ASRock C2750D4I/C2550D4I Failure Rate?

Seems there are a lot of issues being reported with these boards (not just limited to unRaid users), so just wanting to get an idea of how widespread this is. If you own either a C2750D4I or C2550D4I, would appreciate if you could vote reflective of your current experience with these motherboards (Hardware only, not software).       

Don't even think about it. No no no, especially for unraid  

 

*Edit: For more details see this thread about our experiences: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=32647.0

 

I've never had more trouble with a motherboard. From major issues like buggy disk controllers to silly issues like buggy pwm fan controls, it had it all. It turned out to be a really expensive mistake..

Well, that is certainly the impression I am getting. These boards seem to be used quite widely by FreeNAS users as well, however the report of hardware issues don't seem to be as widespread there (still there though). Have also been following a blog of an ESXi 5.5 build using the C2750D4I which is now throwing PSOD after only a few months of operation. Supermicro do have the A1SA7-2750F , however it is way overkill  for my planned 8 port build as it has 16 SATA3 ports and is priced in at around the $600 mark which is outside my budget. Awesome base for larger build though! Looks like I might have to wait to see how the Asus P9AIC2750SAS4L / P9AIC2550SAS4L boards shape up once they are released.

 

Also just for clarity for anyone voting, I'd consider anything around disabling SATA link state or disabling AHCI as being an issue. Basically any modifications made in the effort to achieve reliability at the expense of using a sub optimal configuration.

If you read those threads you can see I had a few issues at first but really has been rock solid since. My issue was with the sata aggressive link power management I believe causing drives to drop off and then red ball. Also new cables eliminated  sata errors. The only lingering issue I had was any heavy disk io would cause my mythtv backend to buffer.  Increasing buffer and moving domain ssd & recorded tv drive to the 2 port marvell 9172 helped.  But still would glitch some during parity sync.

 

With unraid 6b6 containing kernel 3.15 and xen 4.4 all issues are gone. Kernel 3.15 specifically has fixes for pcie marvell controllers. My last parity check was 92.7 Mb/s and glitch free. I have upgraded parity to 4TB and removed the slowest 2TB to a 4TB since. Still not sure I'd recommend it. But by turning  off the one setting,  flashing bios, flashing bmc for pwm fan issues and 6b6 I am very happy with my 12 port mini itx.

 

Maybe you can get it on the cheap given all the problems.

I'm not sure if you'd consider turning off sata ALPM an issue. I have green drives and idle at 30 watts so I'm not sure how much it would save me if anything at all.  Searches on the subject reveal mixed results. It's possible that ALPM may aggressively power down the SATA link prematurely or incorrectly and cause data corruption or loss.

 

Purchased my ASRock C2550D4I back in January 2015.  Assembly of the parts listed below went smooth and configuration of freeNAS-9.3 was straight forward but after almost 3 months, I started receiving emails with messages like:

[pre]    ipmi0: KCS error: 5f

    ipmi0: KCS: Reply address mismatch

    ipmi0: KCS error: 5f

    ipmi0: Failed to set watchdog

    ipmi0: KCS: Reply address mismatch

    ipmi0: KCS error: 5f

    ipmi0: KCS: Reply address mismatch

    ipmi0: KCS error: 5f

[/pre]

Yesterday I decided to reboot the box but it is not coming back online, it wont even get to the BIOS screen.  The box is in a constant state of ON and OFF (i can tell by the case fans), with no signal to the monitor and unresponsive to the keyboard.  I already open a support ticket with ASRock and I'm waiting for a response.

[pre] Board: ASRock C2550D4I Mini ITX

  Case: SilverStone DS380B

  PSU: SILVERSTONE ST45SF-G 450W SFX12V SLI

Memory: Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin SDRAM ECC Unbuffered DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) CT2KIT102472BD160

Drives: WD Red NAS HD WD20EFRX 2TB IntelliPower 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" [/pre]

I was having a similar weird issue with my C2550D4I board yesterday.

 

It would turn on in that I could access the BMI interface but no matter how many times I pressed the power buttons it wouldn't turn on to post (perhaps every now and then the fans would spin perhaps 3 times and stop).

 

I didn't notice initially because it hadn't been off since roughly the first boot up and had run for DAYS doing preclears etc. This was the first time I had not "pulled the plug" so to speak (when the system was off except bmi) on the board and had just shutdown and wanted to start up again. However - when I did "pull the plug" again and plugged back in - first button press and server comes up!

 

I decided to take everything apart and re seat everything from the PSU to the Sata cables. When I did it seems fine now. Still not sure - not getting any messages like you but now have a feeling it had nothing to do with the physical installation but the bmi /config /setup.

 

Would be interested to see if your box comes up if you jack out the cable to the psu (ok because the system is off except bmi) and plug back in and press power!!?

 

Do remember that there is a 30 second bmi sync when the system posts if you have that setting on in the bios.

 

I'd appreciate it if you would post anything you get from ASRock!

Just wondering if there's been any word on these MB's?  I'm looking at upgrading in the next week or so and would really like to get one of these boards.  I have 12 drives and these would be perfect.

 

Anyone know where things stand with these boards?

Just wondering if there's been any word on these MB's?  I'm looking at upgrading in the next week or so and would really like to get one of these boards.  I have 12 drives and these would be perfect.

 

Anyone know where things stand with these boards?

 

Latest bios. Perfect. No issues with it at all.

What do you have as the latest BIOS?  On the ASROCK website I see the following

2.10 - 9/3/2014

 

Is that the latest? 

I, too, have had good luck with mine; but I use it to run a win8.1 based server. Quite solid for me so far, especially love the IPMI (BMI?) access.

Purchased my ASRock C2550D4I back in January 2015.  Assembly of the parts listed below went smooth and configuration of freeNAS-9.3 was straight forward but after almost 3 months, I started receiving emails with messages like:

[pre]    ipmi0: KCS error: 5f

    ipmi0: KCS: Reply address mismatch

    ipmi0: KCS error: 5f

    ipmi0: Failed to set watchdog

    ipmi0: KCS: Reply address mismatch

    ipmi0: KCS error: 5f

    ipmi0: KCS: Reply address mismatch

    ipmi0: KCS error: 5f

[/pre]

Yesterday I decided to reboot the box but it is not coming back online, it wont even get to the BIOS screen.  The box is in a constant state of ON and OFF (i can tell by the case fans), with no signal to the monitor and unresponsive to the keyboard.  I already open a support ticket with ASRock and I'm waiting for a response.

[pre] Board: ASRock C2550D4I Mini ITX

  Case: SilverStone DS380B

  PSU: SILVERSTONE ST45SF-G 450W SFX12V SLI

Memory: Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin SDRAM ECC Unbuffered DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) CT2KIT102472BD160

Drives: WD Red NAS HD WD20EFRX 2TB IntelliPower 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" [/pre]

 

This is most likely the problem. This PSU & Case don't like each other very well.

Purchased my ASRock C2550D4I back in January 2015.  Assembly of the parts listed below went smooth and configuration of freeNAS-9.3 was straight forward but after almost 3 months, I started receiving emails with messages like:

[pre]    ipmi0: KCS error: 5f

    ipmi0: KCS: Reply address mismatch

    ipmi0: KCS error: 5f

    ipmi0: Failed to set watchdog

    ipmi0: KCS: Reply address mismatch

    ipmi0: KCS error: 5f

    ipmi0: KCS: Reply address mismatch

    ipmi0: KCS error: 5f

[/pre]

Yesterday I decided to reboot the box but it is not coming back online, it wont even get to the BIOS screen.  The box is in a constant state of ON and OFF (i can tell by the case fans), with no signal to the monitor and unresponsive to the keyboard.  I already open a support ticket with ASRock and I'm waiting for a response.

[pre] Board: ASRock C2550D4I Mini ITX

  Case: SilverStone DS380B

  PSU: SILVERSTONE ST45SF-G 450W SFX12V SLI

Memory: Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin SDRAM ECC Unbuffered DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) CT2KIT102472BD160

Drives: WD Red NAS HD WD20EFRX 2TB IntelliPower 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" [/pre]

 

This is most likely the problem. This PSU & Case don't like each other very well.

Why do you say that? I'm pretty sure this is the most popular power supply for this case around here. Since you just registered to post this I have to ask, do you use unRAID?

 

This is most likely the problem. This PSU & Case don't like each other very well.

Why do you say that? I'm pretty sure this is the most popular power supply for this case around here. Since you just registered to post this I have to ask, do you use unRAID?

 

Troll post?  First time poster with a username "brawler"?  Hmm...looks like it, smells like it...definitely BS.

 

This is most likely the problem. This PSU & Case don't like each other very well.

Why do you say that? I'm pretty sure this is the most popular power supply for this case around here. Since you just registered to post this I have to ask, do you use unRAID?

 

Troll post?  First time poster with a username "brawler"?  Hmm...looks like it, smells like it...definitely BS.

 

See two examples:

https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/silverstone-ds380-with-silverstone-450w-psu-not-booting.40205/

https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/2xv9p0/someone_with_a_silverstone_ds380_nas_case_please/

 

Furthermore, I had exactly the same issue as the guys from the other threads. If you search a bit the Internet you will find some more. From another forum I know a guy who had exactly the same issues where he contacted Silverstone and warranty exchanged the back plate of his DS380. As I had the same issue I did the same. Sent Silverstone my "faulty" back plate and received another one that finally worked. I noticed that the back plate I sent to Silverstone was "Rev 1.1", the back plate I received back from Silverstone is "Rev. 1.3". And this one worked straight away without any issues. So therefore it seems that there are several different revisions of the back plate in circulation. I assume the same is with the PSU. There is a report where a guy warranty exchanged several times the cable with the Molex connectors and finally two times the entire PSU before he received working components. So you see the cause of the issue. Contact Silverstone and have them warranty exchange faulty components.