Z600 X5650 upgrade

[SDH]

If you are getting a processor that is not suppoed to work (but does) that likely means that there is an identifier that matches the microcode, but may trigger the motherboard's desire for more cooling.  Seeing the HP engineers genius over time from the back side I'd not be surprised if they built in a default for this situation to have the motherboard want a "performance" heatsink/fan.

There are two options for this.... get one of those and see if it solves the problem, or spoof the motherboard with the wiring trick that can make a motherboard believe that it has a Performance heatsink/fan attached when it only has a regular one.  Search on the forum about that.... I have it figured out in here from the past.  You also can search on eBay to find the difference and rewire to match.  Basically you need to build in a ground jumper wire from pin 1 to pin 5.

In earlier xw workstations it took a 120W or higher processor to trigger this issue, but it is less in the Z400/Z600 generation of workstations.  The "Mainstream" heatsink/fan cover up to and including 95W Max TDP heatsink/fans, and the "Performance" heatsinks/fans cover those over 95W.   Again, please share back.

[AChambers378]

"I found the topic with the same problem and cool article with more information. The reason of problem is a bootblock code, it can not be changed by BIOS update. Your motherboard's revision has old bootblock with date 1/30/2009, so you can't use Xeon 5600 Series in dual more.
P.S. Your BIOS has microcode for your SLBV3 with CPUID=206C2: version - 1A, date - 06/17/2013."

So my processors code is in the bios but the block just won't let it run in dual. Basically everything you said before, I'm just annoyed that the motherboard can run them but HP is holding it back. Time to sell a pair of 5650s😔

[Dan_WGBU]

AChambers378,

As you discovered, a Z600 with a boot block date of 01/30/09 supports Xeon 55xx CPUs only.  A Z600 with a boot block date of 01/07/2010 supports both Xeon 55xx and 56xx CPUs.

An updated BIOS might have later microcode version, but the boot block determines what processors are supported.

Putting a 56xx CPU in a Z600 with the older boot block does strange things.  The behavior can vary.  Some systems will boot, others won't even show anything on a screen.  Even if it does boot, it will be horribly unstable and unreliable, it can/will crash.  I have never seen any stable combination of 56xx CPUs with an older boot block, and even it it booted I would not trust the system at all.

[Drakkk65]

Hi Dan_WGBU,

Can I upgrade  BIOS (or other firmware) on my Z600  to support 48GB (6x8GB) RAM ?

I have 2 CPU Xeon 5570.

My boot block date is 01/30/09.  

Тhanks,

Boris

[SDH]

I defer to Dan.... but I think you'll be OK:

Some of the earlier Z600 literature presented the Version 1 Z600 workstations topping out at 24GB.  Here is from 2009:

http://h20331.www2.hp.com/Hpsub/downloads/Mini-WP_Z600_memory.pdf

My recollection is that Dan has explained that 8GB memory then was rare and very expensive, but if available it actually would work fine assuming it was of the proper type.

Later, in the era of the Version 2 Z600 workstations 8GB memory was not rare and much more affordable.  At that time the Z600 literature started showing the max at 48GB.  Here is from mid 2010:

http://h20331.www2.hp.com/Hpsub/downloads/HP-Z600-Workstation-memory-configuration-and-optimization....

I can see that the use of registered memory required the C2 version of the Northbridge chipset (which is a key hardware change from Version 1 to Version 2), but there is no mention that you'd need a C2 chipset (Version 2) to run 48GB total.  But you do need to be running 2 processors to do that, which you are.

I'm feeling a little inadequate running my souped up V2 Z600 with only 24GB RAM........