Dell T630 build poprietary power switch and power distribution board questions

TacticalPossum · June 1, 2023

I've been looking to build a 512gb RAM dual CPU server for some ML training (research papers I'm looking at didn't use GPUs, just multi-CPU, and 512gb VRAM is affordable only in cloud), as it's cheaper than cloud for the amount I plan on using it. Money is tight enough that only Ebay bargains qualify.

I have 2 questions about a motherboard I have already bought (it was on auction), that of a Dell T630 workbench.

1) While I did expect proprietary connectors and functionality being offloaded to daughterboards (cough, enterprise HW, cough), I didn't expect the power switch pins (all front panel pins for that matter) to be replaced by a proprietary a connector (picture) to a "control panel" daughterboard. The pinout of the connector is to my knowledge undocumented.

If anyone (knows someone who) jumpstarted this mobo, assistance would be greatly appreciated.

If not, is it reasonable to assume that a pair of those pins would correspond to the usual power switch pins? How could I find which pair to jump without frying anything? Additionally, high res photos of the control panel board (top, bottom, back views) would be useful in determining the pins by traces, if anyone has a full system.

This Dell support thread about a T300 has a Dell rep saying the control panel is required to power on:

https://www.dell.com/community/PowerEdge-Hardware-General/POWEREDGE-T300-Front-Panel-40-Pin-header-help-Power-Button/td-p/5113102

However, I'm not sure this applies, as the model and connector format and pin count are all different.

2) The linked thread also lists the power distribution board as needed to boot a redundant PSU system (ambiguous if redundant PSU equipped or just capable).

The T630 is redundant PSU capable.

As is, I cannot just try booting it with an existing PSU, on account of the previous problem.

I am unfamiliar with redundant PSU systems, so is it likely that the PDB is required to boot?