NEW - 2x4GB PC3-10600 crucial ram (non-ecc, but unbuffered)
NEW - PC Power & Cooling Silencer 760 (says it's EPS, and it has an 8pin cord)
eBay - M1015
I plan on running ESXI 5 on a USB plugged in the internal USB port.

I have tried this in the case, out of the case (to ensure no short) and I get the same results. I have tried different ram, different PS, and different processors (tried a Pentium G630) all with the same - no post.
Whern the power supply is plugged in, I get the green power standby LED to light, and the IPMI LED is blinking. No other LED is lit. I can log into the IPMI (tho I haven't been able to mount a CD yet, not sure why).
1 ram stick, 2, 4, and it's all the same. If I try with no ram, i get the ram failure beeps. VGA jumper is set to on (came that way).
I am at my wits end.
I DL'd the newest firmware, but I'm unsure if that is for the IPMI, or the BIOS, so I haven't done anything with it.
Oh, and I also tried plugging in a 4pin case fan as well, just to make sure it wasn't looking for it for some reason.

When I am logged into IPMI, Remote Console shows blank only - nothing while it is powered on. IPMI does work to control the power state. I can turn the server off, or on remotely.

I tried resetting the RTC/CMOS, but that made no change.

I am hoping someone here has some insight for me. i don't want to have to RMA it. I dont' like waiting for things in the mail.......
I appreciate all the help and suggestions in advance.
Thanks

Ryan

 

[Patrick]

Ryan, you might want to try tech support. Have you tried pulling the battery and power and leaving it for a few minutes? Did you double-check that you do not have any bent CPU pins?

 

[WeaselBuddha]

Hello,
I am hoping someone here can help.
I just took delivery of my new server board (suggested wisely here, thank you) and I am not getting it to boot. This is not my first build, I have been building computers for the last 10 years...... (my first was a celeron 300a..... oh the days............ ).
I have tried multiple configurations, but I cannot get the board to post. I get no beeps, no video, nothing, except the fans turn on.

I bought the following for my config:
NEW - Supermicro X9SCM-F-O
NEW - E3-1230
NEW - 2x4GB PC3-10600 crucial ram (non-ecc, but unbuffered)
NEW - PC Power & Cooling Silencer 760 (says it's EPS, and it has an 8pin cord)
eBay - M1015
I plan on running ESXI 5 on a USB plugged in the internal USB port.

I have tried this in the case, out of the case (to ensure no short) and I get the same results. I have tried different ram, different PS, and different processors (tried a Pentium G630) all with the same - no post.
Whern the power supply is plugged in, I get the green power standby LED to light, and the IPMI LED is blinking. No other LED is lit. I can log into the IPMI (tho I haven't been able to mount a CD yet, not sure why).
1 ram stick, 2, 4, and it's all the same. If I try with no ram, i get the ram failure beeps. VGA jumper is set to on (came that way).
I am at my wits end.
I DL'd the newest firmware, but I'm unsure if that is for the IPMI, or the BIOS, so I haven't done anything with it.
Oh, and I also tried plugging in a 4pin case fan as well, just to make sure it wasn't looking for it for some reason.

When I am logged into IPMI, Remote Console shows blank only - nothing while it is powered on. IPMI does work to control the power state. I can turn the server off, or on remotely.

I tried resetting the RTC/CMOS, but that made no change.

I am hoping someone here has some insight for me. i don't want to have to RMA it. I dont' like waiting for things in the mail.......
I appreciate all the help and suggestions in advance.
Thanks

Ryan

I've had this happen four times to me on various SM boards, twice it was memory, once it was the wrong slot for a card. On another occasion it was a dead CMOS battery.

The SM's do a pre-check, so take a look at your memory, is it in the right slots? Is it on the compatible list? I would be surprised if this wasn't your problem. And I think ECC memory is required (C204 requirement?)

If all else fails, believe it or not you can call SuperMicro technical support and, most importantly, They Will Help You. Part of the beauty of going with SM.

 

[Ricoks]

I appreciate the help so far. I have checked the pins. from what I can see, there are none bent.
I haven't checked the CMOS battery. will try that.
As far as ram, I have non ECC, but I read that it will accept either ECC or non ECC, just has to be unbuffered. I have tried it in various configs, and have verified what the manual says for where to put the ram. I don't get ram beeps, unless I have none installed, then I get error beeps.

 

[mobilenvidia]

Use the Blue RAM slots first to populate with DIMMs
The CPU decides whether it's ECC capable no longer the chipset (CPU has memory controller)
My lga1156 XEON runs happily with non ECC Unbuffered RAM.

The CMOS battery even if flat should still boot, it just won't keep any settings
But try removing it and power cord as well, make a cup of tea/coffee and plug back in

 

[WeaselBuddha]

I appreciate the help so far. I have checked the pins. from what I can see, there are none bent.
I haven't checked the CMOS battery. will try that.
As far as ram, I have non ECC, but I read that it will accept either ECC or non ECC, just has to be unbuffered. I have tried it in various configs, and have verified what the manual says for where to put the ram. I don't get ram beeps, unless I have none installed, then I get error beeps.

Ya, it is a bit frustrating, if the board fails the pre-check it doesn't give you a beep code.

Everything I'm reading indicates ECC is required (MB Manual, Spec Sheet)

Any more clues?

 

[OBasel]

I do not think you need ECC with these chips. They are basically Intel Core i7 Sandy Bridge chips at heart.

 

[matt_garman]

Maybe I missed this, but have you tried with the m1015 removed?

True story: I have a X9SCL+-F motherboard. I got some more RAM a couple months ago. When I installed it, I had the exact same symptoms as you (fans on, but black screen). So I took the new RAM back out, but the problem persisted. Then I played the RAM shuffle game, trying one stick, two sticks, in each and every slot, etc. Still, no POST.

Finally, I pulled my m1015 card, and it worked! I put the m1015 back, no POST. I moved the m1015 to another slot, and it worked! So then I got it booting with all four sticks of RAM in place, and the m1015 in a different slot. Then I moved the m1015 back to it's original slot, and it still worked. Note that the final configuration is the exact same as the very first thing I tried!

The system has been 100% stable since. Apparently these boards are somewhat sensitive to perfect RAM and/or add-on card seating. I've been building computers for over 10 years as well, so I'd like to think I'm not completely clueless.

 

[Ricoks]

I am a little confused on the whole RAM issue as well. I called Supermicro, while I was driving the other day, and he told me his spec sheet says ecc ram. when i asked him how the board accepts i3 and pentium chips with ecc ram (those processors obviously don't support ecc ram). before he could answer, we got disconnected, and I ran out of time to call back and start the whole process over again to explain it.
I bought some ecc ram from microcenter here locally and if that doesn't fix it, I can always return it. I haven't had a chance to even try it yet, though, as my wife delivered our 3rd child and i have been a little occupied. hopefully this weekend I can get back to it and get it figured out.

With regards to the M1015, I haven't even taken it out of the packaging it arrived in yet. So this is with NOTHING plugged in but minimum requirements.
The last effort I was hoping to try if nothing else does is to plug in a video card and see if that is an issue.
I unfortunately would need to find a card that fits an x8 slot............
Also, I did read that the C204 chipset does NOT support i5 and i7 chips. only the e3, i3, and pentiums (not sure what those would be supported, but heh?!)
Ryan

thanks for the help so far. I really hope this gets figured out.

 

[survive]

Hi guys,

Take a look at this:

http://cache-www.intel.com/cd/00/00/46/78/467819_467819.pdf

It's the "Intel® Xeon® Processor E3-1200 Product Family Memory Configuration Guide"

Page 5 lays out what is & isn't supported.

-Will

 

[Ricoks]

Well, I got it to work. ECC was 'required' for it to boot. Not sure why the g630 wouldn't boot with non-ecc, but ........ *shrugs*
Thank you Survive, the link was helpful in verifying config requirements. I was really hoping to start off with some non-ecc that I had laying around, and upgrade in the near future, but that is obviously not an option.............!!
It does take awhile, tho, before any post beeps. if anyone else gets this board, know that there is like a 5-10 second wait before anything shows up. that can confuse as well.
now I just have to wait for my SAS cables to show up (it's been almost 2 wks coming from china) and figure out how I'm going to configure everything to get the best use for what i have vs need.
thanks for all the help up to now.
Ryan

 

[WeaselBuddha]

...

The SM's do a pre-check, so take a look at your memory, is it in the right slots? Is it on the compatible list? I would be surprised if this wasn't your problem. And I think ECC memory is required (C204 requirement?)

If all else fails, believe it or not you can call SuperMicro technical support and, most importantly, They Will Help You. Part of the beauty of going with SM.

Everything I'm reading indicates ECC is required (MB Manual, Spec Sheet)

Thanks for verifying what I suggested at first......

 

[matt_garman]

There's a good discussion about ECC with the C20x chipsets and non-Xeon CPUs over at Ars Technica. See the "ECC and Sandy Bridge" thread. It's not 100% certain, but my takeaway is that with a C20x chipset and an i3 or Pentium CPU, ECC is supported.

 

[Patrick]

It does take awhile, tho, before any post beeps. if anyone else gets this board, know that there is like a 5-10 second wait before anything shows up. that can confuse as well.

Ryan, the 5-10 second wait is actually very common on server boards. I just tried five different dual LGA 2011 boards and some took as long as 25 second to reach the first post splash screen.

Matt, I think you are correct on the Pentium and i3 ecc support. Dell, Fujitsu and other large server vendors supply systems with unbuffered ECC DIMMs and Pentium/ i3 processors. It is one prime reason I wish Intel would just stop the practice on i5 and i7 CPUs. Go back to one set of features and let customers decide price/ threads/ cores/ clock speed.

 

[zicoz]

Had the same problem with this board, and for me it was the RAM, so I picked up some Crucial CT2KIT25672BA1067 memory and now it works, and it does have the 5-10 sec wait before it boots. I'm guessing it might have something to do with powering up disks or something like that.

 

[RimBlock]

There's a good discussion about ECC with the C20x chipsets and non-Xeon CPUs over at Ars Technica. See the "ECC and Sandy Bridge" thread. It's not 100% certain, but my takeaway is that with a C20x chipset and an i3 or Pentium CPU, ECC is supported.

I tested this back in Feb and it seemed to work fine for an i3-2100 on a Supermicro C204 board. It was part of a server spec thread over on OCUK here (post #42). I do still have the bios screen shots although I didn't get round to posting them up in that thread. Have a quick look at post #38 for a few more details as well.

The C202/C204 PCH specs do state ECC ram is required although the C206 states either ECC or non-ECC is fine. I have not tried non-ECC ram in boards with C202 or C204 chipsets.

RB