So I picked up a SuperMicro X9DRH-7F on eBay in a CSE-826 for a really good price. I figured I would move out of my 2U intel server and into my Chenbro 48 bay chassis with a SM DP board instead of using it as an external disk shelf connected to the Intel 2U and then sell all the leftovers.
Sounds simple, right? I thought so too. I feel like the IT gods are taking out their wrath on me for this one. I can just hear them now, "That guy is always saying he does this to keep his skills sharp" so here ya go, wanna keep em sharp? Have some problems!
I turn it on, it hangs at the LSI 2208 OPROM booting. Reset CMOS, still doing it. Killed it's OPROM in the BIOS and put it on the ToDo list. I updated the BIOS and IPMI firmware, LSI freezing problem thankfully went away. At this point, I started noticing I had a seemingly random reboot problem. I couldn't find anything wrong, re-seated the processors with fresh thermal grease thinking it might be overheating. I went to check the temp sensors and noticed another problem. The CPU temp sensors are showing "Not Present" in the sensor IPMI status page. Tried using IPMICFG tool from SuperMicro to reset to factory defaults, re-flashed firmware, problem refused to go away. I ended up chasing down the random rebooting problem finally, turned out to be a HDD tray screw inside the little power supply interposer board. Got some tweezers out, all seems well, no more rebooting issues. I still can't get the CPU sensors to show up. IPMICFG -nm selftest reports the ME is not responding. I've tried updating the firmware again, and re-flashing the BIOS with AFUDOS file.xxx /P /B /N /K /R /ME /FDT /MER /OPR and then re-updated the firmware with DUPDATE.EXE after rebooting and still nothing. Fans show RPMs, voltages are there, CPU temp sensors "Not Present".
I'd like to fix it since I got a GREAT deal, but I still have the option of returning it. I don't like unknown problems, they make me question reliability. Any ideas or suggestions?
Sounds simple, right? I thought so too. I feel like the IT gods are taking out their wrath on me for this one. I can just hear them now, "That guy is always saying he does this to keep his skills sharp" so here ya go, wanna keep em sharp? Have some problems!
I turn it on, it hangs at the LSI 2208 OPROM booting. Reset CMOS, still doing it. Killed it's OPROM in the BIOS and put it on the ToDo list. I updated the BIOS and IPMI firmware, LSI freezing problem thankfully went away. At this point, I started noticing I had a seemingly random reboot problem. I couldn't find anything wrong, re-seated the processors with fresh thermal grease thinking it might be overheating. I went to check the temp sensors and noticed another problem. The CPU temp sensors are showing "Not Present" in the sensor IPMI status page. Tried using IPMICFG tool from SuperMicro to reset to factory defaults, re-flashed firmware, problem refused to go away. I ended up chasing down the random rebooting problem finally, turned out to be a HDD tray screw inside the little power supply interposer board. Got some tweezers out, all seems well, no more rebooting issues. I still can't get the CPU sensors to show up. IPMICFG -nm selftest reports the ME is not responding. I've tried updating the firmware again, and re-flashing the BIOS with AFUDOS file.xxx /P /B /N /K /R /ME /FDT /MER /OPR and then re-updated the firmware with DUPDATE.EXE after rebooting and still nothing. Fans show RPMs, voltages are there, CPU temp sensors "Not Present".
I'd like to fix it since I got a GREAT deal, but I still have the option of returning it. I don't like unknown problems, they make me question reliability. Any ideas or suggestions?