And Suddenly . . . . Silence

[Nflight]

I lost one of my systems ladies and Gentlemen. It was 9 years old, something had to give! It won't reboot it says it "can not detect array" on boot up. Is this terminal? In all my years of training in the IT field I have now become more of a "grand user" then a real IT tech support kind of person.

Any advice is welcome !!! Psst this was my only running GPU rig! :sad5:

[AMDave]

That would be out of warranty then. :P

The message "can not detect array" suggests that either the BIOS or a hardware RAID card is looking for a HDD RAID array.
If you were not running a RAID array then I suspect the BIOS has fouled up.
Continuing with that line of thought, check &/ replace the BIOS battery on the Mobo and rebuild your BIOS settings (usually press ESC or some other key displayed on startup)
If there is no battery, then there is likely a capacitor that has failed and could no longer provide power to the BIOS chips.
You want to examine the small black or blue cylinders on your board and look for any where the silver end may have expanded upwards and outwards leaking a brownish ooze.
It is possible to replace some of those at cost but if the ooze made it onto the mobo then you will likely have a mobo issue as well.
Make sure the power is turned off on the PSU until you have done this check. The last thing you want is an electrical fire!

If the BIOS is not the issue and you were in fact running a HDD RAID array then it is somewhat more difficult to diagnose and repair. I have trouble enough doing that myself.
If you have backups then you can look at doing a RAID rebuild after doing some research for the manuals and instructions.
If you had important files and data on those drives that was not backed up and you must have back, then I recommend taking the box to a pro and shelling a few bucks to get the data put onto a new drive to put into a new(er) PC.

If you were not running a raid array and you suspect the BIOS or Mobo to be the problem, you can check that your HDD is ok by plugging it into another machine to check that the drive is still readable.
The point of the excercise here is, if you have other similarly capable machines, you may be able to do some 'component testing' to figure out what works and what does not.
Doing this can help you to narrow down the range of components that could be faulty through a process of elimination.

[Dirk Broer]

I do hope you had a Raid arrray, and that it was Raid 5 or 6. But I bet it was, for performance reasons, Raid 0, which means one of your Raid 0 disks, and therefore your complete Raid-array has died on you, because half of the data is on disk A and the other half on disk B, of everything, including OS. Bummer. If it was a Raid 1 array you can repair it (all data is on both disks), Raid 5 and 6 can replicate the lost data to a new disk that has been brought into the array. Then pray that during this process no other disk will die on you in case of Raid 5, because repair will fail in such a case as well. Raid 6 can handle two dead disks.

[Nflight]

Actually no array at all. It was just an extra computer that I still had running and the only one that a GPU would fit into. So at this time I am not idle just limping....Besides I am busy rewriting my business plan till my eyes fall out. so until I can stop and smell some roses it will be awhile till I can get back running again. Just one of those things! :sad5:

[AMDave]

Give yourself a 20 minute brain break from the creative process :)

Open the box & have a quick glance at the ends of those Cap's.
I would not power it on again if there is any doubt, to avoid risk of fire.

ok, no raid.
then it is likely the HDD is ok and it is the mobo / HDD controller that has failed.
You can do that quick test by plugging the HDD it into another PC to check on your next break :)

[Dirk Broer]

From the spare computer cards take the PCI controller card, preferably a model that supports both IDE and SATA. First test the disk in another system, add the controller to that system, install the driver software for the controller on the disk in question and plug the disk plus controller back in the old system. May have to fiddle with your BIOS in order to let the disk start from the new controller.

[AMDave]

OR, if you are bored, take it out back to the fire pit, light that bad boy up and give it a real Viking burial with ale and songs of Odin and Thor! It'd be real proud. :biggrin:

[Dirk Broer]

OR, if you are bored, take it out back to the fire pit, light that bad boy up and give it a real Viking burial with ale and songs of Odin and Thor! It'd be real proud. :biggrin:
Never sell the hide before the bear's been shot.:help: And a mere dead controller on the mobo does not give right to a Viking burial !:icon_mrgreen: After all, we are talking about Nflight's sole GPU-capable mobo here. Dunno what CPU it had, but I would light the fire only if it was an Intel-based sub-conroe socket 775 board (or worse: socket 478:shocked: or, dread,:5eek: socket 423) or a good-old AMD socket A/462 or lower. And you can always use an old mobo to decorate your walls with:icon_razz:. The old casing can be re-used with a new mobo, as can the GPU, the optical drive and, hopefully, the hard disk. The old memory might be of the wrong type for a new mobo, but can hopefully be used to soup up other systems.

In case of a new mobo
The green camp:qgreenjumpers:
Socket FM1: Make sure to buy a A75 based bord, not a cheaper A55 one.
Socket AM3+: Make sure to have at least a board equipped with the 890FX chipset, but better still a 970 or 990 chipset, in case you want a future upgrade to a Bulldozer.
The blue camp:3dblob3:
Socket 1366: Almost given up by Intel itself, no foreseable future in it.
Socket 1556: Given up by Intel itself, no future in it.
Socket 1555: Make sure to have a H67 or Z68 chipset, and go for the i3-2105.

[AMDave]

Aww.
the marshmallows will save for another day.

[Dirk Broer]

...the only one that a GPU would fit into...
Well, is that so? You know you can use GPUs from good-old AGP slots and even plain ordinary PCI slots? I do most of my Collatz (20k+ a day) using a Sapphire 512 Mb AGP HD 3850, and there is a plain PCI (so no PCIe) Club 3D ATI Radeon HD 5450. It will not work fast, but it will work.

[Dirk Broer]

News from the blue camp:
There's a new generation of Intel CPUs coming up, the Sandy-Bridge-E (no Ivy Bridge yet), and it needs yet another Intel socket: Socket 2011 (not kidding you (http://www.tomshardware.com/news/sandy-bridge-e-core-i-x79-express-processor,13387.html#xtor=999))
It is supposed to be a close race between these pieces of silicon and AMDs Bulldozer CPUs for socket AM3+, both delivery and performance wise.
Exit socket 1366 Mobos as the top-line consumer boards for Intel processors (glad I never bought one).

[Nflight]

I will never purchase anything from the Blue camp, only if it is given to me will I use it. I am a Green Camp member till I die, please remember that Dirk.

[Dirk Broer]

I will never purchase anything from the Blue camp, only if it is given to me will I use it. I am a Green Camp member till I die, please remember that Dirk.
The same here! But I am a virtual black hole when it comes to collecting old PCs and assorted hardware, so I have my share of "Blue chips".
Personally I am eagerly awaiting the lanch of the AM3+ Bulldozers by the Green Camp, the reaction from the Blue camp
and the benchmarks that will arrive with them. The new Intel 6-cores are out of my league, price-wise, but will the new AMD octa-cores be affordable?

[Nflight]

I still can't afford this but it is nice to oogle at what is coming up to compete against Intel: http://www.dailytech.com/AMD+Ships+Worlds+First+16Core+Server+CPUs+New+Fusi on+Chips/article22658c.htm I think what we need is a Bulldozer Avatar.... Hey Site Admin how about some new movable avatars?

And look at that, they are compatible with G34 sockets, no need to run out and replace everything you have invested for new Product! Take that Blue Team and smoke it!

[Nflight]

Rant on: Losing one system makes me mad as hell, but losing my confidence in a lawyer makes my life miserable. This week generated another 30 grey hairs and added 20 pounds of weight on due to incompetence and frustration. Come on legal team, show me the way! God I hate this crap! Can't there be peace where there is no one digging for your riches ( intellectual property) at stake! I am pissed beyond belief and disturbed to hear nonsense coming from a lawyer. End of Rant! :blob3:

[Dirk Broer]

I think what we need is a Bulldozer Avatar....
213
This looks like a nice variant to the usual case sticker.
Some more to cheer you up;
214215216217

[Nflight]

Its been a long while since I updated this post, so with nothing to lose I had a run in with a lawyer this week again. Did I mention how much I love them? Some people in business hate Banks so much they are actually verbally abusive in front of these financial folks. Not I I just hate the incompetent lawyers who for some other reason make my life miserable. End of Rant

I have had one system running now for almost 8 years (February is the anniversary) It is about time to consider an upgrade. The last time I considered upgrading I lost something else in that mix. And that loss was horrendous to recover from.

I might actually have some money here soon to do the impossible and build a G34 socketed Motherboard with an Opteron 6380 series CPU. I want to run (Microsoft HPC) as the OS and I want to place as much RAM as 16GB per core (IF the OS will allow the CPU to see all that). I like the R9 290X GPU (maybe 2 of them side by side), and this is where I need everyone else's suggestions. This computer will be running BOINC and a few other non-BOINC projects only, This will not be my work computer!

OK H E L P P L E A S E :blob3:

[vaughan]

Get a Xeon

[Dirk Broer]

CPU: if 6380 series, a 6380 (115Watt tdp) and not a 6386SE (140Watt tdp). You might also want to consider the 6370 series, also 16-core and also 115Watt tdp and less expensive.

Motherboard: If in future you want more upgrades buy a quad mobo, like the SWTX format SuperMicro H8QGi-LN4F (http://www.supermicro.com/Aplus/motherboard/Opteron6000/SR56x0/H8QGi-LN4F.cfm). The mobo is also able to support two PCIe 2.0 x16 cardshttp://www.supermicro.com/a_images/products/Aplus/MB/H8QGi-LN4F_spec.jpg.
It will go to 1TB of RAM (http://www.supermicro.com/aplus/memory/aplus_memory_support.cfm?pname=H8QG7/i(%2B)-LN4F) to support 64 cores with 16 GB of RAM each. It is HUGE though. They also have dual Opteron mobo's that will support 512GB of RAM and that are of EATX format.

OS (http://www.supermicro.com/Aplus/support/resources/OS/OS_Comp_SR5690.cfm): You can use Windows if you are more familiar with it, but Linux would probably give better performance.

PSU: A 80 Plus Gold, Platinum or Titanium certified PSU, e.g. The Corsair AX1200i, but you might want to check with the mobo retailer whether that PSU will have all needed connector plugs for a SWTX board. EATX won't be a problem.

[Dirk Broer]

Get a Xeon

'Xeon' is a family name, starting with the Slot-2 Xeon II-400. I do not think that Nflight would want e.g. my likewise slotted Xeon III-550s! http://pc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/article/990629/xeon550.jpg

A Xeon to consider would be one from the hyperthreaded 12-core -so able to run 24 threads by its own- Intel Xeon E5-4600 v2 family (and there are quad mobos for those too), but I do not think Nflight is into Intel.

[Nflight]

Get a Xeon

How Dare you speak to me in that language Vaughan!

You used to be a 100% supportive AMD user and here you bring that filth into the conversation, shame on you! At some point you may want to wash your mouth out with soap or let the rest of the Team provide you with a Team Soap Sudsy event; allowing each one of us to lather and rinse your oral cavity till those words never emanate from your larynx ever again.

If I was your teacher i would get out the ruler and smack your knuckles till they were red and sore.

Don't make me get the paddle out..... :icon_rolleyes:

[Nflight]

Sorry Vaughan for being so rude in that last post.

I am also thinking about using some form of cooling where some other crunchers want to vent there heat out doors I figured I could use this companies product and heat my home in the winter time. http://www.coolitsystems.com/ This was first displayed here on the web site from our illustrious ex-cruncher PoorBoy! Watch the video as they have come along way in how they handle the coolant. Very Cool ideas! :blob3:

[Dirk Broer]

In that case: do take the Quad 16-core 145Watt Opterons (or 8 mobos with 220Watt FX CPUs, heats even better!)

[Nflight]

Dirk that is only if I can get someone else to pay the electric bills... :blob3:

[Dirk Broer]

Sell the heat?