Fixy computer 1 dorra

[Sands of Time]

I spent all day yesterday at one of my clients. 'Twas a simple job. Pop some more ram in his server. 20 mins. I even wasn't sure what ram to get, so posted a query in technical about it. Ensuring I was armed with the correct information I orderd the ram, it turned up in the week, and I fitted it yesterday.

Fortunately clientco is a mate of mine, and soon to become my accountant. I fitted the ram, and it didn't firkin work. Beep beep beep, incorrect memory config please swap the ram from DIMM_1_A and DIMM_2_A to DIMM_2_A and DIMM_2_B.

Duly swapped.

Then, beep beep beep beep beep beep.......

Black screen, no post test.

Put the ram back to the original config, and take mine out.

Server does a post test. Then gives a warning about data loss and fails to boot.

I quickly figured out that the RAID controller wasn't starting (by the absence of the BIOS screen)

Then an overwhelming sense of panic set in.

Matey went to get some bacon rolls, while I nipped out for a crafty fag and gave this some thought.

What changed? I poked around inside the machine, then the raid controller stopped working. Why?

I calmly decided to reseat the raid controller, even though it is a daughter board which could not have become dislodged by gently pressing in some ram chips.

Raid controller reseated I pressed the on button with my heart in my mouth.

The frakkin thing booted first time, just as the bacon rolls arrived.

My mate knew I was worried, and I lost some face.

Moral of the story, don't buy dell servers, and if you do, don't let me anywhere near it.

HTH

Was that the second time this week your arse was quacking like a duck?


Bing!

[OwlHoot]

I thought most of us techies spent their time trying to stop friends and family assuming that because we "work in computers" we can do tech-support. Sssh!

I realise now I'll never persuade my father to replace his 15 year old printer, which he is forever having problems with and asking about.

Turns out he bought a job lot of ink cartridges a few years ago, and has enough to last until about the year 2080.

[doodab]

So all servers are bastids then.

I suspect that I bought non ECC ram, but that said, just putting the new ram in on it's own still didn't work. Right number of pins, right clock speed, numbers match perfectly

If it needs ECC ram then non ECC ram won't work, wether it's on it's own or not.

It's always puzzled me why they don't put the notch in a different place.

[suityou01]

If it needs ECC ram then non ECC ram won't work, wether it's on it's own or not.

It's always puzzled me why they don't put the notch in a different place.

What puzzles me even more is how I could have possibly known this from the numbers recorded in the build, if you recall the post in technical.

No mention of ECC, non ECC.

[Sysman]

I'm permie - I can break anything I want!

But let's say I'm not - and I bugger summer up, and I've no insurance, where's the £5m gonna come from? Personally I'm worth nowt, suppose I could pay it back over the rest of my life at £100,000 a month but that would mean taking a second job.....

I discussed this with my insurance chap when first taking out public liability insurance. He reckoned that a judge would do a sweep of all parties' insurance to make sure that the costs were covered. E.g. if I were only covered for 1 million, the judge would look to the client's insurance for the rest.

No single insurance company takes on a policy for a whole oil rig, and that's why claims for a large disaster go on for years.

[Sysman]

So all servers are bastids then.

I suspect that I bought non ECC ram, but that said, just putting the new ram in on it's own still didn't work. Right number of pins, right clock speed, numbers match perfectly

Did you ask the RAM suppliers? They tend to be quite knowledgable about what is suitable for which server.

[suityou01]

Did you ask the RAM suppliers? They tend to be quite knowledgable about what is suitable for which server.

And how would you do that? I spent quite a bit of time looking for a RAM supplier I could ring. Some of the contact numbers are buried so deep into the site they take ages to find, and when you do find it and ring you get told their offices are closed on the weekends.

I shall try ringing crucial in the morning.

[doodab]

What puzzles me even more is how I could have possibly known this from the numbers recorded in the build, if you recall the post in technical.

No mention of ECC, non ECC.

400M is I would guess MHz,
64x72 is the number of bits deep and wide (64 mbits deep x 72 bits wide (64 + 8 bits of ECC))
The 8 I don't know
240 pins
1R x 4 means it's single ranked and each chip is 4 bits wide.

I did say.....

non-ECC DIMMS will be 64 bits wide, ECC 72. You also need to work out if it's registered, fully buffered or whatever. The best bet is probably to use the crucial memory advisor on their website, but you'll need to know the server model.

[suityou01]

I did say.....

non-ECC DIMMS will be 64 bits wide, ECC 72. You also need to work out if it's registered, fully buffered or whatever. The best bet is probably to use the crucial memory advisor on their website, but you'll need to know the server model.

Yeah in your cryptic memory speak. I shall wave my hand over the server and shout abracadabra. That oughta do it.

<seriously though, thanks>

[d000hg]

Yeah it's tough when you have to know what you're doing rather than just plug things in wherever they will fit.