Mr Rackable Supermicro build questions

[tvsjr]

Be careful on the screws, you need the right ones with smaller heads to fit properly. You definitely want something in each bay... you may find it better to simply insert blank drive sleds rather than dummies, so you can use them for more drives down the road.

 

[Fuganater]

Did you get 2 of the same side rails? I did and they quickly shipped me out a new set.

I found dummy drives on Ebay. I only needed 12 for my 2x chassis and I paid $2 each + shipping which ended being $3 each. I have seen some people say they got them for under $2 but I couldn't wait.

 

[pcmofo]

Did you get 2 of the same side rails? I did and they quickly shipped me out a new set.

I found dummy drives on Ebay. I only needed 12 for my 2x chassis and I paid $2 each + shipping which ended being $3 each. I have seen some people say they got them for under $2 but I couldn't wait.

It was my understanding that the "dummy" drives were the normal drives with a plastic tray insert. When you want to add a drive you remove the plastic insert and screw a drive in its place. Is this not correct?

 

[Fuganater]

That is correct. Mine came today and they also came with the drive tray too.

Sent from my SM-T700 using Tapatalk

 

[danb35]

If you already have the hot-swap trays, and just need the dummy inserts, these look like what you need: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lot-8-Super...413778?hash=item35cd58c5d2:g:KvsAAOxywOtSZV5W

Edit: Never mind, those are 2.5" dummies. I found the 3.5" dummies on eBay last year when I needed them for my 826 chassis, but it doesn't look like there are any there right now unless you buy them already in the hot-swap trays.

 

[pcmofo]

If you already have the hot-swap trays, and just need the dummy inserts, these look like what you need: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lot-8-Super...413778?hash=item35cd58c5d2:g:KvsAAOxywOtSZV5W

Edit: Never mind, those are 2.5" dummies. I found the 3.5" dummies on eBay last year when I needed them for my 826 chassis, but it doesn't look like there are any there right now unless you buy them already in the hot-swap trays.

Thanks for the link, I saw those earlier and almost bought them until i saw the 2.5 as well.

The server came with server side but not matching rack side rails. I'm going to be contacting the seller as I dont need the motherboard he included (~$100) and I do need the rails he didn't include (~$50)

The screws i ordered are super micro for 3.5" drives.

RAM and RAID card should be here monday followed by a supermicro cover plate with a filter for the front of the box.

 

[nightshade00013]

Did you get 2 of the same side rails? I did and they quickly shipped me out a new set.

I didn't pay much attention. The ones I got were still in factory wrapping and taped up so I would imagine that they are a set. Looks like someone had a server and never used them for whatever reason and that is what was shipped out with mine.

Glad to hear that they got you fixed up though. I still don't know what to do with the set I have. I doubt I will ever have a need for them.

 

[pcmofo]

Be careful on the screws, you need the right ones with smaller heads to fit properly. You definitely want something in each bay... you may find it better to simply insert blank drive sleds rather than dummies, so you can use them for more drives down the road.

I am having trouble seeing the IBM M1015 when I boot. Not sure if it is the card or the motherboard, I've tried a few different PCIe slots with no luck. Currently running 3.17 firmware.

 

[nightshade00013]

Grab the SAS2Flash for DOS utility and see if it pulls anything up when booted from a USB FreeDOS drive. May also want to check the BIOS settings and clear them out just in case something in there is not set correctly.

Could also try the card in another computer just to check.

 

[tvsjr]

Yep, agree with the above. Is the M1015 a "normal" card (still running IR/RAID firmware)? Or has it already been flashed? If it's been flashed, whoever did it may not have flashed in the boot ROM. That's not a problem if you're looking for a dumb HBA for storage purposes only... but it is an issue if you're intending to boot from a drive on the HBA.

 

[pcmofo]

Grab the SAS2Flash for DOS utility and see if it pulls anything up when booted from a USB FreeDOS drive. May also want to check the BIOS settings and clear them out just in case something in there is not set correctly.

Could also try the card in another computer just to check.

True, I can try it in my existing NAS. I assume its a bios or other config issue. I can boot into DOS on USB with the firmware ready to flash to IT mode. When I run the first megarec command it says "No MR controllers found. Please shutdown the system and set the jumper in the default position" hrm...

 

[pcmofo]

Yep, agree with the above. Is the M1015 a "normal" card (still running IR/RAID firmware)? Or has it already been flashed? If it's been flashed, whoever did it may not have flashed in the boot ROM. That's not a problem if you're looking for a dumb HBA for storage purposes only... but it is an issue if you're intending to boot from a drive on the HBA.

As far as I know its a normal card. I dont need to boot from it... I dont see it posting when the box boots up, I just need it as a HBA adapter for the SAS2 backplane. I assume the card hasn't been flashed and I have a USB drive setup to flash it. I don't see anywhere in the BIOS or posting etc that shows the card is detected.

 

[nightshade00013]

ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/systems/support/system_x_pdf/ibm_doc_sraidmr_m1015-20091006_install-guide.pdf

I don't think ANY jumpers should be connected on that card so remove any if they are on there.

Depends on the board if it will show up or not in the BIOS or POST screens. My SAS controller does but it is also built into the board.

 

[Fuganater]

Isn't this the one you bought that was already flashed to IT mode?

 

[pcmofo]

Isn't this the one you bought that was already flashed to IT mode?

Not that I know of... http://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/111802398873
Their are no lights blinking etc. that would indicate it's doing something. Connecting a hard drive to the backplane does not show the HDD in boot or bios etc. not sure how else to see if the card is working.

Removed the battery and reset the cmos just in case.

If you guys have any other suggestions I've got about an hour to mess around with this again tomorrow morning.

 

[Fuganater]

Ah maybe it was a different person. Someone was talking about getting one in Ohio? that was already flashed.

If it ends up being a bust, I suggest you buy a LSI 9211-8i. ESPECIALLY for that chassis. (I have 1x 846 and another on the way) You can use a much shorter SFF-8087 cable since the ports are on the back of the card and not on the top. Also it makes for cleaner cable management for airflow. After figuring out the processes it took me literally 5 minutes to flash it to IT mode. I am not a fan of cross flashing cards. But that is just me.

 

[pcmofo]

I dropped the card into the current NAS and used MegaRec -adpList with no luck there either. I called the ebay seller and they will be sending out a replacement card. In the mean time MemTest will be running now and over the holiday break. So far it's made 2 passes with no errors so the preliminary testing is good. The temps all seem good and the noise is reasonable given the size and number of fans. The processor is at around 40C running memtest.
I guess sometime next week I might have the new card and can move forward with my build then.