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I purchased a couple R610 servers which has been a constant source of frustration lately. I got a heck of a deal on them with a single 2.93 Ghz processor and 96GB RAM, so I cannibalized one and got a dual processor with 192GB RAM and then started putting the other back together with extra parts from other servers I had upgraded. That was where the problems started...

I tried putting in 2X L5640 (2.26Ghz - 6 Core / 12MB) but the system constantly cycled and wouldn't even post to the first screen of testing memory. I figured maybe there was a problem with those processors and put in a couple of my old 2.0Ghz quad core E-series processors which worked just fine and ordered a couple new X5680 which also didn't work when received.

In the meantime, we had tried installing a couple 1TB SATA drives and a couple SSD SATA drives and found that the PERC 6i wasn't compatible with SATA(!!!). I found people having similar problems with this setup here: http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=1228261

I contacted the place I purchased them from and they were awesome and we swapped it out for another R610 that was a little newer and had the PERC6iR installed, and worked with those better processors, but still having issues with the SSD and the other SATA drive where sometimes it will see one of the drives, sometimes not during configuration. If I move things around, to different bays, then I get a separate group of problems, but everything works perfectly if I use 6 SAS.

At this point I don't mind purchasing a different SAS Controller with 6Gb/s, but not sure if I have to worry about compatibility with the server, or if I have to use a PERC card. I tried putting the newer PERC6iR card in the other server I had put together with the 192GB RAM, and got an error "Invalid PCIe card found in the Internal Storage Slot - System Halted", so not sure that I can just go buy a shiny new SAS Controller and have it work.

I would love some advice on what I am doing wrong here, I never expected to have all these issues with these servers and not sure what to do next.

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    I would love some advice on what I am doing wrong here - Indiscriminately stuffing parts into a server in the hopes that they work would be my guess.
    – joeqwerty
    Mar 24, 2015 at 23:43
  • Did you use a mix of sas and sata in the same server? Also , try running bios and other firmware upgrades. Also, before installing CPUs, check for comparability with dell support site. I do not think low power CPUs are compatible
    – user296732
    Jun 29, 2015 at 10:44
  • This is not true about the Perc 6i (Battery Backed cache model) I can do SATA or SAS up to 2TB drive size. I have a Dell 1950 II server with A Perc 6i with two WD RED 2TB drives in Raid 1. Works great. Now the Perc 6ir I think might be SAS only, it does not have a BBC or the same capabilities. Similar names but the ir is a stripped down version.
    – user279154
    Aug 29, 2015 at 22:16

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You can't just toss random parts into modern servers. If that's what you're looking for, Supermicro would be a better choice than Dell/HP/IBM.

SATA versus SAS is always an issue, especially when it comes to SSDs... especially when you're using CONSUMER-grade SSDs!!

In terms of your CPU situation, some of the newer CPUs within the Westmere family and low-power units required firmware upgrades on the host servers. Try running updates on your server and see if that resolves your CPU compatibility problem.

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  • Thanks Edward, I appreciate that, I didn't realize that SATA was a stumbling block since the used HP servers I had used had not had those same issues. I thought I could easily mix and match for the extra storage capacity you get with SATA for the price.
    – Alan
    Mar 25, 2015 at 14:41
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  1. The X5680 and L5640's won't work on your R610 because they are both six-core CPU's that reguire a gen 2 motherboard. You have a Gen 1 motherboard in yoru R610.

  2. PERC6i stopped being supported in the 9th generation equipment so they were never meant to run SSD's. SSD's were meant to run in 10th gen equipment with the 10th gen controller (H700)

  3. Instead of just throwing parts at your server how about you do some research first.

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