Noob Guide For Supermicro ipmi motherboards

[creative_username]

So i just assembled my system with a supermicro x11 motherboard, and when I boot it stays on the supermicro logo screen that says "PEI-- Intel Reference Code Execution. . .". I can access the ipmi, but I can't get to the normal boot up conditions where I can go into the bios or boot from a usb. How do i get beyond this screen?
It seems like the only way to do it is to wait 20-30min

Do I need to get a seperate ethernet cable solely for the ipmi? If someone could direct me to a guide on how to deal with these petty issues it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for helping.

 

[BigDave]

Hi there!
We'd be glad to help. Would you mind posting your hardware list and version of FreeNAS? Thanks:)

 

[Ericloewe]

So i just assembled my system with a supermicro x11 motherboard, and when I boot it stays on the supermicro logo screen that says "PEI-- Intel Reference Code Execution. . .". I can access the ipmi, but I can't get to the normal boot up conditions where I can go into the bios or boot from a usb. How do i get beyond this screen?
It seems like the only way to do it is to wait 20-30min

Do I need to get a seperate ethernet cable solely for the ipmi? If someone could direct me to a guide on how to deal with these petty issues it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for helping.

What do you mean? Does pressing Delete (or whatever the "enter setup" key is) during POST not take you to the BIOS setup?

 

[creative_username]

Hi there!
We'd be glad to help. Would you mind posting your hardware list and version of FreeNAS? Thanks:)

Motherboard: Supermicro x11ssh-f
Ram: 32GB (16Gb x 2) Crucial ECC UDIMM
CPU: Intel Core-i3 6100
HDD: 8x Seagate 3tb (I'm going to expand the array with 6tb drives)

I'm going to install freenas 9.3 onto a 16GB usb drive and import my zfs array (Yes, i did export it).

Right now I managed to get past the screen after 25min and I am running memtest86 (passmark version) on the system so make sure it's stable.

 

[creative_username]

What do you mean? Does pressing Delete (or whatever the "enter setup" key is) during POST not take you to the BIOS setup?

It goes to the supermicro logo screen where it initalizes ipmi and gives me the ipmi IP address before it reboots or something and allows me to get to the bios.

Here's a picture of what I mean. Note: This is when I first booted it so the ip address says 0.0.0.0 It gives me an ip address now.

 

[Ericloewe]

Ah, that's a cool new feature. The X10s with the 2.0 BIOS don't show the IPMI IP address during POST.

It goes to the supermicro logo screen where it initalizes ipmi and gives me the ipmi IP address before it reboots or something and allows me to get to the bios.

Modern UEFI BIOSes seem to have a universally convoluted POST sequence that, to the guy who knows just enough to be dangerous, really looks like the CPU is reset and modes are switched and oh God, how did PC BIOSes end up so convoluted?

 

[BigDave]

After your memtest is completed, try disabling IPMI and see if that speeds things up on reboot.
fyi, there is a bios update listed for this board (version R 1.0)

Edit: Also there is a bios update R 0.50 which is an IPMI firmware update ;)

 

[creative_username]

After your memtest is completed, try disabling IPMI and see if that speeds things up on reboot.
fyi, there is a bios update listed for this board (version R 1.0)

Edit: Also there is a bios update R 0.50 which is an IPMI firmware update ;)

How do you disable ipmi? I don't see any mention of how to do it in the manual.

Are you sure the firmware is an actual update? It is the same version as what is on the motherboard.

 

[BigDave]

How do you disable ipmi? I don't see any mention of how to do it in the manual.

Are you sure the firmware is an actual update? It is the same version as what is on the motherboard.

I did not know what bios version you currently have running, updating to the latest version is a suggestion
that frankly may, or may not help your issue. The 0.50 is the older of the two versions.

In the motherboard manual on page 61 it shows the procedure for disabling the BMC (baseboard managment controller)
with a jumper setting change (as it's set to enabled by default). Again, this is a suggestion that may, or may not
have an effect on your issue.

To be honest, you have a fairly new piece of hardware and there's not going to be very many members who
have (as of now) a great deal of experience with it. I'd be willing to bet the bios update thing is gonna be
the first words out of the mouths of SupMic tech support, should you choose to contact them about your issues.

 

[creative_username]

I did not know what bios version you currently have running, updating to the latest version is a suggestion
that frankly may, or may not help your issue. The 0.50 is the older of the two versions.

In the motherboard manual on page 61 it shows the procedure for disabling the BMC (baseboard managment controller)
with a jumper setting change (as it's set to enabled by default). Again, this is a suggestion that may, or may not
have an effect on your issue.

To be honest, you have a fairly new piece of hardware and there's not going to be very many members who
have (as of now) a great deal of experience with it. I'd be willing to bet the bios update thing is gonna be
the first words out of the mouths of SupMic tech support, should you choose to contact them about your issues.

I figure it is an issue with brand new hardware, but I would think these things would be ironed out by release. I'll try to disable the bmc and see if that helps.

I still have issues installing freenas. lol. I got past the ipmi screen, but I'm getting the mounting from cd9660....error 19 problem. I tried what was suggested here https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...semi-fix-for-mountroot-issues-with-9-3.26071/ and two separate flash drives without success. http://i.imgur.com/qLNZ2NC.jpg I"m using the usb 2.0 port.

Update: I disabled ipmi and it still takes forever to boot up so that wasn't the issue.

As always, thanks for trying to help.

 

[BigDave]

l have issues installing freenas. lol. I got past the ipmi screen, but I'm getting the mounting from cd9660....error 19 problem. I tried what was suggested here https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...semi-fix-for-mountroot-issues-with-9-3.26071/ and two separate flash drives without success. http://i.imgur.com/qLNZ2NC.jpg I"m using the usb 2.0 port.

Place the flash drive you want FreeNAS to install to in a 2.0 port @ the rear of the board, burn a new iso image to another flash drive and
place it in the type A usb slot embedded in the motherboard and boot from that, follow the manual...

 

[MargusL]

Please give the update, did you managed to install FreeNAS? Because I just got the similar system (X11SSH-F + Xeon E3-1230v5 + 64GB ECC RAM). My system booting up also quite slow, it takes about 5 min with LSI 9211-8i controller (flashed to IT mode, P20 firmware).

 

[creative_username]

Please give the update, did you managed to install FreeNAS? Because I just got the similar system (X11SSH-F + Xeon E3-1230v5 + 64GB ECC RAM). My system booting up also quite slow, it takes about 5 min with LSI 9211-8i controller (flashed to IT mode, P20 firmware).

I've been busy with work so I haven't had that much time to deal with it. So far, I have found that it seems to boot consistently within 4-5min just over ipmi without having it plugged into a monitor or physical keyboard attached to it. I was going to open a ticket with supermicro but it appears you need to register as a company representative/employee so I didn't bother to do it. I'm trying to figure out this mount root problem now. I have followed the manual: downloaded freenas, wrote the image to usb using win32diskimager, used usb 2.0 port and I get mount root error.

 

[Ericloewe]

You wil not be able to boot FreeNAS 9.3 from a USB device on X11 and other skylake boards.

 

[creative_username]

You wil not be able to boot FreeNAS 9.3 from a USB device on X11 and other skylake boards.

Can I boot and run freenas off of a sata m.2 card on my motherboard? It only says pcie 3.0 x2 under the specifications.

When is freenas 10 slated to go into a beta release?

 

[Ericloewe]

Can I boot and run freenas off of a sata m.2 card on my motherboard? It only says pcie 3.0 x2 under the specifications.

Probably not. The M.2 slot probably only has PCI-e, so you'd need a PCI-e M.2 card.

When is freenas 10 slated to go into a beta release?

March, IIRC? But there's no guarantee it will be fixed.

 

[ChiknNutz]

I have a question about how to get to the BIOS of my X10SLM-F when using the IPMIViewer software. So far I have been unable to see the BIOS using the IPMI tool and am only able to see post messages that appear after the point where you can choose to go into the BIOS. It seems like the screen doesn't refresh fast enough or there is no input for a small period of time. I have not entered the IP address of my FreeNAS into the BIOS...is that the issue? I have left it as DHCP and am guessing that has something to do with it. So I guess my question is, do I have to enter the IP address in the BIOS in order to be able to later get to the BIOS during a reboot? I was under the impression that the IPMI tool would allow for a remote view of the system at all times, but this doesn't seem to be the case. When I first set up my FreeNAS, I had a separate monitor connected to it. All was fine during the install, just trying to figure this bit out for later BIOS-related updates & changes. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Ericloewe]

I have a question about how to get to the BIOS of my X10SLM-F when using the IPMIViewer software. So far I have been unable to see the BIOS using the IPMI tool and am only able to see post messages that appear after the point where you can choose to go into the BIOS. It seems like the screen doesn't refresh fast enough or there is no input for a small period of time.

Works fine for me with the Java PoS viewer. Helps to open the viewer before turning on the server.

 

[creative_username]

Probably not. The M.2 slot probably only has PCI-e, so you'd need a PCI-e M.2 card.


March, IIRC? But there's no guarantee it will be fixed.

If i get a SM951 can I use it to boot freenas from the m.2 slot on the motherboard, or do I need to get a pcie adapter for it? I tried searching the forums but couldn't find anything.

 

[Ericloewe]

If i get a SM951 can I use it to boot freenas from the m.2 slot on the motherboard, or do I need to get a pcie adapter for it? I tried searching the forums but couldn't find anything.

If it's PCI-e M.2, it'll work.