[Beowulf] POST card recomendation?

Perry E. Metzger perry at piermont.com
Wed Aug 27 12:00:40 PDT 2008


"David Mathog" <mathog at caltech.edu> writes:
> I have been thinking about getting a POST diagnostic card since my main
> file server acted up the other day and kept hanging before the BIOS came
> up - then just as mysteriously cured itself.  (This was a SuperMicro
> H8DC8 motherboard. The power supply tested OK with two different PS
> testers.)  There are a lot of these POST cards around but they seem to
> be mostly straight from China with the usual Chinglish manual and little
> or no support.  Ideally I'd like to find one that would run at 3.3V and
> could be dropped into either a PCI or PCI-X slot (PCI-X because some of
> our servers have only one PCI slot - already occupied by a cheap
> graphics card).  If you have a POST card that is working well for you,
> please let me know which one it is.

Cyberguys sells several models -- PCI and Mini PCI, though no PCI-X
that I've seen there.

I haven't tested any of the ones they're selling right now, but
they're all dirt cheap -- under $30 -- so I'd just buy one and see if
it worked.

I'm very much in favor of having ATX power supply testers, POST cards,
etc., in one's gadget bag. They often come in handy.

On another note, Cyberguys is a great place to get random small bits
of hardware. They're one of the few places I know that will sell you a
bag of 500 assorted case screws for a couple of bucks. I buy speed
screws and all sorts of other little knick-knacks from them -- I
recommend.

Perry
-- 
Perry E. Metzger		perry at piermont.com



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