Dead ASRock C2750: RMA or cut losses?

[Stubb]

So the ASRock C2750D4I in my FreeNAS Mini is toast after 16 months of 24/7 use behind a UPS. It's out of warranty with IX Systems, but I'm seeing instructions for replacing it through ASRock.

Questions is: do I want to replace it with the same board and risk a repeat of the problem, or is there a SuperMicro board with similar specs that's a drop-in replacement for my FreeNas Mini?

I'm not seeing positive commentary regarding ASRock's products reading through the threads…

 

[Stux]

Have you contacted ix about it?

 

[Stubb]

IX Systems responded that my Mini is out of its 1-year hardware warranty. Suggested options included (1) buying a new motherboard from them for $395 or (2) sending them the board to do an RMA through the manufacturer, where the new board could take up to 4 weeks to arrive.

Neither of those sound appealing to me.

 

[Stux]

Well, I'd do 2, then get an alternative board an sell the new replacement.

Anything with 6 Sata ports should do the trick.

Have a look at Xeon d mini itx or skylake mini itx.

 

[Miles]

My 2550 is still working....but I'm seriously considering jumping over to a SuperMicro X10SL7-F so I can reuse the 32BG of DDR3 ECC ram I purchased for the 2550 board. Maybe use my 2550 for something.... else

 

[nojohnny101]

I'd go with #2. If you have the money, get a new board and the maybe repurpose the new replacement board for a backup freenas box if you don't have one. according to @jgreco the problem is because of a setting is BIOS and can easily be switched off and prevented (he hasn't responded how he came to this conclusion, through his own investigations or through communications with ASRock/XiSystems).

I personally use my c2550 for my backup freenas box so if it does go down, i'm not up a creek. time will tell though. mine was only purchased in december of 2015.

 

[Stubb]

Did some reading through other threads on possible mobos that would let me use the FreeNAS Mini chassis, 2x8 GB RAM modules, 4x 4 GB WD Red drives, and boot SSD…

The SuperMicro X10SDV-6C-TLN2F and X10SDV-4C-TLN4F both look appealing, as do the higher-clocked 4F models. Would any of these not be a drop-in replacement for the ASRock? I've read a bunch on 10 GigE incompatibilities, but that seems a solved problem now and we're only set up for GigE here.

The extra horsepower and memory headroom from the Xeon-M would be nice with FreeNAS 10 and running VMs.

Assuming they're a good fit, anything other than the mobo that I'd need to order with one of these (fan, rear-chassis cover, etc.)?

 

[Stux]

If you get a + model then it comes with a fan, which you should get. Otherwise there are posts where people added a Noctua fan

I was impressed by this blog on the setup you are looking at
https://b3n.org/supermicro-x10sdv-f-build-datacenter-in-a-box/

Also he has some neat info on virtualizing stuff :)

Consider the 10gbe version. It will mean not having to use the sole PCIe slot for a 10gbe adapter in the future, if you do decide to go 10gbe.

Gigabit sucks :)

 

[Ericloewe]

Any physically compatible motherboard is going to work. There just isn't anything quite like these ASRock boards, with a mixture of okay pricing (by Avoton standards anyway), full-size DIMMs and miniITX form factor.

Xeon-D is crazy expensive, but definitely suitable.

 

[Stubb]

Price on these puppies isn't bad:

X10SDV-4C+-TLN4F $484

X10SDV-6C+-TLN4F $660

 

[Ericloewe]

Price on these puppies isn't bad:

X10SDV-4C+-TLN4F $484

X10SDV-6C+-TLN4F $660

Wow, I wish those prices were common here. I can expect to pay that much for the two-core Celeron version.

 

[Stubb]

The replacement motherboard from ASRock arrived today, and my FreeNAS Mini is back up and running. No complaints regarding ASRock warranty service—turnaround time from them receiving the dead board to shipping me a new one was three days.

An unexpected expense popped up here in the mean time, and the 2750 does what I need it to do, so I'm holding off on a Xeon-D for the time being.

 

[cods69]

The replacement motherboard from ASRock arrived today

Good to know ASRock have a decent turnaround for their boards, as I use one of these.
Out of interest, and considering some of the discussion above regarding problems being caused by some BIOS setting, which version BIOS were you on with your old board? Had you updated to 2.9?

according to @jgreco the problem is because of a setting is BIOS and can easily be switched off and prevented (he hasn't responded how he came to this conclusion, through his own investigations or through communications with ASRock/XiSystems).

Could you please link me to this discussion? I've tried searching and can't find any references. Would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Stubb]

Out of interest, and considering some of the discussion above regarding problems being caused by some BIOS setting, which version BIOS were you on with your old board? Had you updated to 2.9?

I'm not sure which BIOS version was running on my original 2750D4I. I plan to do some digging through the forum and seeing if there are any BIOS settings that need changing on the new one. For now, I'm happy to have my FreeNAS Mini back up and running

 

[pernils]

Perhaps this can give you some tip.

https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/freenas-mini-repair-due-watchdogd-nand-wereout.49963/