Supermicro X11SSM-F does not power on at all

[d3zmodos]

Hi everyone
I recently purchased this system and now that all the parts have arrived I'm setting it up. (I've reproduced the parts list at the bottom of the post for convenience).
So I unpack the the CPU, and Mobo, seat the CPU, install the fan, attach the PSU, connect chassis front-panel power connector, and finally hit the button.
...
Nothing.
No beeps, no fans spinning, no escaped puffs of that essential grey smoke. Just silence.
My initial guess was that something had been fried or was faulty but I don't really have a good way to check that and the BMC LED is flashing green (which, if I understand the manual correctly, is what it should be doing).
A bit of head-scratching and searching later I find this thread from a few years ago for a X10 mobo. Options suggested from there are 1) my BIOS is too old or 2) my fan is connected to the wrong header.
Check the manual, try FANA, same result, move back to FAN1 (which is labelled as CPU FAN anyways).
Remember that I specifically got an IPMI board, connect that up, log in. BIOS version shows as 2.2 so I don't expect to have the "At least v2.0" issue with the CPU.
Trying to power on via IPMI also does nothing, which rules out the possibility that I'm connecting the front-panel connectors to the wrong pins.
IPMI Hardware info page shows my CPU as "Intel Core i3-6300 @ 3.8GHz" which isn't what the G5420 is sold as but I'm guessing thats what it is under the hood in some sense.
I only have one DIMM installed in DIMMA2, so its a bit strange that I see DIMMA2 *and* DIMMB2 show up under hardware info. They both show a 2400MHz 16GB DIMM but with different serial numbers and the Manufacturer is listed as Kingston (my DIMM is from Crucial). So thats weird but surely it should at least power on without any DIMMs installed? (It didn't, that's what I tried first).
There are 2 PSU's listed somehow and both of them show the same info, most of which is "To Be Filled By O.E.M"...should that be the case? My PSU isn't connected to anything other than the 24-pin and 8-pin power connectors.
Another strange thing on IPMI hardware info is that the serial number under "System" is just 0123456789.
POST Snooping shows "ff" as the only value (I'm just listing information here in case it helps anybody at this point, I've never used IPMI before so I have no clue what any of this means).

Come to think of it, I actually don't have anything on the mobo itself (either on the physical board or via IPMI) that gives the model of the board...maybe its possible they sent me the wrong board? Is there somewhere that should show this information?

Any ideas? Help or suggestions would be much appreciated :)

Parts list:
Mobo: Supermicro X11SSM-F
CPU: Intel Pentium G5420
PSU: bequiet Pure Power 11 400W
Memory: 1x Crucial 16GB DDR4-2666 EUDIMM (CT16G4WFD8266)

 

[Patrick M. Hausen]

Can it power up with just one memory module installed? I'd check that first. And no, I know of now board that powers on without any memory ...

 

[Redcoat]

Should your single DIMM not be in B2, rather than B1? QRG implies that it should start up with one, but anyway I'd go ahead and put in the other if I were you. Oh, reading again, perhaps you only have one...

 

[d3zmodos]

@Patrick M. Hausen Sadly, it has the same behaviour with 0 DIMMs and 1 DIMM installed. The manual for the SSM-F gives a beep code for "no memory in the system" though, so surely if I booted it with no memory and all else was well, it should power on and beep?
@Redcoat Correct, I just have the one DIMM on hand, and it is currently seated in A2 (not B1). I did try B2 as well though, just in case, and it gives the same behaviour.

 

[Redcoat]

Hmmm. Motherboard should have several labels on it. Look at the picture in the manual.

Is your mobo (supposed to be) new/unused?

If you have it installed in a chassis, please make sure you do't have a short to chassis ground via a standoff or similar.

 

[Patrick M. Hausen]

so surely if I booted it with no memory and all else was well, it should power on and beep?

Yeah, sure. The infamous three beeps in most cases. I wouldn't call that "powering up", because you do not even get a console picture.

Now for the winning question: did you connect a speaker? ;)

Patrick

 

[d3zmodos]

@Redcoat Labels for what? I have the manual on-hand (it suggests only 2 DIMM configurations, a 4-DIMM option using all slots and a 2-DIMM option using DIMMA2 and DIMMA4. It does, however, specify explicitly that configurations with 1 or 3 modules are supported (and that you should start at DIMMB2.
The mobo is (supposed to be) new, purchased from a supplier. It didn't come in an official box but according to the supplier this is because it's stock that was originally intended for bulk purchases.

@Patrick M. Hausen I had not connected a speaker, however there is an onboard one (which, according to the manual, is enabled when you jumper two pins that had a jumper on by default). I did try connecting a speaker though, no difference. Although every other board I've ever used (none of which were Supermicro, admittedly) would at least spin up the CPU fan before beeping though, so I'm not really surprised =/

Is there any way to narrow down the parts that may be at fault? Given that IPMI appears to be functioning correctly I would expect that the PSU is at least functioning in some capacity but presumably the rest of the mobo could be at fault? Is there any way to narrow down or rule out the CPU/memory (without swapping those out for other parts since I have none on hand, sadly)? Again I wouldn't expect that it's the memory at fault since I have no evidence that the system is even reaching a POST memory check that it could fail.

Thanks for the help anyways! :)

 

[d3zmodos]

Oh woops I forgot to mention (and don't appear to be able to edit my post):
@Redcoat I currently have the mobo setup on the box it came in, exactly in an attempt to rule out shorts with the chassis :)

 

[JohnnyGrey]

I would have also guessed that the serial number, and two PSUs also sound flaky, had I not checked my own X11SSH board. It two lists two PSUs, and the serial number is also 0123456789, however my board has been rock solid for three years.

This Reddit post, while far from definitive, is suggesting that the Coffee Lake CPU is not compatible with the c236 chipset, as it is designed for 6th and 7th gen CPUs. Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

 

[MikeyG]

I agree re: the coffee lake CPU. That board doesn't say it's compatible with 8th gen CPUs. I wouldn't think this would cause a power on issue though. I think even without CPU or memory installed I've been able to power on boards in the past and get LEDs on and fans spinning.

If it was me, I'd get the correct CPU, then troubleshoot the board with Supermicro as it may be faulty.

 

[d3zmodos]

I contacted the motherboard vendor a few days ago, explained the whole situation and they were adamant that the issue is an incompatible CPU, as you suggest. Indeed the spec page for the X11-SSM-F lists CPU compatibility as: "Intel® 7th/6th Generation Core i3 series, Intel® Celeron®, Intel® Pentium®, Intel® Xeon® processor E3-1200 v6/v5. " which I originally took to mean "6th or 7th Gen Core i3, Any Celeron, Any Pentium or Intel Xeon E3-1200 v5 or v6". In hindsight this is a silly conclusion to draw because I very much doubt this fairly-recent motherboard supports CPUs released in 1993, but I think the spec from Supermicro could be a little more clear, oh well.

At the same time the vendor suggested that I instead use a Pentium G4560, which according to its page in the Intel Ark, is a Kaby Lake unit (whereas the G5420's page lists it as a Coffee Lake unit, so at least the information is all consistent). I'm just waiting to get a hold of one of those and then I was going to reply here with this revelation and the outcome of trying the older-gen processor. You got here first though :)

Assuming that the G4560 works I was also going to update my "Will it Freenas" thread (linked in the original post) about it so that anybody who might find the thread in future won't run into the same thing. Not sure if that'd be an accepted thing to do though (since that post is fairly old at this point)?

 

[JohnnyGrey]

...I think the spec from Supermicro could be a little more clear...

I agree, Supermicro's product listing should specify which series Celeron/Pentium CPUs are compatible, although I do think part of the fault lies with Intel and their crappy naming. Pentium and Celeron 4XXX series would almost imply they are the same gen as the Core i3/i5/i7 4XXX, when there are many years between the two. Same thing with the 5XXX series.

I wish they were like AMD, where all it takes is a BIOS flash to work with the newer chips. And it would have been doable via IPMI!

I don't think your first thread is too old to warrant a reply and/or edit. Sorry none of us caught the incompatible CPU in that thread.