Solved: How do I update the BIOS on a very old S2600CP motherboard? - Page 2

MMark29 · ‎12-13-2016

Hi,

I've just been given an ancient, refurbished S2600CP2J motherboard complete with CPUs and RAM and would like to get it fully working again.

The obvious first step is to update the BIOS but the oldest EFI update package available (01.02.003) states that I need to have at least version 01.01.1002 before starting or "the update process may render the system not operatable!"

According to the BIOS screen, my system is currently SE5C600.86B.99.99.x034, build date 08/23/2011.

As I have no wish to kill the system before I get started, is there any way of upgrading it to 01.01.1002 as a minimum?

Thanks.

TMark3 · ‎12-21-2016

This week I have been unbricking a S2600CP that failed a BIOS update, and I've learned some interesting things.

Most importantly: believe what the instructions say about BIOS flashing. If you flash a too-old board, you really can brick it.

So... we have 10x Chenbro RM13704 servers with S2600CP2 boards inside. It turns out there's at least two versions of the RM13704, with two versions of the board.

RM13704 rev B, contains a dark green S2600CP2 board. PBA E99552-306 (written on sticker), P/N DA056CMB8C0 rev C (written on soldermask), KCC-REM-CPU-S2600CP (soldermask)

Distinguishing features: 'Nomko' (or 'Nemko'?) written in large silkscreen between the CPUs, dark green soldermask, metal clips for the PCIe 16x retention hook

BMC flash chip sticker: S6C-A BMC / CS:D807 / Rev R21

BIOS flash chip sticker: S6C-A BIOS / CS:717E / Rev R32.2

BIOS reports:

Platform ID: S2600CP

BIOS version: SE5C600.86B.99.99.x034

Idle power consumption of server: ~130-160W (dual E5-2670, 128GB RAM, 1x SSD, Ubuntu 16.04 x64)

Ubuntu /proc/cpuinfo says "model name: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2670 0 @ 2.60GHz, stepping: 6, microcode: 0x619"

(I'll call this board 'rev C')

RM13704 rev C, contains a bright green S2600CP2 board. PBA G56797-507 (sticker), P/N DA056CMB8F2 rev F (soldermask), KCC-REM-CPU-S2600CP (soldermask)

Distinguishing features: bright green soldermask, plastic PCIe 16x retention hooks, a gap where the 'Nemko' is on the other board

BMC flash chip sticker: S6C BMC / CS:0543 / R01.00.2612

BIOS flash chip sticker: S6C BIOS / CS:BEBA / R01.02.0005

Idle power consumption of server: ~80W (dual E5-2670, 128GB RAM, 1x SSD, Ubuntu 16.04 x64)

previously successfully reflashed to BIOS 02.06.0005

(I'll call this board 'rev F')

Having attempted to flash 02.06.0005 to the rev C board, the result was the board displayed 3 lines of boot text (including S2600CP) but not the version of the BMC, ME, etc firmware, and got stuck there.

The board LEDs showed 0x71 which the S2600CP Technical Product Specification says means 'DXE SB SMM Init' - I guess that means the Management Engine failed to initialise, because its firmware was wrong in some way.

Of course, Intel doesn't publish full raw flash images, so I had to desolder the SPI flash chips and copy images from one machine to another (using a Raspberry Pi, 'flashrom' and an adaptor I made). The chips are Winbond W25Q64BV for the BIOS and W25Q128BV for the BMC. I believe the W25Q64FV and W25Q128FV they sell at Digikey are compatible, but I haven't tried them as I managed to reuse the existing chips.

I tried:

1) Flashing the BMC from the rev F board to the rev C board. No change.

2) Flashing the BIOS from the rev F board to the rev C board. The board now fails to power up. When power is applied, the board flashes through some light sequences that indicate the BMC is powering up. When the power button is pushed, the fans spin for about a second then go off for about 10 seconds, with no diagnostic lights. This repeats until you pull the power.

3) Flashing the BIOS from a good rev C board to a bad rev C board: successful unbrick (back to the old BIOS version). This worked even after updating the BMC in step # 1 above (ie I didn't need to downgrade the BMC to match). It also didn't clone the MAC address which I had expected (it may have changed the serial number as displayed in BIOS - I didn't have the old one to check)

A missing BIOS flash chip / bad solder joint can give symptoms like # 2 above, or that all the 'DIMM error' lights come on and the board doesn't attempt to power up at all.

One thing I notice in some of the firmware release notes is they say the firmware is suitable for 'Intel(R) Server Board S2600CP Fab 5 or later'. I wonder if the 'rev C' is a 'Fab' of some number other than 5?

In the interests of science (masochism), I downloaded firmware package:

System BIOS - 02.06.0005

ME Firmware - 02.01.07.328

BMC Firmware - 01.27.9958

FRUSDR - 1.11

and flashed just the BIOS (UpdateBIOS.nsh) and it was successful. (Don't forget to reset to default settings in the BIOS afterwards - before that I had an embarrassing period where Ubuntu had broken USB. That was awkward)

So the moral of my story is you can upgrade the BIOS but not the ME.

Digging yourself out of holes is going to require soldering, however.

It didn't fix the idle power consumption issue though - still 130W.

(I have the flash dumps in case anyone manages to brick and needs an SPI reflash)

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idata · ‎06-20-2017

Hello JoeSixpack,

I will like to follow up on your questions. If there is anything else we can help or if we can close the case, please feel free to ask.Best regards,

Henry A.

idata · ‎06-24-2017

Hello JoeSixpack,

I will like to follow up on your questions. If there is anything else we can help or if we can close the case, please feel free to ask.Best regards,

Henry A.

idata · ‎06-27-2017

Hello JoeSixpack,

I will like to follow up on your questions. If there is anything else we can help or if we can close the case, please feel free to ask.Best regards,

Henry A.

idata · ‎07-01-2017

Hello JoeSixpack,

I will like to follow up on your questions. If there is anything else we can help or if we can close the case, please feel free to ask.Best regards,

Henry A.

idata · ‎07-21-2017

Hello Andy,

Thank you for the assistance , but customer stopped responding to the case. I will keep it open for a few days.Best regards,

Henry A.