Board card environment test system, board card environment test method and test workstation

Abstract

The invention provides a board card environment test system, a board card environment test method and a test workstation. The board card environment test system comprises an incubator used for simulating a tested temperature and humidity environment; the jig card is arranged in the incubator, and the jig card is provided with a power interface, a data transmission interface and a board card slot for inserting a test sample; the power supply is arranged outside the incubator, and the power supply is connected with the power interface on the jig clamp and used for providing electric energy for the jig clamp; and the control system is arranged outside the incubator, and the control system is used for running a test script, is connected with the data transmission interface on the jig card, and performs data transmission with the test sample inserted into the board card slot through the data transmission interface. According to the board card environment test system, the board card environment test method and the test workstation provided by the invention, the stability, controllability and efficiency of the test can be improved, and the test cost is reduced.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This disclosure relates to the field of server technology, and in particular to a board environment testing system, board environment testing method and testing workstation. Background Technology

[0002] Network interface cards (NICs), host bus adapters (HBAs), graphics processing units (GPUs), and redundant arrays of independent disks (RAID) are key components of servers, and their temperature and humidity reliability is crucial for the stable operation of the server.

[0003] Currently, the temperature and humidity environment testing of network cards, HBA cards, GPU cards, RAID cards, and other cards is usually conducted by installing the cards inside a server, putting the cards into a working state, and then placing the server in a temperature chamber to create a temperature and humidity testing environment.

[0004] However, the existing board testing solutions for servers have several drawbacks: Firstly, during prolonged operation in the board temperature and humidity testing environment, other components within the server may malfunction first, preventing testing from proceeding. Secondly, the heat generated by other components within the server causes continuous temperature fluctuations, making it difficult to effectively and stably control the temperature during board testing. Thirdly, the number of boards that can be installed on a single server is limited, resulting in high resource requirements and excessive costs in meeting the Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) requirement. Summary of the Invention

[0005] This disclosure provides a board environment testing system, board environment testing method, and testing workstation, which can improve the stability, controllability, and efficiency of testing, and reduce testing costs.

[0006] In a first aspect, embodiments of this disclosure provide a circuit board environment testing system, comprising: a temperature chamber for simulating the temperature and humidity environment for testing; a fixture card disposed inside the temperature chamber, the fixture card having a power interface, a data transmission interface, and a circuit board slot for inserting a test sample; a power supply disposed outside the temperature chamber, the power supply being connected to the power interface on the fixture card for providing electrical energy to the fixture card; and a control system disposed outside the temperature chamber, the control system being used to run test scripts and being connected to the data transmission interface on the fixture card for transmitting data with the test sample inserted into the circuit board slot through the data transmission interface.

[0007] In one embodiment of this disclosure, the fixture card is provided with a plurality of board slots and a plurality of data transmission interfaces, and the number of data transmission interfaces matches the number of board slots.

[0008] In one embodiment of this disclosure, it further includes: an expansion card, inserted into an expansion slot of the control system and connected to the data transmission interface on the fixture card, wherein the control system also transmits data with the test sample inserted on the fixture card through the expansion card.

[0009] In one embodiment of this disclosure, a signal processing chip is provided in the expansion card, which is used to detect, process and regenerate signals during the data transmission process.

[0010] In one embodiment of this disclosure, a plurality of the fixture clips are arranged inside the incubator.

[0011] In one embodiment of this disclosure, the control system is configured with multiple versions of firmware, each version of firmware being adapted to a channel mode; the control system is also used to select different versions of firmware for updating according to the different bit width attributes of the test sample before running the test script, thereby switching between different channel modes; the board slot provided on the fixture card is compatible with multiple channel specifications and can be adapted to the test samples with multiple bit width attributes.

[0012] In one embodiment of this disclosure, the board slot is an X16 PCIe slot, compatible with X4, X8, and X16 channel specifications; the control system is configured to switch between X4, X8, and X16 channel modes by updating firmware; the data transmission interface is a Slimsas interface, and the control system is connected to the Slimsas interface on the fixture card via a Slimsas cable.

[0013] Secondly, this disclosure provides a circuit board environment testing method applied to the circuit board environment testing system described in the first aspect. The testing method includes: inserting a test sample into a circuit board slot provided on a fixture card inside a temperature chamber, and connecting the test sample according to its type; activating a power switch and a control system switch located outside the temperature chamber; updating a firmware version in the control system that matches the bit width attribute of the test sample; checking the status of the test sample under the core components and operating system of the control system; in response to an abnormal status of the test sample, checking the connection of the testing system and whether the firmware has been correctly updated and is effective; in response to a normal status of the test sample, activating the temperature chamber and setting the temperature, humidity, and test program according to the test specifications; and running a test script under the operating system in the control system to perform a temperature and humidity reliability test.

[0014] In one embodiment of this disclosure, the test sample includes at least one of a network card, a host bus adapter, a graphics processing unit (GPU) card, and a disk array card; the network card includes at least one of an electrical network card and an optical network card; the step of inserting the test sample into the board slot provided on the fixture card inside the temperature chamber, and connecting the test sample according to its type, includes: inserting the host bus adapter into the X16 PCIe slot on the fixture card, and connecting the Slimsas interface on the host bus adapter to the Slimsas interface on the backplane of the control system via a Slimsas cable; and / or inserting the disk array card into the X16 PCIe slot on the fixture card, and connecting the Slimsas interface on the disk array card to the Slimsas interface on the backplane of the control system via a Slimsas cable; and / or inserting the electrical network card into the X16 PCIe slot on the fixture card, and connecting the network ports of two of the electrical network cards to each other via a network cable; and / or inserting the optical network card into the X16 PCIe slot on the fixture card. The PCIe slots are used to connect the network ports of two of the optical network cards to each other via fiber optic cables and optical modules.

[0015] Thirdly, this disclosure provides a test workstation, including the board environment test system described in the first aspect.

[0016] The circuit board environment testing system, method, and workstation proposed in this disclosure adopt a modular design that separates the internal and external environments of the chamber. The fixture cards and test samples are placed inside the chamber, while the power supply and control system are located outside. This achieves physical isolation between the circuit board testing environment and the control system and power supply, avoiding the impact of extreme testing environments on auxiliary equipment such as the control system and power supply, and enhancing the stability of the testing system. Simultaneously, by directly exposing the circuit boards to the simulated testing environment inside the chamber, it isolates them from external heat sources, ensuring precise and controllable temperature control. Furthermore, a single control system can simultaneously test 32 circuit boards, replacing the testing capacity of dozens of servers, reducing resource requirements for circuit board testing, improving testing efficiency, and lowering testing costs.

[0017] It should be understood that the description in this section is not intended to identify key or essential features of the embodiments of this disclosure, nor is it intended to limit the scope of this disclosure. Other features of this disclosure will become readily apparent from the following description. Attached Figure Description

[0018] Other features, objects, and advantages of this disclosure will become more apparent from the following detailed description of non-limiting embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 This is a topology model diagram of a board environment testing system provided in some embodiments of this disclosure; Figure 2 This is a test architecture diagram of a board environment testing system provided by some embodiments of this disclosure; Figure 3 This is a topology model diagram of a board environment testing system provided in some other embodiments of this disclosure; Figure 4 This is a test architecture diagram of a board environment testing system provided in some other embodiments of this disclosure; Figure 5 This is a flowchart of a board environment testing method provided by some embodiments of this disclosure. Detailed Implementation

[0019] The exemplary embodiments of this disclosure are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, including various details of the embodiments to aid understanding; these should be considered merely exemplary. Therefore, those skilled in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications can be made to the embodiments described herein without departing from the scope and spirit of this disclosure. Similarly, for clarity and brevity, descriptions of well-known functions and structures are omitted in the following description. It should be noted that, unless otherwise specified, the embodiments and features described in this disclosure can be combined with each other.

[0020] Network interface cards (NICs), HBA cards, GPU cards, RAID cards, and other circuit boards are critical components of servers, and their reliability under temperature and humidity conditions is crucial for the stable operation of the server. In particular, condensation may form on these boards in humid environments, affecting their normal function.

[0021] Currently, environmental testing for network cards, HBA cards, GPU cards, RAID cards, and other circuit boards mainly includes: low-temperature testing, high-temperature testing, and damp heat testing. Low-temperature testing typically verifies the board's startup and operational capabilities in environments ranging from -20℃ to 0℃, and can be used to evaluate the board's performance in cold environments. High-temperature testing typically assesses the board's heat dissipation and performance degradation in environments ranging from 50℃ to 70℃, and can be used to evaluate the board's heat dissipation capabilities and performance in high-temperature environments. Damp heat testing typically simulates the board's anti-condensation capabilities in alternating environments ranging from 5%RH to 95%RH, and can be used to evaluate the board's performance and stability under constant or alternating damp heat conditions. Furthermore, the board's MTBF value needs to meet the mainstream market requirement of over 1 million hours.

[0022] In the embodiments of this disclosure, MTBF is a reliability metric for a product, and the MTBF value of a product can be evaluated through testing and acceleration methods.

[0023] Currently, the temperature and humidity environment testing of network cards, HBA cards, GPU cards, RAID cards, and other cards is usually carried out by installing the cards in a server, putting the cards into a working state, and then placing the server in a temperature chamber to create a temperature and humidity testing environment.

[0024] However, this board testing solution paired with a server has the following problems: (1) Since the server itself is composed of many components, the operating environment temperature and humidity conditions of the server are limited due to the properties of these components. For example, the upper limit of the server's operating temperature is 35°C. If the server is placed in the temperature and humidity test environment of the board for a long time, for example, the upper limit of the high temperature test temperature of the board is 70°C. If the server is placed in a temperature environment exceeding 35°C for a long time, the server's components will first experience abnormal failures, resulting in the inability to conduct the test.

[0025] (2) Other components inside the server also generate heat during operation, causing the ambient temperature to change continuously. For example, the hard drive, memory, CPU and other components inside the server generate heat during operation, which will cause the ambient temperature of the board installed at the Riser location to change continuously. Although the temperature of the board can be effectively monitored by attaching thermocouple sensors, there is no relatively fixed relationship between the temperature chamber temperature, server load and the ambient temperature of the board, which makes it impossible to effectively and stably control the ambient temperature of the board to the temperature value required for testing.

[0026] (3) Board testing has the requirement of MTBF testing. Testing is carried out on a server. The number of boards that can be installed on a single server is limited, while the MTBF testing requirement of the boards is generally large. Testing requires a large number of servers for a long time, resulting in high resource requirements and excessive costs.

[0027] In embodiments of this disclosure, a Riser card is a type of hardware that expands the number of server slots, enabling servers to achieve higher storage and processing capabilities, and providing better space management and heat dissipation performance.

[0028] To address the aforementioned problems in the prior art, embodiments of this disclosure provide a board environment testing system.

[0029] like Figure 1 and Figure 2 As shown, Figure 1 This is a topology diagram of a board environment testing system provided in some embodiments of this disclosure. Figure 2 This is a test architecture diagram of a circuit board environment testing system provided in some embodiments of this disclosure. The circuit board environment testing system 100 provided in this disclosure may include: a temperature chamber 110, a fixture 111, a power supply 120, and a control system 130. The temperature chamber 110 is used to simulate the temperature and humidity environment for testing. The fixture 111 is disposed inside the temperature chamber 110 and has a power interface 1111, a data transmission interface 1112, and a circuit board slot 1113 for inserting a test sample 200. The power supply 120 is disposed outside the temperature chamber 110 and is connected to the power interface 1111 on the fixture 111 to provide electrical energy to the fixture 111. The control system 130 is disposed outside the temperature chamber 110 and is used to run test scripts. It is connected to the data transmission interface 1112 on the fixture 111 and transmits data with the test sample 200 inserted into the circuit board slot 1113 through the data transmission interface 1112.

[0030] In the embodiments of this disclosure, the temperature chamber 110 can be used to simulate different temperature and humidity environments for circuit board testing, verifying the stability and reliability of the circuit board under different temperature and humidity environments. Optionally, the temperature chamber 110 may have characteristics such as high temperature and humidity control accuracy, wide controllable temperature and humidity range, programmable control, remote control capability, high reliability, and high stability. The temperature and humidity environment inside the temperature chamber 110 can be precisely controlled by remotely controlling its on / off state and program operation to meet the testing requirements of different circuit boards. The embodiments of this disclosure do not limit the specific method by which the temperature and humidity control of the temperature chamber 110 is implemented.

[0031] In the embodiments of this disclosure, the fixture card 111 can be fixed inside the incubator 110. For example, the fixture card 111 can be fixed to the bottom of the incubator 110 with screws, and the screws used to fix the fixture card 111 are insulated from the fixture card 111. A fan can be provided at the front of the incubator 110. The fixture card 111 can be provided with a power interface 1111, a data transmission interface 1112, and a board slot 1113. For example, the power interface 1111 can output DC voltages such as 5V and 12V, the data transmission interface 1112 can be a Slimsas interface, and the board slot 1113 can be a PCIe slot. The embodiments of this disclosure do not limit the types of the power interface 1111, data transmission interface 1112, and board slot 1113 provided on the fixture card 111.

[0032] In embodiments of this disclosure, the power supply 120 can be located outside the temperature chamber 110 and connected to the power interface 1111 on the fixture card 111 for supplying power to the fixture card 111. Optionally, the output switch of the power supply 120 can be controlled by a switch triggering a change in the level of the PS-ON signal. Optionally, the power supply 120 can also be equipped with circuits for transformation, rectification, filtering, and regulation. For example, the power supply 120 can convert the input 220V AC voltage into a DC voltage such as 5V or 12V that meets the requirements of the board for output. Optionally, the power supply 120 can also be equipped with protection circuits, such as overcurrent protection, overvoltage protection, and overtemperature protection circuits, to ensure the normal operation of the power supply 120. The embodiments of this disclosure do not limit the implementation method of the power supply 120 supplying power to the fixture card 111.

[0033] In embodiments of this disclosure, the control system 130 can be located outside the temperature chamber 110 and connected to the data transmission interface 1112 on the fixture card 111 for running test scripts and transmitting data with the fixture card 111. For example, the control system 130 can be connected to the fixture card 111 via a Slimsas cable, supporting PCIe 4.0 transmission speed to achieve high-speed and stable data transmission. Optionally, an operating system can be installed within the control system 130; for example, the control system 130 can be compatible with multiple operating systems such as Linux and Windows, enabling script testing under various operating systems. The specific implementation method for board testing of the control system 130 in embodiments of this disclosure is not limited.

[0034] In embodiments of this disclosure, the test sample 200 may include at least one of the following cards: network card, HBA card, GPU card, RAID card, etc. The gold fingers of the test sample 200 can be inserted into the card slot 1113 of the fixture card 111, and connected to the data transmission interface 1112 through the card slot 1113 to realize data transmission between the test sample 200 and the control system 130. Optionally, the test sample 200 may also have a tail-end baffle fixed to the crossbeam of the temperature chamber 110 with screws. Optionally, the size of the tail-end baffle of the test sample 200 can be determined according to the installation space; for example, a full-height baffle can be selected when the installation space is large, and a half-height baffle can be selected when the installation space is small. Optionally, when the test sample 200 includes a network card, the test sample 200 may include at least one of an electrical port network card and an optical port network card.

[0035] The circuit board environment testing system 100 provided in this disclosure adopts a modular design that separates the internal and external environments of the temperature chamber 110. The fixture card 111 and the test sample 200 are placed inside the temperature chamber 110, while the power supply 120 and the control system 130 are placed outside the temperature chamber 110. This achieves physical isolation between the circuit board testing environment and the control system 130 and power supply 120, avoiding the impact of extreme testing environments on auxiliary equipment such as the control system 130 and power supply 120, and enhancing the stability of the testing system 100. At the same time, the circuit boards are directly exposed to the simulated testing environment inside the temperature chamber 110, which can isolate them from external heat sources and make the temperature of the testing environment precisely controllable. Furthermore, a single control system 130 can test 32 circuit boards simultaneously, which can replace the testing capacity of dozens of servers, reducing the resource requirements for circuit board testing, improving testing efficiency, and reducing testing costs.

[0036] In some optional embodiments of this disclosure, such as Figure 2 As shown, the fixture card 111 can be provided with multiple board slots 1113 and multiple data transmission interfaces 1112, and the number of data transmission interfaces 1112 can match the number of board slots 1113. The gold fingers of multiple test samples 210 and 220 can be inserted into the multiple board slots 1113 respectively, and the multiple board slots 1113 are connected to the multiple data transmission interfaces 1112 respectively, so that data transmission between multiple test samples 210 and 220 and the control system 130 can be realized. Thus, the temperature and humidity environment test of multiple test samples 210 and 220 can be realized through a single fixture card 111.

[0037] In an optional example, such as Figure 2As shown, a fixture card 111 has two PCIe slots 1113 and two Slimsas interfaces 1112. One PCIe slot 1113 corresponds to one Slimsas interface 1112, and the other PCIe slot 1113 corresponds to the other Slimsas interface 1112. The gold fingers of one board 210 are inserted into one of the PCIe slots 1113 and connected to the corresponding Slimsas interface 1112 through the inserted PCIe slot 1113. The gold fingers of another board 220 are inserted into the other PCIe slot 1113 and connected to the corresponding Slimsas interface 1112 through the inserted PCIe slot 1113. Thus, the two boards 210 and 220 can transmit data with the control system 130 through the fixture card 111, enabling temperature and humidity environmental testing of the two boards 210 and 220.

[0038] In some optional embodiments of this disclosure, such as Figure 3 and Figure 4 As shown, Figure 3 This is a topology model diagram of a board environment testing system provided in some other embodiments of this disclosure. Figure 4 This is a test architecture diagram of a board environment testing system provided in some other embodiments of this disclosure. The board environment testing system 100 provided in this embodiment may further include: an expansion card 140, which is inserted into an expansion slot of the control system 130 and connected to a data transmission interface 1112 on the fixture card 111. The control system 130 also transmits data with the test sample 200 inserted on the fixture card 111 through the expansion card 140. In this embodiment, in addition to being directly connected to the data transmission interface 1112 on the fixture card 111, the control system 130 can also be connected to the data transmission interface 1112 on the fixture card 111 through the expansion card 140. The expansion card 140 increases the connection between the control system 130 and the fixture card 111, enabling the control system 130 to support parallel testing of more test samples 200.

[0039] In an optional example, such as Figure 4As shown, a fixture card 111 has three PCIe slots 1113 and three Slimsas interfaces 1112, with each PCIe slot 1113 corresponding to one Slimsas interface 1112. The gold fingers of the three boards 210, 220, and 230 are inserted into the three PCIe slots 1113 respectively, and connected to the corresponding Slimsas interface 1112 through the inserted PCIe slots 1113. Two boards 210 and 220 transmit data to the control system 130 through the fixture card 111 and the expansion card 140, while one board 230 transmits data directly to the control system 130 through the fixture card 111. By adding the expansion card 140, data transmission between the three boards 210, 220, and 230 and the control system 130 can be achieved, thus enabling the control system 130 to perform temperature and humidity environmental testing on the three boards 210, 220, and 230.

[0040] Optionally, a signal processing chip may also be included within the expansion card 140. This chip can be used to detect, process, and regenerate signals during data transmission. For example, the signal processing chip could be a retimer chip, which is used for signal regeneration and retiming in high-speed data transmission. This embodiment, by incorporating a signal processing chip within the expansion card 140 to detect, process, and regenerate signals during data transmission, can compensate for losses during long-distance signal transmission, ensure signal integrity, extend the transmission distance, guarantee good signal quality, and improve the compatibility of the testing system.

[0041] In some optional embodiments of this disclosure, multiple fixture cards 111 can be arranged inside the temperature chamber 110. Optionally, the multiple fixture cards 111 can be arranged at intervals within the temperature chamber 110, and each fixture card 111 can be provided with a power interface 1111, and each fixture card 111 can simultaneously provide multiple board slots 1113 and multiple corresponding data transmission interfaces 1112. The number of board slots 1113 and data transmission interfaces 1112 provided on the multiple fixture cards 111 can be the same or different, and the embodiments of this disclosure do not limit this. The power supply 120 of this embodiment can provide multiple independent power supplies and multiple protection mechanisms for the multiple fixture cards 111, which can meet the need for simultaneous power supply to multiple fixture cards 111 and improve the safety and stability of the test. By setting multiple fixture cards 111 inside the temperature chamber 110, this embodiment can realize simultaneous temperature and humidity environmental testing of more test samples, and can significantly improve the testing capability of the testing system while maintaining low cost.

[0042] In some optional embodiments of this disclosure, the control system 130 may be configured with multiple versions of firmware (FW), each version of firmware being compatible with a channel mode. The control system 130 is also used to select different firmware versions for updating based on the different bit width attributes of the test sample before running the test script, thereby switching between different channel modes. This embodiment, by configuring multiple firmware versions in the control system 130 and selecting firmware versions that are compatible with the multiple bit width attributes of the test sample, enables the testing of test samples of various specifications through the same control system 130, further enhancing the testing capabilities of the testing system while maintaining low cost.

[0043] In an optional example, the board slot 1113 on the jig card 111 is a PCIe slot. The PCIe slot can have X4, X8, or X16 channel specifications, and can be adapted to boards with bit width attributes of X4, X8, and X16, respectively. The control system 130 can be configured with three firmware versions, adapted to X4, X8, and X16 channel modes respectively. The control system 130 can select the firmware version to update based on the bit width attribute of the board inserted into the PCIe slot, ensuring that the updated firmware version adapts to the same channel mode as the board's bit width attribute. For example, if the bit width attribute of the board inserted into the PCIe slot is X8, the control system 130 can select the firmware version adapted to the X8 channel mode for updating; if the bit width attribute of the board inserted into the PCIe slot is X16, the control system 130 can select the firmware version adapted to the X16 channel mode for updating.

[0044] In the embodiments of this disclosure, firmware refers to the device driver stored inside the device. It connects the hardware and the operating system, and the operating system can perform operations on the machine through the firmware.

[0045] Optionally, the board slot 1113 provided on the fixture card 111 can be compatible with multiple channel specifications and can be adapted to test samples with multiple bit width attributes. In this embodiment, by using the board slot 1113 on the fixture card 111 to be compatible with multiple channel specifications, a fixture card structure that adapts to test samples with multiple bit width attributes can be obtained. In conjunction with the firmware switching mechanism of the control system 130, unified testing of multiple types of test samples can be realized.

[0046] In an optional example, the board slots 1113 on the jig card 111 are all X16 PCIe slots. X16 PCIe slots are compatible with X4, X8, and X16 channel specifications and can be adapted to boards with bit width attributes of X4, X8, and X16. The control system 130 can select a firmware version to update based on the bit width attribute of the board inserted into the X16 PCIe slot, thereby switching between X4, X8, and X16 channel modes, ensuring that the updated firmware version matches the channel mode of the board's bit width attribute. For example, the control system 130 can select a firmware version compatible with the X4 channel mode if the board inserted into the X16 PCIe slot has a bit width attribute of X4; the control system 130 can select a firmware version compatible with the X16 channel mode if the board inserted into the X16 PCIe slot has a bit width attribute of X16.

[0047] In some optional embodiments of this disclosure, the board slot 1113 provided on the jig card 111 is an X16 PCIe slot, compatible with X4, X8 and X16 channel specifications. The control system 130 is configured to switch between X4, X8 and X16 channel modes by updating firmware. The data transmission interface 1112 provided on the jig card 111 is a Slimsas interface. The control system 130 is connected to the Slimsas interface on the jig card 111 via a Slimsas cable.

[0048] Optionally, the test sample may include at least one of a network card, an HBA card, a GPU card, and a RAID card. The network card may include at least one of an electrical network card and an optical network card. When the test sample is an HBA card or a RAID card, after inserting the gold fingers of the test sample into the X16 PCIe slot of the fixture card 111, the Slimsas interface of the HBA card and the RAID card needs to be connected to the Slimsas interface on the backplane of the control system 130 via a Slimsas cable. This ensures that the connection method of the HBA card and the RAID card is consistent with the connection method used in the server, thereby enabling the HBA card and the RAID card to be in working condition.

[0049] When the test sample is an Ethernet network card, after inserting the gold fingers of the test sample into the X16 PCIe slot of the fixture card 111, the network ports of the two Ethernet network cards in the test sample need to be connected to each other via a network cable. Alternatively, if there is only one Ethernet network card, the network port of this Ethernet network card needs to be connected to the network port of the control system 130 via a network cable. This ensures that the connection method of the Ethernet network card is consistent with the connection method used in the server, thereby enabling the Ethernet network card to be in working condition.

[0050] Similarly, when the test sample is an optical network card, after inserting the gold fingers of the test sample into the X16 PCIe slot of the fixture card 111, the network ports of the two optical network cards in the test sample need to be connected to each other through optical fiber cables and optical modules. Or, when there is only one optical network card, the network port of this optical network card needs to be connected to the network port of the control system 130 through optical fiber cables and optical modules, so that the connection method of the optical network card can be consistent with the connection method used in the server, thereby enabling the optical network card to be in working state.

[0051] The board environment testing system 100 provided in this embodiment can completely simulate the environment testing system where the board is installed on the server, which can ensure signal integrity and signal quality.

[0052] The embodiments of this disclosure also provide a board environment testing method, which can be applied to the board environment testing system shown in the above figures. For example... Figure 5 As shown, Figure 5 This is a flowchart of a board environment testing method provided by some embodiments of this disclosure. The board environment testing method 300 provided by embodiments of this disclosure may include the following steps: Step 301: Insert the test sample into the card slot set on the fixture card inside the temperature chamber, and connect the test sample according to the type of test sample.

[0053] In this step, such as Figure 2 and Figure 4 As shown, the gold fingers of test samples 210, 220, and 230 are first inserted into the board slot 1113 of the fixture card 111. Optionally, the size of the baffle can be selected according to the installation space, and the baffle at the tail end of test samples 210, 220, and 230 can be fixed to the crossbeam of the temperature chamber 110 with screws.

[0054] Optionally, the test sample may include at least one of a network card, a host bus adapter, a graphics processor card, and a disk array card; wherein the network card may include at least one of an electrical network card and an optical network card; inserting the test sample into the board slot provided on the fixture card inside the temperature chamber, and connecting the test sample according to the type of the test sample, may include: inserting the host bus adapter into the X16 PCIe slot on the fixture card, and connecting the Slimsas interface on the host bus adapter to the Slimsas interface on the backplane of the control system via a Slimsas cable; and / or inserting the disk array card into the X16 PCIe slot on the fixture card, and connecting the Slimsas interface on the disk array card to the Slimsas interface on the backplane of the control system via a Slimsas cable; and / or inserting the electrical network card into the X16 PCIe slot on the fixture card, and connecting the network ports of two electrical network cards to each other via a network cable; and / or inserting the optical network card into the X16 PCIe slot on the fixture card, and connecting the network ports of two optical network cards to each other via an optical fiber and an optical module.

[0055] Specifically, when the test sample is an Ethernet network card, and there is only one Ethernet network card, the network port of this Ethernet network card can be connected to the network port of the control system 130 via a network cable. When the test sample is an optical network card, and there is only one optical network card, the network port of this optical network card can be connected to the network port of the control system 130 via a network cable. When the test sample is an HBA card or a RAID card, the Slimsas interface of the HBA card or RAID card can be connected to the Slimsas interface on the backplane of the control system 130 via a Slimsas cable. In this embodiment, after inserting the test sample into the board slot on the fixture card, the test sample is connected according to its type. This ensures that the connection method of the test sample is consistent with the connection method used in the server, thereby putting the test sample in a working state. It can completely simulate the environment of installing the board in the server for testing, ensuring signal integrity and signal quality.

[0056] Optionally, such as Figure 4 As shown, when the board environment testing system 100 also includes an expansion card 140, step 301 further includes: connecting the expansion card 140 to the data transmission interface 1112 on the fixture card 113, and then inserting the expansion card 140 into the expansion slot of the control system 130.

[0057] Step 302: Turn on the power switch and control system switch located outside the incubator.

[0058] In this step, after completing the connection between the board environment testing system 100 and the test samples 210, 220, and 230, the power supply 120 and the control system 130 located outside the temperature chamber 110 can be turned on in sequence.

[0059] Step 303: Based on the bit width attribute of the test sample, select and update the firmware version in the control system that matches the bit width attribute.

[0060] In this step, different versions of firmware in the control system 130 can be updated according to the bit width attributes of test samples 210, 220, and 230, so that the channel mode adapted to the updated firmware version is consistent with the bit width attributes of test samples 210, 220, and 230.

[0061] Step 304: Check the status of the test sample under the core components of the control system and the operating system.

[0062] In this step, after updating the firmware in the control system 130, the status of the core components and test samples 210, 220, and 230 under the operating system of the control system 130 can be checked. For example, the core components may include the Baseboard Management Controller (BMC), the Basic Input Output System (BIOS), etc., and the status of the test samples may include information such as bit width and speed. Optionally, after step 304, step 3041 may be added to determine whether the status of the test samples is normal.

[0063] If the test sample is in an abnormal state, proceed to step 305; if the test sample is in a normal state, proceed to step 306.

[0064] Step 305: Check the connection of the test system and whether the firmware has been updated correctly and is effective.

[0065] If, based on the inspection results of step 304, a test sample with an abnormal state is identified, this step further checks the connectivity of the test system 100 and whether the firmware of the control system 130 is correctly updated and effective. Optionally, checking the connectivity of the test system 100 may include checking the connections between the expansion card 140, the control system 130, and the fixture card 111.

[0066] Step 306: Start the chamber and set the temperature, humidity and test procedure according to the test specifications.

[0067] If, based on the inspection results of step 304, it is determined that there are no test samples with abnormal conditions, in this step, the temperature chamber 110 can be further started, and the temperature, humidity, and test program of the temperature chamber 110 can be set according to the requirements of the corresponding test specifications.

[0068] Step 307: Run the test script under the operating system in the control system to perform the temperature and humidity reliability test.

[0069] In this step, pressure tool scripts such as FIO and Nertperf are run under the operating system of the control system 130 to perform temperature and humidity reliability tests. After the test scripts have finished running, logs and status information of test samples 210, 220, and 230 can be viewed under the operating system of the control system 130 to make test judgments. Furthermore, the program for the temperature chamber 110 can be remotely edited to switch to the next stage of testing until all tests are finally completed.

[0070] Embodiments of this disclosure also provide a test workstation, which includes the board environment test system of any of the above embodiments.

[0071] The circuit board environment testing system, method, and workstation provided in this disclosure, through multi-system compatibility and remote control capabilities, can achieve integrated operation of temperature chamber procedures, stress testing, and status monitoring, effectively reducing labor costs. Specific application tests have demonstrated this. Its compatibility has been effectively improved: it can be compatible with various cards such as network cards, HBA cards, GPU cards, and RAID cards, and can support multiple bit width attributes such as X4, X8, and X16 as well as PCIe speed. A single control system can test 32 cards at the same time (current technology can only test 2 to 4 cards per server), and its compatibility can cover more than 95% of mainstream card models.

[0072] Its testing environment is precise and controllable: the temperature and humidity range of the test can cover -40℃~100℃ and 5%RH~95%RH, far exceeding the existing server testing environment (35℃ upper limit); the test samples can be directly exposed to the temperature chamber environment, which can isolate the interference of external heat sources, and the environmental temperature stability is ±0.5℃ (the deviation of existing technology is more than ±5℃), and the accuracy of test data can be improved by 90%.

[0073] Its testing system has enhanced stability: the control system and power supply are set at room temperature (20℃~25℃), unaffected by the extreme environment of the temperature chamber, and the continuous operation failure rate is ≤0.5%; it can support multiple operating systems such as Linux / Windows, the stress test script adaptability can reach 100%, and the remote operation response time is ≤1s.

[0074] Its testing costs and efficiency are optimized: the MTBF testing cycle can be shortened from 6 to 12 months under the existing technology to 1 to 2 months, and the testing efficiency can be improved several times; a single testing system can replace the testing capacity of dozens of servers, hardware procurement costs can be reduced by 80%, data center space occupation can be reduced by 75%, and power consumption can be reduced by 60%.

[0075] The specific embodiments described above do not constitute a limitation on the scope of protection of this disclosure. Those skilled in the art should understand that various modifications, combinations, sub-combinations, and substitutions can be made according to design requirements and other factors. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, and improvements made within the spirit and principles of this disclosure should be included within the scope of protection of this disclosure.

Claims

1. A board environment testing system, comprising: A temperature chamber is used to simulate the temperature and humidity environment for testing. A fixture card is installed inside the temperature chamber, and the fixture card is provided with a power interface, a data transmission interface and a card slot for inserting test samples; A power supply is located outside the incubator and is connected to the power interface on the fixture card to provide electrical energy to the fixture card. The control system is located outside the temperature chamber. The control system is used to run test scripts and is connected to the data transmission interface on the fixture card. The data transmission interface is used to transmit data with the test sample inserted into the board slot.

2. The testing system according to claim 1, wherein, The fixture card is provided with a plurality of board slots and a plurality of data transmission interfaces, and the number of data transmission interfaces matches the number of board slots.

3. The testing system according to claim 2 further includes: An expansion card is inserted into the expansion slot of the control system and connected to the data transmission interface on the fixture card. The control system also transmits data with the test sample inserted on the fixture card through the expansion card.

4. The testing system according to claim 3, wherein, The expansion card contains a signal processing chip, which is used to detect, process, and regenerate signals during the data transmission process.

5. The testing system according to any one of claims 1-4, wherein, Multiple fixture clips are arranged inside the temperature chamber.

6. The testing system according to claim 5, wherein, The control system is configured with multiple versions of firmware, each version of firmware is adapted to a channel mode. The control system is also used to select different versions of firmware for updating according to the different bit width attributes of the test sample before running the test script, so as to switch different channel modes; The board slots provided on the fixture card are compatible with multiple channel specifications and can be adapted to test samples with various bit width attributes.

7. The testing system according to claim 6, wherein, The card slot is an X16 PCIe slot, compatible with X4, X8 and X16 channel specifications; The control system is configured to switch between X4, X8, and X16 channel modes by updating firmware; The data transmission interface is a Slimsas interface, and the control system is connected to the Slimsas interface on the fixture card via a Slimsas cable.

8. A board environment testing method, applied to the board environment testing system according to any one of claims 1-7, the testing method comprising: Insert the test sample into the slot on the fixture card inside the incubator, and connect the test sample according to its type; Turn on the power supply switch and control system switch located outside the temperature chamber; Based on the bit width attribute of the test sample, select a firmware version in the control system that matches the bit width attribute for updating; Inspect the status of the test sample under the core components of the control system and the operating system; In response to an abnormal state of the test sample, check the connection of the test system and whether the firmware has been correctly updated and is effective; In response to the test sample being in a normal state, the temperature chamber is started, and the temperature, humidity, and test procedure are set according to the test specifications. The test script is run under the operating system of the control system to perform a temperature and humidity reliability test.

9. The testing system according to claim 8, wherein, The test samples include at least one of network interface cards (NICs), host bus adapters, graphics processing units (GPUs), and disk array cards; the NICs include at least one of electrical NICs and optical NICs. The step of inserting the test sample into the slot on the fixture card inside the incubator and connecting the test sample according to its type includes: Insert the host bus adapter into the X16 PCIe slot on the jig card, and connect the Slimsas interface on the host bus adapter to the Slimsas interface on the control system backplane via a Slimsas cable; and / or Insert the disk array card into the X16 PCIe slot on the fixture card, and connect the Slimsas interface on the disk array card to the Slimsas interface on the backplane of the control system via a Slimsas cable; and / or Insert the Ethernet network card into the X16 PCIe slot on the fixture card, and connect the network ports of two of the Ethernet network cards to each other using a network cable; and / or Insert the optical network card into the X16 PCIe slot on the fixture card, and connect the network ports of two of the optical network cards to each other via optical fiber cables and optical modules.

10. A test workstation, comprising: The board environment testing system according to any one of claims 1-7.

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