X9SCM-F problem with multiple controller cards

I am planning to use 2 M1015 and a areca ARC1200 card on a X9SCM-F motherboard. The 2 M1015 cards work when they are alone on the X9SCM. Same goes for the ARC1200. But when I put all 3 cards on the motherboard it boots in ESXi, but none of the cards are detected. I can understand that for the ARC 1200 because there are no drivers installed for it. The M1015s are flashed to IT-mode and have been working in passthrough.

I also don't seem to be able to enter the mobo's BIOS when all three cards are on it. I see the BIOS messages of the cards, first LSI2008 then ARC1200 but when I try to enter the mobo's BIOS by pressing DEL on the Supermicro splash screen the system crashes after the ARC1200 BIOS message.

I do all this remotely through IPMI.

Is there a BIOS update that will fix this?

On a side-note: Do you have some pointers for me on how to start activating and using IPMI ?  I am using the same board...

On a side-note: Do you have some pointers for me on how to start activating and using IPMI ?  I am using the same board...

I followed this thread by Johnm.

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=14695.0

Basically, hooking the IPMI LAN port to your network. It will get an ip address through DHCP. Then download and install IPMIview from Supermicro. Let IPMIview search and find your board. There you can do all fun stuff with the mobo.

On a side-note: Do you have some pointers for me on how to start activating and using IPMI ?  I am using the same board...

 

I followed this thread by Johnm.

 

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=14695.0

 

Basically, hooking the IPMI LAN port to your network. It will get an ip address through DHCP. Then download and install IPMIview from Supermicro. Let IPMIview search and find your board. There you can do all fun stuff with the mobo.

...simplest thing for IPMI is to configure a fixed IP for IPMI in the BIOS.

When the mobo posts, the IPMI config is set and from now on,

you can simply use your browser (even is the system is switched off)...point it to the IPMI IP and enter the standard user and PW (ADMIN / ADMIN)

Did you put tje areca in the first slot (closest to the CPU) ?

Sent from my SGH-I727R using Tapatalk 2

Did you put tje areca in the first slot (closest to the CPU) ?

 

Sent from my SGH-I727R using Tapatalk 2

No, the Areca is closest to the  edge of the board and shows in the BIOS as PCI-E slot 4, the M1015 cards are closest to the CPU, showing as PCI-E slot 6 and 7. I just tried it on another motherboard that has BIOS 1.1a and there all cards work just fine and the BIOS of the X9SCM is also accesible. The other with the problems as described has BIOS 1.03c. I guess it's time to update, maybe to 2.0a. Just hoping it won't cause trouble with ESXi. See about that tomorrow, it's bedtime.

I run BIOS 2 just fine with esxi. Have a areca 1200 mirror for data store. Then m1015 passed through for unraid. And a dual Intel pro nic. (In that order from cpu slot down) 

Sent from my SGH-I727R using Tapatalk 2

Which Intel NIC is that you mention?

What bios version are you running? there was some reported issues with some of the bios versions.

I have had 3 m1015's and an ARC-1222 all on the same X9scm. the ARC was in the furthest slot from the mobo for me.

What bios version are you running? there was some reported issues with some of the bios versions.

 

I have had 3 m1015's and an ARC-1222 all on the same X9scm. the ARC was in the furthest slot from the mobo for me.

You mean the ARC1222 was closest to the edge of the motherboard?

Did you get it working ?

I received the arc1200 today, and it will not work in the slot the furthest away from the cpu.

Also the 3 rd 8x slot also does not work (slot 3 from the cPU to the outside)

In slots closest to the cpu are supermicro 8 port cards

It starts in my normal pc next to a arc-1130 just fine.

I did upgrade the bios and 2 other files, will test again.

It starts up in the outer slot, but with a red message FW error.

Only this card in the mainbord it has the same error so back to the windows pc to check it once more

...read here: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=22327.msg201887#msg201887

Apparently there are side effects in passthrough with this board and Ivy-Bridge BIOS,  Ivy Bridge CPUs and/or both.

I think i read there that the V2 generation Xeon chips make the mainbord run on PCI-E 3.0 mode and that might cause card issues ?

I use a Xeon E3-1265L V2 so that could be the problem..

I did have the error with only the ARC 1200 in the mainbord in the PCI-E slot 8x next to the CPU and also the 4x slot at the side of the mainbord.

On the supermicro site i read:

2x (x8) PCI-E 3.0*** slots,

2x (x4) PCI-E 2.0 in x8 slots

*** BIOS rev. 2.0 or above is needed to support new E3-1200 v2 CPUs, which supports PCI-E 3.0 & DDR3 1600.

So i should not insert this card in the first 2 slots (from the CPU outward) as they run in PCI-E 3.0 mode presumably now.

Than the 2 outer slots should still be in PCI-E 2.0 mode.

Will do more tests.

The only way tested for 3 M1015s that works on a X9SCM-F currently is a V1 Sandy Bridge Xeon processor.  For me even that wasn't enough.  I need an earlier bios or one of my tuners (AVer Media Duet) isn't recognized.  It didn't matter which slot I put it in.  The card was just not compatible with the 2.0a bios.  But that was just a tuner card.  I had no problems running 3 M1015s on the 2.0a bios with a Sandy Bridge V1 Xeon processor.

I am using an ARC1200 in the second slot from the edge of the board and an M1015 in the slot closest to the CPU (Sandybridge).

The controllers work both in unraid and ESXi. Motherboards BIOS is 2.0a.

Performance isn't great though on unraid 5.0 RC3. Parity sync at start 75 and when no array disks are accessed 55-60 MB/s

I think i will sell the arc 1200 than. It was cheap so i guess i can sell it without a loss.

Perhaps contact supermicro support

I think i will sell the arc 1200 than. It was cheap so i guess i can sell it without a loss.

 

Perhaps contact supermicro support

Please PM me if you want to sell the ARC1200. If the price is right I am interested.