Firmware/BIOS packages for SR1695WBAC server / S5500WB motherboard

[dodancs]

Hey!

I have 3 of the SR1695WBAC servers with LGA1366 sockets. As they are super old, I can see that some parts of the system/BIOS are lagging (or not working correctly) and I have seen this before on motherboards that had old or corrupted firmware/BIOS. After a fresh BIOS/firmware install, all of the issues are gone usually.

I was searching for the BIOS/firmware packages on the net and archive.org, but I am unable to find any. Does anyone have access to the latest BIOS/firmware packages for this platform? I need to re-flash the BIOS so I can keep these machines from going to trash/recycling and use them for a couple more years!

I tried reaching out to Intel support, but I've got no response at all.

Many thanks!

[Azeem_Intel]

Hello dodancs,

Hope you are doing well

Could you please share a snapshot of the defective part with the serial number visible? Additionally, could you please let us know if this product was purchased separately or if it was shipped with an OEM.

Please do not hesitate in contact us, we are more than glad to assist you.

Best Regards,

Azeem_Intel

[dodancs]

Hey @Azeem_Intel ,

There is no defective part. I am simply searching for the BIOS/firmware downloads that are no longer available on the download center from Intel.

As for if the server was originally purchased separately or with an OEM, I am not sure, I got these handed to me from my company, as we decommissioned them, and they are not longer used. I wanted to bring this hardware back to life and use it in a home lab as the hardware is still working perfectly fine.

The issue I am having is with the BIOS/firmware, and from my previous knowledge I know that re-flashing the BIOS and firmware for all of the other components can solve these issues. The main issues are slow responsiveness of the BIOS screens and the fans keep spinning up to 100% and never slow down. On other servers (different from this one, one is ServerBoard S5520HC, it also had slow response in bios, after re-flash, everything was working nicely, the other was a CISCO UCS C220 M3 server, it was also experiencing slowdown issues and 100% fan speed, after BIOS flash, it also stopped behaving like that and everything worked just fine), once I re-flashed the BIOS, it solved these issues, so I am hoping to do the same here.

Are you able to provide me the download files for this server, even though they are no longer served on Intel's official download center? I cannot find them anywhere, not even using archive.org to view the old version of Intel's site, as I need to search the product via the Javascript thing on the website, and some parts of the Intel's download center website were not scraped by archive.org. That is why I am trying to reach out here to either ask Intel's employees directly or the community if someone has the files and can send me them.

Thanks and have a nice day!

[AlHill]

@dodancs    The latest/last bios I have is attached.

Doc (not an Intel employee or contractor)
[Maybe Windows 12 will be better]d

[dodancs]

Hey, how can I use it? Do I have to flash it via the RMM3 management interface, or do I need other software?

Thanks!

[Azeem_Intel]

Hello dodancs,

Hope you are doing well

We are reviewing this case. Please give us some time, and we will get back to you with a resolution,

Please do not hesitate in contact us, we are more than glad to assist you.

Best Regards,

Azeem_Intel

[Azeem_Intel]

Hello dodancs,

Hope you are doing well!

Apologies for the delay. Please find the link provided below for more information.

Support for Intel® Server Board S5500WB

Please do not hesitate in contact us, we are more than glad to assist you.

Best Regards,

Azeem_Intel

[dodancs]

@Azeem_Intel 

Hello, I'm doing well, thank you!

Unfortunately, the link you have provided does not help. I have come across this before, but there are no downloads for BIOS/firmware, see:

There are only RAID drivers/firmware left, which are of no use to me (only 3 downloads available for the platform). Are you able to retrieve other downloads somewhere from an archive?

Many thanks!

[Azeem_Intel]

Hello dodancs,

Hope you are doing well!

We request you to please go through the articles for updates

Support for Intel® Server Board S5500WB

Please do not hesitate in contact us, we are more than glad to assist you.

Best Regards,

Azeem_Intel

[dodancs]

Well, I can see the articles.

Unfortunately, they don't really help me. I need the firmware files, which are not available anymore - see: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/search.html?ws=idsa-suggested#q=s5500wb&sort=relevancy&f:@tabfilter=[Downloads]

There are only 3 downloads, for RAID. None of them are BIOS update/installation packages.

Can you maybe ask someone to check if you still have other downloads for S5500WB and publish them back to the Download center? If not, are you able to send them to me directly?

Thanks!

[Azeem_Intel]

Hello dodancs,

Hope you are doing well!

We request you to please go through the articles for updates

Support for Intel® Server Board S5500WB

Please do not hesitate in contact us, we are more than glad to assist you.

Best Regards,

Azeem_Intel

[dodancs]

Hello,

Again, sorry maybe I did not express the issue clearly enough. I have gone through the different articles on the page you have suggested. But there is no information that I need.

I would require access to downloads for the S5500WB server board. But I am unable to find any more of them but these three which are of no use to me. I need a BIOS download package. I cannot find the BIOS download package anywhere on Intel's websites.

Thanks.

[Azeem_Intel]

Hello dodancs,

Hope you are doing well!

Please give us some time, and we will get back to you with a resolution,

Please do not hesitate in contact us, we are more than glad to assist you.

Best Regards,

Azeem_Intel

[n_scott_pearson]

Unfortunately, the .BIO file that Al provided is actually for Intel Desktop Board DP55WB. It is not for Intel Server Board S5500WB.

I spent some time in the WayBack machine and, with a little finagling, was able to find my way to this download page:

https://web.archive.org/web/20210620194423/https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/27730/BIOS-Update-Package-Update-for-EFI-Intel-Server-Boards-and-Intel-Server-Systems-Based-on-Intel-55XX-Chipset

Now, I cannot tell you for certain that this was the most-recent BIOS release for this board, but it appears to be.

Hope this helps,

...S

[dodancs]

You are a legend!

How did you manage to do this? I tried for a long time to somehow get to the correct page but I was always confronted with an error page or a page that archive.org did not cache/scrape at the time.

I am asking just because if you were able to come across the previous page for all the downloads from that year for the S5500WB board, there might be some more useful files other than the BIOS package that I might want to download. If you have access to it, would you mind also sharing such a link?

Thank you very much and have a lovely day!

[dodancs]

I think I have found it myself by trying different links on the one you @n_scott_pearson  have provided - https://web.archive.org/web/20210508063537/https://downloadcenter.intel.com/product/36721/Intel-Server-Board-S5500WB

[n_scott_pearson]

Yea, that's going to get you there.
The trick was to find the scrape that (a) had the content we needed and (b) allowed me to find my way to it without using the (unsupported) search mechanism.
...S

[Azeem_Intel]

Hello Dominik,

Hope you are doing well!

We would like to inform you that this product has been discontinued, and we could not find any updated drivers for it. For further information, please refer to the EOIS support article or the Discontinued article: Support for Discontinued Intel® Server Boards. As of now, the case will be closed. If you need any assistance apart from this, please let us know.

Please do not hesitate in contact us, we are more than glad to assist you.

Best Regards,

Azeem_Intel