US $192 ($190 BO) Great deal on a Quanta D51B-2U 2u Chassis

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SPCRich

Active Member
Mar 16, 2017
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@PGlover I'd hold off actually. Hoping maye someone has some experience with this particular model. I tried booting an E5-2630V4, but it wouldn't post. I had the same issue with my D51B-1u's which required a bios update. Quanta lists a E5-2600v4 update package that you need to apply, consisting of a BIOS and BMC update. I downloaded this and applied it via out-of-band . I made sure to read the readme first, there were no gotchas, so went ahead and did it. well....

The BMC took, and updated successfully, and the BIOS said it updated successfully, but after I power-cycled the chassis to make sure, the version didn't change. To make matters worse, there was now no video via JAVA console, and no video out via VGA. I attempted to flash the BIOS again, this time through the BMC interface directly, again it said 100%, but still no dice. I'm worried that this is a condition of needing to also update the SAS expander in the chassis. Quanta has a FAQ saying "firmware recovery may be required" but doesn't list how to go about doing this, and older versions of IPMI and BIOS are no longer available on their site (the whole BIOS/BMC sections are gone from the download page.

I submitted a support request to Quanta, not sure I'll get much help from them, but at this moment it seems like I've bricked the chassis. I will however buy a second one, as when the fans are idling around 3000 rpm they're barely noticeable.

@vintagehardware This is a 2U, 3U would be too large. Do you have some sort of documentation re: the SMC using less power? I get charged a lot during 5 hours of the day for power, so power consumption is the biggest concern I have, after noise. If a SMC does draw say 5-10% less power, then I might go and look for a similar 2U chassis from SMC
 
Jun 22, 2015
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@SPCRich Let me back track a bit from my power usage statement because my two systems are somewhat different and my quanta is LFF instead of SFF systems you guys are talking about:
quanta system: 2x E5 2620 v3 + 64G DDR4 + 8x 5tb sata + 1 spare + areca card + two m.2 + 40gb qsfp+ 2x 1200w ps balanced
SM system: x10DRH-CT + 2x E5 2680 v3 + 64G DDR4 + 7x 8tb sas3 + 1 spare + areca card + one m.2 + 40gb qsfp + 2x 920w sq balanced.
So for me even if the SM system has more powerful cpu and the power usage are both at about 200w for light usage.
But bear in mind that my comparisons are not scientific. And SFF systems have less contributions from power spent on disk spinners.

On the failed BIOS update I wonder if you can try the clear bios jumper, or simply take out the battery while unpluging the power cord for 5 mins and and see if it can "un-brick" it?
 
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SPCRich

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Mar 16, 2017
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@SPCRich Let me back track a bit from my power usage statement because my two systems are somewhat different and my quanta is LFF instead of SFF systems you guys are talking about:
quanta system: 2x E5 2620 v3 + 64G DDR4 + 8x 5tb sata + 1 spare + areca card + two m.2 + 40gb qsfp+ 2x 1200w ps balanced
SM system: x10DRH-CT + 2x E5 2680 v3 + 64G DDR4 + 7x 8tb sas3 + 1 spare + areca card + one m.2 + 40gb qsfp + 2x 920w sq balanced.
So for me even if the SM system has more powerful cpu and the power usage are both at about 200w for light usage.
But bear in mind that my comparisons are not scientific. And SFF systems have less contributions from power spent on disk spinners.

On the failed BIOS update I wonder if you can try the clear bios jumper, or simply take out the battery while unpluging the power cord for 5 mins and and see if it can "un-brick" it?
Imma try that tomorrow. I don't think it failed, I've even tried refreshing everything again, its all successful. It just doesn't update the version or post. It does the blowout during power on , but no video out. I'll try pulling the cmos battery tomorrow, hopefully I get a response from quanta soon. I looked up comparable systems on ebay. They're like 3-4 times the price.

Regarding your smc, that's about on par with what my 1us draw, I think they're around 160-180 watts each, two e5-2630v3s, 32GB of ram in one and 128GB in the other, and 5-6 ssds each. One has a gpu in it for transcoding plex, but it only adds around 15-20 watts.
 

SPCRich

Active Member
Mar 16, 2017
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@vintagehardware Welp... tried pulling the CMOS battery, but no dice. I did find a jumper to "disable BMC" but didn't have a spare jumper, plus that isn't really something I'd want to disable. I pulled the trigger and just ordered a second chassis, I won't update this one when it comes, which sucks since it means I can only run 2600 v3's in it (I was hoping to get 2x 2630 V4's in there) but will have to settle for 2x 2630 V3's or so for 32 threads. No reply from Quanta yet. I'll probably hang on to the chassis for a bit, if I don't hear back from them or figure it out, I'll part out the chassis for whatever i can get (PSU's, Caddies, SAS controller + battery, etc) then recycle the rest.

Open to ideas on how to recover it if anyone has any :) It's shocking that they no longer list BMC/BIOS downloads for this. I don't think it has anything to do with the expander firmware, as I just tried completely disconnecting the backplane from the unit, it still wouldn't post. My guess is it's a BMC or BIOS issue, even though they both flashed correctly.

Will post an update if Quanta replies, however while this is a good deal, it does not appear that you can update it to support e5-2600v4 processors, will only be able to use v3's.
 

SPCRich

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Mar 16, 2017
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What versions of BMC/BIOS did you upgrade to?
What came in their "E5-2600 v4 (Broadwell) CPU Upgrade Tool (version: 106)" package:

Code:
QuantaGrid D51B-1U/QuantaGrid D51B-2U BIOS Version: S2B_3B04

QuantaGrid D51B-1U/QuantaGrid D51B-2U BMC Version :  3.45.01
Contents of the readme:
Code:
==========================================================================
    E5-2600 v4 (Broadwell) CPU Upgrade Tool (version: 106)
==========================================================================
Version: 106
Release Date: 2016.08.22

QuantaGrid D51B-1U/QuantaGrid D51B-2U BIOS Version: S2B_3B04

QuantaGrid D51B-1U/QuantaGrid D51B-2U BMC Version :  3.45.01


***Notice***

The default BMC IP address/log-in information of script file is as below,
<BMC IP>   : 192.168.0.120
<User Name>: admin
<Password> : admin

If your BMC IP address/log-in information is different from the default setting,
please refer to the script usage below to add your user-specific informaton as parameter.


***Script Usage***

[Linux Script]
Update BIOS/BMC FW via Out-of-band:
./updateFW.sh <BMC IP> <user name> <password>

[Windows Script]
Update BIOS/BMC FW via Out-of-band:
updateFW.bat <BMC IP> <user name> <password>
The original BMC was something like 3.38 or so and the original/current BIOS version is S2B_3A17. There's no mention in the README of needing the expander firmware, so i doubt thats it, and I've tried updating from Windows, Ubuntu, and from the BMC gui...all 3 complete successfully without errors, but the BIOS version will not change from 3A17 to 3B04. The BMC log is next to useless, as far as it's concerned everything is 100% great. no errors, no nothing.
 

Xoid

New Member
Nov 14, 2018
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I had a similar issue on my 2U Intel box. Updated to the latest BMC and BIOS which should support v4, but still no dice. Didn't go much further into uncharted territory, I just chalked it up to the board and CPUs being ES.

If you manage to get the v4's working on either of your Quantas chassis I'd be interested to see how you fixed it, it'd be good to make use of the ones I have laying around.

I put in an offer on the D51B-2U, hopefully they accept. Whichever box is nosier between the Quantas and Intel is going to become the subject of a future noise reduction project.
 

josh

Active Member
Oct 21, 2013
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Man these stuff come with built in SFP+ and 5xPCIe. Don't even need to waste a slot for 10GbE card.

I've never used Quanta before. How's their reliability vs Dell/SM?

Can't decide if I should get this vs the 6028U-TRTP X10DRU-i
 

Xoid

New Member
Nov 14, 2018
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Offered $175, seller countered $185, accepted. Hopefully the $7 savings doesn't mean they take all the drive sleds out...
 

josh

Active Member
Oct 21, 2013
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Yes, but Rich's came with rails and sleds. So it's a gamble if you get them or not. I know it's not guaranteed.
I think he was just lucky for being the first. I see that the seller now has listings for 20 and 50 lot trays so I'm guessing these are where it's from.
 

SPCRich

Active Member
Mar 16, 2017
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Yes, but Rich's came with rails and sleds. So it's a gamble if you get them or not. I know it's not guaranteed.
Bro I got you if the next chassis comes with sleds... If you don't get any let me know and I'll ship you mine, assuming the next one comes with rails and sleds too... LOL I don't need 48 drive trays...or 2 sets of rails
 

SPCRich

Active Member
Mar 16, 2017
256
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I had a similar issue on my 2U Intel box. Updated to the latest BMC and BIOS which should support v4, but still no dice. Didn't go much further into uncharted territory, I just chalked it up to the board and CPUs being ES.

If you manage to get the v4's working on either of your Quantas chassis I'd be interested to see how you fixed it, it'd be good to make use of the ones I have laying around.

I put in an offer on the D51B-2U, hopefully they accept. Whichever box is nosier between the Quantas and Intel is going to become the subject of a future noise reduction project.
I can take my phone out to the garage with a sound meter app and measure the sound coming from it by itself...I'll run an extension cord out to my driveway. not exactly scientific, but might help. Honestly though at bios idle, they're pretty quiet... comparing this to the quanta 1U's i have.

Also, its strange because the D51B-1U's I had had ZERO issue updating to support e5-2600 V4's, engineering samples at that. Given that the packages say 1/2u, I'd assume exact same board for both, but i dunno..quanta is a little short on documentation compared to supermicro.

I might just try flashing the BIOS i have for the 1U on top of it...I'll check if DMIDECODE says same board model.

What's EXTREMELY frustrating is that Quanta seems to have removed both BIOS and BMC downloads from their website. If you go to google's cached copy, it shows, but the link redirects you to a broken link that doesn't have bmc or BIOS listed....still no response yet from Quanta. Google's Cached copy is from August 15th, so this happened sometime in the last 2 months.
 
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josh

Active Member
Oct 21, 2013
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Bro I got you if the next chassis comes with sleds... If you don't get any let me know and I'll ship you mine, assuming the next one comes with rails and sleds too... LOL I don't need 48 drive trays...or 2 sets of rails
Send me some if you have extra too lol. I might have gambled for a couple of units as well.
 

Xoid

New Member
Nov 14, 2018
27
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Bro I got you if the next chassis comes with sleds... If you don't get any let me know and I'll ship you mine, assuming the next one comes with rails and sleds too... LOL I don't need 48 drive trays...or 2 sets of rails
Thanks so much, I'll let you know how it goes!

My Intel box used to be quiet enough, until I threw a GPU in it...

Doesn't help that I'm in a 1br condo and it lives in my walk in closet
 

Fritz

Well-Known Member
Apr 6, 2015
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Did you get any of the freebies Rich got?
It came with all the caddies, 10G card and a 6G RAID controller with battery. I bought a 12G HBA from eBay. Had to jury rig the 10G card because it didn't come with a bracket and I couldn't find one. Currently it's running 2 x E5 2620 v3 and 64GB of Ram. It's loaded with 24 450GB Hitachi 2.5 drives. Doing backup duties. Only powered up when needed. It would drive me insane if it ran continuously.
 

josh

Active Member
Oct 21, 2013
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It came with all the caddies, 10G card and a 6G RAID controller with battery. I bought a 12G HBA from eBay. Had to jury rig the 10G card because it didn't come with a bracket and I couldn't find one. Currently it's running 2 x E5 2620 v3 and 64GB of Ram. It's loaded with 24 450GB Hitachi 2.5 drives. Doing backup duties. Only powered up when needed. It would drive me insane if it ran continuously.
Are you able to make a comparison with a C6220? I have a bunch of that and those drive me nuts