Hi everyone.  The wiki and forums are great resources, thanks for all the excellent information.  My old "server" was running Windows XP with a HW RAID 5 array and a 5 in 3 SATA module.  This worked great for a couple of years for me and was primarily used to store backups and music.  Then I decided to put my 600+ DVDs onto a media server and that old system obviously wouldn't do anymore.  This is what brought me to the world of unRAID.  I am VERY happy to be here.    I wanted to share a little about what my config looks like and thank those that really helped me get this built the way I wanted.

 

I am currently running unRAID Server Pro 4.4.2.  Been up for a couple of weeks and so far so good.  I just restarted and kicked off a parity check tonight so that I can level 2 certify my motherboard since I didn't see it on the Hardware wiki and hopefully that will help someone.

 

Here is my HW list:

Motherboard - SuperMicro C2SEA - 6 sata ports (requires DDR3 memory)

CPU - Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5200 Processor, 2.5 GHz, 2M L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB, LGA775

Power Supply - CORSAIR 750w TX Series 80 Plus Certified Power Supply

Memory - CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1333 TW3X4G1333C9

Case - Norco 4020

Controller - Qty 2 - Adaptec 1430SA PCIe x4 - 8 ports (4 each)

Controller - Qty 1 - SD-SA2PEX-2IR PCIe x1 - 2 ports (Sil3132 chipset)

Controller - Qty 1 - LSI PCI SATA MegaRAID 150-6 Kit - 6 ports

HDD - Qty 4 - Western Digital 1TB Green WD10EADS (3 data, 1 parity)

HDD - Qty 2 - Samsung Spinpoint T166 500GB HD501LJ (2 data)

HDD - Qty 1 - Western Digital 320GB WD3200AVJS (cache)

USB - SanDisk Cruzer Micro 4GB

Battery Backup - APC SmartUPS 1000

Power adapters - Qty 4 - Kingwin SAC-05 15 Pin SATA Power Connector To Dual 4 Pin Female Molex

External sata adapter - Asus 2 port with power (connected to 2 ports on the LSI for external backup HDD)

 

The MB is not the C2SEE used in the limetech build, it is based on the same PCB but is the C2SEA.  Both MBs come in the same box, same manual and run the same bios.  Major differences that the C2SEA has compared to the C2SEE:

• Intel G45 North Bridge
  
• Intel GMA X4500HD Video
  
• 2 more DIMM slots (up to 8GB memory)
  
• IDE connector - ATA 100 (2 devices)
  
• HDMI port
  
• 2 1394a Firewire ports
  
• 2 less PCI slots
  

So I have all 20 bays on the Norco 4020 wired (16 on the PCIe bus, 4 on PCI) and 2 external ports via the adapter.  The Kingwin SAC-05 adapters worked great to power the sata backplanes.  As part of my burn-in I tested all cables and channels by moving the drives around to each slot and ran through a couple cycles of the preclear script.  Many thanks to Joe L for the great script which can be found here: 

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=2817.0

 

My old PC-based server with the RAID 5 array used ~132 watts at idle where the new unRAID box uses ~89 watts.  Woohoo!!!    Save some money.  I did run some windows based apps on my old server, so I wanted to do that on my new unRAID box too.  I was able to follow the great info in the forum to get vmware up and running with an XP virtual machine.  I basically got my dev box up and running, built and deployed packages to my prod box in just a few hours.  I had never build a package before or recompiled a kernel.  I am technical so this was actually a lot of fun, I enjoyed it.    Even when it didn't work right the first time I tried it.  Thanks musicmann and al_uk - you guys really made it easy with info found here:

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=862.msg28539#msg28539 

 

I also wanted to install several other packages (ntfs-3g, apcupsd, powerdown and smartmontools) so that lead me to unmenu.  Wow Joe L, this thing rocks.  Great interface and package manager is wonderful.  Thanks!

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=2595.0 

 

I think the most fun I had with this build was pulling the plug on the box, watching it switch to battery power and when that was running low gracefully shutdown the server.  Then plug it back in and watch it wake up and automatically re-start including the Win XP vm that was restarted just like the power never went off which for me means that my ebay sniping software is still eagerly waiting to pull the trigger.    Thanks to flambot and Joe L for the apcupsd info I found here: 

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=3688.0

 

I also updated my mover script from 4.5beta6 to fix both removing empty dirs and errors for '.' files as noted here: 

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=3171.0

 

Running directory cache from this thread to help keep things green and prevent unneccesary spin ups.  Thanks Joe L.

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=3666.msg32991#msg32991

 

Running unraid_notify to let me know of any problems and also automatically shutdown gracefully if it gets to hot.  Thanks to brainbone:

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=2470.0

 

Thanks,

JimmyJoe

 

 

Completed parity check, attached syslog for level 1 and updated the wiki.

 

I do see one minor error in the syslog:

May 21 18:28:58 voyager kernel: ACPI Warning (tbutils-0217): Incorrect checksum in table [OEMB] - B5, should be A8 [20080609]

 

Anyone have any insight on this?

 

Thanks,

JimmyJoe

For what it is worth i get a similar error on my ECS A740GM-M

unraid version: 4.4.2

 

23:30:30 Tower kernel: ACPI Warning (tbutils-0217): Incorrect checksum in table [OEMB] - 89, should be 88 [20080609]

Thanks.  I searched around and it appears to be related to the bios.  I did already flash the latest bios available.  I also found some info that says that OEMB is not even used by Linux, but used by Windows for ACPI so that it can be ignored.  So far my system is rock solid so I am going to ignore the error for now.

Outstanding report!  Very complete, with lots of extra info for other users, well laid out, and wiki editing as a bonus!  Welcome to the forums and wiki!  We are always looking for more wiki editors, especially those with the skills you have shown here.

 

And you have already taught me something, I was not aware of the OEMB distinction.  That message is relatively common, I have found, always has been harmless.

Been rock solid for a little over 2 weeks now including adding ~2TB of ripped DVDs to the server.  Woohoo!

Level 2 testing completed.   I had to remove the mover log entries from the syslog, since the file was too large to attach.  I have added ~4TB of DVD rips in the last month.    So far I am very happy.  Updated wiki.

Hi,

 

I also brought this board because I thought it's a great HTPC board since it got built in hdmi. I am not sure what's the normal temp for a board but I see 50C+ when I am running XP on it. Have you check the temp on your board? Also, did you make any bio changes for Unraid?  I am thinking to move this board to Unraid since my P4 Unraid box is locking up frequently.

 

BTW, as for the ACPI, I have to disable this in the bios in order to install XP SP1 boot disk otherwise I have to use XP SP2 disk.

 

thanks,

~joy

How has this setup been treating you? Anything I should know about? I just ordered the same setup. Any info on setup issues or issues you experienced would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks! 

Thanks for this build post!

 

I've been searching for the past several days, even contacting Intel and Supermicro tech support, trying to find a motherboard that is technically able to support two HDA PCIe x4 controllers. I finally came across the C2SEA and google searched to see if anyone successfully connected 2 PCIe x4 controllers and found your post.

 

I'm going to buy one and hope it works with two Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8s. You'd think Supermicro tech support would know if this controller works with their motherboard and have suggested it to me when I contacted them.

I haven't seen a Supermicro board yet that didn't work with multiple SASLP controllers, so I would say your chances are very good.  Remember that Supermicro boards tend to be designed for use in servers and similar applications, so you don't find the silly graphics-card-only restrictions of other consumer boards.

Thanks for the reassurance. That's the exact issue I'm currently dealing with. I purchased the Foxconn ELA LGA 775 thinking I could use 2 controllers and came to find out they are graphics only and I can only use a controller in the first PCIe x16 slot, which means I have no video card.

 

I like this board even more because it comes with on-board 4500HD.

So of course, I can't find a website that has this motherboard in stock...at least I should have it by the end of the month