SOLVED RAM Failure on SuperMicro X10SDV-7TP4F board

Constantin

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May 19, 2017
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Good morning,

I am currently trying to transition the system to my new SuperMicro X10 board and I am running into several persistent issues. I've already documented my inability to remove the old SLOGs from my pool elsewhere. Another thing I'm running into is very strange behavior by the SuperMicro X10SDV-7TP4F board re: memory.

I ordered altogether 4 sticks of 32GB Registered DDR4 RAM Hynix HMA84GR7AFR4N-UH memory (on the HW list) but received HMA84GR7MFR4N-UH from both. Hynix lists info on the AFR4N series but none on the MFR4N series. Are they equivalent? Per the Hynix DDR4 SKU decoder, the only difference between the two RAM sticks is the die generation. The "M" variant is a generation older than the "A" variant.

The RAM seems to be the same re: general specs but I wonder if I need to return it because the board is giving me weird errors. Specifically, on boot, if all 4 sticks are in, I will get a "DIMM training error" or a similar "uncorrectable error" for the DIMM in Slot A1 that disappears if I remove the second bank of memory. All sticks are fine in slot A1 as long as there aren't any sticks in the A2 and B2 DIMM slots.

Is this a BIOS / Firmware issue? Per the IPMI, the current state is:
Firmware Revision : 03.68
Firmware Build Time : 03/20/2018
BIOS Version: 1.3
BIOS Build Time: 03/19/2018

Per the SuperMicro X10SDV-7TP4F board site, the firmware is current but the BIOS is not. The current BIOS on the site is listed as 2.0. Is upgrading the BIOS where I should start?
 
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Constantin

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Well, bought the OOB license and upgraded the BIOS to 2.0. No difference.

Any combination of my present RAM sticks will work, but only if I limit them to slots A1 and B1.

Add a DIMM in A2, or the combination of A2 and B2, and the machine will not post. Time to contact SuperMicro (sigh)
 

Constantin

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SM got back to me, couldn't find HMA84GR7MFR4N-UH DIMM specifications online (see here for example), wondered if I have alternative DIMMs to play with. I don't, so now the question is how to proceed - do they want the board back, the memory to play with, etc.

I suppose I could also hammer the two sets of modules separately via memtest86 to see if that makes a difference.

Has anyone got any experience with what difference the "die generation" of the RAM chips make on assembled DIMMs? Both sets of modules were sold to me as HMA84GR7AFR4N-UH, so I could return them and ask for exact-spec module. In the marketplace, the cost for both types of modules is identical.

Contacting Hynix to ask for enlightenment via technical support seems somewhat impossible. Their Javascript submission system seems to be completely broken, so I don't seem to have a path forward there.

So the easiest path forward may be to return the present sets of memory and order "correct-spec" DIMMs down to the die generation.
 
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Constantin

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SM advised getting the exact spec memory. Even though this ought to be nothing more than a wild turkey chase, I've contacted both vendors and am working on getting my sticks replaced. Thankfully, I took pictures of the sticks in their original packaging so I have S/N's to link each stick to each vendor.
 

Constantin

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May 19, 2017
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Received new memory that matches the SuperMicro specification exactly. Long story short, the memory posted without issues.

I have no idea why the die revision on the DIMM RAM chips would make a difference, but just goes to show that getting the exact right RAM simply eliminates some of the uncertainty around why a board won't POST.
 

tfran1990

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Oct 18, 2017
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Wow, the server world seems totally different. For a desktop you can throw mis matching speeds and sizes in any combination(defaults to slowest speed)and it will work the majority of the time.

Thanks for sharing this with us.
 

jgreco

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May 29, 2011
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Wow, the server world seems totally different. For a desktop you can throw mis matching speeds and sizes in any combination(defaults to slowest speed)and it will work the majority of the time.

That doesn't always work for desktops. Servers can be a little bit particular but it's somewhat unusual for them to be. I tend to buy memory that is on *SOME* Supermicro compatibility result somewhere and then usually it also works in similar boards even if that module isn't listed.
 
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