Server doesn't boot when 3 PCIe slots are populated

[Grzegorz Junka]

On 14/01/2018 16:18, Mehmet Erol Sanliturk wrote:
>
>
> On Sun, Jan 14, 2018 at 5:46 PM, Grzegorz Junka <list1 at gjunka.com 
> <mailto:list1 at gjunka.com>> wrote:
>
>
>     On 13/01/2018 17:56, Mehmet Erol Sanliturk wrote:
>
>
>
>         On Sat, Jan 13, 2018 at 7:21 PM, Grzegorz Junka
>         <list1 at gjunka.com <mailto:list1 at gjunka.com>
>         <mailto:list1 at gjunka.com <mailto:list1 at gjunka.com>>> wrote:
>
>             Hello,
>
>             I am installing a FreeBSD server based on Supermicro H8SML-iF.
>             There are three PCIe slots to which I installed 2 NVMe
>         drives and
>             one network card Intel I350-T4 (with 4 Ethernet slots).
>
>             I am observing a strange behavior where the system doesn't
>         boot if
>             all three PCIe slots are populated. It shows this message:
>
>             nvme0: <Generic NVMe Device> mem 0xfd8fc000-0xfd8fffff irq
>         24 at
>             device 0.0 on pci1
>             nvme0: controller ready did not become 1 within 30000 ms
>             nvme0: did not complete shutdown within 5 seconds of
>         notification
>
>             The I see a kernel panic/dump and the system reboots after
>         15 seconds.
>
>             If I remove one card, either one of the NVMe drives or the
>         network
>             card, the system boots fine. Also, if in BIOS I set PnP OS
>         to YES
>             then sometimes it boots (but not always). If I set PnP OS
>         to NO,
>             and all three cards are installed, the system never boots.
>
>             When the system boots OK I can see that the network card is
>             reported as 4 separate devices on one of the PCIe slots. I
>         tried
>             different NVMe drives as well as changing which device is
>             installed to which slot but the result seems to be the
>         same in any
>             case.
>
>             What may be the issue? Amount of power drawn by the
>         hardware? Too
>             many devices not supported by the motherboard? Too many
>         interrupts
>             for the FreeBSD kernel to handle?
>
>             Any help would be greatly appreciated.
>
>             GregJ
>
>             _______________________________________________
>
>
>
>
>
>         From my experience from other trade marked main boards , an
>         action may be to check manual of your server board to see
>         whether there are rules about use of these slots : Sometimes
>         differently shaped slots are supplied with same ports : If one
>         slot is occupied , the other slot should be left open , or
>         rules about not to insert such a kind of device into a slot ,
>         for example , graphic cards .
>
>
>         Mehmet Erol Sanliturk
>
>
>     I checked the manual but couldn't find any restrictions regarding
>     PCIe ports. It only says how many lanes are available in each
>     slot. Would there be any obvious BIOS setting that could cause
>     this issue? I tried after resetting BIOS to default settings but
>     maybe something is set incorrectly by default?
>
>     GregJ
>     _______________________________________________
>
>
>
>
>
> http://www.supermicro.com/Aplus/motherboard/Opteron3000/SR56x0/H8SML-iF.cfm
> H8SML-iF
>
>
> On the above page , click "OS Compatibility"
>
>
> On the following page , click "SR5650"
>
> http://www.supermicro.com/Aplus/support/resources/OS/OS_Comp_SR5650.cfm
> OS Compatibility Chart
>
>
> On the column ( third )
>
> H8SML-7F
> H8SML-7
> H8SML-iF
> H8SML-i
>
>
> there listed only *
> *
> **
> *
> *
> *
> *
> FreeBSD 8.0
> FreeBSD 9.1
>
> From this list , it may be said that , this mother board date is old , 
> means , it seems that the new OS versions are not tested after 
> currently tested OS versions .
>
>
> To check interaction between operating system and your Supermicro 
> H8SML-iF , select one of the suitable operating system ( Unix class 
> OSes are more suitable ) for you and tested on this card , and try to 
> install it as you like your installed components . If it boots 
> successfully , it means that there is an incompatibility between your 
> FreeBSD and the main board . If no one of them boots , then you may 
> conclude that , there is a problem in your settings .
>
>
> BIOS settings are important , because , OS communicates with the main 
> board through these settings .
>
>
> In manual ( downloaded from the above page :
> Manual Revision 1.0c
> Release Date: March 12, 2014 ) , page 4-9  , "PCI/PnP Configuration" 
> is defined .
> If PnP is selected YES. OS adjusts some device settings  . If NO is 
> selected , BIOS adjusts some device settings . When BIOS adjusted 
> device settings are not conforming to OS parameters , the result will 
> be "FAIL" .
>
> Therefore , more suitable selection is YES .
>
>
> Another point is that , there are many more BIOS selectable parameters 
> and jumpers about PCI slots and others  .
> There are some BIOS settings for PCI slots :
>
> PCI X4 Slot 6 ( page 4-9 )
> PCI x8 Slot 7 ( page 4-10 )
>
>
>
> Please review these BIOS settings in your manual and set them with 
> respect to your requirements .
>

Thanks Mehmet for looking into this. It's an old motherboard but my 
point is that it boots fine when either: one NVMe and the network card, 
or both NVMe are installed, but not when all three are installed. How 
would that be related to FreeBSD compatibility? The chipset and all 
devices that I am trying to install are supported by FreeBSD 11.x.

I just tried booting into a Debian live system and it also didn't 
enumerate NVMe drives properly. This means that it's not FreeBSD related 
and is no longer relevant for this list. I will try to play with BIOS 
settings to see if I can make it work that way. Thanks for all the help.

Regards
GregJ