Question Gigabyte TRX40 Designare won't stop dying

[binba]

After lots of hard work, we built a rackmounted Threadripper workstation with Thunderbolt connectivity (those were the 3 requirements we aimed to nail). In fact, we had hired a specialist company to build it for us..... and we've still got problems, Houston.

The mobo is a Gigabyte TRX40 Designare, case is InWin PLG, which came with dual AcBel R1CA2122A PSU's (800W, CRPS with PDB). The integrator already told us to only use 1 PSU at a time (negating the benefit of dual-redundant PSUs) so we have, though I think he's misinterpreted the problem.

The problem isn't that it won't post... it's that the mobo completely and utterly dies, upon plugging in the AC plug. The CMOS reset button light and onboard power button light turn on for about a quarter second, and after that the mobo is utterly dead. Until... you unplug power and let it sit for 15 minutes.

Sometimes we can swap to the other PSU module we have and get back quicker, usually not. And sometimes we have to disconnect all aux PCIe power connections to the cards (GPU, mobo, TB3), then let it sit for 15 minutes, then plug in the AC, then while in standby plug the PCIe's back, and then turn it on.

We've been through that (slow, tedious) troubleshooting cycle ~30 times now. It always dies... it also always comes back to life, and when it's on (or on standby), the computer works happily for days and days on end without a hitch.

I already tried to set the BIOS Power Supply Idle control from Auto to Typical, ErP, setting Power Loading to Enabled, as well as several BIOS resets... no change.
(I had hoped that Power Loading would be the panacea, since its description is: "Enables or disables dummy load. When the power supply is at low load, a self-protection will activate causing it to shutdown or fail. If this occurs, please set to Enabled.")


My best theory is that the PSU/PDB and this mobo are not compatible with each other... for some reason, and the initial current trips some sort of power self-protection or fuse.
Happy to hear any insights. I'm running out of options... my next step could be to either try a different CRPS PSU (though that wouldn't change the PDB), or try to dismantle the whole PSU module and cram a "normal" SFX PSU in there like a Corsair SF750 (if I'm not 2mm short).

 

[Ralston18]

This:

"In fact, we had hired a specialist company to build it for us "

Why is it not the the "specialist company" being responsible for fixing the build?

And who is the integrator? Someone else?

Why are you the one needing to try a different CRPS PSU or cram in a Corsair SF750?

What am I missing here?

Document everything - primarily the problem(s).

G et everyone involved into a meeting (socially distanced etc..) and pin down the problem and seek the solution.

Keep your management informed.

 

[binba]

Obviously the integrator/specialist turned to be not as special... His company has good relationships with vendors in the Far East, but focusing on bespoke NAS servers. Anyway, their response is that we've done exhaustive research and work with the vendor and this is the only case that fits the E-ATX mobo we specified (he's not completely wrong about that). And he's blaming the mobo.
As you probably know, if you're dealing with a person or a company who're not so good, you can't tell them "be good". And often the headache to push them to do things the right way is more than doing them yourself. So sometimes you cut your losses and move on with life. I had to deal with about 5 under-delivering or just sh*tty vendors in the last couple of weeks... I don't know if it's the Epsilon variant or what. But I digress.

Anyway, yes they're willing to try a couple of things with the PSU direction, I need to know which direction to push in, and separately, whether it's worth for us to drive over, not have the workstation for a good several days, or do it ourselves here.

All of the above is business, though... I posted to assess the technical problem and what anybody could do about it.