New Mini XL+ cannot be seen on the network

[Europa2010AD]

I'm in need of some help with my new Mini XL+. I installed 2 additional memory sticks to the newly received unit, making it a total of 96GB of RAM. Then before installing any harddisks, I tried booting it up. The ethernet cable is plugged into my Ubiquiti Dream Machine, and I tried to look for it from my Mac Mini on the same network by visiting truenas.local -- the XL+ cannot be found. I then went into the router's Unifi portal to look for the actual IP address of the XL+, and to my surprise, the router isn't seeing the XL+ neither. I can see the ethernet port on the XL+ blinking which suggests some sort of network activity. What can I do?

I've checked and made sure that mDNS is enabled on the router too.

 

[Constantin]

I’d hook up a VGA monitor cable to the back and see what IP address the Mini thinks it’s using and perhaps a USB keyboard too to change it, if necessary. See page 9 in the manual. I’ve spent a lot of quality time in the console redoing my Ethernet connections…. Good luck!!!!

 

[Europa2010AD]

I’d hook up a VGA monitor cable to the back and see what IP address the Mini thinks it’s using and perhaps a USB keyboard too to change it, if necessary. See page 9 in the manual. I’ve spent a lot of quality time in the console redoing my Ethernet connections…. Good luck!!!!

Oh I forgot to mention, I tried hooking it up to a VGA monitor too -- nothing appears on the screen. The monitor is working properly when I connect it to another computer via HDMI, so I know it's not a faulty monitor.

I tried hooking my Mac Mini directly to the IPMI port and was hoping I could access the settings that way, but not sure how can I find the IP that the IPMI is using? I tried using

Code:

arp -a

from the Terminal, but the XL+ isn't showing up on there neither :(

 

[Constantin]

Are you sure this unit is actually booting then? Also, doesn’t the mini XL have three GbE ports on the rear, one of which is just for the IPMI?

The blinking lights on Ethernet port may just be the BMC, not the computer. The BMC and CPU are separate. Your motherboard may be non responsive due to a memory issue on POST, for example.

I had that happen to me with my latest supermicro board as well as the c2750 I used to use here when installing memory.

 

[Europa2010AD]

Are you sure this unit is actually booting then? Also, doesn’t the mini XL have three GbE ports on the rear, one of which is just for the IPMI?

Well... there's no way so far for me to confirm 100% it's booting, since I can't see anything via VGA monitor nor network. I'm assuming it's booting up since I can see inside the chassis there's a green LED, and also at the front of the case the green light lits up

And yes, there are 2 x 10GbE ports and 1 x IPMI port at the rear. In my first post when I mentioned about plugging the XL+ to my Ubiquiti Dream Machine, i tried both ix0 and ix1 (10GbE) ports. Then I tried the IMPI port in my second post.

 

[Redcoat]

I would remove the memory that you installed and see if the unit boots up.

 

[HoneyBadger]

I would remove the memory that you installed and see if the unit boots up.

This is where I would begin - also, please identify the memory you're wanting to add by manufacturer, model, and part number, as it may not be compatible with the preinstalled RAM or the MiniXL+ motherboard.

 

[Constantin]

Ditto. Blinking green lights may just mean the unit is getting power. My board blinks like that when it’s just getting power, but is not on.

Alternatively, are you sure the unit is trying to or has booted? The only reason I ask is that said blinkies happen even if the unit is in standby mode and my NAS requires a hit of the boot button.

 

[Constantin]

This is where I would begin - also, please identify the memory you're wanting to add by manufacturer, model, and part number, as it may not be compatible with the preinstalled RAM or the MiniXL+ motherboard.

And this is very important: if the memory stick sticker doesn’t match to the last digit every detail of memory SKUs on the approved vendor list, then return it and get memory that does.

One set of my memory modules merely featured a different die revision of the ram chips on it and that caused it to fail - but only if I used all four memory slots with said memory. When used just in pairs, both sets of memory modules worked just fine.

 

[Europa2010AD]

This is where I would begin - also, please identify the memory you're wanting to add by manufacturer, model, and part number, as it may not be compatible with the preinstalled RAM or the MiniXL+ motherboard.

So the MiniXL+ came preinstalled with 32GB RAM, and I added 2 x Micron 32GB PC4-19200 DDR4-2400MHz ECC CL17 288-Pin DIMM modules. Their Mfr P/N is MTA36ASF4G72PZ-2G3B1.

 

[Constantin]

Look up your motherboard (c2750 if older) and see if the memory stick SKU matches the sticks listed by the motherboard OEM.

 

[Europa2010AD]

I would remove the memory that you installed and see if the unit boots up.

I just removed the additional memory (so the unit only has the factory installed 32GB in it). Booted it up... checked router. Doesn't show up. Is there any other method I can verify the unit is booting up properly?

 

[Constantin]

Does connecting a VGA monitor show a different result now?

Do the fan speeds change as the unit boots?

Don’t exclude possibility that something got damaged / disconnected during ram insertion.

Also, this is not a c2750 based board, right?

 

[Constantin]

So the MiniXL+ came preinstalled with 32GB RAM, and I added 2 x Micron 32GB PC4-19200 DDR4-2400MHz ECC CL17 288-Pin DIMM modules. Their Mfr P/N is MTA36ASF4G72PZ-2G3B1.

Unfortunately, this information is only half of what we need. What motherboard are you dealing with?

For example, older XLs used the infamous c2750 from asrock rack, which had several nasty failure modes. That board also had VERY particular memory stick needs (unbuffered, only one qualified supplier for higher-capacity sticks, etc)

 

[Europa2010AD]

Unfortunately, this information is only half of what we need. What motherboard are you dealing with?

For example, older XLs used the infamous c2750 from asrock rack, which had several nasty failure modes. That board also had VERY particular memory stick needs (unbuffered, only one qualified supplier for higher-capacity sticks, etc)

I think the motherboard is Supermicro A2SDi-H-TF -- although I cannot but sure since I can't find any documentations about it, nor can see it printed on the motherboard (from my limited visibility just peeking through all the connected cables inside the case).

 

[Constantin]

Check out the supermicro board info and tested memory list here https://www.supermicro.com/en/products/motherboard/A2SDi-H-TF

 

[HoneyBadger]

The initial cold-start of the A2SDi board from a "no AC power" state takes significantly longer than warm boot, as the BMC needs to boot first. You'll see a black screen over VGA - but please give it a few minutes, and you should see the iXsystems logo.

I'm currently running some other tests on my R - if I get a chance, I'll give it a full power-off and time the BMC boot.

 

[Constantin]

I will add here that the tech support I got from iXsystems was simply fantastic. All the work you have done will establish what’s needed next, which could include a motherboard swap.

 

[HoneyBadger]

@Europa2010AD - Roughly 75 seconds of black screen over VGA until I got to the POST screen for a cold power-on.

Use the ix0 interface to connect to your switch, and check your DHCP server for logs of it querying. You can also connect the separate IPMI interface to the switch, but you won't get the regular TrueNAS webUI there - it might be easier to spot the device if you sort by MAC address and find two that are "neighbors"