X9SCM-F with Ivybridge/1600MHZ ECC broken

[madcoder]

EDIT: This problem was solved. If you run across this thread trying to solve a similar problem, be sure to run AMI2.bat to complete the second step of the Supermicro BIOS upgrade. See below... /EDIT

I am just setting up my 3rd X9SCM-F, but this is the first one with an Ivybridge processor and 1600 Mhz ECC.

The board is a 1.11a revision. Upon receiving it, I put the new memory in it, but one of my older processors, so that I could upgrade the bios to support the Ivybridge V2 processor. At that time, the bios showed the memory as running 1333 and ECC, correct for the older E3-1230 processor. After upgrading to the 2.0a bios, and putting the new CPU in, the memory reports as running at 1600 correctly, but is now in non-ecc mode. Real nice.

Memory Dimms: 2x Kingston KVR1600D3E11S/4G





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[madcoder]

Email sent to Supermicro. Awaiting a response...

 

[madcoder]

In the meantime, I made a few additional tests.

-I checked my other two X9SCM-F systems, both running the same 2.0a bios, but with Sandybridge E3-1230 CPUs. They are both running in ECC mode correctly according to bios.

-I took the memory out of one of those systems, and put it in the new one which has the E3-1270 v2 Ivybridge. I booted into the bios, and it shows correctly running at 1333 (it is 1333 ECC memory), but just like the 1600 memory, is reporting as running in non-ecc mode.

-I reset the bios again, using the onboard contacts to be sure, as well as reseated the memory, and switched to another power supply. No joy.

Summary: If you are running bios 2.0a and a new Ivybridge processor, then ECC is not reporting as working in bios regardless of what memory you are using. As to whether or not ECC is really actually working, I have no idea at this time, but the bios is tellling that it is running in non-ecc mode.

 

[madcoder]

Still no response from Supermicro, but now I have also ran the small utility found here:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1693051
(thanks jack-jr123)

According to that utility, as well as the Ubuntu CD built in memory tester, ECC is in fact disabled.

So now I have confirmation that the bios is reporting correctly that ECC is NOT working.

 

[brutalizer]

Supermicro will fix this ECC problem. They are quality, yes? Just wait a bit more.

 

[madcoder]

I received no acknowledgement from either email I sent today (although there is still time since they are west coast). Tomorrow I will call them if I don't even hear back that they are aware of the issue.

 

[Jorona]

It seems like this might be processor related. There are people with IB Xeons in other boards complaining about no ECC. Possibly a bad stepping?

 

[madcoder]

Facepalm...

It works now.

It would help if I had ran the second step of the BIOS upgrade, AMI2.bat after a reboot from the first step. I had misread the screen thinking AMI2.bat was to restore the old BIOS or something (as some hardware will back itself up in case you want to roll back).

Well, what can I say? Reading for the win.

Oh, and thanks Supermicro (Derek). Now to go do the second step for my other 2 machines. Surprisingly, they run fine with a half BIOS upgrade.



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[dpeng678]

Thanks for your sharing. This bugged me for just one night. Knowing something new and killing the bug at the same time feel so great.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Just built a new server using X9SCM mobo and KVR16E11K4 ram... running into this problem. Found this thread on google.

So what exactly did you do? What is this ami2.bat file and how/where do you find it and how/where do you run it? I don't have an operating system installed yet, and with ram acting up I don't imagine I will actually be able to install one. It fails the memtest right away.



Also, I don't have a floppy drive on this server. So if this requires some kind of bios update or booting off a DOS floppy, it's going to be a royal pain...