AXXP3RTX16040 Retimer chip on board melted, turned orange and smoked.

[Chris311]

HI,

Our original retimer was working fine until a microsoft update and a server restart then our hard drives that were attached to the retimer were not longer viewable (ones on the mother board are there).  Tech support for the Intel Server reseller suggested the retimer needed to be replaced.  We replaced it, turned on the machine and the fireworks started.  It smoked, turned bright orange and and melted a chip on the board.

So, the question is did we get a bum board or what else could be causing the retimer card to catch fire?

Thanks for any assistance. 

[JosueO_Intel]

Hello Chris311,

Thank you for posting on the Intel communities. 

We have contacted you privately in order to provide you with the best assistance. Once we have found a solution we will share it with the community. 

Regards,

Josue O.  

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Victor_G_Intel]

Hello Chris311,

I hope this message finds you well.

Please let me know if you still need further assistance with your situation.

Regards,

Victor G.

Intel Technical Support Technician

[Chris311]

Besides being sent a bad board, what else could have caused the Retimer chip to burn?  We want to test everything before installing another new Retimer?  The server still functions, the P4510 drives when attached to a USB adapter all function.

[Victor_G_Intel]

Hello Chris311,

Thank you for your response.

On our end we haven’t experienced that kind of issue; therefore, we couldn’t provide you with a specific reason why that happened with the previously replaced retimer that you installed on your system; however, if a system is fully updated and all components are fully compatible it shouldn’t experience that kind of issue twice; nevertheless, if you have the Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) setup you are welcome to provide us the following logs to see if we can find any entries that can potentially say more about the actual status of the system.

Debug Logs

These logs can be extracted by going to BMC Console > System Information > System Debug Log > Generate Log.

SEL logs

These logs can be extracted by going to BMC Console > Server Health > Event Log > Save Event.

Sys info log

System Information Retrieval Utility (SysInfo) Download link*

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/17949/system-information-retrieval-utility-sysinfo.html          

Instruction’s guide:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000023940/server-products/server-boards.html      

Video instructions

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000032842/server-products.html

Best regards,

Victor G.

Intel Technical Support Technician

[Chris311]

Victor,

I'm not sure if the logs I place here are visible to the entire community and since they contain info that shouldn't be public, what is the best way to share with you.  We have an existing case open should I just send the requested logs to the case?

Thanks,

Chris

[JosueO_Intel]

Hello Chris311,

We have sent you a private message in order for you to share with us the logs.

Regards,

Josue O.
Intel Customer Support Technician

[JosueO_Intel]

Hello Chris311,

We received the logs, and after checking them, there are no signs of issues that could lead to the replacement behaving in that way.

We noticed there is an alert regarding power supply redundancy, this usually occurs when one of the power supplies is failing or is not connected. In this case, please proceed with the following recommendations, the alert is on PSU 1:

1. Unplug the AC power cord from the power supply and unseat the power supply by 1-2 inches
2. Re-attach the power cord to the power supply, and note the power supply LED status.
3. If power supply LEDs are flashing green then the power supply is operational - re-seat the power supply and re-test.
4. If power supply LEDs are flashing amber then the power supply is defective and should be replaced.
5. If power supply LEDs are off then the issue is probably due to a lack of power at the source.

Regards,

Josue O.
Intel Customer Support Technician

[Victor_G_Intel]

Hello Chris311,

Were you able to check the previous post?  

Please let me know if you still need further assistance.

Regards,

Victor G.

Intel Technical Support Technician

[Chris311]

Hi Victor,

The PSU issue in the logs was just that we only had one of them plugged in after we pulled the server from the datacenter.  The new Retimer board worked like a charm.  After install, we added things in one at a time...Started with just the new retimer, all worked.  Then added the cables, all good...then plugged into drive backplane, all still good...then plugged in the drives and all of our data was back.  Really sucked being sent a defective Retimer...that had the same issue as the original one where the chip melted on the board.  How often do these Retimer boards fail?  Do we need to keep one as a spare?  How much would an extra one be if we get it direct from Intel.

Thanks,

Chris

[Victor_G_Intel]

Hello Chris,

Thank you so much for your response.

I’m glad to hear the new retimer card works well in your system. In regard to how often those fail we don’t really have an estimate on how many warranties we do for them, but I believe your situation was actually kind of isolated, so in other words, if you want to keep one as a backup I guess you could do that, but it will be completely up to you. Additionally, when it comes to buying directly from us, I’m afraid that won’t be a possibility, when it comes to buying Intel-branded products you will need to get in touch with an authorized distributor/reseller and make the purchase order through them, they can also provide you more information about the actual price you will spending on the card.

Feel free to let us know if you will be needing anything else; otherwise, let us know if we can consider this thread solved.

Best regards,

Victor G.

Intel Technical Support Technician

[Victor_G_Intel]

Hello Chris311,

Were you able to check the previous post?  

Please let me know if you still need further assistance.

Regards,

Victor G.

Intel Technical Support Technician

[Victor_G_Intel]

Hello Chris311,

We have not heard back from you.

If you need any additional information, please submit a new question as this thread will no longer be monitored.

Regards,

Victor G.

Intel Technical Support Technician