Technical Advisory - 1026

This Technical Advisory describes an issue which may or may not affect the customer’s product

Intel Technical Advisory

TA-1026-01

5200 NE Elam Young Parkway

Hillsboro, OR 97124

February 20, 2013

Correctable PCIe* bus errors reported with PCIe* Gen 3 add-in cards

installed in riser cards used in the Intel

Server System R1000GZ/GL

product family

Products Affected

Intel

Server System R1000GZ/GL product family (all SKUs)

• R1304GZ4GC

• R1304GZ4GS9

• R1304GL4DS9

• R1208GZ4GC

• R1208GZ4GCSAS

• R1208GZ4GS9

• R1208GL4DS

Intel

Spare Kit F1UL16RISER

Description

Some server systems within the Intel

Server System R1000GZ/GL product family, may exhibit an increase in

correctable PCIe* bus errors when configured with a PCIe* Gen 3 add-in card operating at Gen 3 speeds, while installed

in either riser card assembly.

Root Cause

Through an internal investigation, Intel learned of a manufacturing issue with riser cards produced from a specific

supplier. Affected riser cards have the inner layer ground plane extending into the gold finger area of the riser card

connector. This issue impacts signal integrity for adapter cards attempting to operate at PCIe* Gen 3 speeds.

Internal testing by Intel has determined that server systems assembled with affected riser cards and configured

with a PCIe* Gen 2 add-in card or a PCIe* Gen 3 add-in card running at Gen 2 speeds, are not impacted by this

issue.

Server systems assembled with the affected riser cards will have an Intel manufacture build date between and including

April 2012 and January 2013. However, because riser cards from different suppliers were used, server systems within

this manufacture build date range may or may not include affected risers.

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This Technical Advisory describes an issue which may or may not affect the customer’s product Intel Technical Advisory TA-1026-01 5200 NE Elam Young Parkway Hillsboro, OR 97124 February 20, 2013 Correctable PCIe* bus errors reported with PCIe* Gen 3 add-in cards installed in riser cards used in the Intel® Server System R1000GZ/GL product family Products Affected ® Intel Server System R1000GZ/GL product family (all SKUs) • R1304GZ4GC • R1304GZ4GS9 • R1304GL4DS9 • R1208GZ4GC • R1208GZ4GCSAS • R1208GZ4GS9
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Customers looking to use PCIe* Gen 3 add-in cards operating at Gen 3 speeds can identify affected riser cards by the following two criteria: 1. The riser card will include a specific supplier mark etched onto the back side (non-connector side) of the riser card. See photograph below. 2. The riser card will have a 4-digit (mm/yy) build date between and including 0412 (April 2012) and 0113 (January 2013) etched into the back side of the riser card.
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INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH INTEL PRODUCTS. NO LICENSE, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, BY ESTOPPEL OR OTHERWISE, TO ANY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS IS GRANTED BY THIS DOCUMENT.