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Dell R810 Server Memory Configuration Issue

I have a Dell R810 I with Dual Xeon X7542 CPUs.

I'm getting "Invalid Memory Configuration" and it won't boot.

Here is what I have installed:
> All 16 "white" slots: 16GB 2Rx4 PC3L-10600R 09-11-E2-D3 (Samsung M393B2G70BH0-YH9)
> All 16 "black" slots: 8GB1Rx4 PC3L-10600R 9-12-M1 (Kingston KVR13LR9S4L/8)

Any ideas what I have wrong and why it is complaining?

Thanks.

John Tsioumpris

Dell has a white paper on memory configuration : https://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/pedge/en/poweredge-server-11gen-whitepaper-en.pdf
Did you populate all the slots at once or you did some upgrade and after that you experienced the issue?

Michael Painter

From Cloud Ninjas
I don't see anywhere it saying that this server supports DDR3L low voltage ram.
I assume that you have upgraded and all memory is new to the server?

Philip Elder

The Dell PE R810 Owner's Manual.

Page 82 shows the system. It's a quad CPU layout so be mindful of which memory slots belong to which processors. No CPU installed means no memory in those slots.

Page 100 and on talks about memory population rules.

Page 104 talks about how to populate based on different DIMM sizes.

A note about memory and ranks:
Kingston: Single Rank per DIMM
Samsung: Dual Rank per DIMM
Each memory channel can handle a total of up to 8 ranks. That would be 8x Kingston DIMMs or 4x Samsung DIMMs or any mix of the two that brings the rank count to eight.
1x Samsung + 6x Kingston
2x Samsung + 4x Kingston
3x Samsung + 2x Kingston

EDIT: There is a note at the top of page 104 explaining the layout for dual CPU setups that indicates all DIMM slots assigned. The Rank count still applies.

asantia

ASKER

John Tsioumpris

Dell has a white paper on memory configuration : https://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/pedge/en/poweredge-server-11gen-whitepaper-en.pdf
Did you populate all the slots at once or you did some upgrade and after that you experienced the issue?

Populated all at once.

asantia

ASKER

Michael Painter

From Cloud Ninjas
I don't see anywhere it saying that this server supports DDR3L low voltage ram.
I assume that you have upgraded and all memory is new to the server?

All memory is new to the server.
DDR3L is backwards compatible to DDR3 voltage, per spec.

asantia

ASKER

Philip Elder

The Dell PE R810 Owner's Manual.

Page 82 shows the system. It's a quad CPU layout so be mindful of which memory slots belong to which processors. No CPU installed means no memory in those slots.

Page 100 and on talks about memory population rules.

Page 104 talks about how to populate based on different DIMM sizes.

A note about memory and ranks:
Kingston: Single Rank per DIMM
Samsung: Dual Rank per DIMM
Each memory channel can handle a total of up to 8 ranks. That would be 8x Kingston DIMMs or 4x Samsung DIMMs or any mix of the two that brings the rank count to eight.
1x Samsung + 6x Kingston
2x Samsung + 4x Kingston
3x Samsung + 2x Kingston

EDIT: There is a note at the top of page 104 explaining the layout for dual CPU setups that indicates all DIMM slots assigned. The Rank count still applies.

So it seems the most I can use is 16x16GB 2R sticks in this server. I won't be able to put ram in every slot.
I'd also have to purchase 16GB 1R sticks in order to max out this server.

David Johnson, CD

you say you have only 2 cpu's so you only install ram to the inner 16 ram slots

asantia

ASKER

David Johnson, CD

you say you have only 2 cpu's so you only install ram to the inner 16 ram slots

Correct, two CPUs...but Dell uses their "FlexMem Bridges" in the other CPU sockets so all the RAM slots are usable even in a Dual CPU setup.

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Philip Elder

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asantia

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Philip Elder

There's always a caveat: Kingston's Page for the R810.

It notes that the E7xxx series support 4Gbit DRAM while the E5xxx support 2Gbit densities only.

Samsung is 4Gbit.
It's been a bear to find what density the Kingston sticks are. :S
The Dell R810 memory configuration page on their site does not list the indicated DIMMs here though.

I'm going to infer that the Kingston and Samsung sticks are not the same chip density.

As an experiment, put one Samsung DIMM in each primary channel just in the CPU's dedicated slots and boot. It should work. Then, drop one Kingston in the secondary DIMM slot and see if it errors out. This is probably what's biting you.

I have Xeon X7542 CPUs, not the "E" series.

Philip Elder

The important element is the x7xxx in the CPU model. The X series processor was the high performance premium version while the E series was the entry and mainstream level processors. It has no bearing on the RAM situation.

asantia

ASKER

Philip Elder

There's always a caveat: Kingston's Page for the R810.

It notes that the E7xxx series support 4Gbit DRAM while the E5xxx support 2Gbit densities only.

Well the 2Gbit vs. 4Gbit was the issue.
Both the Samsung and Kingston modules I had in there were 4Gbit.

I replaced those sticks with modules verified to be 2Gbit and the system now posts.

It is complain of "non-optimal memory configuration" though now, but is sees all 320GB installed.

Here is what I have in the system, any ideas as to why it's complaining?

White Slots (A1-4, B1-4, C1-4, D1-4): Samsung M393B2K70DM0-YF8 (16GB 4Rx4 PC3L-8500R 07-11-AB1-D3)
Black Slots (A5-8, B5-8, C5-8, D5-8): Samsung M393B5273DH0-YH9 (4GB 2Rx8 PC3L-10600R 09-11-B1-D3)

Thanks.

Philip Elder

The memory speeds are different for one.