hardware question: Intel entry server board SE7221BK1 & Fedora Core 3

[Alexander Dalloz]

Am Di, den 15.03.2005 schrieb Alexander Dalloz um 3:00:

> The advantage of such a nice community base is, that we can share
> hardware experiences - I still have in mind a community feeded database
> of compatible and non-compatible hardware for Fedora .
> I am now in the situation to build and setup a new server system for a
> client very urgently as the old server hardware seems to die. So I would
> like to hear that the Intel entry server board I now had a close look at
> is no problem for the current Linux kernel and Fedora in specific:
> 
> http://www.intel.com/design/servers/boards/SE7221BK1-E/index.htm
> 
> Does anybody of you run this board with Fedora Core 3? Any feedback is
> welcomed. So especially is SATA problem free with the chipset - the RAID
[ ... ]

> Alexander

Comment about my experiences with this specific board: if you want to
use it's SATA ports, then take hands OFF!
I first had a board produced in September 2004 with BIOS from that date.
Installed Linux on it without a problem. Then did a BIOS update because
the new Intel Pentium IV 630 - the new model with EM64T extension and 2
MB second level cache - wasn't recognised properly. After that update
the board had severe problems. Linux boot failed at kernel loading (same
happened with Windows® to have a comparison check). My vendor could
confirm the same problem with a second board. Intel was contacted, they
confirmed the problem too. They took out the board revision out of
market. Intel said a new board revision should fix the problem - so no
BIOS problem where a new BIOS could fix the issue. My vendor got the new
board - and same problem appears. Now Intel says: the problem lies with
the Seagate SATA II 250 GB hard drives and the southbridge (ICH6). So
the conclusion is: Intel has a severe problem with their chipset but is
actually unable to fix it. I am even disappointed about Intel as they do
not care much about the fact. No alternate board was offered. This is no
situation Intel can be proud of - seems they are too big in business and
don't fear much, customers may to switch over to AMD CPU product. I
think I will now get a Tyan board for AMD64 or Opteron with an NVidia
chipset.

Alexander


-- 
Alexander Dalloz | Enger, Germany | GPG http://pgp.mit.edu 0xB366A773
legal statement: http://www.uni-x.org/legal.html
Fedora Core 2 GNU/Linux on Athlon with kernel 2.6.10-1.770_FC2smp 
Serendipity 14:30:39 up 6 days, 12:26, load average: 0.35, 0.46, 0.45 
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