Minisforum MS-01 BIOS

[edAndy]

Hey there,

what modifications did you made to the firmware while running this box as a hypervisor platform?

I did so far
=>Set ASPM to "disabled" for all PCIe and for all NICs
=> Disabled WiFi

edit: Wow! Disabling ASPM and disabling WiFi definetly was it "worth"

Before doing this changes i was wondering why i have a "bad" latency by pinging my host from within the LAN (> 1ms) Now i am near to the latency which is usual in my LAN (avg. 0.5ms)
No idea what of these both changes made it... most likely disabling this ASPM stuff

 

[benjvfr]

Hey there,

what modifications did you made to the firmware while running this box as a hypervisor platform?

I did so far
=>Set ASPM to "disabled" for all PCIe and for all NICs
=> Disabled WiFi

edit: Wow! Disabling ASPM and disabling WiFi definetly was it "worth"

Before doing this changes i was wondering why i have a "bad" latency by pinging my host from within the LAN (> 1ms) Now i am near to the latency which is usual in my LAN (avg. 0.5ms)
No idea what of these both changes made it... most likely disabling this ASPM stuff

Sorry for my dumb question, but : what's the procedure to disable WiFi and ASPM ? I use it as a Proxmox Hypervisor.

Thanks.

 

[edAndy]

Sorry for my dumb question, but : what's the procedure to disable WiFi and ASPM ? I use it as a Proxmox Hypervisor.

Thanks.

You need to boot the system in the BIOS. There you can adjust several settings in the firmware. Like disabling WiFi / ASPM..

+ If you are already there you should check the bios version and compare them with the latest published on the website

 

[benjvfr]

+ If you are already there you should check the bios version and compare them with the latest published on the website

I'm on version AHWSA.1.17 12/14/2023 ; but I don't see any Linux BIOS Update on their website, only Windows.

How do you proceed from a Linux based OS to update the MS-01 BIOS ? Is it supported ?

EDIT : I just found the instructions in the ZIP file with the nsh program.

 

[benjvfr]

The 10G X710s are not usable, I tried in bond and not bonded, there’s no stability it just stops working properly

2 of my MS-01 have LACP bond in proxmox and run great ....

I personally have problems with bond in "balance-rr" mode in Proxmox, but no problems with LACP 802.3ad.

 

[P00r]

Are there any recommended BIOS settings that you would adjust for running proxmox?

I have already:

• disabled all unnecessary devices I dont need in my rack (10GB nic, wifi, pcie 3 slot...)
• lowered voltages a bit (to 40000 and 60000)
• enabled ASPM for certain devices
• secure boot off
• max battery mode
• turbo boost off

ANything else Im missing to make this as quiet and power efficient as possible?

Disabling turbo boost on my MS-01 Desktop make this appear, I am not sure about the benefit of disabling it under proxmox.

View attachment 37774

 

[tron1]

I also have the problem of ASPM being greyed out for the PCIe Slot and 10G NIC. I'm on version 1.22. Anyone know of what the fix is as it doubles my IDLE power consumption.

 

[BrinkManGuy]

Hey all,I bought 48GBx2 from Crucial, the 5600 sticks. It did not boot, so I used a 32GB Crucial Stick 4800, which booted up just fine. Getting the shell to work was a PITA, so I installed Windows, Flashed to the latest, and then rebooted, and it never came back up. I swapped another 32 GB stick in and out, then the 2 48 GB sticks in all slots.

What do?It looks like the latest BIOS was going great. It said it was successful before it rebooted, so please help.If not Its only been a few days I guess I can RMA the MS-01 I did order 2 more 32GB sticks. just to test.

 

[dark-fur]

I also have the problem of ASPM being greyed out for the PCIe Slot and 10G NIC. I'm on version 1.22. Anyone know of what the fix is as it doubles my IDLE power consumption.

I guess there is no fix so far. Last week I asked Minisforum support to help me with enabling ASPM for X710 but they replied (quote):
"Intel X710 ASPM function is invalid, turn on and off does not significantly affect the standby power consumption. So we did not develop this setup directly." Then I asked, "What is the source of your statement about invalid X710 ASPM support, and how about enabling ASPM for the PCIe slot?" but they ignored my question about x710 and replied the same regarding PCIe: "It can't be enabled as we didn't develop this, but we will forward your feedback to our engineers".

I tried to enable it using a slightly modified "enable-aspm" script, but without success, as both X710 and PCI Hub are reporting "ASPM not supported" for link capabilities.

 

[tron1]

I guess there is no fix so far. Last week I asked Minisforum support to help me with enabling ASPM for X710 but they replied (quote):
"Intel X710 ASPM function is invalid, turn on and off does not significantly affect the standby power consumption. So we did not develop this setup directly." Then I asked, "What is the source of your statement about invalid X710 ASPM support, and how about enabling ASPM for the PCIe slot?" but they ignored my question about x710 and replied the same regarding PCIe: "It can't be enabled as we didn't develop this, but we will forward your feedback to our engineers".

I tried to enable it using a slightly modified "enable-aspm" script, but without success, as both X710 and PCI Hub are reporting "ASPM not supported" for link capabilities.

Thanks @dark-fur

I cannot reach package C-state above C3 without ASPM which seriously impacts IDLE power. I have another system with X710 add-in card that ASPM that is working, so I'm going to ask for refund if this the case.

 

[pimposh]

"Intel X710 ASPM function is invalid, turn on and off does not significantly affect the standby power consumption. So we did not develop this setup directly."

As user of several X710 based adapters i find above statement incorrect and false.

 

[dark-fur]

I cannot reach package C-state above C3 without ASPM which seriously impacts IDLE power. I have another system with X710 add-in card that ASPM that is working, so I'm going to ask for refund if this the case.

Same problem here, I would like to get above C3 but it's not possible at the moment.

Regarding the power consumption, it's an interesting topic, by the way. Beside the ms-01 with i5-12600H, I have a Lenovo m720q with i7-9700 and 10Gtek X710-BM2 (I guess it's a clone of the respective Intel's NIC) so I can compare the power consumption of both.

First, on m720q the X710 has ASPM support enabled (I did nothing for that, it just works), while on MS-01… you know. All measurements were done w/o USB/HDMI attached and using a power meter at the wall.

	m720q​	ms-01​
All devices (audio, nics, wifi, etc.) in BIOS are off or unplugged (except nvme)	2.5W​	5.2W​
Enabled X710s and connected to each other with one port on each side. Idle.	5.5W​	8.5W​
iperf3 between both machines: ~9.4Gbit/s	19W​	16W​

From these measurements, I learned that regardless of ASPM the X710 adds 3W on top of both systems in idle. Apparently Minisforum support is right here, and ASPM doesn't make that big difference for X710 in idle. Under a load, the results are rather interesting, as on the m720q the X710 adds 13.5W but only 7.5W to the ms-01. I have no clue why there is such a big difference.

Like you, I still have a refund period, and my first reaction was also like yours: "wtf, I want my money back" when I saw "no ASPM support" from lspci, but after diving into detailed comparisons with pros/cons, I am no longer sure whether sending back the ms-01 is a good idea.

I believe that PCIe in the ms-01 might become a problem later once something is plugged in there, as it has no ASPM either.

PS: What I still need to figure out is where this 2.5W vs 5.2W difference on bare systems comes from.
PPS: The 10Gtek X710-BM2 is shorter by 1-2 cm than Intel's counterpart, so if someone considers it for m720q, m920q or p330 — I would recommend looking at it.

 

[dark-fur]

BTW, out of curiosity, I disabled onboard X710 in the ms-01 and plugged in there the 10Gtek's X710-BM2. For a bare system with everything else disabled, I got a whopping 13W in idle. As expected, there was no ASPM support reported by lspci, despite the same adapter having it when it's plugged into m720q.

 

[tron1]

Minisforum also responded to me on PCIe slot / X710 ASPM on BIOS 1.22 "Modifications are not allowed. This option is not enabled." Since I plan to use the slot for an add-in card and can't get above package C-state C3, I decided to return it. Let's see how it goes.

 

[ProximusAl]

I've just received the MS-01 and downloaded the latest BIOS which is dated recently.

Applied it, then was confused as the BIOS date was older.

Turns out, the version on the downloads is 1.22, just the date on the website doesnt match the BIOS date.

That confused me for a bit.....

 

[dark-fur]

@tron1 I also returned my MS-01 last week. The ASPM wasn't a main issue in my case, but rather another one among many others I cannot accept.

 

[tron1]

@dark-fur Good luck, it took about 3 weeks but they gave me refund. The cooling and space for the M2s is a PITA, they should have allowed a little more room top and bottom. I had to follow up with them on the refund as it was not automatic.

 

[Gio]

I e-mailed minisforum 2 months ago asking about the BIOS that fixes the security vulnerability on vPro... they said they were working on a BIOS update. I asked them again for BIOS and I was sent a download for v1.23 - to my shock and surprise after flashing the file they sent me is a BIOS file for NUC24OXGv9

The BIOS boot splash screen is no longer "minisforum" themed, also the UEFI stuff or menus are gone and its back to blue old school bios. All of my ASPM power settings were reset and it seems like this BIOS is now using more electricity than the v1.22...

12600H is my CPU model.

 

[nemaddux]

Anyone have the files for the MS-01 1.24 that I keep hearing about?

 

[Inferno68]

Anyone have the files for the MS-01 1.24 that I keep hearing about?

You have to request it to Minisforum via support. They will send you a link to a google drive to download it.