CPU Mismatch (Fatal Error System Halted) on Supermicro board

[Tom_05]

I have recently bought this Supermicro H8QME-2 and four AMD Opteron 8439 SE proccessors to go with it and 32GB of ram. Ive got everything setup and on boot i get a CPU Mismatch error and the system halts right after the memory test. The board thinks I got a dual core 8339 when I have a hexacore 8439 SE. I have not plugged in the other 3 CPUs yet because I think that would make it more complicated to fix.

 

[i7Baby]

Got the right bios for the mobo?

 

[Tom_05]

American Megatrends AMIBIOS(C)2005 stock floppy flash.

 

[i7Baby]

What version? Compatible with your cpu?

Is your cpu mentioned on the mobo spec?

 

[Tom_05]

http://www.supermicro.com/Aplus/motherboard/Opteron8000/MCP55/H8QME-2.cfm
Thats the link to the OEM page. It is compatible with any opteron 8000 series socket F proccessor, so i would guess the 8439SE is included.

 

[i7Baby]

Looks like it.

Go through Tom's checklist - http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261145-31-perform-steps-posting-post-boot-video-problems

 

[Tom_05]

Here ill go through the checklist:
1. There is no owners manual included
2. Not sure what this is but if it means the mainboard power then yes i did insert it.
3. Its sitting on wrapping foam, no case and no need for stand offs.
4. I got onboard video.
5. No video card needed
6. I only got 1 4GB stick in there currently.
7. Yes
8. Yes
9. Yes
10. Yes
11. No
12. Yes
Dont have time to do the rest tonight, ill post tommorow with the rest of the checklist.

 

[Cristi72]

Hello,

You must allocate at least one DIMM for every CPU. Right now, you can do only testing the CPU's one by one in the first socket.

 

[scout_03]

the manual specs you need to install 2 or 4 cpu to work see this page 2-2 of board then page 2-5 for the memory http://www.supermicro.com/manuals/motherboard/MCP55/MNL-H8QM8E-2_1.0d.pdf

 

[Tom_05]

Just added a second CPU and doubled the ram, still same screen!

 

[Tom_05]

I managed to get an image of the error:

Current setup:

 

[Cristi72]

From the manual: you must populate DIMM slots starting with DIMM1A, then DIMM2A, DIMM1B, DIMM2B. In your picture, CPU1 has DIMM2A and CPU2 has DIMM1B.

EDIT: you MUST use a PSU with 24-pin ATX plug and an 8-pin CPU plug inserted in JPW1 (for using all CPU's, the PSU must have 2x8-pin CPU plug). Please don't proceed with further testing before changing your PSU!

 

[Tom_05]

So currently the CPUs aren't running? How is it displaying stuff on the screen without CPUs? Does it include some alternative processor?

 

[scout_03]

no that is from the bios that display those info .

 

[Cristi72]

So currently the CPUs aren't running? How is it displaying stuff on the screen without CPUs? Does it include some alternative processor?

Any modern motherboard with +12V CPU plug shouldn't work if the CPU plug (4 or 8 pin) is not connected. The fact that your board is able to post puzzles me...

 

[Tom_05]

Even I got no idea how this thing can initialize without the proper power but good news, I ordered a 1500w triple redundant power supply with what's left of the budget. Hopefully I'll be able to get a working system within the rest of the month.

 

[scout_03]

keep us inform how it goes with the new psu .

 

[Tom_05]

Sadly the project has been delayed because the computer parts "hunter" is on vacation and has left me in the dark.

Man, I really feel I threw all my money in a huge pile of non working computer parts...

 

[scout_03]

we will see what happens when he get back .

 

[Tom_05]

Finally, after a couple months I managed to get a hold of a Supermicro SC-748 case and 1400w platinum tripple redundant power supply's. After an hour of putting it together, I plugged both 8 pin CPU plugs and was greeted yet again with a "CPU Mismatch detected! System Halted" error

 

[McHenryB]

Your BIOS is version 3.0. 3.5 or newer is required to support Istanbul processors.

Hardly surprising as the BIOs is dated 2008 and the processor came out in 2009.

 

[Tom_05]

Do you need a CPU to perform the upgrade? Or can it upgrade without them?

 

[McHenryB]

I suspect that you do. Alternatively, you can buy a BIOS on eBay for next to nothing: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BIOS-CHIP-SUPERMICRO-H8QME-2-H8DMi-2-H8SMi-2-H8DC8-X7DB8-X-X7DBU-H8QMi-2-/170959333229?pt=UK_Computing_Motherboard_Components&hash=item27cdf8676d Might be a good idea to have a spare one in any case.

 

[Tom_05]

I tried to do one of those emergency recovery flashes where you don't need DOS booted, the flash chips should flash themselves if you name your bios super.rom and place it in one of the floppy drives and hold CTRL+Home on boot up. It successfully flashes and detects the six-core opteron however it still says CPU mismatch and halts. The most amazing thing is after a reboot, the bios reverts itself! It goes back to version 3 from 3.5a!
Here's a picture of it right after a flash:

 

[Tom_05]

Here's what the current hardware setup looks like: The case is a supermicro SC748 with 3 platinum level 1400w power supply's.