stay away from Supermicro: WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE EVER!

[tiro_uspsss]

I have had the worst run-around with SM; appalling.

In 2010 I browsed the SM website looking for a single socket 1366 motherboard as part of my server build. I settled with the X8STE - it was listed as compatible with Xeon 5500/5600 CPUs, had the right slot types/amounts that I wanted, plus I had heard nothing but good things about their boards & service.

In July last year I purchased the X8STE brand new, from a seller on Ebay. It wouldn't be till ~2 months ago that I tried using the board for the first time.

When I first tried using the mobo, it would not post. I tried with the following hardware:

Xeon E5640 & E5645
4 different RAM kits: desktop grade stuff, ECC & ECC+REG stuff as well.
at least two reputable PSUs.

It just wouldn't come to life.
I filed for RMA with SM, as well as giving them the above info on hardware that I had tested with. I sent the mobo at my cost to them (my local: Australia, SM in USA). SM sent in back quite quickly: it passed all their tests. On their test report sheet in mentioned the CPU they had used: i7-960. In the time the motherboard was in the USA I had purchased a 930, so I stuck it in & presto! It was alive! But why wasn't it working with my E5640. Could it be that it is an ES? Nope. I had already contacted [H] user LOCO LAPTOP for a modded BIOS, but no response. So I decided to ask SM for a modded BIOS. It was then that they decided to ask me what revision mobo I had: rev.1.1. They then informed me that I needed rev.2.0 to support *any Xeon CPU full stop! I told them what I thought of that. Remember: mobo listed as compatible since 2010, mobo purchased 2011. So they offered RMA to 'repair' - I assumed the support person meant 'replacement' - so just yesterday I filed for a 2nd RMA, stating the mobo needs to be replaced so that it meets SM listed specs... today they wrote back saying warranty period has expired, that is all.

NEVER DEAL WITH THIS DODGY SHADY COMPANY!

 

[tcsenter]

I'm actually surprised they accepted it for RMA the first time, given you purchased it out of the authorized channel on Ebay. Most motherboard companies wouldn't have done that. But yeah, SuperMicro is a "real" server/enterprise hardware company, in the sense that unless you're buying in 10-packs, master cartons, or pallets of their products with purchase agreement through authorized distributors (e.g. IT consultant or system builder/integrator), they don't pay you much attention. I wouldn't buy a SM product unless it were through an authorized distributor.

I once acquired a used server with a SM motherboard and wanted information on the BIOS and firmware release history (change notes). I scoured their support site but couldn't find anything, so I sent them an email suggesting they should provide this documentation (like almost every other manufacturer does). SM replied they do provided BIOS and firmware change notes/history, but I would be required to sign a NDA and also obtain a SM reseller/integrator account with a login and password to access it. WTF??

BTW, ASUS has pulled similar tricks before with its motherboards. i.e. advertised the motherboard as having support for certain family/line of processors, then later said "Oh, sorry, you need a newer PCB revision to support that", failed to disclose it in its product specs/marketing/support pages, then gave people a hard time when they demanded some satisfaction. I think almost all motherboard companies have pulled this at some point or another.

 

[Red Squirrel]

That sucks to hear. I was thinking of going SM for my next server build. I have the worse luck when it comes to building computers, I always end up having to RMA half the parts before it finally works right, can't afford that BS when it comes to a server so was going to get a SM barebones kit. Figured being a more enterpriseish company their motherboards would actually work the first time unlike consumer grade stuff that has a very bad DOA rate.

 

[imagoon]

Another thing to remember is the SM might use the other revision boards in their complete server builds. If you got a chassis pull it likely isn't the same X8STE sold on the website.

 

[tcsenter]

Another thing to remember is the SM might use the other revision boards in their complete server builds. If you got a chassis pull it likely isn't the same X8STE sold on the website.

Yep, and ASUS is well known for this, too. i.e. the ABC-XE board in an ASUS white box or barebone system may be a different board with a different (incompatible) BIOS than the retail boxed ABC-XE board, even though the ASUS marketing specs/pages may make no mention of any difference. They may even make them sound like the same board by specifically referencing the board model as a feature/selling point.

 

[Subyman]

Supermicro boards are fantastic. I have one in my home server and it runs extremely solid, but better than a consumer board. However, there have been issues in the past with motherboards being sent with bios that do not support recent processors. The latest are some that are compatible with Ivy Bridge processors, but do not ship with the necessary bios revision.

You can get around this by dropping another processor that is compatible into the board and reflashing the BIOS. You said you have a 930 that boots, so use it to update the bios.

FWIW, you have to go through the revision files and BE SURE you are getting the revision you need from the retailer. Some revisions are more than a bios change!! Supermicro probably made your board 3 years ago and the ebay seller just sold it to you. Why should it be Supermicros fault? I'd argue they went above and beyond by accepting your RMA the first time since you purchased through Ebay.

Reflash the BIOS yourself and go about your day. I think your thread title is a little dramatic and to call supermicro shady is ridiculous as they are a very well established company and very well respected within the server world.

 

[Rifter]

So with this and the Asus has crap support threads who is left to buy a quality mobo from that has good support? Gigabyte and EVGA seem to be about it, i know MSI's support is a joke too.

 

[tiro_uspsss]

I'm actually surprised they accepted it for RMA the first time, given you purchased it out of the authorized channel on Ebay. Most motherboard companies wouldn't have done that. But yeah, SuperMicro is a "real" server/enterprise hardware company, in the sense that unless you're buying in 10-packs, master cartons, or pallets of their products with purchase agreement through authorized distributors (e.g. IT consultant or system builder/integrator), they don't pay you much attention. I wouldn't buy a SM product unless it were through an authorized distributor.

I once acquired a used server with a SM motherboard and wanted information on the BIOS and firmware release history (change notes). I scoured their support site but couldn't find anything, so I sent them an email suggesting they should provide this documentation (like almost every other manufacturer does). SM replied they do provided BIOS and firmware change notes/history, but I would be required to sign a NDA and also obtain a SM reseller/integrator account with a login and password to access it. WTF??

BTW, ASUS has pulled similar tricks before with its motherboards. i.e. advertised the motherboard as having support for certain family/line of processors, then later said "Oh, sorry, you need a newer PCB revision to support that", failed to disclose it in its product specs/marketing/support pages, then gave people a hard time when they demanded some satisfaction. I think almost all motherboard companies have pulled this at some point or another.

interesting info there! Asus pulls the same stunts eh? They are/were my next choice. I think I'll still go with Asus, only because they provide 3 year warranty, compared to the pithy one year the SM provide

That sucks to hear. I was thinking of going SM for my next server build. I have the worse luck when it comes to building computers, I always end up having to RMA half the parts before it finally works right, can't afford that BS when it comes to a server so was going to get a SM barebones kit. Figured being a more enterpriseish company their motherboards would actually work the first time unlike consumer grade stuff that has a very bad DOA rate.

go Asus, see above as to why

Supermicro boards are fantastic. I have one in my home server and it runs extremely solid, but better than a consumer board. However, there have been issues in the past with motherboards being sent with bios that do not support recent processors. The latest are some that are compatible with Ivy Bridge processors, but do not ship with the necessary bios revision.

You can get around this by dropping another processor that is compatible into the board and reflashing the BIOS. You said you have a 930 that boots, so use it to update the bios.

FWIW, you have to go through the revision files and BE SURE you are getting the revision you need from the retailer. Some revisions are more than a bios change!! Supermicro probably made your board 3 years ago and the ebay seller just sold it to you. Why should it be Supermicros fault? I'd argue they went above and beyond by accepting your RMA the first time since you purchased through Ebay.

Reflash the BIOS yourself and go about your day. I think your thread title is a little dramatic and to call supermicro shady is ridiculous as they are a very well established company and very well respected within the server world.

you are confused - it has nothing to do with BIOS. It has to do with the actual hardware revision number of the mobo.
It is their fault as they have listed it as compatible but made no reference to exceptions due to revision numbers.
Well established? who cares - doesn't mean they can't stuff up.

 

[tcsenter]

interesting info there! Asus pulls the same stunts eh? They are/were my next choice. I think I'll still go with Asus, only because they provide 3 year warranty, compared to the pithy one year the SM provide

Consider Intel server boards as well. Their support is stellar as far as providing BIOS, firmware, and driver updates, technical documentation. You can hardly go wrong with boards that are used by most of the top server builders. e.g. Intel's own branded server systems, Dell, HP, IBM, etc.

 

[hans007]

Isn't this your fault for buying the wrong revision and at most the third party resellers responsibility to fix it?

I've had some super micro cases and loved them but never boards . But I don't get how its the manufacturers problem that you bought the wrong revision board from a third party

 

[tiro_uspsss]

Isn't this your fault for buying the wrong revision and at most the third party resellers responsibility to fix it?

I've had some super micro cases and loved them but never boards . But I don't get how its the manufacturers problem that you bought the wrong revision board from a third party

you missed this vital point:

there is no reference/documentation etc on revisions & what spec changes there are within any revision.

 

[Golgatha]

So with this and the Asus has crap support threads who is left to buy a quality mobo from that has good support? Gigabyte and EVGA seem to be about it, i know MSI's support is a joke too.

Lately, I have been very very partial to eVGA as a first choice. Last 3 boards I've gotten from them have been flawless and their support has been stellar on the few occasions I've needed to use them.

 

[imported_mystro]

So with this and the Asus has crap support threads who is left to buy a quality mobo from that has good support? Gigabyte and EVGA seem to be about it, i know MSI's support is a joke too.

Intel! I say this because they are a demanding company regarding build quality and support.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Tiro, Dave would disagree with you

 

[Subyman]

you missed this vital point:

there is no reference/documentation etc on revisions & what spec changes there are within any revision.

The newest manual says it is Revision 1.3 right now. The release date was Jan 11, 2012 for the newest board. Supermicro, like other motherboard manufacturers, sometimes refresh their lineup with a revision change instead of a product change. It looks like you got revision 1.1-1.2. Only 1.3 supports Xeon processors. It is the ebay seller's fault for displaying the incorrect information about the motherboard they sold you.

From supermicro's website:

Information in this document is subject to change without notice.

However, without a link to the ebay post, we don't have the entire story. The item was sold so long ago that the post is likely no longer accessible. It is a crappy situation, but in the end it is the consumer's responsibility to be sure they are purchasing the correct revision of the product that they need.

FWIW, here is the motherboard's product page back in 2009: http://web.archive.org/web/20090124...m/products/motherboard/Xeon3000/X58/X8STE.cfm

As you can see, this is the board you likely were sold. The ebayer sold you a 3 year old board...

 

[heymrdj]

Yup server hardware is a whole nother ball game. You don't just walk in with your consumer geekyness and expect to get exactly what you need, enterprise sellers expect buyers to be completely up on their exact requirements. Hell for some Tyan and ASUS server boards there are entire revisions of Kingston memory designed just for them! Some systems need both sockets populated, some can run on one, some systems can run 12x12x8 dimms, others need 12x8x12, others can only do 12x8. Speccing out a server is something we normally take at least a week for with phone calls ect to make sure everything is compatible, and our vendor is signed by contract to take it back if it doesn't work together.

 

[Subyman]

Yup server hardware is a whole nother ball game. You don't just walk in with your consumer geekyness and expect to get exactly what you need, enterprise sellers expect buyers to be completely up on their exact requirements. Hell for some Tyan and ASUS server boards there are entire revisions of Kingston memory designed just for them! Some systems need both sockets populated, some can run on one, some systems can run 12x12x8 dimms, others need 12x8x12, others can only do 12x8. Speccing out a server is something we normally take at least a week for with phone calls ect to make sure everything is compatible, and our vendor is signed by contract to take it back if it doesn't work together.

I totally agree. I researched the components for my NAS for over a week to insure compatibility. Hardly anything is plug and play with server kit. Supermicro actually makes some consumer boards that work with a wide range of parts, but you still have to know what to look for. Its pretty much necessary to either have a friend double check the specs or post the build in a forum for feedback, even for experts.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Yeah servers can be very picky with ram. Especially the super proprietary ones like IBM. It took us like 5 tries before we finally found a stick of ram that worked in one of our servers. They were all the same model, but different revisions I guess.

Though even desktop boards are much more fussy than they used to be. Certain pairing order etc... I remember being able to just mix and match any random ram you have. Can't really do that anymore. It's usually a guessing game, since you only really find out if the ram you bought works once you get the motherboard, if it does not work, then you have to order some more, though at least at that point you know what revision the board is as it will say on it, so it gives you some stuff to google.

 

[heymrdj]

The newest manual says it is Revision 1.3 right now. The release date was Jan 11, 2012 for the newest board. Supermicro, like other motherboard manufacturers, sometimes refresh their lineup with a revision change instead of a product change. It looks like you got revision 1.1-1.2. Only 1.3 supports Xeon processors. It is the ebay seller's fault for displaying the incorrect information about the motherboard they sold you.

From supermicro's website:



However, without a link to the ebay post, we don't have the entire story. The item was sold so long ago that the post is likely no longer accessible. It is a crappy situation, but in the end it is the consumer's responsibility to be sure they are purchasing the correct revision of the product that they need.

FWIW, here is the motherboard's product page back in 2009: http://web.archive.org/web/20090124...m/products/motherboard/Xeon3000/X58/X8STE.cfm

As you can see, this is the board you likely were sold. The ebayer sold you a 3 year old board...

I just saw your link here, and you are correct, if that is the board he was sold, *nowhere* does it make mention of it supporting Xeons. It only supported Core I7's and other Nehalem processors. Nehalem covered both desktop and server class procs, in this case, desktop only.

 

[Subyman]

I just saw your link here, and you are correct, if that is the board he was sold, *nowhere* does it make mention of it supporting Xeons. It only supported Core I7's and other Nehalem processors. Nehalem covered both desktop and server class procs, in this case, desktop only.

Yup, and that's why I always, only buy server parts from a reputable, authorized dealer. Microcenter/newegg wouldn't sell you a 3 year old board and if they did, they would easily make it right.

 

[heymrdj]

Yup, and that's why I always, only buy server parts from a reputable, authorized dealer. Microcenter/newegg wouldn't sell you a 3 year old board and if they did, they would easily make it right.

While I love ebay servers (I own 8 of them) they take a tremendous amount of work. Generally it takes 3 weeks to get enough info out of the sellers to understand revisions, capabilities, and firmwares of the products. I bought an HP DL380 G3, came with 2GB of RAM, and I was going to put in 12GB via 6 2GB. Well turns out the models with the 2.4 Xeons only supported 6x1GB, 6GB total. So I say that 2.6-3.2Ghz Xeons would fix that. Wrong, while the board would accept them, the current revision had a different revision of Intel chipset that only supported 6x1, a new mainboard was needed to support 6x2. In this case the revision issue was on Intel.

Next issue was on some IBM X336's. I thought they supported PCI-E, but it turns out they have a hybrid riser slot that is PCI-X 133 64bit, or PCI-E 16 depending on the riser. The riser it shipped with was PCI-X, and the PCI-E riser is nearly impossible to find now. They are both 8837 units, it's the 45u revision number that bit me.

 

[bryanl]

so just yesterday I filed for a 2nd RMA, stating the mobo needs to be replaced so that it meets SM listed specs... today they wrote back saying warranty period has expired, that is all.

Supermicro seems to have violated the U.S. Moss-Magnuson Warranty Act of 1968, which says the relevant date is when the customer first reported the problem to the manufacturer.

 

[heymrdj]

Supermicro seems to have violated the U.S. Moss-Magnuson Warranty Act of 1968, which says the relevant date is when the customer first reported the problem to the manufacturer.

According to what he has told us if it's at rev 1.1 the original warranty should have been expired on his first claim. Seems to me SM was trying to make him happy but it was something out of their hands.

 

[imagoon]

Supermicro seems to have violated the U.S. Moss-Magnuson Warranty Act of 1968, which says the relevant date is when the customer first reported the problem to the manufacturer.

The board has to be defective for it to qualify.

 

[revamp]

Thanks for the warning!