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Re: DL580 G7 E7 Upgrade issue

 
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Edgar1
Member

DL580 G7 E7 Upgrade issue

Hello there,

I'm an administrator IT and also repair desktop computers & servers for many years.

We have an DL580 G7 whose warranty expired 12/31/2015. Originally supplied with Xeon E7530 and standard memory cartridges, we recently upgraded it to E7-4870 and E7 memory cartridges. Since then, we are in big trouble to ensure that it works. In order to locate the issue, I proceeded with a sequential test:

1) PROC1=A, PROC2=B, PROC3=X, PROC4=X, POST=TRUE
2) PROC1=C, PROC2=D, PROC3=X, PROC4=X, POST=TRUE
3) PROC1=A, PROC2=X, PROC3=B, PROC4=X, POST=FALSE
4) PROC1=A, PROC2=X, PROC3=X, PROC4=B, POST=TRUE
5) PROC1=A, PROC2=C, PROC3=X, PROC4=B, POST=TRUE
6) PROC1=A, PROC2=C, PROC3=D, PROC4=B, POST=FALSE
7) PROC1=E, PROC2=F, PROC3=X, PROC4=X, POST=TRUE
8) PROC1=E, PROC2=X, PROC3=F, PROC4=X, POST=TRUE
9) PROC1=E, PROC2=G, PROC3=F, PROC4=H, POST=TRUE

A,B,C,D are E7-4870 (SLC3T) 130W TDP
E,F,G,H are E7530 (SLBRJ) 105W TDP
X is empty socket

TRUE = Server post and run OS (WS2012 R2)
FALSE = Server hang before post (display last post code 4048 on ilo3, then post code disappear and no video, same result connected to VGA port)

Server parts:
DL580 G7 (584087-421)
Motherboard (512843-001/591196-001)
CPU Board (583367-001/591197-001)
I/O Board (512844-001/591199-001)
E7 ram cartridge (650761-001/647058-001)
Standard ram cartridge (617524-001/591198-001)
Micron 4GB ram dimm (500203-061)
4xPSU 1200W (438203-001/498152-001)

System ROM P65 10/01/2013 (reset to defaults)
iLO Firmware Version 1.85

According to Hp QuickSpecs for this particular ProLiant server, E7-4800 series are only supported in DL580 G7 CTO (643086-B2x) & Preconfigured models (6430xx-xx1/6967xx-xx1). From what I know, the main difference with a entry-level are E7 cartridges. Motherboard, CPU board and I/O board are the same part numbers.

To resume, it seems that server doesn't post when socket PROC3 is mounted with a E7-4870 (test all four 4870 on it, same result). I suspect a electrical issue on this socket because TDP is higher than E7530.

I plan to replace CPU board first, any advices are welcome.

Do any of you have already met such a problem ?

4 REPLIES 4
venomous-Nerd
Advisor

Re: DL580 G7 E7 Upgrade issue

Hi mate have you checked if the cpu works in that model and is your BIOS/UEFI up to date same with ILO and BMC?

Edgar1
Member
Solution

Re: DL580 G7 E7 Upgrade issue

I finally got my hands on a 643086-B21 CTO model, fitted with two E7-8837 on PROC1 & PROC2.

Sequential test done (I,J are E7-8837, SLC3N, 130W TDP):

1) PROC1=I, PROC2=J, PROC3=X, PROC4=X, POST=TRUE (E7 dimm cartridges)
2) PROC1=A, PROC2=B, PROC3=C, PROC4=D, POST=TRUE (E7 dimm cartridges)
3) PROC1=E, PROC2=F, PROC3=G, PROC4=H, POST=TRUE (Standard dimm cartridges)

System ROM is P65 10/01/2013

As you can see, everything works fine (4xE7-4870 & 4xE7530 cpus).

CTO Server parts:
Motherboard (512843-001/591196-001)
CPU Board (583367-001/591197-001)
I/O Board (512844-001/591199-001)

Comparing to 584057-421 model, hardware, p/n boards are exactly the same.

So where is the difference ?

In this kind of server, each board (SPI, MainIO, CPU) have is own chip ROM (Lattice EEPROM/Flash), named CPLD for Complex Programmable Logic Device and PAL for Programmable Array Logic. It can explain why some Hp ProLiant servers take so much time to boot.

You can see number version in iLO3 menu under Information/Diagnostics/iLO Self-Test Results:

For DL580 G7 CTO p/n 643086-B21:

CPLD - PAL0 = ProLiant DL580 G7 SPI Board PAL version 0x10 (p/n 591199-001, Lattice chip sticker = SPI PAL, 512844v4, 6470)
CPLD - PAL1 = ProLiant DL580 G7 MainIO Board PAL version 0x11 bootleg 0x10 (p/n 591196-001, Lattice chip sticker = Sys PAL, 20110215, 5290)
CPLD - PAL2 = ProLiant DL580 G7 CPU Board PAL version 0x10 (p/n 591197-001, Lattice chip sticker = CPLD, 0x1010, EB96)

643086-B21.png

For DL580 G7 p/n 584087-421:

CPLD - PAL0 = ProLiant DL580 G7 SPI Board PAL version 0x0F (p/n 591199-001, Lattice chip sticker = SPI PAL, R18, 3484)
CPLD - PAL1 = ProLiant DL580 G7 MainIO Board PAL version 0x0E (p/n 591196-001, Lattice chip sticker = Sys PAL, R18, 6D87)
CPLD - PAL2 = ProLiant DL580 G7 CPU Board PAL version 0x0E (p/n 591197-001, Lattice chip sticker = CPLD, R18, B5B6)

584087-421.png

For two DL580 G7s (boot on two servers, no CPLD update required):

CPLD - PAL3 = ProLiant DL580 G7 Combo PCIe & PCI-X Board PAL version 0x06 (p/n 591204-001, Lattice chip sticker = CPLD, R18, 80B6)
CPLD - PAL3 = ProLiant DL580 G7 Standard PCIe Board PAL version 0x06 (p/n 591205-001, Lattice chip sticker = CPLD, R18, 80B6)

Note: 4xE7-4870 with CPU Board PAL v0x10 won't boot on a DL580 G7 p/n 584087-421. So replace/update CPU Board is not sufficient, you have to replace/update MainIO/SPI boards too (not separatly tested).

As tests have shown before, A DL580 G7 CTO supports E7500 processors, so updating CPLD firmwares on a standard server wouldn't induce a compatibility issue. So if you plan to upgrade your standard DL580 G7 server with E7 processors, you have to update your CPLD chips. Unfortunately, I haven't found anywhere a CPLD firmware update for DL580 G7 servers. It seems that Hp doesn't offer it to download and I doubt they ever will. However, you can find it for many others ProLiant servers:
For example, hp documentation p/n AM426-9011 B, describe E7 family processor upgrade on DL980 G7 server (page 6, Flash the FPGA using the FPGA Smart Component). You can get complete iso CPLD update firmware at hp ftp server (/pub/softlib2/software1/pubsw-linux/p2139015018/v70029/dl980g7-offline-cpld-fpga-fmp-flash-1.0-8.zip)
And, for those who might be interested, I also found a CPLD update for DL585 G7 (/pub/softlib2/software1/sc-linux-fw/p2039955643/v85801/cp019851.scexe)

As has been said before, E7-4800 series are only supported in DL580 G7 CTO (643086-B2x) & Preconfigured models (6430xx-xx1/6967xx-xx1). But if you get failed board, especially for second market, you have to replace it with the right part number and take care to get the right compatible CPLD chip version !

Also, for people who still want to upgrade a standard DL580 G7 with E7 Westmere processors without CPLD update, keep in mind that:
- Only in PROC1 & PROC2 sockets (to get a symmetrical configuration) and so, maximum memory amount is split by two,
- A 2xE7-4870 configuration is faster than a 4xE7530 configuration and less power hungry (2xE7-4870, 20cores=208W, 4xE7530, 24cores=337W, under WS2012 R2 idle mode),
- A Expansion board can't be added as you have to populate PROC3.

Issue solved.

 

EDIT 14/05/2016

Important information was found by Clint from serverfault.com :

We found that as long as the system MainIO board (hp part 512843-001) is revision 0B or later, it works. Two of the three servers had revision 0A of the MainIO board and they would not post with the new processors. On those systems, all we replaced was the mainboard and the result was a working server.

http://serverfault.com/questions/764327/proliant-dl580-g7-e7-upgrade-issue

I completely confirm it.

Molasar
Occasional Advisor

Re: DL580 G7 E7 Upgrade issue

Anyone tried flashing dl980g7-offline-cpld-fpga-fmp-flash-1.0-8.zip to a DL580G7?

ccundiff12
Occasional Visitor

Re: DL580 G7 E7 Upgrade issue

dl980g7-offline-cpld-fpga-fmp-flash-1.0-8.zip  - does not work natively.  After getting into a huge rabbit hole with this issue, i extracted all the files and found (6) different raw firmware files.    ex:  4w_noSub_noSFF_042611.vme   the *.vme is what is needed to flash the CPLD.  You can also flash the CPLD through ilo firmware update if you have the correct file.  I was unable to manually flash these through DOS with the HPE tools.  It also did not work with ILO.  I'm currently looking for other servers that might also have an appropriate flash that could be modified.