..according to this http://forums.srcds.com/viewtopic/15480 someone got it running although with the 2G version

...silly question: you did test with the XEON, not with any other CPU listed for the X8SIL, like an i3?...only the XEON will work with RDIMMs.

 

I am not an expert...based on that thread http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=895830 modules needs to be organized in x8 chips....I can't tell from the datasheet if that is the case.

 

I checked with a L3406.

 

The L3406, like the desktop processors, does NOT support RDIMMs - other Xeons do.

 

Try Googling "L3406 RDIMM"!

I just get one long continuous beep on start up plus a yellow flashing LE3. I got the L3406 with the board. I will contact the seller and hope I can swap the memory. Might be an error on his side and he packed the wrong RAM. Murphys Law again.

What motherboard BIOS are you running?

 

 

Find out what is on the board and if it is not the newest try updating.

 

How do I do that when the board won't POST?

...silly question: you did test with the XEON, not with any other CPU listed for the X8SIL, like an i3?...only the XEON will work with RDIMMs.

 

I am not an expert...based on that thread http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=895830 modules needs to be organized in x8 chips....I can't tell from the datasheet if that is the case.

 

I checked with a L3406.

 

The L3406, like the desktop processors, does NOT support RDIMMs - other Xeons do.

 

Try Googling "L3406 RDIMM"!

 

Thanks for the tip. Even Supermicro Support didn't have that idea.

I just get one long continuous beep on start up plus a yellow flashing LE3. I got the L3406 with the board. I will contact the seller and hope I can swap the memory. Might be an error on his side and he packed the wrong RAM. Murphys Law again.

 

... apparently, when the seller did bundle that stuff into a package, you could simply assume it will work...not your fault at all.

Make the seller upgrade the CPU instead swapping the RAM 

I just get one long continuous beep on start up plus a yellow flashing LE3. I got the L3406 with the board. I will contact the seller and hope I can swap the memory. Might be an error on his side and he packed the wrong RAM. Murphys Law again.

 

... apparently, when the seller did bundle that stuff into a package, you could simply assume it will work...not your fault at all.

Make the seller upgrade the CPU instead swapping the RAM 

 

Good thinking! In fact I asked for that. Either memory or processor swap.

Since they were bundled, the seller should certainly provide compatible parts !!

 

Note that you DO want ECC memory -- it just needs to be unbuffered.

 

I borrowed a 4 GB unbuffered stick from a collegue for now. The board POSTs just fine now.

 

I put an old unraid stick from a previous try out on the board and made 2 network connections (for IPMI and unraid). I have no disks attached at the moment, just wanted to see if unraid boots.

 

I fired up IPMI and started the X8SIL-F. It booted from the USB stick, saw the unraid startup on the IPMI iKVM console, and then it stops. It won't continue to the unraid login prompt.

 

It stops at a point shown in the picture. Is this because the unraid configuration is invalid? Should i delete the super.dat? Or should I create a new unraid stick?

 

Maybe I won't bother and start with creating an ESXi stick right away? Can I just follow the steps in Johnms thread to create an ESXi stick? Or are there special instructions for the X8SIL-F?

...if you want to test the board as such, just mount an ISO - like fedora-18 live, via IPMI and fire up.

Im typing this in Firefox Running on Fedora Live, mounted as ISO in IPMI on the X8SIL-F.

Typing this in the iKVM console. Seems it works.

...if you want to test the board as such, just mount an ISO - like fedora-18 live, via IPMI and fire up.

 

Hi Ford,

 

Are you still using the X8SIL? Did you solve the passthrough issues you reported on in the past?

 

I tried to install ESXi 5.0.0 update 2. I mounted the ISO in IKVM and it booted to a grey and yellow screen where it hangs at "Initializing IOV"

 

Do I need some special BIOS settings? Or a BIOS upgrade? I currently run the L3406 with 4 GB RAM.

Hi Ford,

 

Are you still using the X8SIL? Did you solve the passthrough issues you reported on in the past?

 

I tried to install ESXi 5.0.0 update 2. I mounted the ISO in IKVM and it booted to a grey and yellow screen where it hangs at "Initializing IOV"

 

Do I need some special BIOS settings? Or a BIOS upgrade? I currently run the L3406 with 4 GB RAM.

 

Yes, I am.

Running ESXi 5.1.0-914609 with 32GB RDIMMs and L3426...it is doing fine.

I had 4x2GB-UDIMM, 2x8GB-RDIMM and 4x8GB-RDIMM configurations running just fine.

With ESXi 5.1 the system Health status would drop / stop working...however IPMI sensors itself is working fine....can live with that.

 

I never had a real issue with installing or with passthrough in ESXi.

At the time I set up my DVB-Recorder, the card would only be picked up by a Windoze VM, not Linux....left it that way, installed 4TR/ArgusTV  and never looked back.

Also I complained on the lack of PCIe slots....finally moved to a RES2CV240 expander to cope with that.

 

Bios Setings are "standard", as with any other ESXi build...enable vt-x and vt-d.....that'll be it.

I had some issues with IPMI sensors reporting bogus readings (like negative values on Board temps).

SM Support send me a BIOS image that fixed it, at that time...this should be available on their website as latest as of today.

Oh, one more remark on BIOS settings.

Disable ACPM for PCI, as this would make the NICs stop working under load.

See: http://communities.vmware.com/message/1617073#1617073

Thanks for the tip. Where is vt-x in the BIOS? I did enable vt-d and Intel Virtualization. Is this the same?

Thanks for the tip. Where is vt-x in the BIOS? I did enable vt-d and Intel Virtualization. Is this the same?

 

Yes, that's what it is called in the BIOS menu...both features need to be enabled.

Thanks for the tip. Where is vt-x in the BIOS? I did enable vt-d and Intel Virtualization. Is this the same?

 

Yes, that's what it is called in the BIOS menu...both features need to be enabled.

 

I had both enabled already, still hangs at Initializing IOV. What BIOS are you running at the moment? The BIOS on my board seems rather ancient, 1.0c.

I had both enabled already, still hangs at Initializing IOV. What BIOS are you running at the moment? The BIOS on my board seems rather ancient, 1.0c.

 

....mine came with 1.0b and was doing fine, AFAIR.

Currently I am running a v1.2 with IPMI 2.60

Is your "borrowed" memory ECC ?

 

Not sure if that would matter;  but the board does specify unbuffered ECC RAM.

 

Yes, it is ECC. Don't understand what this Initializing IOV means. Maybe I will try to install esxi from a usb stick.

IOV is the I/O virtualization process.    There are several threads on this in the VMware community -- but no common reason why it might hang (at least not that I could find).

 

In general, most folks have resolved it by either (a) changing some settings in BIOS (or updating the BIOS), or (b) using a different version of ESXi (for example, in your case, you might try v5.1).

 

IOV is the I/O virtualization process.    There are several threads on this in the VMware community -- but no common reason why it might hang (at least not that I could find).

 

In general, most folks have resolved it by either (a) changing some settings in BIOS (or updating the BIOS), or (b) using a different version of ESXi (for example, in your case, you might try v5.1).

 

I tried 4.1, 5.0, 5.0U1, 5.0U2, 5.1U1. All stopped at the same point.

 

I got an X3450 CPU today from the seller and he also send another X8SIL-F with it. I assembled motherboard, X3450 and 8GB Registered ECC.

The board came with BIOS 1.1 this time.

 

ESXi 5.1 installed without any problems now.

GOOD seller !

That's definitely very good support.  A bit of a hassle that you had the issue to start with;  but it's nice when sellers "make good" in such a positive way.

 

Glad all's running well now.

 

+1

Definitely a god move from your vendor.

Glad that everything is supposedly sorted out now...Enjoy!

Yes, I am glad so far. He will even refund the return-shipment.

 

Now another problem: I added a SAS2LP-MV8 but it isn't detected in ESXi under storage controllers. Do I need to install a driver? Which one?