old cruncher

[shiva]

k so I put together a old box, mainly so I could run another GPU, but it is running so I figured I might as well run some CPU work. what projects if any would be good to run with an old AMP fx 4300 quad core. I have tried a couple and it takes days to finish them and then I'm not getting any credit for them. SiDock, 24 hour runtime and no credit and Ramanujan 70% error out. any ideas

[Ron Shurtz]

Mapping Cancer Markers on World Community Grid?

[Al]

WCG is a good place to park old hardware because it will run on almost anything.

[zombie67]

...and badges are based on time, not actual production.

[shiva]

well ok that is where it is headed

[shiva]

new problem still an old cruncher. I have a Dell T 7500 server. it will turn on but will not load anything. on the front panel I have lights 2,3 and 4 blinking. from what I can find that means, System on. BIOS not execution. This is the transition state to POST states. I'm trying to figure out how to fix this or if it is fixable. which one of you computer wizards know.

[Ron Shurtz]

For some people that had this problem on the internet, they found that the plastic riser tray for the second CPU has sagged over time due to heat and stress. This causes the riser board to not make good connection with the motherboard and hence the PB7 (blinking 234 lights) error. This is why it suddenly happens without messing with the machine.

This can be tested by removing the second CPU riser board and seeing if the machine boots normally with only one CPU. If it does, then it could be the riser board connection causing the issue.

Their only solution has been to find some way to prop up the plastic riser tray to get it level again so the connection of the riser to motherboard is good again. They tested their solution by using some quarters to shim the riser tray to level it, and it would then boot with the riser and second CPU installed. Unfortunately, the quarters couldn't be left in since they interfere with closing the case, (and could dislodge).

The link below is to a post on how one person fixed their machine after doing the successful quarter test.
(Described in the second post on the page)
(Yes, it was posted on the Nissan Diesel Forums, but it has good pictures.)


Dell T7500 Precision - NissanDiesel Forums

[shiva]

thanks for the effort, I would have bet that was the problem but no boot and still have the 3 blinking lights. yea what they were saying was clear as mud till you got to the pics, really good pics. I will play around with it some more in the morning.

[zombie67]

Just the normal suggestions. Take out all the stuff, and just put in one at time. Just one DIMM, and rotate them through, one at a time. If in a dual CPU machine, just one, and swap them. Do not attach any storage, as that's not needed for booting. No PCI-e devices. And then if/when you get it to POST, then start re-adding. Also, perhaps the PSU is not good. But that is the 2nd to last resort. The actual last resort is a replacement mobo.

Edit: Oh! Also, cables can go bad over time. So any cables in that machine could be suspect.

[MindCrime]

For some people that had this problem on the internet, they found that the plastic riser tray for the second CPU has sagged over time due to heat and stress. This causes the riser board to not make good connection with the motherboard and hence the PB7 (blinking 234 lights) error. This is why it suddenly happens without messing with the machine.

This can be tested by removing the second CPU riser board and seeing if the machine boots normally with only one CPU. If it does, then it could be the riser board connection causing the issue.

Their only solution has been to find some way to prop up the plastic riser tray to get it level again so the connection of the riser to motherboard is good again. They tested their solution by using some quarters to shim the riser tray to level it, and it would then boot with the riser and second CPU installed. Unfortunately, the quarters couldn't be left in since they interfere with closing the case, (and could dislodge).

The link below is to a post on how one person fixed their machine after doing the successful quarter test.
(Described in the second post on the page)
(Yes, it was posted on the Nissan Diesel Forums, but it has good pictures.)


Dell T7500 Precision - NissanDiesel Forums

this could have been me. I had problems with mine giving me error codes and iirc reseating the riser board fixed it. I definitely posted about bending pins on the riser board. be careful with them.