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My x346 server beeps upon powering. 3 - 3 - 2 which the manual says "Critical SMBUS error occurred". Also, the LED display on the motherboard displays 29. Can anyone assist me in getting this resolved? Thx.

Bob ONeill
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1 Answers1

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If you are willing to work through the issue yourself (I'm assuming you don't have annual support on it from IBM still or you wouldn't be asking here)...then you can go through IBM's Hardware and Troubleshooting Guide for the x346 here:

Hardware Maintenance Manual and Troubleshooting Guide

For instance the default steps for a 3-3-2 beeping error is:

  1. Disconnect the server power cord from outlet, wait 30 seconds, and retry.
  2. POSSIBLE SYSTEM COMPONENTS TO REPLACE: System board, DIMMs, Hard disk drive backplane, Power supply, Power cage assembly.

Other things to check include the LED's for the Light Path Diagnostics, the POST error logs in the BIOS if you can get to the BIOS, and basic Google searches for what you find/uncover.

Short of the above, look in Appendix A of that PDF doc I linked for what to do before calling IBM Support directly.

Another alternative is to get with your VAR that sold you the server, as they might have IBM certified techs that can assist you.

TheCleaner
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  • I have seen that in the manual. There are no light diagnostics lit up and I cannot get to the POST error logs because the screen is blank and nothing displays because the beeps halt it. I'm thinking that the LED DISPLAY showing a 29 is the POST error code, but I cannot find anything indicating that. I think if I knew what the 29 meant, I could find the issue without just replacing components until it works. Do you know what is part of the SMBUS the manual is stating? – Bob ONeill Jan 21 '14 at 20:55
  • The SMBUS is just the systems management bus. It's simply stating that the smbus detected a critical issue with the server. One easy check is to remove all the memory and try to boot and see if it beeps differently. Then try adding in a single stick at a time (based on the correct DIMM slot as described on the inside lid pic). – TheCleaner Jan 21 '14 at 21:42
  • Short of that, if the LPD doesn't light up even after pulling power for 30 seconds and powering it back on and hitting the LPD button, then my best guess is a bad system board, but you'd have to either replace it or call IBM support for them to isolate it down to that (which is often tough to do). – TheCleaner Jan 21 '14 at 21:48
  • Ok, Thanks for your time to answer my question. I have disconnected the PCI risers and pulled the RAM and it still beeps 332. I won't have time to work on it for a few days. If the system board is bad, then I'm just going to trash the server. I had ServeRAID issues and already replaced the RAID card. – Bob ONeill Jan 22 '14 at 13:38
  • The x346 is old anyway...you're doing yourself a favor to trash it. – TheCleaner Jan 22 '14 at 13:57