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 DataCenter)
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/power 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 ?
Best Answer
We have just upgraded three DL580 G7's that are model 584084-001 to Xeon E7-4870 processors. We found that what mattered in our environment was the revision of the main system board (not the CPU board/tray or SPI riser). After reading that last response, I checked iLO to verify all of our PAL versions. We do have one server that is running 4 E7-4870 processors with 1TB of memory on a CPU board with PAL version 0x10.
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.
Everything just worked on the server with the newer MainIO board revision, so we initially tried moving its CPU/Memory tray to the servers that were not working. When they still failed to work we decided that the issue lied outside of the CPU/Memory tray. The revision on the MainIO board was the only difference between the non-working servers and the working one.
We ordered the mainboards from our usual supplier, but had no way to specify revision. We just ordered and then verified the revision before installing.
EDIT: Adding the diagnostic info on our working CPLD / PAL versions: