Holy Grail: Dual V1 Xeon Mobo £69.99

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chriscambridge
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Re: Holy Grail: Dual V1 Xeon Mobo £69.99

Post by chriscambridge »

Hyper 103; These are pretty much the standard CPU cooler I use on everything now, as they are low cost, effective at cooling, fit Intel core and xeon LGA2011/LGA2011-3, and most importantly fit within a 4U rack chassis.
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Re: Holy Grail: Dual V1 Xeon Mobo £69.99

Post by UBT - Timbo »

chriscambridge wrote: Fri Nov 16, 2018 4:16 pm Image
Hi Chris

Which mobo is this?

It looks a lot like the Intel S2600CP mobo, but it has a lot more SATA sockets on the front right (as in photo) compared to mine (which has the spaces for the sockets, but none fitted. :-( )

Also, you've got the CPU fans facing sideways (towards the 24-pin molex power connector), whereas on the Arctic fans I have, they can only be mounted to face towards the rear of the board.
Not sure what you are going to pay for a single socket 2011, but there are some Intel S2600CP motherboards on Ebay for around £200.
I've seen some Asus boards on ebay - the last one went for 134.00 and others have been in that same region of price.

But as mentioned previously, I'm less keen on paying top whack and getting another S2600CP board, just because of the recent issue in terms of reliability !!

regards
Tim
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Re: Holy Grail: Dual V1 Xeon Mobo £69.99

Post by Woodles »

UBT - Timbo wrote: Mon Nov 19, 2018 6:43 pmHi Chris

Which mobo is this?

It looks a lot like the Intel S2600CP mobo, but it has a lot more SATA sockets on the front right (as in photo) compared to mine (which has the spaces for the sockets, but none fitted. :-( )

Also, you've got the CPU fans facing sideways (towards the 24-pin molex power connector), whereas on the Arctic fans I have, they can only be mounted to face towards the rear of the board.
Not sure what you are going to pay for a single socket 2011, but there are some Intel S2600CP motherboards on Ebay for around £200.
I've seen some Asus boards on ebay - the last one went for 134.00 and others have been in that same region of price.

But as mentioned previously, I'm less keen on paying top whack and getting another S2600CP board, just because of the recent issue in terms of reliability !!

regards
Tim
Hi Tim,

The board is an S2600CP4 model. Identical to the S2600CP boards but with two extra NICs and with eight extra SATA 3GB ports for a RAID configuration. One of mine is the same, the others just the basic ones.

My fans face the same way as Chris's but I use the EVO 212 which can have the fan mounted on either side (or two fans) It fits in any of the four orientations.

Mark
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Re: Holy Grail: Dual V1 Xeon Mobo £69.99

Post by chriscambridge »

I was wondering if someone was going to spot the CPU coolers direction.. These are Hyper 103s so like the EVO 212s you can point them in any direction. At the moment I am out of U space in the server rack so am going to build this into a Enthoo pro case (which has top fans) hence why they are facing upwards. Once I am ready to mount it into a server rack then I will have to point them the 'normal way' backwards.

I hear what you are saying about your mobo busting, but to be honest i think all old mobos will have a chance of components failing; from what I have read about these mobos online, unreliability does not seem to be an issue; I think maybe you just had a run of bad luck. I know I never had any issues (except having the do the FRSDR BIOS update on the first one) on any of my 3/4 mobos.

If you compare 2x single socket setups, to 1x dual socket, the dual option is going to work out much cheaper as you won't need 2 of so many things (PSU, mobo, case). That is the way I would look at it, as well as needing less space.

-

Its interesting that you guys spotted the extra SATA ports and NICs as I complete missed it, and perhaps it explains something which came with my Intel mobo but which the seller did not know what it was (just that it was connected when he took the servers apart).

Image

As you can see (perhaps) it looks to have a NIC connector on the card, and a SATA connector on the rippon, and some kind of other yellow connector.

After doing a bit of research I think its a network based, add-in BMC with IPMI; basically a networked KVM. Although I am not really sure 100% as its abit unclear how, or what, would plug into that yellow connector.
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Re: Holy Grail: Dual V1 Xeon Mobo £69.99

Post by UBT - Timbo »

chriscambridge wrote: Mon Nov 19, 2018 11:07 pm
Its interesting that you guys spotted the extra SATA ports and NICs as I complete missed it, and perhaps it explains something which came with my Intel mobo but which the seller did not know what it was (just that it was connected when he took the servers apart).

Image

As you can see (perhaps) it looks to have a NIC connector on the card, and a SATA connector on the rippon, and some kind of other yellow connector.

After doing a bit of research I think its a network based, add-in BMC with IPMI; basically a networked KVM. Although I am not really sure 100% as its abit unclear how, or what, would plug into that yellow connector.
Hi Chris

Actually THAT part could be quite a useful tool to borrow by either Mark or I as we both now have dead S2600CP mobo's - Mark now seems to have experienced exactly the same issue as me on one of his mobo's !!

(You can find it by googling "Intel AXXRMM4" - https://www.encore-pc.co.uk/intel-axxrm ... -accessory

It plugs into the mobo between the 2 PCI slots furthest from the CPU's - you might see on your mobo, that there is also a small "chip module" plugged in, nearest the square chipset near the edge of the board...that is shown on the link above. )

And I'm thinking that maybe this RMM board *COULD* help solve the issue of non-booting boards IF it outputs any signals from the BMC.

So, keep it on hand if you can. I'm actually coming to Cambridge this Thursday evening, so maybe I could pick it up from you and see if it would help solve the problem. (It might not of course, but it's worth a try - I've seen these boards on fleabay for about £30 or so, but if you are not using it... ?).

regards
Tim
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Re: Holy Grail: Dual V1 Xeon Mobo £69.99

Post by chriscambridge »

Yeah I see them both:

Image

I would have no problem lending you it (as long as you replaced it if it came back faulty); however personally I don't think it will work as I actually setup and entered the BMC on my first board (if you remember) and to do that I had to setup the local network connection settings (in the BIOS beforehand), as explained and shown here:

https://kb.stonegroup.co.uk/index.php?V ... ntryID=260

Image

Also if components are faulty on the board, I am not sure how getting into the BMC will fix this. If I remember rightly to reset the BIOS there is a jumper switch on the board.

It will be interesting to see what Mark thinks about using this to resolve the issue.

I won't be around late in the Week but I have motion activated CCTV outside my apartment, and my doorway is in a stairwell, so I could work out somewhere safe I could leave it for you to pick up; that is, as long as you agree to replace it if your board fries it.
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Re: Holy Grail: Dual V1 Xeon Mobo £69.99

Post by UBT - Timbo »

HI Chris

Understood on all points :-)

I was rather hoping that this device might enable access to the mobo, to see the POST errors...but if the BIOS must be adjusted to "enable" the RMM, then this isn't going to help.

I'll wait and see if Mark can check this out too...and it's even possible that Mark might feel that he is better able to use this device rather than me...!

Plus he is nearer to you, so he can collect it better than I - so let's see if he thinks it could help?

(As you might guess, I'm rather "grabbing at straws" to think of ways to get to the bottom of this mobo problem...and in my case, I can't even get to the BIOS, so if that is necessary to even make the RMM board work, then it won't help :-( ).

regards
Tim
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Re: Holy Grail: Dual V1 Xeon Mobo £69.99

Post by Woodles »

Hi Both,

If you can't get into the BIOS then the CPU isn't running.

If the CPU isn't running then there's no diagnostics from either a serial port or a network one.

Sadly, the RMM wouldn't do anything in this situation.

The first step is to get the BIOS going.

From a (very) quick look at my failed board, it looks like a failed/damaged hardware component stopping the PSU from working correctly.

Mark
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Re: Holy Grail: Dual V1 Xeon Mobo £69.99

Post by chriscambridge »

Just out of interest, are the 2 boards that have now failed S2600CP4 or S2600CP versions? Could be useful to know if its the earlier version failing, especially if anyone is going to buy anymore of these boards in the future.
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Re: Holy Grail: Dual V1 Xeon Mobo £69.99

Post by UBT - Timbo »

chriscambridge wrote: Wed Nov 21, 2018 12:27 pm Just out of interest, are the 2 boards that have now failed S2600CP4 or S2600CP versions? Could be useful to know if its the earlier version failing, especially if anyone is going to buy anymore of these boards in the future.
Hi Chris

Mine''s a S2600CP - the board without the extra SATA sockets next to the 24 pin MOLEX power connector.

regards
Tim
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Re: Holy Grail: Dual V1 Xeon Mobo £69.99

Post by UBT - Timbo »

Woodles wrote: Wed Nov 21, 2018 12:11 pm Hi Both,

If you can't get into the BIOS then the CPU isn't running.

If the CPU isn't running then there's no diagnostics from either a serial port or a network one.

Sadly, the RMM wouldn't do anything in this situation.

The first step is to get the BIOS going.

Mark
Hi Mark

Understood...though I had thought that maybe the initial boot up procedure with this industrial grade of server board, would allow access to part of the server, even if the CPU wasn't working...like a pre-boot mini-server function, that happened prior to this circuit then saying "ok everything is fine, now load the OS and boot up" or "there's a problem such as..." - and then someone who was using the Remote Monitoring feature, could actually identify the issue that was causing the server to not boot/work as expected.
Woodles wrote: Wed Nov 21, 2018 12:11 pm From a (very) quick look at my failed board, it looks like a failed/damaged hardware component stopping the PSU from working correctly.
That was my guess too, BUT I couldn't see any "suspects" such as bulging (or exploded) caps, a nice hole in the middle of a IC, or the odd burnt out resistor or fusible link :-(

I have tried a number of different PSUs and when power is applied, the CPUs fans do spin up and the large heatsinked chip near to the 24 pin MOLEX does get warm...so, something is going on...PLUS the CPU's in a different mobo work correctly.

regards
Tim
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Re: Holy Grail: Dual V1 Xeon Mobo £69.99

Post by Woodles »

Hi Tim,

The ONLY intelligence on the board is the CPU(s). One will run the BIOS microcode to check the board out, display any errors (visibly or via the RMM) and display the BIOS screen to allow changes to be made. Then it will invoke the BIOS bootloader code which will examine the hard disc and load an OS if present.

This is why you sometimes need BIOS updates if the board was designed for an older CPU, it doesn't have the correct microcode to use the newer CPU capabilities. Also why you'd need a BIOS update for new HDD modes.

Until the BIOS can run, the only diagnostics are hardware ones (LEDs, buzzers etc)

I haven't had a detailed look yet (a little busy at the moment) I was only going by the slight clicking noise that the original PSU made when trying to start the board once it had failed.

It does sound like the boards are almost working (and they were previously before power off) so I wouldn't expect a catastrophic failure, it may be something as minor as the power on reset to the CPUs isn't working and they never start running.

Mark
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Re: Holy Grail: Dual V1 Xeon Mobo £69.99

Post by Woodles »

chriscambridge wrote: Wed Nov 21, 2018 12:27 pm Just out of interest, are the 2 boards that have now failed S2600CP4 or S2600CP versions? Could be useful to know if its the earlier version failing, especially if anyone is going to buy anymore of these boards in the future.
Hi Chris,

Mine is also one of the S2600CP variants.

I suspect the only real differences between the two types though is that the connectors were fitted onto the pre-drilled places and maybe a flag set to say they're present. Maybe a microcode change as well.

There isn't an 'earlier' version as such, both variations were available at the same time, one's just a more capable version.

Mark
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Re: Holy Grail: Dual V1 Xeon Mobo £69.99

Post by chriscambridge »

Yeah you're probably right, although it is interesting that it is both these variants that have failed.
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Re: Holy Grail: Dual V1 Xeon Mobo £69.99

Post by UBT - Timbo »

Hi all

Anyone still interested in the Intel S2600CP Dual Xeon server mobo's?

This ebay seller has listed them for 74.99 each + free UK postage.

Or buy 2 for 71.24 ea or 3 for 67.49 ea....or 4 for 63.74 ea

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/273686871588

They also seem to include 1x heatskink plus the I/O shield. But no CPU or RAM.

I'm tempted...as I still have the CPUs/heatsinks/RAM/case from the one that failed...

regards
Tim
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Re: Holy Grail: Dual V1 Xeon Mobo £69.99

Post by chriscambridge »

That is very low cost, and the seller offers 30 day free returns.
Woodles wrote: Wed Nov 21, 2018 2:39 pm
Obviously doing a 3/4 way buy would be even cheaper.

If Mark is up for buying in, then I guess I can come onboard (even though I not even sure if I am going to run these anymore).
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Re: Holy Grail: Dual V1 Xeon Mobo £69.99

Post by UBT - Timbo »

Hi Chris

They have now sold 17 in the last 24 hours....and now 9 left.

There is a small saving to be had for multiple items...but the saving isn't much compared to the extra cost of receiving one delivery (of a number of mobos)and then re-sending them to anyone else who was interested.

(ie 74.99 vs 63.74 for 4+ - saving 11.25, but then extra postage will reduce this).

Obviously, if you and Mark want to club together then that makes sense as you live/work close to each other. :-)

regards
Tim
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Re: Holy Grail: Dual V1 Xeon Mobo £69.99

Post by chriscambridge »

Oh okay, I thought you were asking if we wanted to all buy in together.

Personally I will wait until I hear what Mark thinks about rebuying as I can take it or leave it really.
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Re: Holy Grail: Dual V1 Xeon Mobo £69.99

Post by chriscambridge »

Only 8 left now.. they do seem to be selling very fast. Previously these were selling for £180 so I am not surprised people are buying them up quite quickly.
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Re: Holy Grail: Dual V1 Xeon Mobo £69.99

Post by Woodles »

While these are good systems, I think I'm going to be looking at newer setups for my next builds so I'll be giving these a miss.

(Four left now)

Mark
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Re: Holy Grail: Dual V1 Xeon Mobo £69.99

Post by chriscambridge »

Yeah I am kind of thinking the same thing really. I will also leave buying anymore of these mobos then.

Hey Mark, what VNC are you using? Was it TightVNC? or was that someone else.

I am having issues with TeamViewer so want to switch to something better that someone has used (with many hosts) for a long period.
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Re: Holy Grail: Dual V1 Xeon Mobo £69.99

Post by Woodles »

Hi Chris,

Yes, I'm using TightVNC. It's working fine on my Windows machines, it's supposed to work on Linux but I haven't got around to trying it yet.

Mark
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Re: Holy Grail: Dual V1 Xeon Mobo £69.99

Post by chriscambridge »

Okay thanks; have you used it for long? And I guess you have never had any 'commercial use suspected' notifications (if its a personal use version)?

RealVNC (Cambridge) and TeamViewer are great software apps, but they really need to improve their 'commercial usage algorithms'! :twisted:
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Re: Holy Grail: Dual V1 Xeon Mobo £69.99

Post by UBT - Timbo »

Hi both

On the mobo front - I was going to "sleep on it" and leave it until tomorrow to decide whether to buy, but with now 4 left, I've pulled the trigger on one piece... !!

It might be older tech, but I've got a box of bits that are just lying around and I'd like to put it back into action.

I was looking out for X79 series chipset mobo's (that support the Xeon CPUs) but none were available at reasonable pricing and they didn't support the DDR3L RAM I have.

At least once this other S2600CP mobo gets going, I can maybe fault-find what happened to the first one. :-)

BUT I do have a clue...as one of the Xeon CPUs was swapped into a spare X79 board I already had and it crashed a couple of times.

When I checked the BIOS, 2 of the cores (#7 and #8) were registering the wrong core temperatures...namely, 1174470664 degrees and 2 degrees and running at the wrong speeds 2600 instead of 3000 and 4200 instead of 2600 compared to the other cores - see attachment !!

.
xeon-e5-2670.jpg
.

So, I'm guessing that the Xeon CPU fault might be the reason the Intel board wouldn't boot...but it is a long shot !!


re: TightVNC
I was using TeamViewer until I was judged to be using it "commercially" :-(

I'm now using AnyDesk, which works pretty well. Is TightVNC any betterer ??

regards
Tim
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Re: Holy Grail: Dual V1 Xeon Mobo £69.99

Post by Woodles »

Hi Chris,

I downloaded the installer in November 2016 and I don't normally download things to leave them sitting around so I imagine I've used it for a little over two years.

Never had any problems with it but then again I've not tried to do anything particularly demanding with it.

Connects, displays and controls other hosts both on the same wired network, via the router and via WIFI.

It can be configured to be accessed remotely but I haven't had any need for that.

Never had any nag screens or pop ups and I've got it running on eleven hosts. It's free and I don't think there's a commercial variant so that may be why.

Mark
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Re: Holy Grail: Dual V1 Xeon Mobo £69.99

Post by Woodles »

Hi TIm,

Good luck with your 'new' PC :)

They are great boards when they're working, 32 cores at 3GHz and running quite happily with a 550W PSU (I think I measured power draw as ~200W but I can't find the data now)

I still haven't managed to find the time to fault find my board yet, hopefully I should have some spare time in a couple of weeks. I'll make sure to check whether the CPU is running at a billion degrees!

Mark
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Re: Holy Grail: Dual V1 Xeon Mobo £69.99

Post by chriscambridge »

That is very strange about the Xeon, I thought CPUs were pretty much blackboxs, and if none of the chip stuff (capacitors, etc) were damaged then it would work as normal. But as its showing faults across 2 mobos then obviously not.

I still have these 2x E5-2690V1's so at some point I will have to work out what to do with them (along with the 32GB RAM).

I would definitely be interested in what you both find re the Xeon and the Intel board(s).

I took a look at TightVNC and I think it could be somewhat of a nightmare to setup on Linux as its my understanding you have to setup a VNC server, but then also use software rendering via Linux Mint Cinnamon or whatever desktop you are using.

So far all the VNC type apps that I have seen (except TeamViewer, RealVNC, AnyDesk) won't work under Linux.

Also RealVNC, TeamViewer, and AnyDesk all seem to want over £300 per year to remote to upto 10 computers which is crazy.

If and when TeamViewer cuts me off I will try and get TightVNC working on Linux and Windows.
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Re: Holy Grail: Dual V1 Xeon Mobo £69.99

Post by Woodles »

The VNCserver is just the application really, you can configure it with view/access passwords but don't need to.

I think the main problem with remote access to Linux systems is that the remote connection is set up as it's own instance on the host so it's difficult to control other users instances.

I've had a quick Google and there seems to be loads of installation and setup guides for the process.

Once I've ran enough Gerasim then I'll be swapping over to Wanless on Linux so I'll give it a try then. It's going to be a couple of weeks at least though.

Mark
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Re: Holy Grail: Dual V1 Xeon Mobo £69.99

Post by chriscambridge »

Okay that sounds like a plan then.. Thanks much appreciated.

Like I mentioned most CPU projects that I have run on Linux vs Windows has shown good improvements, including some GPU projects too.

I still have TeamViewer running, plus I have a 8 port USB/HDMI KVM which I could use instead of any VNC, so timing isn't critical or anything.
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