RX300 S7 how to connect couple GPU to the server

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MATT88
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Joined: Fri Apr 16, 2021 10:24
Product(s): fujitsu RX300 S7 & TX300 S7

RX300 S7 how to connect couple GPU to the server

Postby MATT88 » Fri Apr 16, 2021 12:04

Hello
I have an old but still working rx300 S7 server with two processors. I wanted to increase its capabilities by adding an additional graphics card. however, after inserting two graphics cards, the server does not boot. Is it possible to run it with two gpu? I'm not going to connect monitors to the cards, I only mean rendering / their computing power. I have the latest bios. I do not see any options in the bios settings.
Alternatively, I can buy the rx300 S8 occasionally - is it also a blockade? I thought that if the board has several 3gen 16x and 8x inputs it will not be a problem.

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Ask Fujitsu
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Re: RX300 S7 how to connect couple GPU to the server

Postby Ask Fujitsu » Thu Apr 22, 2021 12:14

Hello Matt88

The server RX300 S7 is in the status end of support and end of life since 31/10/2019
server RX300 S8 is still under support.

However both this server was not created for GPU.

RX300 s7 and s8 is supported only "PY VGA Card 512MB PCI-e x1 (NVIDIA NVS 300) -> S26361-F2748-L637"

Other GPU was not tested and there is no support for them.

Best regards,

Ask Fujitsu - Forum Team

yand_ua
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Jun 08, 2021 20:34
Product(s): Primergy TX200 S7

Re: RX300 S7 how to connect couple GPU to the server

Postby yand_ua » Sun Jun 20, 2021 14:00

If you are still monitoring this thread, I have sucessfully connected Geforce 660TI to my TX200s7 so it should be possible. The only thing is that it (at least my TX200) doesn't have GPU switch, i.e you can't dedicate GPU to for example VMs, but parent OS output works just fine. You should as well provision PCIe power to modern GPUs as well. But this is definitelly nothing supported.

levitation
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Jun 22, 2023 7:30
Product(s): Fujitsu RX300 S7
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Re: RX300 S7 how to connect couple GPU to the server

Postby levitation » Thu Jun 22, 2023 15:02

My process for adding PCI-Ex GPU-s to Fujitsu RX300 S7 is following. Same works probably also for RX300 S8. This process is necessary when the GPU-s have video output ports, regardless that you do not intend to use these ports. For compute-only GPU without video ports, this process is not needed.

Each step in the process enables preconditions that are necessary for next step, therefore skipping the steps is not recommended.

Code: Select all

BEFORE inserting the GPU card:
   Boot to BIOS
   Go to Advanced -> "PCI Subsystem Settings" section
   Select "PCI ROM Priority" = "Legacy ROM". This is the first crucial step.
   If you had EFI Compatible ROM selected before:
      Do not worry, this setting change is temporary
      Go to "Boot" section
      Note down the settings under "Boot Option Priorities" into a paper or on a photo. The procedure here will mess this list up so you will need to save this information in order to restore the proper order at the end.
   Save BIOS settings and shut down
Now insert ONLY ONE GPU card. Do NOT insert two or more cards, else you cannot proceed.
Connect your monitor to the GPU card that you just inserted, else you get no picture
   Boot again
   Wait for the system to go through all the BIOS messages
   The system may hang sometime after going through the BIOS boot messages. That is okay.
   Open iRMC webpage
   Go to "Console Redirection" -> "Video Redirection"
   Now the layout and available options have changed there. There are options which were not available before.
   Select "Graphic Card after Server Reboot" = "iRMC S3 Graphic" (the original value was "External Graphic Card"). This is the second and most crucial step.
   Press Apply
   Connect your monitor to the onboard VGA again
   Reboot or press ctrl+alt+del in the server's keyboard
   If you had initially "EFI Compatible ROM" selected for "PCI ROM Priority":
      Boot to BIOS
      Go to Advanced -> "PCI Subsystem Settings"
      Select again "PCI ROM Priority" = "EFI Compatible ROM"
      Save BIOS settings and reboot
      Go to BIOS again
      Go to "Boot" section
      Restore proper "Boot Option Priorities". You likely had some entry named "OS Boot Manager" or similar selected as the first option before starting this process here. Now it is probably in the second place in the boot order. The first entry is now probably a "PCI RAID Adapter". You need to put the "OS Boot Manager" back into the first position, else the EFI based OS will not boot.
      Save BIOS settings and try to boot to OS.
         If successful, then you are ready to add more GPU cards:
            Shut down, Add your cards, Boot, Install drivers, Done
   If you had initially "Legacy ROM" selected for "PCI ROM Priority":
      No need to change anything in the BIOS at the moment
      If you are lucky, your machine will boot to OS.
         If successful, then you are ready to add more GPU cards:
            Shut down, Add your cards, Boot, Install drivers, Done
      If your machine hangs after going through BIOS screens and before booting the OS, do BIOS settings reset from iRMC:
         Reboot
         Go to BIOS
         Note down all the options you have selected there in all submenus, because they will be reset to defaults and you will need to recover them manually step by step
         Open iRMC webpage
         Go to "Server Management"
         Select "BIOS Recovery Flash": Enabled
         Reboot the server
         Ignore error messages saying "ERROR - POST - A recovery capsule couldn't be located during BIOS recovery flash" and "ERROR - POST - BIOS recovery flash failed"
         Go to BIOS, do not change anything there. This step is just to halt the boot process after BIOS has initialised.
         Go again to iRMC webpage, under "Server Management":
         Select "BIOS Recovery Flash": Disabled
         Reboot the server
         Go to BIOS and change/restore only the settings you definitely need to be changed to original values
         Try to boot to OS
         If that succeeds, proceed restoring the original BIOS settings in small batches, booting to the OS and then again rebooting to BIOS.
         Be prepared that the system may again hang before booting to OS during some of the above iterations. So you may need to figure out which setting exactly causes the hang.
         If the hang happens, then you need to start again by selecting "BIOS Recovery Flash": Enabled in iRMC under "Server Management" for one boot cycle and then disabling this option again.
            Note that then you need to also restore the BIOS settings again, while trying figure out which of the latest settings changes caused the hang and not restoring this problematic setting.
            Do not forget to disable "BIOS Recovery Flash": in iRMC under "Server Management" again before saving your BIOS settings changes.
         After trial and error, hopefully finally your machine will boot to OS.
         If successful, then you are ready to add more GPU cards:
            Shut down, Add your cards, Boot, Install drivers, Done

NB! If you ever remove all the GPU cards and boot the system in this configuration, then in order to reinsert the GPU-s, you probably will need to go through the steps above again. It is because iRMC will forget your choice to use "iRMC S3 Graphic" for "Graphic Card after Server Reboot" when you boot the system even once without your GPU-s inserted.

Roland Pihlakas


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