Skip to main content

Replacing an adapter

The following notes describe the types of adapters that the server supports and other information that you must consider when you install an adapter.

  • Locate the documentation that comes with the adapter and follow those instructions in addition to the instructions in this section.
  • The server provides one internal SAS/SATA RAID connector and two PCI slots on the system board. See System-board internal connectors for the location of the internal SAS/SATA RAID connector and riser-card slots. You can replace the ServeRAID SAS/SATA adapter with an optional ServeRAID SAS/SATA adapter in the slot. For configuration information, see the ServeRAID documentation at the Lenovo Support Portal.
  • Do not set the maximum digital video adapter resolution above 1600 x 1200 at 75 Hz for an LCD monitor. This is the highest resolution that is supported for any add-on video adapter that you install in the server.
  • Any high-definition video-out connector or stereo connector on any add-on video adapter is not supported
  • The server does not support full-length, full-height PCI adapters or legacy 5V PCI adapters.
  • When you install any PCI adapter, the power cords must be disconnected from the power source before you remove the PCI Express riser-card assembly. Otherwise, the active power management event signal will be disabled by the system-board logic, and the Wake on LAN feature might not work. However, after the server is powered-on locally, the active power manager active power management event signal will be enabled by the system-board logic.

  • The following adapters support 10-Gbps transfer rate only:

    • Intel X710 2x10GbE SFP+ Adapter

    • Intel X710 ML2 4x10GbE SFP+ Adapter

    • Intel X710-DA2 ML2 2x10GbE SFP+ Adapter

  • Pay attention to the following before installing any PCI adapter.
    Attention
    Do not install the NVIDIA Quadro K420, K600, or K620 adapter options in systems containing 1TB of system memory or more. If these options are installed in systems with 1TB of memory or more, it might cause undetected data corruption and system instability. These options are only supported in systems containing less than 1TB of memory. For more information, see RETAIN tip H213010 at http://www.ibm.com/support/entry/myportal/docdisplay?lndocid=migr-5096047.
  • Pay attention to the following PCI adapter configuration table before installing any PCI adapter.
    Table 1. Adapter configurations.

    Four column parts listing table for adapter description, option part number, PCI riser 1, and PCI riser 2.

    DescriptionOption part numberPCI riser 1PCI riser 2
    N2226 SAS/SATA HBA for System x00AE916Seven or eight fans installed requiredSeven or eight fans installed required
    Emulex Dual Port 10GbE SFP+ VFA IIIr for System x00D8540Seven or eight fans installed requiredSeven or eight fans installed required
    QLogic 8200 Dual Port 10GbE SFP+ VFA for System x90Y4600Seven or eight fans installed requiredSeven or eight fans installed required
    Intel X540 ML2 Dual Port 10GbaseT Adapter for System x00D1994Seven or eight fans installed requiredSeven or eight fans installed required
    Solarflare SFN5162F 2x10GbE SFP+ Performant Adapter47C9952Seven or eight fans installed requiredSeven or eight fans installed required
    Solarflare SFN7122F LL Dual Port 10GbE SFP+ Adapter for System x47C9977Seven or eight fans installed requiredSeven or eight fans installed required
    Lenovo 1250GB Enterprise Value io3 Flash Adapter for System x00AE983Seven or eight fans installed requiredSeven or eight fans installed required
    Lenovo 1600GB Enterprise Value io3 Flash Adapter for System x00AE986Seven or eight fans installed requiredSeven or eight fans installed required
    Lenovo 3200GB Enterprise Value io3 Flash Adapter for System x00AE989Seven or eight fans installed requiredSeven or eight fans installed required
    Lenovo 6400GB Enterprise Value io3 Flash Adapter for System x00AE992Not supportedSeven or eight fans installed required
    Lenovo 1000GB Enterprise io3 Flash Adapter for System x00AE995Seven or eight fans installed requiredSeven or eight fans installed required
    Lenovo 1300GB Enterprise io3 Flash Adapter for System x00AE998Seven or eight fans installed requiredSeven or eight fans installed required
    Lenovo 2600GB Enterprise io3 Flash Adapter for System x00JY001Seven or eight fans installed requiredSeven or eight fans installed required
    Lenovo 5200GB Enterprise io3 Flash Adapter for System x00JY004Not supportedSeven or eight fans installed required
    Note

    • For server models with 3.5-inch hard-disk-drive bays, the server supports up to seven fans.

    • You can purchase Lenovo System x3550 M5 Thermal Solution Kit (option part number 00Y7117) to acquire two additional fans for your server.

  • The server provides two PCI riser-card slots on the system board. The following information indicates the riser-card slots and the type of adapters that the riser cards support:
    • If you want to install a PCI Express adapter, you must order the PCI riser-card option.
    • PCI riser slot 1. This slot supports only low-profile or ML2 adapters.
    • PCI riser slot 2. This slot supports full-height, half-length or low-profile adapters.
    The following table lists the supported PCI riser-card assembly configurations in the server.
    Table 2. Configuration 1.

    The PCI riser-card assembly configuration 1 table description table.

    Configuration 1
    ConfigurationNumber of microprocessors installedPCI riser-card assembly connector 1 on system boardPCI riser-card assembly connector 2 on system board
    Slot 1Slot 2Slot 3
    • Three low-profile slots
    		Onex1/x4/x8/x16 low-profilex1/x4/x8 low-profilex1/x4/x8 low-profile
    Table 3. Configuration 2.

    The PCI riser-card assembly configuration 2 table description table.

    Configuration 2
    ConfigurationNumber of microprocessors installedPCI riser-card assembly connector 1 on system boardPCI riser-card assembly connector 2 on system board
    Slot 1Slot 2Slot 3
    • Three low-profile slots
    		Twox1/x4/x8/x16 low-profilex1/x4/x8/x16 low-profilex1/x4/x8/x16 low-profile
    Table 4. Configuration 3.

    The PCI riser-card assembly configuration 3 table description table.

    Note
    Slot 1 is for 60mm ML2 adapter.
    Configuration 3
    ConfigurationNumber of microprocessors installedPCI riser-card assembly connector 1 on system boardPCI riser-card assembly connector 2 on system board
    Slot 1Slot 2Slot 3
    • One ML2 slot
    • One full-height, half-length slot
    • One low-profile slot
    		OneML2x1/x4/x8 full-height, half-lengthx1/x4/x8 low-profile
    Table 5. Configuration 4.

    The PCI riser-card assembly configuration 4 table description table.

    Note
    Slot 1 is for 60mm ML2 adapter.
    Configuration 4
    ConfigurationNumber of microprocessors installedPCI riser-card assembly connector 1 on system boardPCI riser-card assembly connector 2 on system board
    Slot 1Slot 2Slot 3
    • One ML2 slot
    • One half-length, full-height slot
    • One low-profile slot
    		TwoML2x1/x4/x8/x16 full-height, half-lengthx1/x4/x8/x16 low-profile
    Table 6. Configuration 5.

    The PCI riser-card assembly configuration 5 table description table.

    Note
    Slot 1 is for standard low-profile ML2 adapter.
    Configuration 5
    ConfigurationNumber of microprocessors installedPCI riser-card assembly connector 1 on system boardPCI riser-card assembly connector 2 on system board
    Slot 1Slot 2Slot 3
    • One ML2 slot
    • Two low-profile slots
    		OneML2x1/x4/x8 low-profilex1/x4/x8 low-profile
    Table 7. Configuration 6.

    The PCI riser-card assembly configuration 6 table description table.

    Note
    Slot 1 is for standard low-profile ML2 adapter.
    Configuration 6
    ConfigurationNumber of microprocessors installedPCI riser-card assembly connector 1 on system boardPCI riser-card assembly connector 2 on system board
    Slot 1Slot 2Slot 3
    • One ML2 slot
    • Two low-profile slots
    		TwoML2x1/x4/x8/x16 low-profilex1/x4/x8/x16 low-profile
    Table 8. Configuration 7.

    The PCI riser-card assembly configuration 7 table description table.

    Configuration 7
    ConfigurationNumber of microprocessors installedPCI riser-card assembly connector 1 on system boardPCI riser-card assembly connector 2 on system board
    Slot 1Slot 2Slot 3
    • One 2.5-inch hot-swap rear hard disk drive kit
    • One low-profile slot
    		One or twoXXx1/x4/x8/x16 low-profile
Note
Always refer to the above configurations when installing a PCI riser-card assembly. Do not install a PCI-riser card assembly that does not follow the above configurations. For example, when the 2.5-inch hot-swap rear hard disk drive kit is installed, only the PCI riser-card assembly with one x8 or x16 low-profile slot can be used for connector 2 on the system board.

The instructions in this section apply to any PCI adapter (for example, video graphics adapters or network adapters).

To replace an adapter, complete the following steps:

Note
If your adapter was previously configured, back up or record its configuration information, if possible, before replacing the adapter. See the documentation for your adapter for information and instructions.
  1. Read the safety information that begins on Safety and Installation guidelines.
  2. Turn off the server and peripheral devices and disconnect the power cords and all external cables.
  3. Remove the cover (see Removing the cover).
  4. Follow the cabling instructions, if any come with the adapter. Route the adapter cables before you install the adapter.
  5. Insert the adapter into the PCI riser-card assembly, aligning the edge connector on the adapter with the connector on the PCI riser-card assembly. Press the edge of the connector firmly into the PCI riser-card assembly. Make sure that the adapter snaps into the PCI riser-card assembly securely. The following illustrates show the different types of PCI riser-card assemblies:
    Figure 1. Adapter installation into a PCI riser-card assembly that has one low-profile slot (for PCI riser-card assembly connector 1 on system board)
    Adapter installation into a PCI riser-card assembly that has one low-profile slot (for PCI riser-card assembly connector 1 on system board)
    Figure 2. Adapter installation into a PCI riser-card assembly that has one low-profile slot for ML2 card (for PCI riser-card assembly connector 1 on system board)
    Adapter installation into a PCI riser-card assembly that has one low-profile slot for ML2 card (for PCI riser-card assembly connector 1 on system board)
    Figure 3. Adapter installation into a PCI riser-card assembly that has one low-profile slot (for PCI riser-card assembly connector 2 on system board)
    Adapter installation into a PCI riser-card assembly that has one low-profile slot (for PCI riser-card assembly connector 2 on system board)
    Figure 4. Adapter installation into a PCI riser-card assembly that has two low-profile slots (for PCI riser-card assembly connector 2 on system board)
    Adapter installation into a PCI riser-card assembly that has two low-profile slots (for PCI riser-card assembly connector 2 on system board)
    Figure 5. Adapter installation into a PCI riser-card assembly that has one low-profile slot and one full-height half-length slot (for PCI riser-card assembly connector 2 on system board)
    Adapter installation into a PCI riser-card assembly that has one low-profile slot and one full-height half-length slot (for PCI riser-card assembly connector 2 on system board)
    Attention
    When you install an adapter, make sure that the adapter is correctly seated in the riser-card assembly and that the riser-card assembly is securely seated in the riser-card connector on the system board before you turn on the server. An incorrectly seated adapter might cause damage to the system board, the riser-card assembly, or the adapter.
  6. Install the PCI riser-card assembly in the server (see Replacing a PCI riser-card assembly).
  7. Connect the cable to the newly-installed adapter.
  8. Perform any configuration tasks that are required for the adapter.
  9. Reinstall the cover (see Replacing the cover).
  10. Slide the server into the rack.
  11. Reconnect the power cords and any cables that you removed.
  12. Turn on the peripheral devices and the server.
  13. If you are replacing a ServeRAID adapter, import your RAID configuration to the replacement adapter as a foreign configuration. See the ServeRAID-M Software User Guide for instructions.