ASRock C2550D4I Trouble ... Again

[FreeNASBob]

I'm now on my third ASRock C2550D4I. The first one died because of the infamous issue with BMC, and the RMA replacement was DOA. The third one POSTed when I did a quick test and I kind of just left it in the server closet since I had other hardware. That was 6 months ago. Tonight I decided to fire up the old C2550D4I and I can't get past the "System initializing..." screen. I know that means something is wrong on the MB, and I've tested the remove CMOS battery and power connections and one stick of RAM. The thing I haven't seen mentioned here about this issue is that the CPU and motherboard are really hot. When my system was working it was always cool to the touch, but this non-functioning board gets uncomfortably hot even though it can't even POST. IPMI reports the MB temp is over 130°F. Any ideas what could do that?

 

[m0nkey_]

Sounds like it's time for another RMA.

 

[FreeNASBob]

Sounds like it's time for another RMA.

Yeah, I'm just curious about the mobo getting hot even when it won't POST. Here's something even more strange: after leaving the system on the "System initializing..." screen for a minute I started getting email notifications from FreeNAS that my UPS wasn't connected. I thought maybe the BMC was hosed somehow and the system was working fine and it was the IPMI that was whacked, so I flashed the latest BMC firmware. Still no dice. I tried to connect to the FreeNAS Web UI and can't connect, but I do get those email notifications. Really weird.

 

[Ericloewe]

I'm just curious about the mobo getting hot even when it won't POST

It's fairly common for CPUs to be in their maximum power states until the OS takes over, so that's not too weird.

 

[FreeNASBob]

It's fairly common for CPUs to be in their maximum power states until the OS takes over, so that's not too weird.

Thanks. I had never encountered that before. Then again, I've never had a system sitting for 10 minutes before POST. What could a CPU be doing before POST?

 

[Ericloewe]

Thanks. I had never encountered that before. Then again, I've never had a system sitting for 10 minutes before POST. What could a CPU be doing before POST?

Running the Intel Management Engine. The maximum power state is simply out of convenience for lazy BIOS devs.