How do I use OMSA to identify a failed RAM stick & have it replaced?

If you do encounter an error related to the server’s memory (RAM) and you wish for a RAM stick to be replaced, you will need to provide as much of the following information about the failed stick as possible, to allow our technicians to correctly identify which RAM stick needs replacing:

1. The failed RAM stick’s DIMM slot number (i.e. the Connector Name)

2. The failed RAM stick’s size

3. The failed RAM stick’s type

This information will aid the technician in locating the failed RAM stick and swapping it with the correct replacement RAM. You can use Dell EMC’s OpenManage Server Administrator (OMSA) application to find this information.

To find this information, you must first access the OMSA’s GUI panel through the server’s web browser, and then locate the RAM stick with the error. Please see the sections on accessing OMSA if you are unsure on how to access OMSA. To find the details about the memory configured in the server, first click on Main System Chassis and then Memory, in the left-hand-side panel.

Under Details of Memory Array you will be able to see a list of the RAM sticks attached to the motherboard, their status, their connector names, their type and their size. If a stick of RAM appears with an error, you will need to simply supply all the information about this RAM stick that appears in this table, in a support ticket, so that our technician can identify the failed DIMM and replace it. You can also supply a screenshot of this page.

Occasionally, if a RAM stick completely fails, it may not appear on this page with an error, but might actually be missing from this page all together. As an example, if your server is meant to be configured with 4x 16GB RAM sticks (or 64Gb of memory in total), but only 3x 16GB RAM sticks are appearing, then it is quite likely that a stick has completely failed and needs replacing. If this is the case, you will not be able to find the information above on the failed RAM stick, to get it replaced. Instead, you can provide the information on all the RAM sticks that are present without errors, so our technicians can locate the failed DIMM through a process of elimination. You can also supply a screenshot of this page.

Once you have provided all the above information in a support ticket, the technicians should be able to locate and replace the faulty RAM stick.

If you have any further questions about OMSA, please look through our FAQ section. If our FAQ page does not have the answer, please feel free to raise a support ticket, and we will be happy to help.