1855 won't see a full 16GB of RAM

[Fred Skrotzki]

1855's have a BMC that is accessible via ipmi?    If so try the
following:
 
if so and configured, from a remote system do the following:  
ipmitool -I lan -U root -H bmc_ipaddress sel list 
This will give you a list of errors
 
Then find the line with the memory error and do the following
 
I'm going to assume it one of the last 5 or so errors
ipmitool -I lan -U root -H bmc_ipaddress sel list last 5 -v
 
This will give you a display of the error it see's.
 
You should get something like 
SEL Record ID          : 004e
 Record Type           : 02
 Timestamp             : 05/21/2007 11:32:56
 Generator ID          : 00b1
 EvM Revision          : 04
 Sensor Type           : Memory
 Sensor Number         : 01
 Event Type            : Sensor-specific Discrete
 Event Direction       : Assertion Event
 Event Data            : a0f001
 Description           : Correctable ECC

The magic is decoding the event data:  For a 1425, 28xx and 29xx series
here is how you do it.  The 4th character is the bank number, the 6th
character position is that banks pairing position.  So above first bank,
second stick in the pair is throwing the error. 
 
Check all three systems as the one that is working might have ecc errors
which will allow it to boot and run as they are recoverable BUT ....
 
The one throwing beeping I'd bet has a bad first stick.  It seems they
really freak out if the first stick in the first bank fails.
 
As for your last one.  Well somebody thought you could mix R1 and R2
memory and that just can't work.  So turn them both back to your vender
and say get they pairing correct.
 
As for third party memory,  Dell of course will not support the memory
that is not from them but should be able to help in trouble shooting it.
I've gotten bad memory direct from Dell a few times (over 120+ servers)
so nobody is perfect.  The error above has always been enough proof when
I call, we installed it, it fails in any slot in any system with the
same error they will replace it they just want you to swap it with
something good so they are sure it's not the Motherboard slot that is
failing.  When using Dell memory all I've had to provide for support is
the above log and they always replace the memory.  If they try and get
me to run some utility, Windows based or otherwise if you insist that
the base board management is reporting the failure from the hardware
I've never had them argue with me.
 


________________________________

From: linux-poweredge-bounces at dell.com
[mailto:linux-poweredge-bounces at dell.com] On Behalf Of Stephen Anderson
Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2007 10:04 AM
To: Nathan Hruby; linux-poweredge at dell.com
Subject: Re: 1855 won't see a full 16GB of RAM


So I take it that you are installing 4 x 4GB dual rank memory modules in
banks 1 and 2.
 
-swa

 
On 5/29/07, Nathan Hruby <nhruby at gmail.com> wrote: 

	Hi,
	
	Does anyone have any tips/gotcha's about putting the full 16GB
	compliemnt of RAM into a PE 1855? I have 3 of them and have
identical 
	3rd party 4GB RAM sticks for each.   Of the 3:
	- One is happy with the full 16GB
	- One won't post, just emits a S-O-S type beep
	- One tells me I've mixed up the ranking of the pairs
	
	Flashing the BIOS and BMC doesn't seem to help, so either I'm
missing 
	something very obvious or 2 of these boxes are horked.
	
	Thanks,
	
	-n
	--
	-------------------------------------------
	nathan hruby <nhruby at gmail.com>
	metaphysically wrinkle-free 
	-------------------------------------------
	
	_______________________________________________
	Linux-PowerEdge mailing list
	Linux-PowerEdge at dell.com
	http://lists.us.dell.com/mailman/listinfo/linux-poweredge
	Please read the FAQ at http://lists.us.dell.com/faq
	


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.us.dell.com/pipermail/linux-poweredge/attachments/20070530/7e5a69f3/attachment.htm