Gigabyte MJ11-EC1 EPYC 3151 Mystery

[Th0mas51]

FYI, the following RAM are working fine:

- Samsung 8GB DDR4-2133 RDIMM PC4-17000P-R 2Rx8 (M393A1G43DB0-CPB)
- SK Hynix 32 GB DDR4-2666 RDIMM PC4-21300V-R 2Rx4 (HMA84GR7JJR4N-VK)

 

[Th0mas51]

I have problem with getting working RAM for this board.

...

Can anyone share their RAM configuration ? I wanted to go with 2x32GB for my needs.

See above for my 2x 32 GB RAM config.

You have been populating the blue slots first, right ?

 

[Grinchy]

Some got bifurcation working on this board?

At least with the EC1 it seems to work, following the users guide. Could it work with the EC1 Bios?

Change the PCIe lanes.
Options available: Disabled, Auto, x16, x8x8, x8x4x4, x4x4x8,
x4x4x4x4. Default setting is Auto.

 

[hmartin]

FWIW I requested the GPL source code for the BMC running on this motherboard and Gigabyte are refusing to provide it:

https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/gigabyte-is-refusing-to-provide-gpl-source-code-for-bmc-firmware.44232/

 

[XeonLab]

For those interested, I just ran a CPU benchmark and then a 15 minutes stress test using CPU-Z.

I'm running with hyper-threading enabled in the bios (so 8 threads), 2x8 GB of Ram, Windows 10 on a USB disk, and using the stock cooler but with new thermal paste.

The results are visible here: AMD EPYC @ 2898.29 MHz - CPU-Z VALIDATOR

According to Core Temp, the max temperature was 50°C and the power consumption of the CPU was 29.7 W.

Did you use stock fan and how was the noise?

 

[Grinchy]

You can not preserve the sysadmin ssh login after an update to newer BMC version. At every reboot of the BMC, the ssh server config will be modified to prevent sysadmin access. And the script that modifies it is in read-only flash!

But adding another user works great. I just edited passwd and shadow directly. they are in the conf directory which is r/w.
I copied the sysadmin record and added it with my name instead. change also the home directory to /conf/user_home/your_username

These setting will remain if you upgrade and preserve setting. If your new firmware requires to also remove setting you will lose it, unfortunately.

I found editing in the BMC limiting so I found a nice way to copy the files to a server and edit there with my favorit editor and then copy back.

You can from the BMC attach a network drive via SMB!
in /dre I created a mountpoint cifs. /dre is r/w. do not create your mount point in /conf. there is an rsync process that runs and keeps /conf and /bkupconf in sync. if it sees a new directory in /conf it will be backed up. I had 2 TB of data it tried to copy!
to mount issue
mount -t cifs -o username=xxx,password=yyyyyy,domain=zzzzz,vers=2.0 //10.0.0.20/share /dre/cifs
insert your credentials and ip and share
After that changing and analyzing files became easier

The BMC firmware from Gigabyte is common for all boards of the same generation. No specific board information is in it. Instead it has all infor for all supported boarda and att BMC boot the right one will be chosen depending on the model stored elsewhere. I have not upgraded the firmware but i am sure the settings of the modelname will remain.

It is not difficult to unpack the BMC firmware on a Linux system and analyse all files in it. It is also possible to modify and pack it back in a new firmware. Unfortunately there is a signature in the end of the file. I have not yet found a way around that! It might be possible to flash an unsigned firmware from the uboot prompt. There are commands for flashing but I have not tried them yet

BR
Peter

How exactly did you create a new user with root access?

I'm trying it right now, but directly editing /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow is harder than I thought.

Did you just used "vi /etc/passwd" and added a new user there?

My passwd file looks like this

sysadmin:x:0:0:sysadmin:/root:/usr/local/bin/defshell
avahi:x:104:111:Avahi mDNS daemon,,,:/var/run/avahi-daemon:/bin/false
messagebus:x:106:108:Dbus daemon,,,:/var/run/dbus:/bin/false
root:x:15000:15000:root:/root:/usr/local/bin/defshell

the shadow file is much more complicated if you newer edited it directly.

Could you post what you added / edited to add a new user? Would be really great!

 

[PeterF]

How exactly did you create a new user with root access?

I'm trying it right now, but directly editing /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow is harder than I thought.

Did you just used "vi /etc/passwd" and added a new user there?

My passwd file looks like this

sysadmin:x:0:0:sysadmin:/root:/usr/local/bin/defshell
avahi:x:104:111:Avahi mDNS daemon,,,:/var/run/avahi-daemon:/bin/false
messagebus:x:106:108:Dbus daemon,,,:/var/run/dbus:/bin/false
root:x:15000:15000:root:/root:/usr/local/bin/defshell

the shadow file is much more complicated if you newer edited it directly.

Could you post what you added / edited to add a new user? Would be really great!

Yes it is difficult to edit while connected on the serial terminal due to all messages coming up there!
I actually connected to a SMB share on my network and copied the passwd and shadow files there .

On the files I just copied the sysadmin row and change the user sysadmin to my name.
When I now log in via ssh I am a real root user with uid 0.
As I already had given sysadmin a password I automatically got the same password .
I also change the default home directory to something that is writable. I do not remember exactly where but you will find it in the filesystem.
I am not close to the system this week and cannot check.

It is of course important to take the passwd and shadow files from the writable etc directory.

BR
Peter

 

[Grinchy]

Yes it is difficult to edit while connected on the serial terminal due to all messages coming up there!
I actually connected to a SMB share on my network and copied the passwd and shadow files there .

On the files I just copied the sysadmin row and change the user sysadmin to my name.
When I now log in via ssh I am a real root user with uid 0.
As I already had given sysadmin a password I automatically got the same password .
I also change the default home directory to something that is writable. I do not remember exactly where but you will find it in the filesystem.
I am not close to the system this week and cannot check.

It is of course important to take the passwd and shadow files from the writable etc directory.

BR
Peter

Got it working, thank you!

My board was still on the first firmware, so I used SSL to login to sysadmin, created a new user, changed the Board ID, updated to the newest Firmware and everything is working now

All Fans working and even SSL (with the newly created user) is working perfectly!

 

[Boris]

Please help a not very attentive person. I seem to have gone through all the settings in the BIOS several times. Is there an option there to select the maximum performance mode for the processor? Regardless of the OS.

 

[Th0mas51]

Did you use stock fan and how was the noise?

Yes it was with stock fan.

The stock fan runs at full speed when the server is booting (like many servers), then the speed reduces, so the noise becomes more reasonable.

For my test I was running the motherboard outside of a case, on my desk, so the airflow was probably better than if it was running in a mini-itx case like I plan to run it in the future.

In any cases the stock fan is too noisy for my taste, so I'm considering either replacing it with a Noctua, or even better would be to find a way to replace the heatsink too with a heatsink that offers a lower clearance to allow installing the motherboard is mini-itx cases.

 

[murizzle]

i have an issue with the web ui of my board. I connected to it first time and enabled all one touch firewall (basic) settings. afterwards i was not able to access the web ui anymore. It is reachable via ipmitool but really want the web interface to be available again. Can someone help me with that?

currently i am connected directly with static IPs.

what i tried:
cold reset through ipmi tool
clearing cmos (but the ipmi has its own flash i think)
removing battery for a couple of hours.

there is also a jtag interface but i do not know the pinout. i saw in one post that it was used for serial communication. Is it SWD?

thanks in advance!

 

[erich.hai]

Hello i have the same problem. i have test with jumper clearing cmos not function. what ipmi tool have you?
How can I reset it to default settings?

 

[erich.hai]

You must download the newest version 12.61.21 bmc flash from this board and flash the can login. Version 12.83.48 is a bug no vga signal

 

[whcvip]

Is the a way to set the motherboard to turn on automatically when it loses power?

 

[mrpasc]

Sure. Go to Bios —> Advanced—> AMD CBS —> FCH common options—> AC powerloss options and set it to „previous“. Done.

 

[saivert]

What kind of power supply are you guys using with this? I went for a BeQuiet SFX 450W PSU.
I wonder if this is too weak when you have 8 Seagate Exos drives. Sometimes it boot loops when restarting and I have to power cycle it
Also maybe reason I cannot get reliable PCIe card connectivity via the SlimSAS 8i port.

 

[sWan_]

i have an issue with the web ui of my board. I connected to it first time and enabled all one touch firewall (basic) settings. afterwards i was not able to access the web ui anymore. It is reachable via ipmitool but really want the web interface to be available again. Can someone help me with that?

currently i am connected directly with static IPs.

what i tried:
cold reset through ipmi tool
clearing cmos (but the ipmi has its own flash i think)
removing battery for a couple of hours.

there is also a jtag interface but i do not know the pinout. i saw in one post that it was used for serial communication. Is it SWD?

thanks in advance!

Run into the same problem.
Got it fixed after a rat hole of ipmiutil jtag and dip switches.
It got it fixed pretty simple: Flash a new BMC Version via Linux, Windows, or UEFI Shell.
I used this firmware: https://download.gigabyte.com/FileList/Firmware/server_firmware_ast2500_AMI_12.x.zip
Prepare a FAT32 USB Stick, copy the unpacked zip onto it, boot into uefi shell, follow the guide and do not preserve the settings.
After that got finally access to the megarack sp-x webui.
Hope it helps!

 

[sWan_]

What kind of power supply are you guys using with this? I went for a BeQuiet SFX 450W PSU.
I wonder if this is too weak when you have 8 Seagate Exos drives. Sometimes it boot loops when restarting and I have to power cycle it
Also maybe reason I cannot get reliable PCIe card connectivity via the SlimSAS 8i port.

I am gonna test with 8 x WD Red Pro and a SSP-300SFG with 300W at the end of this month.
In my calculation this "should" work.
I will post again the moment im smarter.

 

[etorix]

8 HDDs on a 300 W PSU? We have a strong hint, two posts above, that 450 W does NOT cut it…

Proper Power Supply Sizing Guidance

I've seen about 1,000 threads like this one where people decide that they can power a dozen hard drives off a 360 watt supply. DO NOT DO THIS. I've seen another 1,000 threads where people decide to buy the cheapest power supply that they can...

www.truenas.com

 

[sWan_]

8 HDDs on a 300 W PSU? We have a strong hint, two posts above, that 450 W does NOT cut it…

Proper Power Supply Sizing Guidance

I've seen about 1,000 threads like this one where people decide that they can power a dozen hard drives off a 360 watt supply. DO NOT DO THIS. I've seen another 1,000 threads where people decide to buy the cheapest power supply that they can...

www.truenas.com

Thanks. Interesting article. Kinda missed it.

However: I got several PSU with different wattage and I'm will just test and measure alot before shoving some real data onto that storage, so I can give @saivert an answer what PSU I am gonna end with for that system.