Hello,

According to this documentation, in order to make the the Intel Xeon 5600 series processor works on a PowerEdge R710 you need to make sure BIOS firmware is updated. So I want to make sure you have the latest BIOS version. Please, can you check your BIOS firmware version and let us know?

You mentioned you want to upgrade from:
12x 4rx8 8gb 8500R
To:
18x 2rx4 16gb 12800R

I need more info about this DIMMs, do you have the brand and part model?

Regarding memory population, DIMMs must be installed in each channel starting with the DIMM farthest from the processor. Population order will be identified by the silkscreen designator and the System Information Label (SIL) located on the chassis cover. For Memory Optimized the population must be: {1, 2, 3}, {4, 5, 6}, {7, 8, 9} for each processor. [Image attached.]

Let me know if this helps.
Regards.

Hi

Thanks for the response, the bios is 6.6.0 and the comms are as follows;

Samsung M393B2G701H0-YK0 - 16gb 2rx4 pc3l- 12800r

Hynix HMT42GR7MFR4C - 16gb 2rx4 pc3 - 12800r

I did not take note of which module was in each dimm slot as I thought they could all be mixed.

Thanks

Ok! For the BIOS you are up to date so you should not have any compatibility issue with the CPU. This also includes support for 16GB DIMMs.

In fact, Dual-rank RDIMMs of size 16 GB are supported for a total of up to 288 GB. Which is the amount you want to have. 

As you have 18 modules of 16GB you should populate all DIMM slots: A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6, A7, A8, A9 and B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, B6, B7, B8, B9

You also sleected the optimizer mode in the BIOS. There fore, I have no reasons to believe you are setting anything in a incorrect way. I can only think on a hardware failure.

Can you try a smaller configuration with a dual processor and escalate it from them step by step. Like for example: A1, A2 and A3 and B3, B2 and B1 populated with 16GB DIMMs (make sure to check the DIMM ids and populate the correct DIMMs as they are not physical one next to the other).

Let me know if this configuration works.
Regards.

Hi

I also attempted populating the first two slots In each channel with the 16s, the same config as the 4rx4 sticks and A3 and 7 were disabled again

I would have agreed with hardware failure, but why do the quad rank dimms work in that slot?

Thanks

Mirroring is definitely not enabled.. if it were a compatibility thing, shouldn't it have not worked at all?

As it is disabling channel 3 I would verify if mirroring is enabled in the BIOS, also I am not showing the specific dimms as supported in the server as well. So it may be a question of compatibility. 

Let us know.

Hi,

The issue seems familiar to me, I have seen upgrades with 4Gb DRAMs on Nehalem-based Xeon microprocessors wouldn't work. Based on your 16gb 2rx4 memory, the calculation for DRAM is 4Gb. You might have issues on compatibility with memory and processor. 

So the server supports 288gb of memory, what is the supported combination of memory and CPU then?

Hi,

For Nehalems, best to have 2Gb DRAM. 2RX4 has 4Gb DRAM and 4RX4 has 2GBb DRAM.

Is that documented anywhere? Surely people have working 2rx4 setups?