Update supermicro X10SLH-F firmware BIOS under Linux with the SUM cli

As you can see our product is:

product: X10SLH-F/X10SLM+-F

The same string is in our KVM IPMI: “Product Name: X10SLH-F/X10SLM+-F” and in the BIOS, but if you go the supermicro site you will find that

  • X10SLH-F has C226 chipset (supports video in the CPU)
  • X10SLM+-F has C224 chipset

and because we use the video in the CPU we know our motherboard is X10SLH-F and we downloaded the BIOS firmware for it. You also could check your chipset with lshw command.

STEP 1) Download and unpack the SUM (Supermicro Update Manager) and the BIOS zip file

Unpack the SUM (Supermicro Update Manager), here you can find a detail information about SUM – Update supermicro server’s firmware BIOS under linux with the SUM cli

[root@srv1 ~]# tar xzvf sum_2.0.0_Linux_x86_64_20171108.tar.gz 
sum_2.0.0_Linux_x86_64/
sum_2.0.0_Linux_x86_64/ReleaseNote.txt
sum_2.0.0_Linux_x86_64/sum
sum_2.0.0_Linux_x86_64/ExternalData/
sum_2.0.0_Linux_x86_64/ExternalData/VENID.txt
sum_2.0.0_Linux_x86_64/ExternalData/SMCIPID.txt
sum_2.0.0_Linux_x86_64/driver/
sum_2.0.0_Linux_x86_64/driver/RHL4_x86_64/
sum_2.0.0_Linux_x86_64/driver/RHL4_x86_64/sum_bios.ko
sum_2.0.0_Linux_x86_64/driver/RHL6_x86_64/
sum_2.0.0_Linux_x86_64/driver/RHL6_x86_64/sum_bios.ko
sum_2.0.0_Linux_x86_64/driver/RHL5_x86_64/
sum_2.0.0_Linux_x86_64/driver/RHL5_x86_64/sum_bios.ko
sum_2.0.0_Linux_x86_64/driver/RHL7_x86_64/
sum_2.0.0_Linux_x86_64/driver/RHL7_x86_64/sum_bios.ko
sum_2.0.0_Linux_x86_64/SUM_UserGuide.pdf
[root@srv1 ~]# unzip x10slh8_510.zip
Archive:  x10slh8_510.zip
   creating: x10slh8.510/
  inflating: x10slh8.510/AFUDOSU.SMC  
  inflating: x10slh8.510/ami.bat     
  inflating: x10slh8.510/Readme for AMI BIOS.txt  
  inflating: x10slh8.510/x10slh8.510  
[root@srv1 ~]# cd sum_2.0.0_Linux_x86_64
sum_2.0.0_Linux_x86_64/                 sum_2.0.0_Linux_x86_64_20171108.tar.gz  
[root@conv1 ~]# cd sum_2.0.0_Linux_x86_64

STEP 2) Flash the BIOS file with sum cli.

Here you can see what to expect flashing the BIOS firmware.

[root@srv1 sum_2.0.0_Linux_x86_64]# ./sum -c UpdateBios --file ../x10slh8.510/x10slh8.510 
Supermicro Update Manager (for UEFI BIOS) 2.0.0 (2017/11/08) (x86_64)
Copyright©2017 Super Micro Computer, Inc. All rights reserved
Reading BIOS flash ..................... (100%)
Checking BIOS ID ...
Writing BIOS flash ..................... (100%)
Verifying BIOS flash ................... (100%)
Checking ME Firmware ...
Putting ME data to BIOS ................ (100%)
Writing ME region in BIOS flash ...
 - Update success for /FDT!!
 - Updated Recovery Loader to OPRx
 - Updated FPT, MFSB, FTPR and MFS
 - ME Entire Image done
WARNING:Must power cycle or restart the system for the changes to take effect!
[root@srv1 sum_2.0.0_Linux_x86_64]# reboot

During the BIOS flashing your console could have seemed unresponsive for several minutes, but it is OK, the flash process is about 10 minutes. Then reboot and wait for several automatic resets of your system and after that when your system reaches the OS boot you should reboot again and reset your BIOS to the optimized defaults and then you can tune it as it was before.

In some rear cases you could receive “Critical Error” – “FDT is different.” you should reboot and repeat the procedure, more information here – Update supermicro server’s firmware BIOS under linux with the SUM cli

Bonus

Some commands to find the exact information for the server motherboard.

[root@srv1 ~]# lshw|grep -A 14 "core$"
  *-core
       description: Motherboard
       product: X10SLH-F/X10SLM+-F
       vendor: Supermicro
       physical id: 0
       version: 1.01
       serial: ZM1111111111
       slot: To be filled by O.E.M.
     *-firmware
          description: BIOS
          vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
          physical id: 0
          version: 3.0a
          date: 12/17/2015
          size: 64KiB
[root@srv1 ~]# lspci |grep -i c226
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation C226 Series Chipset Family Server Advanced SKU LPC Controller (rev 05)
conv2 ~ # lspci -vvv|grep -i c226
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation C226 Series Chipset Family Server Advanced SKU LPC Controller (rev 05)
        Subsystem: Super Micro Computer Inc C226 Series Chipset Family Server Advanced SKU LPC Controller