PowerEdge T310 doesn't boot anymore after adding RAM memories

Question

Hello folks !   I'm having some issues here with my brand new T310 that I bought last month. I'm posting here because even if I have a Pro IT Support Warranty they are holding me for about 30 or 40min online without any response... So here is the deal, before the issue, my server worked fine. Configuration : Intel Xeon 3460 8Go RAM @1333Mhz ( 4x2Go) 1 300Go SAS 6Gbit/s @ 15K RPM  Everything running on Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise   So, after we saw that we will be a little short of RAM, we decided to buy at Dell two more DIMMs and to be large and scalable we decided to take 2x4Go @1333Mhz. This adding was validated by an expert at the Dell Technical Support (I've got the email). So now I have 4 DIMMS of 2Go @1333Mhz on the slot 1,2,3,4  and 2 DIMMS of 4Go @1333Mhz on slot 5,6. But when I try to boot after I put the 2 DIMMs of 4Go, the server doesn't boot. The fans are running at their maximum, then they slow down and then maximum and slow down ... for a while without booting.   Is it a compatibility issue? One of these new DIMMs can be dead? Or I have to do a Clear CMOS or something like this?   Thanks for helping me with this !   Damien.

tommo666 · Answer

Hi,

1. Does it boot with the original ram? yes, then run memtest from the diags drivers cd.

2. Does it boot with just the new ram? The same as above, just to confirm your memory is good.

If the answer is yes to both then there may be a conflict.

Here's the doc for the 310 memory listing supported types and slot assignment.

Get the Dell part numbers from the mem sticks and google them. Check the results to ensure that the spec/types are the same apart from size. You are looking for all registered dimms. The 310 can also use unbuffered dimms and these don't play nice together.

Warrer3 · Answer

Hi tommo666,

I found what was the issue with a Dell Technicien level 2. They sent me RDIMM and I have UDIMM in my server, this is why it doesn't work.

They will send me UDIMM for friday or monday :).

Thanks for your help :)

tommo666 · Answer

Thanks for the update.

Memory for the 11g servers ( T & R Series) is a nightmare. As they can support UDimms (unbuffered), RDimm (registered) plus single, dual and quad ranked. depending on the motherboard revision. Then it's getting them to play nice. I have been onsite hours diagnosing boot issues and memory.

Dell may make a mistake and ship the wrong stuff but they will correct it quickly.

PowerEdge Hardware General

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