DL580 G2 expansion slots

[Stamatis Zografos]

Gyus,

You may find this silly and most probably you will be right. I have just bought a second hand DL580 G2, 4xXeon@3GHz, 4gb ECC RAM etc, from eBay. Machine appears to be in great working order, have already installed Ubuntu 9.04 sans issues, no problem from the SCSI Array. Yet my machine came without a nic. Fine, all I have to do is buy a nic then.

Here is where my trouble started. HP claims (on various system manuals and everywhere) the six expansion slots to be PCI-X 64 running at 100MHz. Have already looked here:
http://forums11.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=1228482
Indeed all HP nics recommended for the DL580 G2 are PCI-X ones. Have found plenty of them available on eBay.

Problem is the slots on my DL do not look compatible with these ones.

Have seen a lot of PCI-X cards, their contacts are organized in four groups which from left to right go as short-medium-short-medium length groups.

Yet the expansion slots I can see on my DL580 G2 are organized in just three groups which from left to right go as short, long, medium length groups. PCI-X cards will not mount on these slots.

Had a look on Wikipedia, to find only that the slots I have on my DL580 G2 look very much like the PCI-64 5V version. You may take a look here, if you wish
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PCI_Keying.png
Mine looks very much like the top right one.

I don't care if the expansion slots are PCI-64 or PCI-X. All I want is to find some nic to attach and run under ubuntu. Problem is I do not know what to look for.

Your help would be greatly appreciated.

[TTr]

> Yet my machine came without a nic

Doesn't it have any onboard LAN ports? If not, it is probably a G1.

http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/10635_na/10635_na.html

Based on the G1 quickspecs, the integrated network controller is on a PCI slot and all PCI slots are PCI (not PCI-x)

[Stamatis Zografos]

To begin with, please let me correct my previous reference that my slots look like the PCI-64 5V version. Instead they look like a PCI-64 3.3V version. Which if I am not wrong are still compatible with the standard PCI-32 3.3V version. Had this been the case, the problem is the majority of the available PCI-32 cards are of the later 5V version.

This machine came without an on board nic, other than the iLo which AFAIK was not designed for general network use. Judging by the single -non hot swap- unpopulated slot, it must have been equipped with one, yet the seller removed it before the sale.

AFAIK this is a G2, I have downloaded the G2 manuals range, it looks on par with a G2. Besides -having seen a number of G1s on eBay- they used to be equipped with much older CPUs rather than the quad Xeons @ 3 GHz.

I wonder whether the PCI64 3.3V is an early version of the PCI-X 64. Had a look on eBay already, I am sorry to say I have failed to find one to match. For every PCI-X I have found, it is of the four group contacts type, whereas I am looking for something with three.

Perhaps if there is some particular name for the type of slots the G2 is equipped I could be provided with a much better chance in finding a suitable one.

Anyway, still many thanks for your kind reply.

[TTr]

The G2 quickspecs are here. I suppose it is a G2, it does not have on-board LAN either.

http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/11372_div/11372_div.HTML

You need one of the NC7170 or NC7770 LAN cards, there should be plenty on ebay.

[Stamatis Zografos]

No, I am afraid neither of them fits.

What I look for is something like this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/COMPAQ-Smart-Array-532-2-CH-32MB-U160-PCI64-226874-001_W0QQitemZ220291921122QQcmdZViewItemQQptZController?hash=item334a6bf4e2
only this is not a really a nic.

Can you notice the three groups of contacts? Small, long, medium length.

[TTr · Accepted solution]

Are you sure it will not fit?

http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/11650_na/11650_ov.jpg

http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/11650_div/11650_div.html

If it's a G2, it has PCI-x and the two cards I mentioned will fit. The quickspecs can't lie.

Unles you got a soup-ed up bastardized server, maybe a G1 system board inside a G2 case.

You can take a picture of the system board and the PCI slots and post them back.

[Stamatis Zografos]

TTr you have been absolutely right, while I am an absolute fool. Of course it does fit.

Had an old PCI-X RAID controller with a four group interface, attached it to the DL580, no issues at plug in, was easily identified after boot.

Had a quick look on eBay, there are plenty hp nic cards with an identical interface happily available.

Case closed, thread closed, problem solved, TTr many-many thanks for your patience.

[Stamatis Zografos]

ta