Silverstone DS380 / ASRock C2550D4I Build

[tucansam]

On my current server I have all fans drawing air out.  i have sealed the entire case except for the drive cage.  Thus all air brought into the case is drawn over the disks.  Temps are under 30 degrees C idle and never get above 36 degrees C during a parity check.

 

Curious if anyone has tried flipping the side fans on the Silverstone case so that they draw air out.  Sealing up the case so that air only flows across the disks would be interesting.

[dmacias]

It's not that the stock fans suck.  It's the filter and they aren't controllable with this board.  When I put in the Noctua F12's the other day, I took the drive cage in the garage and drilled a bunch of holes in it too. The removable plastic piece for a long pcie card allows no air flow to that drive. I also upped the smart drive curve 5 degrees for each speed. So hopefully they will spin up enough when system is under load until I can control them based on hard drive temps. I was able to see fan rpms in unraid by installing freeipmi package.

[plc268]

Still following this thread with interest, as I squirrel money into the "mamma don't know" account for a couple new builds!

 

One thing I have gleamed from this discussion, is that stock fans suck, and stock temps suck.  So add a few new fans to the price of the case.  Oh well.

 

Looking at the aforementioned Noctuas as $20/ea on the egg.  What other fans have you fellas used with success  Quiet is good, cooler drive temps is better.

 

Thanks.

 

If you want to save money, I'd just take the fan filter off. 

 

That thing just kills the airflow..

 

Yea, the fan filter is awful and way too restrictive. I'm estimating it cuts the airflow by half. Everytime I've taken the filter off, HDD temps dropped by 4C.

 

 

[Jomp]

Yea, the fan filter is awful and way too restrictive. I'm estimating it cuts the airflow by half. Everytime I've taken the filter off, HDD temps dropped by 4C.

 

Have you sorted out any of your problems?

[tucansam]

The only case I am comparing this one to is the UNAS case.  Maybe I should start a "vs" thread, but I am liking the Silverstone less and less based on this thread.  May have to start taking a serious look at the UNAS case instead.  I love modding cases, but I don't feel right supporting a product that is fundamentally flawed, when I can vote with my wallet instead.  Too bad as all of the Silverstone stuff I've had in the past has been top notch. 

 

Still following this thread with interest as I sort out which case to buy....

[dalben]

The only case I am comparing this one to is the UNAS case.  Maybe I should start a "vs" thread, but I am liking the Silverstone less and less based on this thread.  May have to start taking a serious look at the UNAS case instead.  I love modding cases, but I don't feel right supporting a product that is fundamentally flawed, when I can vote with my wallet instead.  Too bad as all of the Silverstone stuff I've had in the past has been top notch. 

 

Still following this thread with interest as I sort out which case to buy....

 

Funny you should mention that.  As a result of this thread I've also looked closer at the UNas 800.  With 8 swappale 3.5" bays plus 2 x 2.5" there isn't much between them with the UNAS having a smaller footprint

[dmacias]

I looked at that case too, but it is really tight. They provide a piece of plastic to keep the motherboard from shorting out on the case. I'm not sure some high profile memory would fit. For me I wanted a little more room. The only real flaw with this case is the fan filter mesh is too dense.  All the mods I did were to keep the mesh. I like the layout, the build quality, looks and the external power supply intake similar to my Lian Li Q8.  I may take grannies knitting needle to the mesh.

 

[plc268]

Yea, the fan filter is awful and way too restrictive. I'm estimating it cuts the airflow by half. Everytime I've taken the filter off, HDD temps dropped by 4C.

 

Have you sorted out any of your problems?

 

We'll see. I just installed an additional 3 hard drives (this time 4tb seagate nas drives) and I just got my replacement WD Red. Currently doing parity sync with unraid 6 right now. Seems to be doing fine.

 

I don't know if I mentioned it, but I bought 8 of those slimline silverstone sata cables ($10 each), and those cables are so much easier to work with. I had problems with the intel sata 3 ports because they were so close to the ram slot, but the cables are pretty flexible. My old sata cables put a lot of stress on the ports, especially the ones on the cage. One kind of wiggles, but seems to be working for now.

[Jomp]

Yea, the fan filter is awful and way too restrictive. I'm estimating it cuts the airflow by half. Everytime I've taken the filter off, HDD temps dropped by 4C.

 

Have you sorted out any of your problems?

 

We'll see. I just installed an additional 3 hard drives (this time 4tb seagate nas drives) and I just got my replacement WD Red. Currently doing parity sync with unraid 6 right now. Seems to be doing fine.

 

I don't know if I mentioned it, but I bought 8 of those slimline silverstone sata cables ($10 each), and those cables are so much easier to work with. I had problems with the intel sata 3 ports because they were so close to the ram slot, but the cables are pretty flexible. My old sata cables put a lot of stress on the ports, especially the ones on the cage. One kind of wiggles, but seems to be working for now.

 

Sounds better than the last report! Which SATA controllers are you using and how many drives on each?

 

I now have all 6 intel ports being used without issues, I'm adding the first drive to the 9230 later this week and I don't anticipate problems. The second drive on it though might be interesting, though I hope not 

[dmacias]

@plc268 which model silverstone cables did you get. Those really thin ones that are kinda right angle?

 

@Jomp are you not going to use the 2 ports on the 9172 first? One thing that you might try for the 9230 is if you can set your drives to sata2.

[Jomp]

@Jomp are you not going to use the 2 ports on the 9172 first? One thing that you might try for the 9230 is if you can set your drives to sata2.

 

They are already plugged into the 9230 and I really don't want to remove the drive cage again if at all possible..

 

[plc268]

Yea, the fan filter is awful and way too restrictive. I'm estimating it cuts the airflow by half. Everytime I've taken the filter off, HDD temps dropped by 4C.

 

Have you sorted out any of your problems?

 

We'll see. I just installed an additional 3 hard drives (this time 4tb seagate nas drives) and I just got my replacement WD Red. Currently doing parity sync with unraid 6 right now. Seems to be doing fine.

 

I don't know if I mentioned it, but I bought 8 of those slimline silverstone sata cables ($10 each), and those cables are so much easier to work with. I had problems with the intel sata 3 ports because they were so close to the ram slot, but the cables are pretty flexible. My old sata cables put a lot of stress on the ports, especially the ones on the cage. One kind of wiggles, but seems to be working for now.

 

Sounds better than the last report! Which SATA controllers are you using and how many drives on each?

 

I now have all 6 intel ports being used without issues, I'm adding the first drive to the 9230 later this week and I don't anticipate problems. The second drive on it though might be interesting, though I hope not 

 

I currently have all the Intel ports used, and the two ports on the 9172. SSD and Parity drive is on the Intel Sata 3 ports.

 

I've hit a snag though. I thought I was doing good, server was up and running, but I woke up to an unresponsive server again. I log in via IPMI, and the server is still running, but it doesn't accept any keyboard input at all. As soon as I power cycle it, it works. I don't have a clue what's going on, since the syslog is saved to ram and replaced on boot. I can't copy it over or anything since I can't even use the prompt. The server also ceases network connection, so I can't telnet in either.

 

I have a feeling that I'm in store for a motherboard replacement from ASRock, but I can't confidently say thats the problem unless I know why it's crashing.

 

@plc268 which model silverstone cables did you get. Those really thin ones that are kinda right angle?

 

@Jomp are you not going to use the 2 ports on the 9172 first? One thing that you might try for the 9230 is if you can set your drives to sata2.

 

Yea, these ones: http://www.amazon.com/Silverstone-Tek-Low-Profile-Connectors-CP11/dp/B00GSQ3KT8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398266668&sr=8-1&keywords=cp+11

 

They're really a rip off at $10 each, but they give you much more clearance than standard sata cables, especially on the Intel ports since they're directly under where the rear case fan is. They really should have been a pack in on the DS380, and they probably cost Silverstone no more than any other Sata cable to produce.

[Jomp]

 

I was transferring files and the server restarted half way through for some unknown reason.

 

59 04/23/2014 19:50:12 Unknown System Event System Reconfigured,OEM System Boot Event,Undetermined System Hardware Failure,Entry Added to Auxiliary Log,PEF Action - Asserted

58 04/23/2014 19:50:12 Unknown System Event System Reconfigured,OEM System Boot Event,Undetermined System Hardware Failure,Entry Added to Auxiliary Log,PEF Action - Asserted

57 04/23/2014 19:50:16 Unknown System Event System Reconfigured,OEM System Boot Event,Undetermined System Hardware Failure,Entry Added to Auxiliary Log,PEF Action - Asserted

56 04/23/2014 19:50:16 Unknown System Event System Reconfigured,OEM System Boot Event,Undetermined System Hardware Failure,Entry Added to Auxiliary Log,PEF Action - Asserted

 

*Edit: I'm not the only one: http://forums.tweaktown.com/asrock/56730-c2750d4i-stability-problems.html

 

I'm running a parity check since there were replayed transactions and then I'll md5 check everything to make sure there isn't any corruption. Frustrated.

 

Edit: ASRock tech got back to me. Apparently that is what gets logged after a crash. Unfortunately, I don't know the cause of the crash yet.

[Talos]

So in your dealings with asrock tech have they indicated they can replicate these issues people are appearing to have?

 

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

 

[plc268]

 

I was transferring files and the server restarted half way through for some unknown reason.

 

59 04/23/2014 19:50:12 Unknown System Event System Reconfigured,OEM System Boot Event,Undetermined System Hardware Failure,Entry Added to Auxiliary Log,PEF Action - Asserted

58 04/23/2014 19:50:12 Unknown System Event System Reconfigured,OEM System Boot Event,Undetermined System Hardware Failure,Entry Added to Auxiliary Log,PEF Action - Asserted

57 04/23/2014 19:50:16 Unknown System Event System Reconfigured,OEM System Boot Event,Undetermined System Hardware Failure,Entry Added to Auxiliary Log,PEF Action - Asserted

56 04/23/2014 19:50:16 Unknown System Event System Reconfigured,OEM System Boot Event,Undetermined System Hardware Failure,Entry Added to Auxiliary Log,PEF Action - Asserted

 

*Edit: I'm not the only one: http://forums.tweaktown.com/asrock/56730-c2750d4i-stability-problems.html

 

I'm running a parity check since there were replayed transactions and then I'll md5 check everything to make sure there isn't any corruption. Frustrated.

 

Edit: ASRock tech got back to me. Apparently that is what gets logged after a crash. Unfortunately, I don't know the cause of the crash yet.

 

Judging by that forum thread, I'm not the only one with the unresponsive system problems. I'm gonna give a shot at disabling that C State bios setting, and see if that works. If it doesn't, I'm returning the board to newegg. The board costs way too much money to be so unstable like that. That'll mean I'll have to go back to the drawing board and look for another mini-itx board that'll work.

[garycase]

If it doesn't, I'm returning the board to newegg. The board costs way too much money to be so unstable ...

 

Can't blame you.  I came VERY close to being one of the early adopters of this board as well -- if we hadn't been going out-of-town for a friend's wedding, I'd have ordered one over a month ago.  But then I started seeing these threads about the issues ... so I've been waiting for AsRock to get their stuff together and release a BIOS update that resolves the stability problems.

 

I have no doubt that will happen -- but don't see any reason to be fighting the issues while I'm waiting for AsRock.  I still think I'll built an Avoton-based system ... but it may or may not be with this board (or its successor) 

[johnmatt]

So I've got my C2750 with the Silverstone DS380 assembled, but I can't get the system to boot.

 

IPMI works fine, but remote view says the "Host is powered OFF or is in Sleep Mode." I also attempted to connect with an external monitor via the onboard VGA, but I get no output there either.

 

There are two LEDS on the motherboard constantly lit up, but I can't figure out if these are error LEDs or even related to the problem at all because the manually is awfully sparse in this area.

 

Some newegg reviews suggest that it may be a memory problem, and that the system won't post with "incompatible" ram. I am running ECC memory, but it's not officially listed in Asrock's supported memory. Most of the memory that is listed is unavailable in the US.

 

This is the ram I'm attempting to use: KVR1333D3E9SK2/16G

 

I don't have any spare ddr3 on hand, but I think I'm just gonna grab some non-ecc memory and see if that works.

 

Edit: I messed around some more, decided to take the hard drive cage back out and reseat the memory, and now it works. I'm guessing that the memory wasn't seated in properly, somehow. Never had that problem in the dozens of computers I've built before. I got cocky and fully assembled the thing without testing functionality. 

 

Hey has anyone else dealt with this issue?  I was reading this thread as I waited for my board to arrive (C02550) and I'm having the same issue.  I have nothing plugged into the board other than power and ram (supported via Asrocks Memory QVL) - I can access the IPMI but I get the same message (powered off or in standby) and I can't see anything).  I've also tried plugging in a keyboard into all available USB ports (both on back and via the internal header) and it keyboard doesn't light up so I'm assuming this isn't an issue with the IPMI.

 

I've moved the ram around a couple of times and I've even tried sticking a stick of my gaming rigs ram in there just to see if it was maybe a faulty stick of RAM - nothing.

 

Thanks in advance for anyone's advice / help.

 

-Edit:  I have the two green LED's, the lower LED is constant, the upper ("IPMI LED") is blinking.

-Edit:  I successfully booted my gaming machine on the ECC RAM that I purchased for the server so the RAM isn't the issue.

 

John

[dmacias]

I would try clearing the cmos. Then one stick off ram in different slots.  If that doesn't work try a different stick in alkali the slots.  With no hard drives. Also it does take a looooooong time to boot the 1st time maybe a minute or two.

[plc268]

I would try clearing the cmos. Then one stick off ram in different slots.  If that doesn't work try a different stick in alkali the slots.  With no hard drives. Also it does take a looooooong time to boot the 1st time maybe a minute or two.

 

Yea, the avoton boards have an usually long post time. My new board, the ASRock E3C226D2I, posts nearly instantly in comparison.

 

Also, on a side note, I've been running this new board with a xeon 1230v3 for 48 hours now, no issues. The avoton board would lock up on me after 12 hours. This board has also been a 100x easier to work with, especially since the SATA ports are in a much easier spot to access. There's only 6 ports, but I used a cheap 2 port sata pcie card that seems to do the trick well.

 

At this point in time, until ASRock releases some firmware updates for their boards to address instability, I can't recommend them at all. It's a shame though, the avoton is pretty impressive in what it does. It puts out some good performance without barely even getting hot.

[johnmatt]

I would try clearing the cmos. Then one stick off ram in different slots.  If that doesn't work try a different stick in alkali the slots.  With no hard drives. Also it does take a looooooong time to boot the 1st time maybe a minute or two.

 

Yea, the avoton boards have an usually long post time. My new board, the ASRock E3C226D2I, posts nearly instantly in comparison.

 

Also, on a side note, I've been running this new board with a xeon 1230v3 for 48 hours now, no issues. The avoton board would lock up on me after 12 hours. This board has also been a 100x easier to work with, especially since the SATA ports are in a much easier spot to access. There's only 6 ports, but I used a cheap 2 port sata pcie card that seems to do the trick well.

 

At this point in time, until ASRock releases some firmware updates for their boards to address instability, I can't recommend them at all. It's a shame though, the avoton is pretty impressive in what it does. It puts out some good performance without barely even getting hot.

 

Ok - so I'll be home tomorrow and will try resetting the cmos - and though I highly doubt the issue is with the ram, I ordered another kit just to be 100% sure as I've heard all sorts of stories about how finicky this board is with ram.  I will say that the Asrock tech support has also been really helpful (via email, they didn't respond to my phone call) and the rep has been emailing me back and fourth with suggestions.  He said that sometimes (and that this had recently worked for another customer) flashing the BMC firmware can be a solution, even if it's the same version.  I'll try that Friday and post results.

 

Thanks all - I hope to get this board running soon - I think once it's up and running it's going to be a great little rig... I'm just building a basic file server for plex... maybe do some torrenting on it - but in terms of servers it's going to be pretty basic so hopefully it'll work well as a 24/7 system.

 

Well stay tuned.

[johnmatt]

Well, I got a different set of Kingston RAM (again, listed as compatible on the Asrock site) inserted one or the other modules into the two primary RAM slots,  flashed the BMC multiple times (between different ram configs) and nothing... one time the IPMI preview said "cannot connect to 10.0. blah blah" but every time since it just says system is off or in sleep mode.

 

Sigh.

 

Is there some secret to clearing the CMOS?

 

Anyone have any other ideas?  Going to go back to Asrock support next week if it's still not working and RMA the board.

 

John

[tucansam]

I feel for the owners of these boards.  I was a systems integration test engineer for several years for a major telecom company, a lifetime ago.  After reading multiple threads on multiple forums, I can simply conclude that these boards are not ready for prime-time, and were not ready when they were rolled out.

 

For every post I read about a board running fine, there are five posts about the boards not running (poorly or at all).  There is no way this is a bad batch from the mfg plant, or user error, or someone with esoteric hardware revealing some super rare hidden bug that Asrock couldn't have tested for and predicted. 

 

Sounds like these boards were pushed out ahead of proper testing protocol.  Or their testing protocol needs an overhaul.

 

 

[dmacias]

Well, I got a different set of Kingston RAM (again, listed as compatible on the Asrock site) inserted one or the other modules into the two primary RAM slots,  flashed the BMC multiple times (between different ram configs) and nothing... one time the IPMI preview said "cannot connect to 10.0. blah blah" but every time since it just says system is off or in sleep mode.

 

Sigh.

 

Is there some secret to clearing the CMOS?

 

Anyone have any other ideas?  Going to go back to Asrock support next week if it's still not working and RMA the board.

 

John

I guess you have to short out the two half moon solder pads with a screw driver or something. Of course with no power and unplugged. They are down and to the right of the battery.

 

For what's it's worth I'm using 2 Corsair Vengeance 4GB DDR3 1600 CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9 and 2 Samsung 4GB DDR3 1600 M379B5273DH0-YK0. Both are non-ECC

[johnmatt]

Well, I got a different set of Kingston RAM (again, listed as compatible on the Asrock site) inserted one or the other modules into the two primary RAM slots,  flashed the BMC multiple times (between different ram configs) and nothing... one time the IPMI preview said "cannot connect to 10.0. blah blah" but every time since it just says system is off or in sleep mode.

 

Sigh.

 

Is there some secret to clearing the CMOS?

 

Anyone have any other ideas?  Going to go back to Asrock support next week if it's still not working and RMA the board.

 

John

I guess you have to short out the two half moon solder pads with a screw driver or something. Of course with no power and unplugged. They are down and to the right of the battery.

 

For what's it's worth I'm using 2 Corsair Vengeance 4GB DDR3 1600 CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9 and 2 Samsung 4GB DDR3 1600 M379B5273DH0-YK0. Both are non-ECC

 

OK I'm IN!!!  The clear CMOS on the half moon jumpers did the trick!

 

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!

 

Will post more as I get going here - but I'm in the BIOS

[dmacias]

That's good news or bad depending on how you look at it . Keep everything on the Intel controllers if you can and slower drives on the Marvell if you have to use that controller.  Also use the first two ports ( Marvell 9172) instead of the four 9230 ports. Good luck