x9srh-7ft memory question

[JRI001]

This motherboard has 8 DIMM slots.: A1 A2 B1 B2 C1 C2 D1 D2

The problem is that the board doesnt seem to post when i use D1. it will hang with a screen supermicro screen that has B7 in lower right corner.

The Manual says to first populate (x)1 slots first which are blue. If i have 1-3 sticks going from A1 to C1 they all work fine. I have verified that all 4 modules post individually if in slot A1. it all seems to work well accept when i try to use D1, then the board fails to post. Originally I bought 4 16GB sticks, and seemed to isolate 1 that was not working. I did memtest on the other 3 individually and they all seemed fine, so I just assumed i had one bad stick.

Today I just received a new 16GB stick. doing tests with the config today it seems that the board will post when i use A1, A2, B1, C1 (using A2 instead of D1) The bios shows 64GB at 1600 MHZ.

manual says :

When installing memory modules, the DIMM slots should be populated in the following order: DIMMA1, DIMMB1, DIMMC1, DIMMD1 then DIMMA2, DIMMB2, DIMMC2, DIMMD2.

The motherboard will support odd-numbered modules installed (1 ,3 ,5 ,or 7 modules). However, for best memory performance, install DIMM modules in pairs.

and :

Populating these DIMM modules with a pair of memory modules of the same type and same size will result in interleaved memory, which will improve memory performance. Please refer to the table below:

So..... should i do some more tests with the current config that posts (A1, A2, B1, C1 ) or get in contact with the seller and try and get a exchange/return/repalcment Board ?

The BIOS defualt setting for Channel inetleaving and Rank Interleaving is Auto, in the bios It does allow me to change settings:

DDR Speed

Use this option to force the system memory to run at a different frequency than the default frequency. The available options are Auto, Force DDR-800, Force DDR-1066, Force DDR-1333, Force DDR3-1600 and Force SPD.

Channel Interleaving

This feature selects from the different channel memory interleaving methods. The options are Auto, 1 Way, 2 Way, 3 Way and 4 Way.

Rank Interleaving

This feature selects from the different rank memory interleaving methods. The options are Auto, 1 Way, 2 Way, 3 Way, 4 Way and 8 Way.

Should i set CI to 4 way and RI to 8 way , and run some tests ? leave it in Auto and run some tests ? just go for a motherboard return ?

Thoughts ?

 

[marbus90]

.. contact supermicro support and request a new board. this one seems to be defective.

 

[JRI001]

.. contact supermicro support and request a new board. this one seems to be defective.

Called tech support and they asked my to try posting the board outside of the chassis. I guess a standoff can short something with the memory controller.....urghh, I doubt its the problem, but I suposse best thing is to check as fixing that would quickest solution if that actually was the probelm

 

[cyberjock]

Also, is the memory on the Supermicro approved list? If not, you may be finding that the tolerances are too loose on the RAM you bought and when you populate the last bank, since that data path has to make the longest trip, is not being propagated from one end to the other end in the required time frame. I've seen exactly this from unapproved RAM.

So unless the RAM manufacturer and/or Supermicro claims it is supported, its a strong possibility you RAM just can't play with the board. Of course, the RAM slot could be bad too. There's no way to know which answer is the correct one until you can rule out one of them possible causes.

 

[pschatz100]

You can try putting the memory sticks in a different order (perhaps you already did that?) If the RAM is just a little out of spec, you can also try running the memory a little slower or bump the memory voltage just a bit (1.35V memory will work at 1.5V) to see if either one makes a difference. Running the memory a tad slower will not affect NAS performance to any great degree.

 

[JRI001]

Also, is the memory on the Supermicro approved list? If not, you may be finding that the tolerances are too loose on the RAM you bought and when you populate the last bank, since that data path has to make the longest trip, is not being propagated from one end to the other end in the required time frame. I've seen exactly this from unapproved RAM.

What kinda daredevil would use non aproved RAM ? :) I am using the supermicro approved samsung M393B2G70BH0-CK0.

On advice from supermicro tech guys I pulled to board out of the chassis, laid in on the cardboard box and shorted the pins to get it to start. To my surprise it must have been the standoff causing a short, cause the board posted with using the 4 Dimms in the right config.

Being used to non-server type boards the initialization process seems to take a long time. It cycles through a handful of codes in the lower left corner for about 5-6 sec before starting up ? can anyone confirm that is typical?? anyways glad i didn't have to gro through the RMA process. I will try to get it back in the chassis and hopefully mount it without the short this time :)

 

[cyberjock]

Yes, server boards are slow to post. They often have a crapload of hardware on-board compared to desktops. They often do more thorough diagnostics which takes more time. As long as you know how long your board takes, and it doesn't suddenly take 3x longer for no obvious reason, then everything is okay.