Dead Supermicro C2SBA

[Logistics]

I bought this board on craigslist for $35 and cannot for the life of me get it to post.

All I can imagine is someone bricked the BIOS. Any ideas? I'm using good RAM, and my previous quad-core which I also know works.

[Dan81]

Re: Dead Supermicro C2SBA

I bought this board on craigslist for $35 and cannot for the life of me get it to post.

All I can imagine is someone bricked the BIOS. Any ideas? I'm using good RAM, and my previous quad-core which I also know works.

Checked CPU list for the board? It may not be supported by the motherboard.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: Dead Supermicro C2SBA

If LGA 775, good chance of a bad socket pin.

[Logistics]

Re: Dead Supermicro C2SBA

I will look into that. I have another board which acts strangely, and I believe it's due to a damaged pin it has. Ill check the Supermicro board out. Maybe that's why he said, "I installed the CPU for you because its easier to transport. (I had also purchased a Q9450 from him, but swapped it into my system and put a Q8400? back in this Supermicro board.

[pfrcom]

Re: Dead Supermicro C2SBA

cannot for the life of me get it to post

Do you mean it does power up, but doesn't POST ?

If doesn't POST, have you tried JBT1 = CMOS Clear ?

And does its CMOS battery have ~3V ?

All I can imagine is someone bricked the BIOS

Strong possibility if my experience here ...

https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=36190

... is anything to go by

IMO there is a reason why SuperMicro make you accept a disclaimer to download a BIOS update

And FLASH.BAT for C2SBA looks even more amateurish than AMI.BAT that caused my grief

2sbaC198.ROM doesn't look like a ROM image (not multiple of 16) so I reckon you'll have to hope for the best from SuperMicro's BIOS recovery procedure

[ratdude747]

Re: Dead Supermicro C2SBA

If the BIOS is bad, contact SM, for a small fee ($18 + shipping in my experience) they'll ship you a factory flashed replacement chip if it's socketed (being SM it almost certainly is).

I then suggest hotflashing back the bad chip so you potentially get a 2nd good chip as a spare.

[pfrcom]

Re: Dead Supermicro C2SBA

if it's socketed (being SM it almost certainly is).

Not necessarily - looks like SPI BIOS chip, SMT, left of south bridge in this pic (with red dot)