Thought I'd share my sadness

M

MysticRyuujin

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 1, 2013
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507
So I have a Norco RPC-2214 case and RL-26 Rails and it works pretty well. The rails are TIGHT and difficult to put in and pull out but it works well enough. Their support was awesome too because I had a stripped thread in a rail and they sent me a new rail end piece no questions asked.

So I wanted to build a decent 1U workstation and thought, I'll go Norco again. I got the RPC-1204 with the same rails, as recommended on their website, but the darn thing doesn't fit because the top cover interferes with the rails! Also the motherboard port cover doesn't fit either, had to just go no-cover on the back. Sadness. I've had to rack it without a cover for now. I'm not the only one that's experienced this either. There's a review on Newegg that says the same thing. I've contacted their support about it and at first they were like "Did you install it right?" but I've sent them the below pictures...waiting for a response now. I don't think I've ever built a computer where every single part fit just perfectly the first time...but I only build something every few years.

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Hold on, so the rails Norco recommended won't fit your Norco case? Why don't you ask them to replace/refund?
 
I do not have personally experience with Norco but when I was researching a case for my rack mount build I initially was drawn to Norco cause it seemed to fit the bill for features and price for me. But after reading so many stories of quality control as exampled in this thread I decided to go Supermicro which was more expensive but when you consider they also include a very nice power supply the price becomes more reasonable.
 
Yeah these are clearly the wrong rails, I'd open a ticket and see what comes of it.

Other than that, the non-enterprise rackable equipment is always hit and miss. Often you find that they just don't fit seamlessly, or it's too snug to be practical for when you need to pull it out, and you are forced to leave 1/2 U empty between gear wasting rack space.
 
Hold on, so the rails Norco recommended won't fit your Norco case? Why don't you ask them to replace/refund?
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Yup...I've asked them for guidance. But it's the weekend so I'll probably have to wait until Monday.

I do not have personally experience with Norco but when I was researching a case for my rack mount build I initially was drawn to Norco cause it seemed to fit the bill for features and price for me. But after reading so many stories of quality control as exampled in this thread I decided to go Supermicro which was more expensive but when you consider they also include a very nice power supply the price becomes more reasonable.
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Yeah, I have a 2U server that works perfectly fine, it's actually a pretty nice case but their rails suck. It's a real struggle to get in and out. I guess that's what I get for trying to be cheap. If the rails fit I'd be happy, the case has no real problems other than it doesn't fit with their rails heh

On any 1U case you aren't going to fit an IO shield.
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This is the first 1U I've ever attempted to build from pieces. Used to dealing with HP/Dell/Cisco where that crap is already integrated. The case came with an IO shield but of course all of the IO ports on motherboards are different so it doesn't line up with anything haha
 
I know this is an older thread but curious if Norco ever resolved this for you, or what you might have done to find resolution. I was dealing with Norco on some other issues and they were helpful, once I mentioned this very same issue, they haven't responded. So I sent in a separate support ticket for just this issue and nobody will respond. My guess is they have no solution and don't want to deal with it. I've returned all the cases I could to Newegg but still stuck with a handful that I can't return and obviously can't rack mount. I am also using their recommended RL-26 rail.

Any information you might have as to a resolution would be great!
 
Brace1978 said:
I know this is an older thread but curious if Norco ever resolved this for you, or what you might have done to find resolution. I was dealing with Norco on some other issues and they were helpful, once I mentioned this very same issue, they haven't responded. So I sent in a separate support ticket for just this issue and nobody will respond. My guess is they have no solution and don't want to deal with it. I've returned all the cases I could to Newegg but still stuck with a handful that I can't return and obviously can't rack mount. I am also using their recommended RL-26 rail.

Any information you might have as to a resolution would be great!
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You could always use a universal "rail" kit. It is basically a set of rails that works kind of like a shelf. You don't have the nice slide in-out action of normal rails, but they get the job done.

You could also trim the case cover so it doesn't hit the rails anymore. A Dremel tool with cutoff blades would make quick work of that issue.

Of you could do some research on your own and find some rails that will work.
 
Nope, they never resolved it. They basically just said I was doing it wrong. I put it in the rack without a lid. I put it under another server and lifted it as best I could so that there's very little gap between the two servers. It's not enterprise...
 
Speaking of Norco I hate the fact that their cases (and lot of other manufacturers too) don't come with rails. Including rails should be standard practice! How am I suppose to know what rails fit and where to get them, and it means I need to order from somewhere else and pay shipping twice. I bought two Norco cases to use as workstations to go in my rack but they did not come with rails nor give any indication of which ones you should buy. I had some L rails for an old SAN and ended up using those but the thickness of the steel makes it so the screw holes don't line up with the rack so can't bolt them in. I could try to source out some rails on ebay or something and hope for the best but by the time I pay for shipping and all that it's going to be more expensive than the case was.
 
cyclone3d said:
You could always use a universal "rail" kit. It is basically a set of rails that works kind of like a shelf. You don't have the nice slide in-out action of normal rails, but they get the job done.

You could also trim the case cover so it doesn't hit the rails anymore. A Dremel tool with cutoff blades would make quick work of that issue.

Of you could do some research on your own and find some rails that will work.
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I know I could hack mine up, but my point was we shouldn't have to do that. I understand your comments, just sucks that Norco produces these chassis knowing they won't mount with their own "recommended" rails. I regret my Norco purchase and will not be buying anymore of their products. I do have server shelves from some Rosewil 4U cases I had in my rack. Wanted to get everything on sliding rails so this looked like a great way to build all new low power units. The units I was unable to return will be put on ebay to never be seen again!

I got a good deal on some refurbished Poweredge 2950's so I switched everything over to those and they obviously are built 10 times stronger and fit correctly on rails and in a rack. I don't run them 24/7 so the power consumption difference and heat produced are not even a considerable issue.
 
Red Squirrel said:
Speaking of Norco I hate the fact that their cases (and lot of other manufacturers too) don't come with rails. Including rails should be standard practice! How am I suppose to know what rails fit and where to get them, and it means I need to order from somewhere else and pay shipping twice. I bought two Norco cases to use as workstations to go in my rack but they did not come with rails nor give any indication of which ones you should buy. I had some L rails for an old SAN and ended up using those but the thickness of the steel makes it so the screw holes don't line up with the rack so can't bolt them in. I could try to source out some rails on ebay or something and hope for the best but by the time I pay for shipping and all that it's going to be more expensive than the case was.
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Thats exactly right. I could continue to find a set of rails that would work, drill my own mounting holes... Or just get rid of them and stick to higher quality chassis. I guess it costs money to get educated and I learned my lesson, stay away from low quality Norco chassis and next time I refresh my units, I will go with supermicro. Lesson learned!
 
Brace1978 said:
Thats exactly right. I could continue to find a set of rails that would work, drill my own mounting holes... Or just get rid of them and stick to higher quality chassis. I guess it costs money to get educated and I learned my lesson, stay away from low quality Norco chassis and next time I refresh my units, I will go with supermicro. Lesson learned!
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this is why i buy supermicro... that and the fact that they seem to be the only people besides the big box OEMs that can make a quality drive hot swap backplane...

i got expensive icydock units that just turn to junk after a year or two... the supermicros are solid... i'm scared to even try one of those big 24+ drive norcos even though the storage guys seem to like them...
 
Ya know, when I look at these pictures all I see is that damn plastic layer that no one ever takes off their cases and it drives me bat crap crazy lol
 
I leave the plastic on...I normally have to use a cart to move 10-12 1U machines across campus for a deployment, I once almost didnt catch them when they started to slide around, with the plastic, they dont slide.
 
I did finally hear back from Norco and they finally admitted that their 1U chassis can not be mounted with their lids on using their own recommended rails. Makes me wonder why they recommend them in the first place knowing they won't fit. Now to dump all my Norco junk on eBay!!
 
I have had so many companies give me incorrect information about rail sizes and types that I hardly pay attention to that anymore. Things have gotten much better these days with racks and rails becoming more constant, but I still get misinformation from time to time. Back in the day it was ridiculous trying to get the right rails for the rack you were using. And getting the right power plugs in the lab? Forget it. I have had companies mess that up as often as the rails.
 
Brace1978 said:
Thats exactly right. I could continue to find a set of rails that would work, drill my own mounting holes... Or just get rid of them and stick to higher quality chassis. I guess it costs money to get educated and I learned my lesson, stay away from low quality Norco chassis and next time I refresh my units, I will go with supermicro. Lesson learned!
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You'd think they could at least provide rails, even if it raises the price a bit. It's like buying a cheap car and it not coming with tires. :D The cheap rackmounts are nice if you don't expect to have storage.
 
They've had issues with their rails for sure. I currently have two different RL-26 rails. One is a good 2 inches shorter =/. I can only pull the server out about 85% then i have to unlatch the rail lock.

Not to mention when i ordered the second RL-26 from newegg they shipped me some non-ball bearing crap twice, They eventually got it resolved, but it certainly tarnished norco's name for me.

norco doesn't make wiring arms either. (and i just recently asked them if the do) Any suggestions for wire managment arms for norco chassis?
 
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