BUILD Looking for options ASRock C2750, new build or perhaps continue troubleshooting

[Enira]

Issue is, my ASRock C27550 died. And it's outside of warranty, did a request at ASRock and they replaced it (3.5 years old) however the board I received also does not post at all.

Should I continue to investigate this or just get another build? (Read: is this my best and cheapest solution for what I am asking)

If a new build; what do you guys recommend? If I am going for a new build I want it to be as cheap as possible
- CPU: can be in the potato range (I have a VM cluster for compute)
- RAM: I have 3 sticks of DDR4 available, DDR3L I have as well. (I have DDR3 SODIMMs as well from a NUC)
- SATA ports: At least 8 (10 would be preferred) can be gathered from PCI-E ports as well, but need to provide at least 3Gbps for each disk.

 

[Chris Moore]

Issue is, my ASRock C27550 died. And it's outside of warranty, did a request at ASRock and they replaced it (3.5 years old) however the board I received also does not post at all.

Should I continue to investigate this or just get another build? (Read: is this my best and cheapest solution for what I am asking)

If a new build; what do you guys recommend? If I am going for a new build I want it to be as cheap as possible
- CPU: can be in the potato range (I have a VM cluster for compute)
- RAM: I have 3 sticks of DDR4 available, DDR3L I have as well. (I have DDR3 SODIMMs as well from a NUC)
- SATA ports: At least 8 (10 would be preferred) can be gathered from PCI-E ports as well, but need to provide at least 3Gbps for each disk.

If you have a replacement board, and still get no post, you need to check your other hardware, it probably isn't the board.

 

[Enira]

If you have a replacement board, and still get no post, you need to check your other hardware, it probably isn't the board.

Not so sure, I am running on the bare necessities. It's propped on a cardboard (so I can't have a short in the case) and I only have the PSU attached, a network cable for the IPMI and a VGA for output. (No disks attached, no keyboard, not even case headers)

I already tried two different PSU's. And I have 4 ECC RAM sticks all separately tried on port A1. (RAM worked before, what are the odds of all four sticks dying at the same time)

Only options left are:
- Buying a new PSU and try to see if this works
- Try some non ECC RAM (Although the RAM compatibility with this board is a pure horror, doubt to find some)

 

[Ericloewe]

Definitely try a different PSU.

 

[Enira]

I was ready to give up on this board and just started looking around for a replacement but I seem to have solved the issues with it. This thread contains the fix: https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/c2550d4i-no-post-no-vga-output-via-ipmi.28582/page-2

Basically I tried every RAM again one by one. Sensor Readings in Megarac web management console only showed a minimal amount of values: ATX+5VSB & +3VSB voltages.

I used each single stick of RAM and between each stick I did a clear CMOS. The 3rd or 4th stick (wasn't paying attention) caused the system to kick back to life. IPMI started showing all voltages. I couldn't believe it at first when the system showed: "Host is currently on" I installed everything back (drives, fans, RAM).

Added all 4 RAM sticks and tried booting: Waiting for BMC Initializing... Code 04 hangs for half an hour. (http://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=3440&title=cant-boot-waiting-for-bmc-initializing) Removed all the RAM, with one stick in A1 (the one that worked when it kicked back to life). Boot: no issues.
Mixed up the RAM and added one in slot B1. Booted with no issues. Added 2 sticks in slot A2 & B2. Booted back to life. Currently testing RAM, no issues found yet.

Got to admit my RAM isn't listed on the QVL list, but it worked fine for 3,5 year. Don't know if it might help someone but before it tried booting in BIOS all lights just briefly flashed red.

 

[Chris Moore]

Got to admit my RAM isn't listed on the QVL list, but it worked fine for 3,5 year. Don't know if it might help someone but before it tried booting in BIOS all lights just briefly flashed red.

It does not happen often, but I have seen RAM go bad and need to be replaced. I have, over the course of many years, had several servers need a single stick replaced because it went bad. It is really nice when the server has a front panel display and diagnostics good enough to tell you which stick needs to be replaced. Some systems will tell you what the problem is but others will just fail to boot.