Cheap x9 supermicro

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T_Minus

Build. Break. Fix. Repeat
Feb 15, 2015
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I have a X9DR7-LN4F that bricked during update. It could be RMA I just never did.

anyone want to trade me anything interesting ? Send me a message with what you have to trade.

I’m not expecting usual used / eBay price since you will need to pay around 30$ to ship in for rma. I have other stuff I could add if you need like ssd. Cpu. Ram.

for trade only. valued around $50 to me.
 
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T_Minus

Build. Break. Fix. Repeat
Feb 15, 2015
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Why not RMA and then sell it?
Then I have to ship it twice and receive it once, a bit more time\effort and for that I'll recycle it.
Figured I'd see if anyone wanted one for a trade before I do.
 
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eduncan911

The New James Dean
Jul 27, 2015
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Humm, Supermicro wouldn't accept my X10DRi because it's outta warranty (fix pins).

However, if it's just a BIOS/BMC bricking during update, that's pretty easy to fix with an SOIC8 (or 16) clip and a RPi. I've done several.
 
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T_Minus

Build. Break. Fix. Repeat
Feb 15, 2015
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Humm, Supermicro wouldn't accept my X10DRi because it's outta warranty (fix pins).

However, if it's just a BIOS/BMC bricking during update, that's pretty easy to fix with an SOIC8 (or 16) clip and a RPi. I've done several.
I've had 0 issues sending in boards for repair and have never had any "in" warranty. I guess it depends who you talk to?

What's the repair thing you're talking about? Source?
 
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T_Minus

Build. Break. Fix. Repeat
Feb 15, 2015
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Same



Fix it then sell it, in today's economy you need to be hustlin' everyday.
I already said I would recycle it vs have to deal with receiving/shipping multiple times. Some of us have limited time and it’s valued.

I would also send to a trusted member and let them try to deal with it and If it works out complete trade after.
 
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T_Minus

Build. Break. Fix. Repeat
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Here’s screenshot OK this board for RMA from 2019. I need time and space more than money this why it sat and why I’m not wanting to deal with it now either. But this board was from eBay and I’ve troubleshooted with SM support in a 20 email chain, no warranty and no issue RMA.
 

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Markess

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May 19, 2018
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I've had 0 issues sending in boards for repair and have never had any "in" warranty. I guess it depends who you talk to?

What's the repair thing you're talking about? Source?
You obviously have the magic touch with customer support!

For folks interested in a project: A quick look at at online pictures of this model shows that at least some boards had a socketed BIOS. I've never had an issue with reviving a socketed BIOS. Surface mount are another story for me, but then again, my skills and equipment are pretty primitive :D
Super nice board though!
 
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eduncan911

The New James Dean
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I've had 0 issues sending in boards for repair and have never had any "in" warranty. I guess it depends who you talk to?
This has been true of Supermicro... Up until 2019/2020 era. I guess they have cracked down on old crap. LOL

What's the repair thing you're talking about? Source?
You get one of these:



And connect it like this to a Raspberry Pi:




And then you flash it like this:

Code:
$ flashrom -p [path-to-GPIO-SPI-interface] -w ~/my-bios-file.bin
Profit.

Yeah yeah, I over-simplified... LOL There are many many MANY guides out there for flashing. Basically, you want to READ (dump) any existing binary to a file. (-r parameter). And then, flash any raw binary file.

There are no safety checks. There are no validations. This is a raw write byte-for-byte to anything you are flashing. IOW, this is how you get around manufacturers that don't want you modding a bios. ;)

A quick ddg brings up this first link, which looks pretty decent with a 10 second glance:


You can use this process for any SOIC8 and SOIC16 chip (AsRock Rack likes to use SOIC16 chips for all BMC, and some BIOS chips).

Actually, you can use this process for just about any SPI IC flash chip (because, that's what they are - just raw binary flash IC chips that store data for the BIOS to read when it turns on).

I've done binary files from kid's toys (oh yeah, I hacked a couple LeapFrog stuffed animals! lol), old frig that had the annoying "Unauthorized Water Filter" crap, to an e-bike that a cousin had.

Really handy tools... Just, get the REAL SOIC8/SOIC16 clips. Not the cheap Chinese fakes.

There are also USB-to-SPI break-out boards, if you dare to do so on a PC (I'm only on linux, so I can't say what quality they are). I personally use a stripped down RPi image, with an 18650 inline battery module (aka Adafruit) - so there is zero chance of anything disturbing the binary write, including a flicker of power.

I'd offer to take the board and fix it; but, I have zero use for X9 (and X10 these days). Trying to get rid of stuff myself!
 
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eduncan911

The New James Dean
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(snip) ...online pictures of this model shows that at least some boards had a socketed BIOS. I've never had an issue with reviving a socketed BIOS. Surface mount are another story for me, but then again, my skills and equipment are pretty primitive :D
AsRock Rack has most of their BMC and BIOS' socketed, making it easy to remove and clip the SOIC8/SOIC16 pin to. I've never seen a Supermicro socketed, but that's cool! AsRock Rack just sent me new chips that I can plot into the sockets. Done. Well, almost. Their chips were corrupted too! Had to flash them... But hey, it worked!

rant

FYI, AsRock Rack has a secret (not really, just a backdoor-that-needs-to-be-plugged!) linux utility that will flash a BMC from a Linux Live ISO. Most don't have this though, because that is not supposed to be open for AMI BMC DMA during an optimized compilation of the BMC firmware. It's a debug feature, that they enable on all BMCs. *sad panda*

But, if you trust that a manufacturer will properly patch and release updates for BMC and BIOS, then that is a false-sense-of-security that you need to drop. No BMC nor BIOS is secured. Segment those networks from any other network, and air-gap them if possible. Now, just pray a hacker doesn't get root on the same AsRock Rack box... At least, that is what my EPYCD8-2T went through - and is still accessible with the latest bios.

My X399D8A-2T is awesome though... 4.4 Ghz on all 16 cores (32T) of my Threadripper 2950X @ 2933 Mhz ECC DDR4 (supposed to be 3200 Mhz, still working on that...). And I didn't even touch overclocking, just enabled Precision Boost Overdrive and raised the TDP Limit to ∞. Done. Been rock solid for 4 months as my PRIMARY server (proxmox, dozens of containers, 5 VMs including 1 gaming, etc). It's BMC is open too for read/flashing from root though... :(

One day I'll get off my ass and build a couple of PiKVMs - and disable all BMCs. Got about a dozen Zero W boards that would be perfect and I already have several of the VGA input adapters, once I solder some NICs onto them (SPI interface).

/rant
 
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Markess

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Not to hijack @T_Minus's thread...but may be helpful knowledge for anyone thinking about reflashing his motherboard:

@eduncan911 : I've always used a CH341A + linux desktop for flashing. Works great for socketed chips that I could either pull & insert into the programmer or order a fresh chip for a couple bucks from DigiKey, Mouser, etc. to do a drop in replacement.

But, I've had really poor luck when flashing a soldered chip that was still on the dead motherboard. Does the SOIC clip + Pi work better in those cases? I've got a few Pis in a drawer here somewhere....
 
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eduncan911

The New James Dean
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Not to hijack @T_Minus's thread...but may be helpful knowledge for anyone thinking about reflashing his motherboard:

@eduncan911 : I've always used a CH341A + linux desktop for flashing. Works great for socketed chips that I could either pull & insert into the programmer or order a fresh chip for a couple bucks from DigiKey, Mouser, etc. to do a drop in replacement.

But, I've had really poor luck when flashing a soldered chip that was still on the dead motherboard. Does the SOIC clip + Pi work better in those cases? I've got a few Pis in a drawer here somewhere....
Those itty bitty USB programmers didn't exist decades ago. Hence why I have a small collection of SOIC clips for various ICs.

But yeah, should work fine - as long as you have a socketed Mobo. (Most don't, and didn't back in the day).

It's exactly the same as the clip. Just the clip can attached to soldered ICs that you can't remove.

The only good SOIC clips are the blue Pomoda ones. They are solid and have a nice firm spring with good grip on the legs.

Never ever buy them from Amazon. Complete Chinese junk, regardless of color.

I usually tell people to get one from Mouser/DigiKey/SparkFun, etc. They usually have originals only and have never had an issue ordering them over the years.

You need these clips for laptops, especially when you forget your bios password on newer BIOSes that have a separate SPI chip just for the password. Doh.

There are also SOIC16 variants out now, as they hold a lot more memory. Mostly seen as BMC firmware.

Having the socketed programmer makes it super easy, but also have a drawer with a few SOIC clips (and a RPi ready-to-go) for future proofing your workstation. :)
 
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Markess

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The only good SOIC clips are the blue Pomoda ones. They are solid and have a nice firm spring with good grip on the legs.

Never ever buy them from Amazon. Complete Chinese junk, regardless of color.
Ahh...this is maybe why I've had no success with soldered chips. I was using the clip that came with my cheap Amazon programmer "kit". I know the programmer does work when it comes to socketed & de-soldered through hole chips, so I guess the clip is, as you say, junk. Thanks for the advice.
 

eduncan911

The New James Dean
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Looks like this has turned into a very useful post!! I had non idea you could do that for a fix\update.
With that nail, everything starts to look like a hammer. :)

It's especially useful if you want to hack on a BIOS. Or, say to find the default username/password of a custom BIOS (damn you Hyve!). We have a few resident BIOS hackers on STH that can help.

I recently added NVMe boot to an old X79 (E5 V1/V2 C602-era, same as OP) BIOS, that never even has seen NVMe code (Asus Rampage IV Extreme Black Edition - I didn't trust the existing hacked one that was posted and did it myself). Am now writing this post from my Intel 905P Optane drive booted on that very board with no other drives. :)

While it's not trivial, you can easily "wrap" the NVMe bits around just about any old AMI BIOS.

However, oh no, your BIOS is not signed and can't be flashed by Asus! Oh no!! /s

That's where the SOIC8 clip comes in. It doesn't care about any signature, letting you write any binary file to the bios chip.
 
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eduncan911

The New James Dean
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Btw, just for more fun...

You can add NVMe boot code to any, and I meant any very old AMI BIOS.

Several guides available out there. So, if you got an old Supermicro X9, or X10... :) I've only ever done my PCIe 3.0 systems, as that's the NVMe drives I get.

There isn't a way for bification (sp ck) to be added as that's a chipset feature to configure the lanes (and maybe CPU?).
 
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Markess

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Btw, just for more fun...

You can add NVMe boot code to any, and I meant any very old AMI BIOS.

Several guides available out there. So, if you got an old Supermicro X8 or X9, or X10... :)

There isn't a way for bification (sp ck) to be added as that's a chipset feature to configure the lanes (and maybe CPU?).
And (other than Asus) its super easy to do without the need for a programmer or other physical tools.
 

Patriot

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I'll sleep on trades to offer if you don't want to fix it... I am... proficient in flashing bricked boards, and ive had no better luck with the expensive clips than the cheap ones. They are all fairly sensitive to getting a solid connection.

My X10Dax that I recovered was socketed so I pulled it out to flash rather than clipping it on.
 
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Wasmachineman_NL

Wittgenstein the Supercomputer FTW!
Aug 7, 2019
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I'll sleep on trades to offer if you don't want to fix it... I am... proficient in flashing bricked boards, and ive had no better luck with the expensive clips than the cheap ones. They are all fairly sensitive to getting a solid connection.

My X10Dax that I recovered was socketed so I pulled it out to flash rather than clipping it on.
Pulling the EEPROM is always better than ICP.
 
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