I bought a new IBM netfinity 7000 M10 at a auction for around $700+shipping. I thought it was a great deal at the time since I saw it was being sold for around 12K.

Today I called IBM trying to find out what parts are compatible with it. The biggest disappointment was the harddrive. Largest it could support is 36 gig 10,000 RPM which is not cheap. They gave me the part number 36.4 10 rpm 80pin 37L7200 =/ They said that if I tryed to put third party drives in I would need a tray and I could break the machine.

I feel like crying, not buying a IBM ever again.

Originally posted by ClusterMania
I bought a new IBM netfinity 7000 M10 at a auction for around $700+shipping. I thought it was a great deal at the time since I saw it was being sold for around 12K.

Today I called IBM trying to find out what parts are compatible with it. The biggest disappointment was the harddrive. Largest it could support is 36 gig 10,000 RPM which is not cheap. They gave me the part number 36.4 10 rpm 80pin 37L7200 =/ They said that if I tryed to put third party drives in I would need a tray and I could break the machine.

I feel like crying, not buying a IBM ever again.

Don't believe everything a manufacturer tells you. If you call Compaq and say you're modem is bad in your desktop, they'll try to sell you a $150 56k modem that goes for $20 anywhere else and tell you 'anything else COULD cause problems in your machine'.

Even their modem COULD cause problems if it's defective. There's always a lot of COULD's.

Robin is right.

You should not call manufacturer for upgrades.. better go to pricewatch and find hard drivers/ram etc pricing - make sure you have the right connections (not 68 PIN if you need 80) or Ultra 2 drives instead of newer Ultra 160.

-:)

Thanks, I really need help from you guys. I really want to upgrade my server with 1 Gig of ram and make 2 harddrives to start with. I wish someone in here had a 7000 M10.

Heres is a harddrive that is compatible with it
http://www.alancomputech.com/net36ulscsih1.html
Maybe someone can find a similar harddrive?

Here's ram that is compatible.

http://www.ec.kingston.com/ecom/configurator/partsinfo.asp?ktcpartno=KTM8044/1024

Originally posted by ClusterMania
Thanks, I really need help from you guys. I really want to upgrade my server with 1 Gig of ram and make 2 harddrives to start with. I wish someone in here had a 7000 M10.

Heres is a harddrive that is compatible with it
http://www.alancomputech.com/net36ulscsih1.html
Maybe someone can find a similar harddrive?

Here's ram that is compatible.

http://www.ec.kingston.com/ecom/configurator/partsinfo.asp?ktcpartno=KTM8044/1024

You're lucky, it sounds like a beefy server, because most SCSI systems are 68 pin and you need to convert to work with them. 80 pin scsi drives are a LOT cheaper :D.

Originally posted by porcupine


You're lucky, it sounds like a beefy server, because most SCSI systems are 68 pin and you need to convert to work with them. 80 pin scsi drives are a LOT cheaper :D.


So I just buy any 80 pin scsi and they will work? I don't know much about scsi drives. You have any idea which drives would work in my system? Put some examples

Can you convert 80 ping to 68 pin?

Originally posted by ClusterMania



So I just buy any 80 pin scsi and they will work? I don't know much about scsi drives. You have any idea which drives would work in my system? Put some examples

Go to price watch, expect to buy something off the second or third page of whatever is listed. The server might not support beyond a certain size, but you can certainly find it cheaper then buying from IBM direct.

BTW, 1gb of ram for $515 is pretty steep, you should be lookin in the $250-350 ballpark methinks.

Well I really need your help since you know more about hardware than I do. 36 gig is the limit which I think is pretty weird, make no sense to me to limit a server harddrive to that less.

http://www.pagecomputers.com/cgi-bin/page/S0021416.html

What specs matter the most is ram? They told me it's suppose to come in 4 chunks. So I can't do anything except pay more for the harddrives?

Originally posted by ClusterMania
Well I really need your help since you know more about hardware than I do. 36 gig is the limit which I think is pretty weird, make no sense to me to limit a server harddrive to that less.

http://www.pagecomputers.com/cgi-bin/page/S0021416.html

What specs matter the most is ram? They told me it's suppose to come in 4 chunks. So I can't do anything except pay more for the harddrives?

Well, im not really familiar with your server, never had one, or any IBM ones before, i'd phone them up and just ask them why they claim you cant go past 36gb, if they dont provide an accurate reason, thats probably because the drives they make for that server done go past. Either way if it's only SCSI, you're looking at a boatload of cash past 36gb generally, if it has built in raid, 3x36gb RAID 5 would be a very nice setup of course :D.

BTW, that ram looks like standard pc133-ecc, but low density (bi-8, not bi-4, bi-4 is the dirt cheap crap), but since you're getting 4 pieces, im not sure, you might just try buying 4x256mb low density of regular pc133, would likely work just the same.

Hmm, are there any forums with hardware freaks? I don't want to buy the hardware and find out that it won't work. Plus I got to pay someone to do it since I am far from the colo.

I would buy the IBM hot swap drive carrier for it (or can't you get this without the drive itself?) and then get an 80 Pin (Maxtor) Quantum Atlas 10K III - a 10,000 RPM drive will be noticably faster (better seek times) than the 7200 RPM drive you linked in your post above.

Check out http://www.tomshardware.com http://www.anandtech.com http://www.storagereview.com http://www.2cpu.com

Problem is I never planned on spending so much money. I thought a saw a good chance to get a nice system for 600 and thought I could fill it with cheap sdram and harddrives. I don't want to spend so much money into once machine.

Good luck with the upgrade :(

We have a customer who was in the same situation. They bought a (what was thought a great server for a great deal) IBM server for about $500.00 off some clearance website. It was something like a 800 Mhz, 18 GB, 256 MB server and the customer was going to just upgrade everything. Well, a quick call to IBM said "It is not upgradeable". Against what IBM told them, they tried to upgrade the system w/ 3rd party hardware and it would not work. I am not sure what the issue was, but I know the customer was pretty upset and basically sold the server and got a new one.

Did you guys have a look at the IBM server? I guess I have to buy all IBM parts then =/

If you buy something for $700 to your door, and you say its worth 12k - and you are complaining about it, as its not what you thought - get over it! :P

Seriously tho, IBM will always say go IBM parts. A good example is the Cisco PIX. For an ethernet blade from Cisco, it will set you back just under a grand - buy it from a computer store (exact same card from Intel) and it will cost you 1/10th

I know the last thing you want to hear is something critical, but it does show that auctions really do make you split hairs. Always research what you are buying ladies and gentlemen!

I would be way off course saying you got ripped off, but a little digging around beforehand would have kept the mind at ease :)

Keep us updated when you get the beast cranking!

You should be just fine with the harddrive upgrade..

But your ram upgrade might not work... There is a special kind of IBM ram that looks like regular SDRAM except they are backwards, pin one is where the last pin would be on a normal stick of ram...


I friend gave me 4 sticks of 256mb IBM ram as a present, after going home and messing with it for an hour I figured out why he gave'em to me :D

nothing a bit of solder and single core wont fix :D

$400 for 1 Gig of ram in not too bad. The IBm harddrives are a complete ripoff though.

http://www.pcudirect.com/online/rproduct.asp?sku=580733&m_id=8

I would love to get this thing going. I guess it's just another learning experience.

Originally posted by ClusterMania
$400 for 1 Gig of ram in not too bad. The IBm harddrives are a complete ripoff though.

http://www.pcudirect.com/online/rproduct.asp?sku=580733&m_id=8

I would love to get this thing going. I guess it's just another learning experience.

check crucial.com

they have replacement memory for all brands of systems.

Crucial is the first place I check. They don't have anything for the 7000 M10