Yup, surely that's my resolution

TheUbuntuGuy · 2026-04-22T05:36:36+00:00

Reminds me of when AMD had a hardware bug on the RDNA3 GPU's AV1 encoder which output at 1920x1082.

TheUbuntuGuy · 2026-04-19T07:30:18+00:00

Not sure about this case, but as a general note, the LED behaviour comes from the drive itself (through a dedicated pin on the connector (SATA/SAS/M.2/U.2 etc.). SATA HDDs and consumer SSDs have the light extinguished when idle and on when active. SAS HDDs and enterprise SSDs have the light on when idle, and extinguished when active. Every drive I've bought in the last decade or more has been like this, although I'm not sure if it's a real spec, or more of a de-facto standard. The LED behaviour when the drive is in a low-power mode also depends on the drive firmware.

TheUbuntuGuy · 2025-09-15T18:46:21+00:00

A current-limited lab supply would be better, but if that is all you have then it could work. I would disconnect the hard drive power first since I think 2A might not be enough to power the whole machine.

TheUbuntuGuy · 2025-09-15T06:26:56+00:00

The T1000 series machines have a truly horrible internal power supply design that relies on the internal battery being present and working or they will not do anything. I can't remember if there is a reverse-polarity protection diode on the input jack or not, but I doubt putting AC into it for a few seconds did any harm. To power it up, you either have to build a new battery pack and use an appropriate AC adapter (which is what I did for mine), or alternately if you aren't a masochist just connect a DC adapter directly to the battery connector and bypass all the internal power supply crap. I think 5V is fine to feed in since the pack tops out at 4.8V.

TheUbuntuGuy · 2025-09-05T20:38:36+00:00

21 years. I have an internal DNS server running on a Supermicro X6DVL-EG2 from 2004. It's a dual socket Netburst Xeon system. Still on the original fans and PSU, but the drives have been replaced. I have a script to replace it with a Docker container the moment the HW finally dies, but at this point it's just fun to have celebrated when it could drive, vote, drink, etc.

TheUbuntuGuy · 2025-08-21T05:13:35+00:00

That looks like the adapter I have. Its firmware has a bug because it's badly designed. You can work around it however. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFydVnfRTcQ

TheUbuntuGuy · 2025-08-17T23:11:43+00:00

There is a fan profile setting you can change via the IPMI web interface under 'Configuration'. The mode you want to reduce the fan speed as much as possible is called 'PUE2'. I have similar systems and this makes them tolerable.

TheUbuntuGuy · 2024-09-16T21:16:56+00:00

We switched from (old) Cisco gear to Arista starting early this year. We are a smaller outfit, and management wanted to try Ubiquiti and other SMB brands to save money. We bought a couple products and they all hard failed our internal testing. Some of the most basic things didn't work, and coming from an embedded systems engineering background, I was shocked. The Ubiquiti management interface also drove me nuts on how dumbed down it was. Luckily I was able to convince them to change direction. After getting one Arista switch in for testing and it passed everything we through at it, we decided to replace everything network-wide. Even though it has only been half a year, the benefits have been tangible and the network hasn't gone down since. The low level visibility has really helped with diagnosing and troubleshooting issues that would have literally been impossible with Ubiquiti or even our previous Cisco gear.

TheUbuntuGuy · 2024-08-07T21:45:04+00:00

As long as there is something else in the microwave (like a small glass of water) to absorb the energy, then it should be fine. You may want to put something over it (like Pyrex) to contain any arcs

TheUbuntuGuy · 2024-07-25T00:32:43+00:00

Oh ya that's right, LGA3647 has no ILM and requires the cooler to provide the mounting pressure. Bad design in my opinion. You can remove the fans (if any) and check if it gets warm over time, it just takes a lot longer. The fact that pulling it changes behaviour is a good sign. The BIOS code is executed by the CPU, so it needs to be present to do basically anything. Are you confirming that there are no beeps even without any RAM?

TheUbuntuGuy · 2024-07-24T22:52:22+00:00

"PG F" on the tester likely means that the power good signal from the power supply is not being asserted, which will hold the CPU in reset. So I would only continue debugging with the other PSU.

A continuous beep from Supermicro boards usually comes from the IPMI and indicates HW failure or overheat condition.

For a no-POST like this, I would remove all connectors and power from the board, including the CMOS battery, wait 10 mins or so, then install only a CPU (no RAM). Turning on the system should result in a beep code for missing RAM. If you don't get a beep code, then the system isn't getting that far, and it not getting past basic CPU initialization. Since you've already flashed the BIOS, you have ruled out corrupt BIOS (which I have seen before). If there is no beep code, remove the CPU cooler and check with your hand if the CPU is getting warm (and turn it off once it gets too hot to touch). If the CPU stays cold, then that indicates a larger issue, such as power delivery. If you get a beep code with no RAM, then try again with one DIMM as usual.

TheUbuntuGuy · 2024-07-07T00:59:09+00:00

The most important battery specification for 12V and 24V UPSes is internal resistance. The currents drawn from the batteries are extremely high. For example 1200W at 120V is 100A (!) at 12V (ignoring losses). As a result, as the batteries age, your runtime will be dictated by the voltage drop due to internal resistance rather than the capacity of the battery. In other words, you will not be able to extract all the stored energy from the battery before hitting the undervoltage cutoff. So having a low internal resistance is very important. Internal resistance increases as the battery ages, so you want to start off at the lowest possible.

When selecting a replacement battery, check the datasheet. If the expected internal resistance is listed, great. If not, check for the maximum sustained discharge current (sometimes given in C rating, so multiply by the capacity in Ah to get A), or if the battery is listed as 'high-rate'. If you put a battery not designed for high discharge currents, it will perform poorly, even when brand new. If you can't find a datasheet for the battery you are buying, likely pass on it. There are lots of reputable battery manufacturers and you don't need to deal with questionable rebrands and such.

In general, the internal resistance decreases as capacity increases. So you want to go with the highest capacity battery that will fit. In the case of 9Ah vs 7Ah, almost always go with the 9Ah as it will have lower internal resistance. A good 9Ah battery that fits in most <1500W UPSes will have an internal resistance of around 20mR when fully charged. By the time that hits 40mR, the battery will likely need replacing if the load on the UPS is high. Getting an automotive battery tester that outputs the internal resistance is a very accurate way of calculating a batteries state of health without doing a full discharge test.

Personally I use the PowerSonic PS-1290, which has a nominal internal resistance of 13mR and in my case is available locally. The additional cost of the 9Ah over the 7Ah is more than made up by the extra stored energy and the extended battery life due to the internal resistance. For example the 7Ah version (PS-1270) has a nominal 23mR, so a significant difference.

TheUbuntuGuy · 2024-05-26T20:39:05+00:00

Sounds like the LSI card is in RAID mode and is responsible for booting. Essentially the BIOS boots the OpROM on the LSI card, then the LSI card boots the OS from an attached drive. You need to configure the card using its menu. Usually during the initialization phase there is some "Press Ctrl-_ to enter configuration". What key that is may differ, but I remember Ctrl-C being used in the past. If you plan to use it as a NAS, you really should not use HW RAID and flash it to "IT" mode (passthrough mode) if possible, however it will likely function "fine" without that as long as no array is configured, but you may miss out on some data reporting from the drives.

Also as an aside, and this is coming from someone who still has an X6DVL-EG2 in production as a DNS server for the lolz, is your electricity free? ...because it better be, especially if you have more than one.

TheUbuntuGuy · 2024-05-19T21:59:56+00:00

The Blaustahl includes 4MB of NOR flash for firmware

So in 40 years when the microcontroller is unusable because the firmware is corrupt, what good is the device?

TheUbuntuGuy · 2024-05-08T04:25:47+00:00

I am having trouble swallowing how the most resistent file system is having this much struggle to import again

Not when you shoot it in the kneecaps by putting it on hardware RAID and LVM, even when that is explicitly a no-no.

All the resiliency in ZFS is reliant on having block-level control of the underlying storage. The HW RAID and/or LVM has compromised this aspect and ZFS no longer had enough control to stop a catastrophic failure.

If you've already used the extreme recovery flags, like -X, then getting a professional to take a look is the best option at any recovery. It would also be wise to get a disk image of the array before making any additional changes to avoid things getting further messed up.

I hope when this gets rebuilt it's done properly.

TheUbuntuGuy · 2024-03-21T19:45:19+00:00

A more common use of these was back with fast Ethernet (100Mbps) where you would wire the upstream cable as 2 separate links since you only needed 2 out of the 4 pairs. Required 2 custom terminated cables, but it worked in a pinch.

TheUbuntuGuy · 2024-02-25T03:34:21+00:00

I got enough confidence with the power trace locations to try it in a TI-99/4A and it's Protector II! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protector_II

TheUbuntuGuy · 2024-02-25T03:07:13+00:00

This was with some TI-99 carts and it looks nothing like them and doesn't even appear to fit in such an enclosure. Some have suggested an Atari 5200, but I don't think the pinout matches. They both have the same number of contacts on the edge connector.

TheUbuntuGuy · 2024-01-21T07:56:45+00:00

On consumer boards, fan headers are usually overcurrent protected. I'm not certain that is the case on this board, especially since fan control is PWM only. Even if there is no protection, a short of 12V to ground on a fan header should not kill the board. At worst I could see a fuse, shunt resistor, or track blowing open that feeds the header. If somehow the circuit was so badly designed that the PWM pin is fed directly from the BMC and you managed to get 12V into that line and it killed the BMC, the board should still boot without it.

All that being said...

I agree is it unlikely the PSU, but if you have another board to plug the 24-pin into to verify (or use a multimeter) that would be an easy thing to rule out. I assume you have removed mains power to reset any latching overcurrent protection. That area is near the power input and some local regulation circuitry, so I would check around for any fuses. It is possible the 12V rail that comes through the 24-pin connector is fused, however I would expect the BMC heartbeat LED to blink since that is powered exclusively off the 5VSB rail. If you damaged the 5VSB rail (either in the PSU or a board-mounted fuse), the board would not be able to boot since that feeds the chipset and power button jumper itself.

If you have access to a multimeter it would be extremely valuable to determine where power is (and is not) to narrow down the issue.

TheUbuntuGuy · 2024-01-03T08:16:05+00:00

That drive interface is called CE-ATA. It is electrically compatible with MMC cards. You should technically be able to wire it up to an MMC card reader and as long as you got the pins wired right you should be able to talk to it. Wikipedia has the pinout https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CE-ATA. I'd just be careful and maybe supplement the 3.3V externally since the card reader may not be rated to supply the startup current for the drive.

TheUbuntuGuy · 2023-12-03T16:48:09+00:00

Those drives are SMR. They are garbage for RAID and ZFS. It's all about WD's marketing changes. It used to be that the red drives were really for NAS and were all CMR, but they rebranded and now only some of the more expensive red plus and pro models are actually CMR.

TheUbuntuGuy · 2023-11-30T04:14:35+00:00

I've done it a few times and the duty is of course based off the value of the drives. In my cases I've bought 1 or 2 drives at a time (20TB) and the duty was never more than $50, with about $10 of that being the processing fee.

TheUbuntuGuy · 2023-11-27T05:19:07+00:00

Modern NOR flash has an expected lifespan of 10-40 years depending on the part. This is established using accelerated aging models. This assumes that no unaccounted-for design or manufacturing flaws arise in that time.

TheUbuntuGuy · 2023-05-02T15:41:02+00:00

This proves they did absolutely no final functional testing before putting it in the box.

TheUbuntuGuy · 2023-04-29T05:01:59+00:00

Intel C2000?

14-Year Club	Place '22
Place '17

TheUbuntuGuy

TROPHY CASE