TR Forums

Hello Everyone,

my plan was to build a server, however I'm completely clueless why my machine won't start at all. Could you please check if you can see any problem with this build?

I have bought the following:
Mainboard: SuperMicro X11SPA-TF
CPU: Intel Xeon Platinum 8160T
RAM: 8x 32GB MICRON MTA36ASF4G72PZ-2G6 DDR4
PSU: Corsair Professional Platinum Series AX1600i

I connected everything and powered on the machine. There is no video output at all, and there is no lcd screen on the mainboard that could give me a hint "what it is doing right now". After 2 minutes a beep sound appears, it is quiet and happen just once. For me it sounds like a "OK"-beep but as there is nothing on the screen I can just imagine. I have repeated the test without any memory plugged in and there was immediately a loud, repeating beep noise (5x short, 1x long, thats the code for no memory found). So the memory is at least recognized by the system.

After I did not make any progress I bought a new CPU and RAM, this time Gen2:
CPU: Intel Xeon Platinum 8273CL
RAM: 8x 32GB MICRON MTA36ASF4G72PZ-2G9E DDR4

I switched the CPU and RAM. Now the mainboard does the beep noise for "no memory found", even with memory in the correct slot. I decided to test it with the previous RAM, even through it should not work (old has 2666Mhz, new has 2933MHz). This time there is no "no memory found"-beep, but the screen remains black.

Does someone has an idea what I should try next? If someone could just confirm that the parts should work in theory, would be helpful for me.

Thanks in advance!

Is there any way to plug in a discrete GPU to rule out if the integrated GPU or VGA port on the board is suspect?

Thanks for your reply. Yes I have 2 GPUs, one old GeForce gaming graphic card and one with passive cooling. Both did not show anything on the screen. I suspect the video output too and will check it soon. The problem is that I only have a TV as a monitor... and this TV only has a HDMI input. The native VGA port of the mainboard is connected with a VGA to HDMI adapter, which could possibly causing issues. But both external graphic cards have a native HDMI port, and this hasn't worked too.

I will try to get an old computer monitor with native VGA port to make sure its not just a display issue.

Yep, the integrated GPU is analog only (VGA). HDMI doesn't carry analog over it (Digital only) and would require an active convertor if you go that route. The discrete GPU may not be working due to motherboard's UEFI being set to use IGPU first. I had a similar quirk with my older Z77 board when I first set it up and it only output over iGPU on my i5-3570K until I updated the motherboard UEFI to force to discrete GPU (Geforce 660Ti).

Hello Krogoth,

you were absolutely right. Thanks a lot for your help! This problem drove me crazy... I got my machine to boot up successful.

Krogoth has already given the answer:
My first big mistake was, that the UEFI has an option how to handle second GPUs, and this is set by default to "Always use internal GPU". Which made 90% of my attempts useless, because I tried to get a video output on the GeForce GPU that I have connected. So if you have never changed this in the UEFI of this Supermicro motherboard (As I said it's the default value) you have to use the VGA port of the motherboard, otherwise you will never ever get a display output.

My second big mistake was, that I have used a cheap VGA to HDMI cable, that I've found in my cable box. If you need to get HDMI output from a VGA port, there is a real converter necessary, most likely with external power source from a USB port. If you just have a cable with a HDMI port on one, and a VGA port on the other side it will not work. These cables were (as far as I know) designed to convert from HDMI to VGA, and not in the other direction.

Thanks a lot again Krogoth, my problem is solved.