C2750D4i no post or vga

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the_owl

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Hello. I am building my 2nd identical Freenas box.
Its in a silverstone 380, with a C2750D4i board, sst-st45sf-g power supply, and crucial PC3l-12800E memory (32gb)
Since my last freenas setup hasnt been so reliable HW wise, Ive purchased a spare mobo and power supply to come up quickly when one of these devices will fail.
Building a new Freenas for a client, Ive purchased these items and I cannot the system to output video or post.
So far Ive:
Tried 1 memory stick in the A1 (blue)
removed all periphs
swapped power supply
swapped mobo.

I can IPMI into the system and ive updated the firmware. Im at a loss! I cant figure out why I cant the system up. My first build didnt have any issues like this.
any advice?
 

Ericloewe

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the_owl

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Neither setup will post or show vga with any combo of memory sticks, mobos, or PS.
 

Ericloewe

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Got any motherboard standoffs where they don't belong?
 

the_owl

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Not that Ive moved. both mobos I tried did this. Both were NIB never messed with. what standoffs could be off?
 

Ericloewe

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Not that Ive moved. both mobos I tried did this. Both were NIB never messed with. what standoffs could be off?
I dunno, it depends on the chassis... Just make sure there aren't any standoffs where there are no holes.
 

colmconn

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Do you have the backplane of the drive cage connected to power supply? If so disconnect and see if you can power on the board on.

As I found out by using this combination of case, power supply, and board there is an incompatibility between that gold 450W power supply and that case that renders powering on the board an extremely trying experience (to be generous about it). Assuming your RAM is good (it really should be on the QVL list for that board available here http://www.asrockrack.com/general/productdetail.asp?Model=C2750D4I#Memory) , the should power on immediately in response to the IPMI or case power button *if* you have the drive cage removed from the power supply.
 

the_owl

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The IPMI will get responses from the mobo. I can restart the server from the console. I havent plugged in the backplane yes. So no periphs on the power supply. It must be a compatibility issue because it does it wot either board, and either power supply. But I have an identical rig that has very little issues
 

Ericloewe

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Do you have the backplane of the drive cage connected to power supply? If so disconnect and see if you can power on the board on.

As I found out by using this combination of case, power supply, and board there is an incompatibility between that gold 450W power supply and that case that renders powering on the board an extremely trying experience (to be generous about it). Assuming your RAM is good (it really should be on the QVL list for that board available here http://www.asrockrack.com/general/productdetail.asp?Model=C2750D4I#Memory) , the should power on immediately in response to the IPMI or case power button *if* you have the drive cage removed from the power supply.
Can you elaborate? What's wrong with the backplane?
 

the_owl

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How do you access the BIOS from the IPMI? I am able to power cycle the board from IPMI, but I dont see a BIOS option. My memory is on the QVL 1600 ECC 8GB Crucial CT102472BD160B.18FED 3SE17 D9QBJ Micron
 

BigDave

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How do you access the BIOS from the IPMI? I am able to power cycle the board from IPMI, but I dont see a BIOS option.
These are the steps for my Supermicro board, your mileage may vary...
Log in to your IPMI.
From the Remote Control Tab> choose Console Redirection.
From that page click on the Launch Console button.
console1.JPG
A popup window will appear.
console2.JPG
allow the Java Viewer by clicking Run.

When the Java iKVM Viewer opens,
select the power control tab and reboot
your machine. When the bios option
appears on the screen, hold your delete key as you normally would.
When you're done, use the exit tab in the iKVM window and close the viewer.
 
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colmconn

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Can you elaborate? What's wrong with the backplane?

I initially thought my problems with getting the board to boot were motherboard issues. However, after talking to both ASRock and then Silverstone it turns out that the there is an incompatibility between the case and the +5V rail in the gold version of the power supply. Specifically, this is the explanation I got from Silverstone when I contacted them about the issue.
Silverstone Support said:
There is a compatibility issue between the backplane and the power supply ST45SF-G, we recommend to use the ST45SF power supply because it has a more powerful +5v rail that is required for NAS systems.

They swapped out (via RMA) the ST45SF-G (gold version of the PSU) for a ST45SF (bronze version of the PSU). Since then I've never had problems getting my machine to power on either in response to the IPMI power management functions of the case power button.
 

colmconn

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How do you access the BIOS from the IPMI? I am able to power cycle the board from IPMI, but I dont see a BIOS option. My memory is on the QVL 1600 ECC 8GB Crucial CT102472BD160B.18FED 3SE17 D9QBJ Micron

First up, you'll need Java installed and need to use Firefox as it, for the time being, is one of the few browser still supporting NPAPI plugins such as Java. Forget about trying with Chrome or Safari.

Assuming you have Java installed and it works with your browser, when you login to the IPMI you should see a little black window in lower right hand side of the web page. In it there should be a refresh button. Click it to get the image of the console refreshed. Above this black window you should see a Launch button. Clicking that should provoke your browser to display a download box for the JNLP page that will launch the Java based KVM window. There you can see the console and interact with it just like you would if you had a display and keyboard attached to the machine. If you want screenshots, I can attach them to this post later this evening when I get home.

If there are no bootable devices attached to the machine, I think it should drop you into the UEFI config immediately.

If you are having problems getting the machine to POST. I suggest you try the procedure suggested by William @ ASRock that I found in post #25 here http://forums.tweaktown.com/asrock/55825-c2750d4i-too-long-pre-bios-startup-time-3.html

I recently added 16GB of extra RAM to my machine and it wouldn't boot when I simply dropped in the extra 16 GB. Using this procedure where you place each DIMM in slot A1 in turn and try to boot eventually got it to boot with all slots populated. I've not had problems since I used this procedure a week or so ago.

You should check the version of your IPMI and BIOS agains the updated posted on the ASRock website. There were updated to each earlier this year. The update to the BIOS I found particularly useful. Prior to this year's update the machine would print nothing to the console until the ASRock logo appeared. With the newest version of the BIOS you now get, almost immediately, a "System initializing" message. This is very useful to let you know your VGA or console is actually alive.
 
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colmconn

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I initially thought my problems with getting the board to boot were motherboard issues. However, after talking to both ASRock and then Silverstone it turns out that the there is an incompatibility between the case and the +5V rail in the gold version of the power supply. Specifically, this is the explanation I got from Silverstone when I contacted them about the issue.

They swapped out (via RMA) the ST45SF-G (gold version of the PSU) for a ST45SF (bronze version of the PSU). Since then I've never had problems getting my machine to power on either in response to the IPMI power management functions of the case power button.

When you get the board to boot, turn it off, connect up the back plane to the power supply (don't populate it with drives), and try to power it on. If it wont power on, or only doe so intermittently, it's due to the incompatibility issue. If you're still within your 30 days return the PSU and get the bronze version of it.

Frankly, if you're still within your 30 days, I'd return the case as well. It's an airflow disaster, not to mention hard to work within without removing the drive cage. Even with my drives idle (I've now got 7 3TB WD Reds in the case) with the front door closed they will easily hit 45-50C and more. The only way I can keep them below 40C is with the front door open. If I could do it again I think I'd go for a Fractal Design R5 instead. If you elect to keep the case I suggest you keep a close eye on your drive temps (there's a script in another sub-forum here to help with this, it's what I use). You've likely spent a lot of money on drives and the last thing you want to do is prematurely shorten their life through excessive heat.
 

the_owl

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My backplane hasnt been plugged in yet. I dont see the bios option when I launch the java. I can restart the computer via the console redirection. This bow is actually going to sit in a legit server room with its own AC and vented door. Heat isnt so much the problem as size is. I just can figure out why each mobo/PSU combo is doing the same thing.
 
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