I've got all the basic components for a basic unRAID server and put it all together but I can't get it to start up at all!

 

Here are my components:

Supermicro C2SEE

E3400 Celeron Dual Core CPU

Kingston HyperX 2x2GB DDR3 RAM

Corsair CX430 Power Supply

Transcend 4GB Flash Drive

2x Hitachi 2TB HDD

 

I don't have a case right now so I don't have any of the LED, power, and reset pins connected. I don't know if that's a problem and thought I could just jumper the power button pins to turn the computer on but nothing happens.

 

I thought maybe my PSU might be DOA so I unplugged all the cables and just plugged the PSU in, turned on the switch and jumpered the green and black terminals on the PSU and the PSU fan turned on so I think the PSU is okay.

 

From the PSU, I've connected the 24 pin and 8 pin cables to the motherboard and 1 power to 1 hard drive for now.

 

On the motherboard, the CPU fan is plugged into the CPU Fan Connector.

 

Both slots of RAM are installed.

 

I've got the USB drive in one of the internal USB slots.

 

The Ethernet jack is plugged in.

 

And the VGA hooked up to my 22" LCD.

 

No keyboard or mouse connected.

 

 

Are there any jumpers on the motherboard that I should change or is there something I'm forgetting? I'm at a loss as to why the motherboard is not booting up.

 

Thanks!

Did you leave the jumper on?  I think you just need to jumper the pins for a very short time.

I'm just using a wire to connect the pins. If you keep a jumper on, I think it'lll just keep cycling on and off according to the C2SEE manual.

 

Thanks, though

First, I just feel obligated to say that, unless you are an expert, you should not be trying to boot your motherboard without it being properly installed in a case.  (If you were an expert, you would not be asking this question ).

 

I am not also not an expert, but am pretty experienced, and think that in order to power on you would need power on the 24 pin connector, power on the 8 pin connector, and a properly installed CPU.  Even no RAM will generate beeps.  My guess would be you either have a defective motherboard, your motherboard that is outside of the case is shorting out, you are not shorting the right pins to power on, you damaged the motherboard playing with it outside the case, your CPU is not properly installed, or your PSU's power switch is not turned on.

 

There might also be a problem with the wiring of the 24 pin connector.  (This happened to me once, that a stray wire was hanging out.  I never tried to use it that way, but I suppose a wire coming lose might cause the motherboard not to boot).

I figured I had the important components and couldn't wait for a case. I wanted to see if I could get it up and running. I'm definitely not an expert but I've put together computers before.

 

I reseated the CPU and fan and the RAM and unplugged the hard drive. The motherboard now powers up! The PSU and lights on the mobo turn on. However, I am not getting an video output on either my 22" LCD monitor or 15" CRT through the VGA port

 

Also, nothing shows up when I got to http://tower on my other desktop that is connected to the same Gigabit switch.

 

Any ideas?

The problem could be that the BIOS is not set up to boot from the flash drive but I can't fix it since the VGA port isn't working properly.

Good news that the motherboard is powering on, but it still sounds like it is not getting through the POST (power on self test) properly.  Are you hearing any beeps or tones coming from the computer after it powers on?  There should be one short beep confirming that it completed the POST and is proceeding to boot.  Sometimes there are multiple tones indicating pre-video errors.

 

If there are no tones, and if you have installed any addon cards (controller, video, lan, etc.), make sure to remove them.  Plug in a keyboard.  Make sure that the monitor is plugged to the motherboard, screwed in, and powered on, before powering up the motherboard.   Only install one memory stick.

 

If it still does not boot, there is a jumper on the motherboard you can use to clear the CMOS memory.  It is possible that the settings got changed and are interfering with the video or with booting.  Refer to the reference manual for instructions to clear the CMOS.

 

It could also be that your CPU is still not installed properly, your memory is bad or not compatible, or your motherboard is shorting out somehow.  I REALLY don't recommend trying to get a motherboard working outside a case.

I'm not getting any POST beeps.

 

I don't have a PS/2 keyboard or mouse to plug in and I don't think USB devices work based on past experience. I also removed one of the memory sticks and followed the instructions to clear the CMOS.

 

I will get a case and hope that will allow everything to work properly. I hope I didn't ruin anything... I was just excited to see my unRAID up and running and didn't know a case was so essential... I just thought it was so the computer looks pretty

 

Thanks for your help and suggestions, bjp999!

I've run motherboards outside of a case before, but bjp999 is right, you have to be very careful with it, and observe proper precautions.  For starters, you should run it on an ESD mat, such as this (in fact I do most of my builds on a mat like that, since I like to work in my carpeted living room).  I also use an ESD bracelet at all times.  Secondly, and I don't know how necessary this is, but it seems like a good idea to me - when closing the circuit to power on the motherboard, you should make sure your body isn't part of that circuit.  A piece of insulated wire with just one exposed end would work.  I use a PCI bracket (one of the half-height ones from a SASLP card) wrapped in thick paper, with only a bit of the metal exposed.  As said before, you only need to close the circuit for an instant, you don't want to install a jumper on those pins or keep the circuit closed for a long period of time.  Think about how the case button works - the circuit is only closed for the length of time that you have the button depressed.

 

So while you can run a motherboard out of a case, generally it is more trouble than it is worth.

Thanks for the tips, Raj!

 

Currently, I have the motherboard on the cardboard box that it came in... I hope that's okay.

 

A tip that I picked up for shorting jumper pins is to use the tip of a flathead screwdriver. This keeps your body isolated from touching the circuit and at a safe distance. There shouldn't be much current draw or voltage in the jumpers but you can never be too careful...

A cardboard box isn't ideal, but at least it is better than carpet.

 

A flathead screwdriver works well as long as you don't touch anything except the plastic handle.  I found the PCI bracket to be easier to handle, but that's just preference.  I found that resting one side against one of the pins and then rocking onto the other makes the process easier as well, as opposed to attempting to hit both pins at once.

The motherboard frequently comes with an antistatic mat (oops did I just admit to installing outside the case?). Seriously, one misplaced hand, dropped screwdriver, kid knocking a table, etc can  lead to a quick failure. I don't normally run outside the case unless I am doing some unusual troubleshooting. 

So the mobo should still make some POST beeps even without a case or keyboard/mouse hooked up to the PS/2 ports?

As long as it has a speaker hooked up to it, then yes.  This motherboard appears to have a built-in speaker (next to the CMOS battery).  If you hear no beeps whatsoever then you may have a defective board.  You can also try booting without RAM, which should force the motherboard to beep (I often use that as a test of the speaker).

Removed both sticks of RAM and still no beeps The Onboard Speaker Enable jumper is set to use the onboard speaker (buzzer).

I think maybe your CPU is not installed properly. I don't think you get beeps with no CPU.

I will try to reseat the CPU and fan... right now, it's the only thing connected besides the 24 pin and 8 pin cables from the PSU so it's either the CPU or the mobo...

Reseated CPU and fan... still no beeps

 

On a side note, do I have to add thermal paste between the CPU and fan after unseating and reseating every time? The fan came with a layer of paste on it and I don't have any to add but I thought I should ask.

 

Also, sometimes when I turn on the motherboard, it will run for a few seconds, then turn off for a few seconds, and turn back on again and stay on.

Reseated CPU and fan... still no beeps

 

Not a good sign.  Potentially defective board.

 

On a side note, do I have to add thermal paste between the CPU and fan after unseating and reseating every time? The fan came with a layer of paste on it and I don't have any to add but I thought I should ask.

 

For testing purposes, no, it would be too much of a hassle.  However, once you have a stable system and are ready to leave it running for years then it is a good idea to replace or at least touch up the thermal paste.  Air pockets in the middle of the paste can cause hot pockets on the surface of the CPU and can lead to early failures.  Protip: use rubbing alcohol and cotton swabs (Q-tips) to remove thermal paste cleanly.

 

I'll be honest, though - I've never replaced the thermal paste on any of my computers even after lots of testing.  I really should start doing that...but as of yet I've been lucky and have never had a CPU die on me.

 

Also, sometimes when I turn on the motherboard, it will run for a few seconds, then turn off for a few seconds, and turn back on again and stay on.

 

I've seen my server do that too, and it was due to the RAM being seated improperly.

I heard back from Supermicro and they said that the C2SEE is not compatible with the E3400 CPU... even though I specifically asked tech support about this before I purchased the CPU. The tech specs do not say that it is compatible so I wanted to confirm before I placed the order... Now, they are telling me that it is not compatible! That makes me mad

 

On Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 6:42 PM, Technical Support <[email protected]> wrote:

Yes.

 

JL

 

 

Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2011 3:18 PM

To: Technical Support

Subject: Re: C2SEE RAM Compatibility

 

Will the C2SEE work with the Celeron E3400 Processor? The specs do not mention the Celeron E3000 series though they are LGA775.

 

Thank you

 

On Mon, Mar 7, 2011 at 4:58 PM, Technical Support <[email protected]> wrote:

 

            You might need to use different processor instead Intel E3400 Celeron processor. The C2SEE motherboard does not support Intel E3400 Celeron processor. It support as follow Intel processors family.

 

Processor/Cache

 

CPU

·                                 Single LGA775 Socket

·                                 Supports Intel® Core™2 Extreme QX9000/QX6000 series

·                                 Supports Intel® Core™2 Quad Q9000/Q8000/Q6000 series

·                                 Supports Intel® Core™2 Duo E8000/E7000/E6000/E4000 series

·                                 Supports Intel® Pentium® E5000/E2000 series

·                                 Supports Intel® Celeron® E1000 and 400 series

System Bus

·                                 1333 / 1066 / 800 MHz system bus

 

 

Thank you

DL

That's definitely surprising, as I'm fairly sure that the e3300 is compatible.  I would be mad too.

 

I can at least vouch for the Celeron 430 working with this board, as I've used it successfully in two different servers.

It sounds like greybeard has a C2SEE working with the E3400:

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=10839.0

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=9057.msg90285#msg90285

I'm running C2SEE with E3400

 

 

System Info

CPU Info (from /proc/cpuinfo)

processor : 0

vendor_id : GenuineIntel

cpu family : 6

model : 23

model name : Intel® Celeron® CPU        E3400  @ 2.60GHz

 

Is your memory in their supported list.  I ensured the memory I ordered matched one on the supported list. See http://www.supermicro.com/support/resources/mem.cfm

Thanks, it's nice to know the E3400 does work with the C2SEE. Right now, I don't even have the RAM installed so it's not an issue at this point. The motherboard doesn't even POST with just the CPU and fan.

After exchanging a few more emails with Supermicro and giving them my board's serial number, my board should have support for the E3400:

 

This board was shipped out on 9/29/2010. Have you been using E3400 CPU since then?

 

According to the shipping date, it should have the BIOS to support E3400.

 

I purchased the board on 10/28/2010 but haven't had a chance to even open the box until a few days ago, when I started this thread... Hopefully, they will replace the mobo for me.