Minis forum MS-A2

[wadup]

I think this is the 1.02 update for 9000 if you look at the FRG in the name but not enough to recommend flashing this because it is an outside source from minisforum.

minisforum-bios-update/WINPE/MS-A2/F1WSA_FRG_1.02_250616a at main · wdiazux/minisforum-bios-update

Instructions for creating a bootable USB on Linux to update the BIOS of Minisforum devices - wdiazux/minisforum-bios-update

github.com

I am sure if you guys email Minisforum they can give you a legit link or give you a new firmware where the proxmox boot issues are resolved.

 

[Brian Stretch]

I want to try xcp-ng anyhow but maybe that's broken too.

Unrelated: I like the form factor of the MS-S1 MAX with its internal PSU much better than the MS-A2 with its external brick. Quieter too. Glad I ordered one before RAM prices went nuts.

 

[Algent]

ah your right there was a 1.02 for the 9000 but looks like they took down the link

The 1.02 is still on the french website for some reason: https://www.minisforum.com/fr/pages/product-info
Edit: look like downgrading is even more unsafe according to the next post. :/

For those that have trouble with proxmox, you tried disabling secure boot ? I know I randomly broke it while messing around in bios a few months ago.

 

[Brian Stretch]

Installing 1.02 over 1.03 bricked it. Sigh. Screen went blank, left it another 20+ minutes, forced power down, screen still blank.

 

[wadup]

try to unplug the battery bottom right for 5-10 minutes

 

[zzjin]

I have a forever reboot when using pve and gpu passthrough to vm.
seem that bios have some bios/kernel panic: "x86/amd: Previous system reset reason [0x08000800]: an uncorrected error caused a data fabric sync flood event".


CPU 9950hx
bios 1.02
pve 9.1.7 Linux 6.17.13-2-pve

 

[Brian Stretch]

try to unplug the battery bottom right for 5-10 minutes

No luck. I was able to unplug the battery but not plug it back in, need to disassemble a bit for that. Powers on and off but nothing on the screen.

 

[Dayone]

Bios 1.03 works fine for me, but seems like they pulled it from the Website. Any known issues? Should i downgrade?

 

[omrij]

See above, don't downgrade

 

[zzjin]

Bios 1.03 works fine for me, but seems like they pulled it from the Website. Any known issues? Should i downgrade?

Hi, Dayone, can you share the bios?or I must wait they republish LoL

 

[Dayone]

Hi, Dayone, can you share the bios?or I must wait they republish LoL

Sure, here it is https://litter.catbox.moe/5vdqun7ek6ie8wrh.7z

 

[Brian Stretch]

My MS-A2 is on its way to Minisforum's California repair depot after attempting to downgrade from 1.03 to 1.02 bricked the machine. It could have been a fluke but I wouldn't risk it. The Dells I used to support would have warnings "Once you upgrade to this BIOS there's no going back" or such on some BIOS versions so this isn't unheard of. I also don't recommend disconnecting the clock battery as you need to remove the motherboard to get to the connector safely and I wasn't able to find a thorough enough teardown guide to do that. 1.03 appears to have issues with Proxmox.

 

[Dayone]

Im using Proxmox with 1.03 but without Secure Boot.

 

[Yuretz]

Im using Proxmox with 1.03 but without Secure Boot.

My secure boot also disabled, but no luck.
Windows 11 from another ssd boots normaly.I think 1.03 is broken, we should wait for 1.04

 

[jayte90]

I update bios 1.03 from windows without any problem ~

 

[groot]

Hi all,
I have recently purchased the MS-A2 model. The firmware version is 1.02. I want to run it as a 24/7 headless server. But it refuses to complete POST and boot if no physical display is connected to it. I cannot use a hdmi dummy plug as it not available locally and want to run it in headless mode without a dummy if possible.
Can anyone help me in this regard?

 

[omrij]

Mine boot just fine headless
In all bios versions

 

[groot]

Mine boot just fine headless
In all bios versions

Can you attach a display after it boots? What does it show?
I cannot see anything on it if i attach a display after it tries to boot.
And it also does not connect to the network. I can verify it as i have set it to connect to my tailnet when it has internet connectivity. And comparing the fan noise from when i plug a display in before powering it on and when i do not, i'd say i am pretty much sure it is stuck before boot. After searching, i arrived at a conclusion that it is stuck in POST. And unlike other mini pcs, i cannot find a convenient setting in the bios to set it to headless mode.

Note: I have installed Linux on it. Though i don't think it has anything to do with the boot process. I have disabled secure boot.

 

[omrij]

No, I can't attach a monitor after boot (that's how Linux work AFAIK)
But the boot process is complete and everything works. My MS-A2 is headless unRAID server.

 

[wadup]

What linux dist are you using?

Anything headless you could use something like pikvm to manage that's what I always do. That way if anything ever happens and you need to troubleshoot, update firmware, change bios settings you can.