X9SRL-F POSTs only via BIOS recovery process

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marv

Active Member
Apr 2, 2015
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Hello,
as the title says, I have Supermicro X9SRL-F that during startup beeps error and if usb flash is inserted, it loads bios from it. When I quit without saving, computer starts booting OS. If I do save and quit, it reboots and bios recovery happens again.

I also tried to do multiple power cycles and after a random number (sometimes 3, sometimes 15...), it boots without recovery.

So my question here, is the BIOS chip faulty and could its replacement help?

Thanks.
 

Rand__

Well-Known Member
Mar 6, 2014
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What does the beep code say is wrong with it? What does IPMI SEL say?
 

marv

Active Member
Apr 2, 2015
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I will get that info next Wednesday, its on remote location, and looks like some power outage occurred there, because its down now and one of the VMs was openbsd firewall.
 

marv

Active Member
Apr 2, 2015
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when there is no recovery usb flash, POST hangs on "Could not find recovery image".

with usb flash containing bios image:
System initializing... with last code B9, then F2
System enter recovery mode... F2, bunch of other codes,

then it reboots and goes to BIOS. If I try flash the image, it then reboots and same thing loops.

I dont know how many times it beeps yet, I had internal speaker disconnected so it would be silent, because it beeped many times (2+7 or 2+9 probably), and didnt yet figure out what is correct jumper location for connecting it back.

here is video I recorded

I will try to look up that recovery jumper, but I dont recall messing with it at all.

IPMI log has just case intrusion assertions
 

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marv

Active Member
Apr 2, 2015
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I connected speaker finally, and without recovery flashdisk it beeps 2x, then 9x and then 7x

anyway, I booted DOS and tried to flash bios manually.

I got error "Problem verifying flash00 (32%)". So I suppose bios chip is faulty and needs replacement.

Anyone has experience with that? I found on ebay someone from Netherlands selling it for 14 pounds incl shipping, but I suppose that these are not socketted and soldering iron will be needed for that.
 

Joel

Active Member
Jan 30, 2015
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Not any soldering iron will do. I'd bet money the BIOS chip is surface mounted.

Possibly the recovery via IPMI could fix it, but it would be a gamble as you'd need to burn a firmware key to find out (if it wasn't already installed).
 

RageBone

Active Member
Jul 11, 2017
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There are multiple people who have published a way to forge the ipmi Key for remote bios update.
So that shouldn't be a problem to do.

And yes, on the most SM bords i had, it's a soldered SMD package.
You can use a soldering-iron to exchange it with a good one, but i rather prefer hotAir.

14$ seems excessive. Shouldn't be above like 6$.
 

marv

Active Member
Apr 2, 2015
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I assume that BIOS is between PCH heatsink and battery socket imagescdn.tweaktown.com/content/6/5/6598_12_supermicro_x9srl_f_o_intel_c602_server_motherboard_review_full.jpg
which means it should be replaceable by iron.

I was thinking about getting chip with preloaded BIOS as I dont have any kind of programmer.
Or would the board after replacing empty BIOS chip still do recovery from usb?
I dont think X9 boards even have capability to update BIOS via IPMI.
 

RageBone

Active Member
Jul 11, 2017
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Negative, the recovery is a part of the bios itself, once that is gone, no chance of recovery over the normal recovery way.

And you are wrong, all BMC (iPMi) equipped boards have the ability to flash the bios through the ipmi.
At least X9 and later.
Though supermicro decided to lock it behind some license Key.
Luckily, as i stated already, there are a few ways how to forge your own license key for that feature.
I don't have a link for that at hand, but it is posted somewhere here on the forum already and a google or ddg search should be able to bring it up.

Or someone here is so kind to provide a link.
 

RageBone

Active Member
Jul 11, 2017
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you should try flashing the old and current one first, since that still seems to work at least partially.
Maybe a new flash is all it needs.

If that doesn't work out in the long run, i'd suggest you buy the same chip without programming, put it on the board and then flash it through the ipmi.
 

msbxa

New Member
Jun 20, 2020
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with usb flash containing bios image:
System initializing... with last code B9, then F2
System enter recovery mode... F2, bunch of other codes,

then it reboots and goes to BIOS. If I try flash the image, it then reboots and same thing loops.

IPMI log has just case intrusion assertions
I have the same problem but after the bios it boots to my FreeNAS. So my question did you manage to find the solution or the only way is to replace the chip? One more thing I managed to flash the latest bios firmware.
 
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marv

Active Member
Apr 2, 2015
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after the bios it boots to my FreeNAS.
yeah, if you recover bios from usb flash, you can boot the OS. But power outage/reboot etc requires usb recovery and manually booting OS again.

did you manage to find the solution or the only way is to replace the chip?
I bought preloaded BIOS chip from ebay, and replacing faulty one on motherboard resolved the issue.
 

msbxa

New Member
Jun 20, 2020
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while trying to flash the BIOS firmware through IPMI (bios update) and upload the latest and the previous bios firmware onto IPMI I get this message “ Board ID mismatch “ as soon as it finished uploading the firmware. Any idea?
 

marv

Active Member
Apr 2, 2015
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quick google search showed that it might be IPMI bug. So try updating to latest IPMI firmware.
 

msbxa

New Member
Jun 20, 2020
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Negative, the recovery is a part of the bios itself, once that is gone, no chance of recovery over the normal recovery way.

And you are wrong, all BMC (iPMi) equipped boards have the ability to flash the bios through the ipmi.
At least X9 and later.
Though supermicro decided to lock it behind some license Key.
Luckily, as i stated already, there are a few ways how to forge your own license key for that feature.
I don't have a link for that at hand, but it is posted somewhere here on the forum already and a google or ddg search should be able to bring it up.

Or someone here is so kind to provide a link.
I did try to bios flash through IPMI (Bios upgrades) but after uploading the flash image I get BOARD ID MISMATCH and stop there can’t complete. Tried flashing several of IPMI firmware But nothing works.