SOLVED Quick build question: Am I getting ECC mode?

[willrun4fun]

I just recieved my new motherboard and memory. I am using a G3258 processor. Am I properly getting ECC activated? RAM is in the two blue slots as per the manual.

SUPERMICRO MBD-X10SLL-F-O uATX Server Motherboard LGA 1150 DDR3 1600
Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC Unbuffered DDR3L 1600 (PC3L 12800)

 

[Nick2253]

It looks like you're using Memtest86+ v5.01, which is, at this point, fairly old. I'm not even sure if 5.01 supports ECC detection for non-Xeon Haswell CPUs. I would use a recent version of Memtest86 (not 86+).

However, there's no indication in either Memtest about your ECC status. They will detect ECC errors (at least Memtest86 v5+ will), but cannot confirm that it's working as far as I'm aware (or at least confirm so reliably). To confirm that your memory is running in ECC mode, there are a number of checks you can do from within FreeNAS: the simplest is dmidecode. The following command will get you the exact status: dmidecode |grep "Error Correction Type" If you see "Single-bit ECC" (or some variant thereof), you're running ECC.

 

[Ericloewe]

I'm not even sure if 5.01 supports ECC detection for non-Xeon Haswell CPUs.

Memtest86+ 5.x doesn't support ECC at all. Any corrections will only show up in the IPMI log.

Some further points:

• I'll be testing memtest86 (non-plus) soon to see just how ECC-aware it is
• Haswell i3s with Supermicro X10 boards have been empirically proven to use ECC. Pentiums should be fine, too.

 

[Stux]

It looks like you're using Memtest86+ v5.01, which is, at this point, fairly old. I'm not even sure if 5.01 supports ECC detection for non-Xeon Haswell CPUs. I would use a recent version of Memtest86 (not 86+).

However, there's no indication in either Memtest about your ECC status. They will detect ECC errors (at least Memtest86 v5+ will), but cannot confirm that it's working as far as I'm aware (or at least confirm so reliably). To confirm that your memory is running in ECC mode, there are a number of checks you can do from within FreeNAS: the simplest is dmidecode. The following command will get you the exact status: dmidecode |grep "Error Correction Type" If you see "Single-bit ECC" (or some variant thereof), you're running ECC.

This is not necessarily true.

I have a QX9650 system with DDR3 ECC ram, unfortunately, the DX35BT motherboard doesn't seem to have the ECC pins connected. Anyway, running the above commandline produces

Code:

%dmidecode |grep "Error Correction Type"
    Error Correction Type: Single-bit ECC
    Error Correction Type: Single-bit ECC
    Error Correction Type: Single-bit ECC
    Error Correction Type: None

Sweet. ECC. But I have 4 DIMMs... why is the 4th not working?

Upon closer inspection the L2 and both L1 caches are ECC protected, but not the DIMMs.

Code:

Handle 0x0014, DMI type 16, 15 bytes
Physical Memory Array
    Location: System Board Or Motherboard
    Use: System Memory
    Error Correction Type: None
    Maximum Capacity: 8 GB
    Error Information Handle: Not Provided
    Number Of Devices: 4

I did find another resource which said that if you have ECC ram then the total width of your memory devices will be 72 bits, not 64 bits. Alas my memory shows up as 64 bits.

Code:

Handle 0x001B, DMI type 17, 27 bytes
Memory Device
    Array Handle: 0x0014
    Error Information Handle: Not Provided
    Total Width: 64 bits
    Data Width: 64 bits
    Size: 2048 MB
    Form Factor: DIMM
    Set: None
    Locator: J6J2
    Bank Locator: CHAN B DIMM 1
    Type: Other
    Type Detail: Synchronous
    Speed: 1066 MHz
    Manufacturer: 0x802C
    Serial Number: 0xD84CC368
    Asset Tag: Unknown
    Part Number: 0x31384A53463235363732415A2D3147314431

I guess, if all the Error Correction Types are something, then you're protected.

 

[willrun4fun]

I loaded up the new version and ECC is enabled.