Nekonomicon - IBM X3400 7976

Ryan Fox
Who joined Dec. 20, 2004, 11:03 a.m.
and authored 364 notes

Wrote the following at Jan. 26, 2013, 11:15 a.m...

Hey guys!

Having a weird issue with a 7976.. Its currently running 2x E5130's but upgrading to e5430's it throws a VRM error...
any ideas?

_________________
MAYA, nut-
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smj
Who joined Nov. 12, 2007, 7:54 p.m.
and authored 1013 notes

Wrote the following at Feb. 2, 2013, 2:12 a.m...

Forgive a basic question, as I'm not familiar with IBM's line -- did IBM release a BIOS update or firmware patch that definitely supports Harpertown/5400 Xeons in this model? There are plenty of servers (ex. HP DL140 G3, Dell PWS690) that have a chipset capable of supporting them, but the system won't because the vendor didn't implement support in the BIOS. The DL140 uses the Greencreek 5000X chipset, which can support Harpertown according to Intel, and while the 140 will correctly ID them at power-on if installed it cannot proceed to BIOS or boot. (I might be confusing which model behaved in which way, but neither would boot an OS.)

_________________
Then? :IRIS3130:

... Now?

-

+MLA

... Other: DEC :BA213:

Sun , DG AViiON , NeXT :Cube:

Ryan Fox
Who joined Dec. 20, 2004, 11:03 a.m.
and authored 364 notes

Wrote the following at Feb. 3, 2013, 4:48 a.m...

Baiscally its a Intel 5000P ( http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ ... 5000p.html )
And with the latest BIOS update its supports, or should support some additional CPUs. Basically the 7976 -xxx M1 is based on the same board.
The 7976-LBU was shipped with a pair of e5430's. Anyhow contacted IBM locally... it turns out that VRMs do fail after a while.. So ordered a
replacement part.

smj wrote:

Forgive a basic question, as I'm not familiar with IBM's line -- did IBM release a BIOS update or firmware patch that definitely supports Harpertown/5400 Xeons in this model? There are plenty of servers (ex. HP DL140 G3, Dell PWS690) that have a chipset capable of supporting them, but the system won't because the vendor didn't implement support in the BIOS. The DL140 uses the Greencreek 5000X chipset, which can support Harpertown according to Intel, and while the 140 will correctly ID them at power-on if installed it cannot proceed to BIOS or boot. (I might be confusing which model behaved in which way, but neither would boot an OS.)

_________________
MAYA, nut-
:Octane2:

Octane 2 R14k 600 V12 4GB, Octane2 R14K 600 V10 1GB ,
:Onyx2:

Onyx2 IR3 4GB Quad R14K 500 DIVO, Onyx2 IR Quad R12K 400 2GB,
:Indigo2:

SGI Indigo 2 R8K75 TEAL Extreme 256MB,
:Indigo2IMP:

SGI Indigo 2 R10K 195 Solid Impact 256MB, MAX Impact Pending ,
Apple G5 Quad, NV Quadro 4500 + 7800GT, 12GB RAM
Sun Blade 1000 Dual 900 XVR 1000

Ryan Fox
Who joined Dec. 20, 2004, 11:03 a.m.
and authored 364 notes

Wrote the following at Feb. 25, 2013, 4:38 a.m...

Refuses to work, even after a 1.74aa firmware update. Could well be the pair of CPUs I sourced...

_________________
MAYA, nut-
:Octane2:

Octane 2 R14k 600 V12 4GB, Octane2 R14K 600 V10 1GB ,
:Onyx2:

Onyx2 IR3 4GB Quad R14K 500 DIVO, Onyx2 IR Quad R12K 400 2GB,
:Indigo2:

SGI Indigo 2 R8K75 TEAL Extreme 256MB,
:Indigo2IMP:

SGI Indigo 2 R10K 195 Solid Impact 256MB, MAX Impact Pending ,
Apple G5 Quad, NV Quadro 4500 + 7800GT, 12GB RAM
Sun Blade 1000 Dual 900 XVR 1000

Ryan Fox
Who joined Dec. 20, 2004, 11:03 a.m.
and authored 364 notes

Wrote the following at March 13, 2013, 6:17 a.m...

Fitted a pair of 2.66 GHZ X5355's 65nm and TDP of 120W
Had to do a downgrade due to VRM limitations. X5365's require 150W each
However: Added another 6GB of RAM set to mirror mode, updated firmware, PSU 12v RAIL TAP and an AMD/ATI Radeon 5870

_________________
MAYA, nut-
:Octane2:

Octane 2 R14k 600 V12 4GB, Octane2 R14K 600 V10 1GB ,
:Onyx2:

Onyx2 IR3 4GB Quad R14K 500 DIVO, Onyx2 IR Quad R12K 400 2GB,
:Indigo2:

SGI Indigo 2 R8K75 TEAL Extreme 256MB,
:Indigo2IMP:

SGI Indigo 2 R10K 195 Solid Impact 256MB, MAX Impact Pending ,
Apple G5 Quad, NV Quadro 4500 + 7800GT, 12GB RAM
Sun Blade 1000 Dual 900 XVR 1000