Supermicro X11SSM-F unable to boot into FreeDOS to update BIOS

gvimlag · November 19, 2024, 10:49am

Hello and thanks for the help,

System:

 Motherboard:	Supermicro X11SSM-F Rev 1.01 with BIOS v1.0b (12/29/2015) (USED)
 CPU:		Intel Xeon E3-1275 v5 Quad Core 3.6 GHz with 4.0 GHz Turbo (USED)
 RAM:		64GB Kingston 2133MHz DDR4 (ECC) (USED)
 Power Supply:	Seasonic FOCUS V3 GX-1000 1000W 80+ Gold ATX Fully Modular PSU (NEW)
 Case:		Fractal Design Node 804 Micro-ATX Computer Case (Windowed, Black) (NEW)
 No Add-on cards installed yet
 No Hard Drives installed yet

I’m working on my first NAS build and I’d appreciate any guidance on solving a boot problem.

Problem:
I’m unable to boot into FreeDOS using a USB key.

Reason for booting from USB key:
I have a Supermicro AOC-SLG3-2M2 add-on card that allows adding up to two M.2 NVMe SSDs.
The documentation says that I need to set some BIOS options to use this card (“x4x4x4x4 PCIe bifurcation” and “AMI Native Support”).
Online reading indicates that I need to update to a newer BIOS to access these BIOS options.
(The old BIOS is v1.0b. The newest BIOS is v3.3. Big upgrade.)
So I created a FreeDOS USB Key containing the newest BIOS update to upgrade the BIOS.
But the old BIOS/Motherboard won’t boot this FreeDOS USB key.
(I successfully booted this FreeDOS USB Key on two other computers. So this USB Key is good. The problem is with the old BIOS/Motherboard.)

When trying to boot the FreeDOS USB Key, the boot menu shows:

    Please select boot device:
UEFI: Built-in EFI Shell
UEFI: Intel(R) I210 Gigabit  Network Connection
UEFI: IP4 Intel(R) I210 Gigabit  Network Connection
UEFI: Intel(R) I210 Gigabit  Network Connection
UEFI: IP4 Intel(R) I210 Gigabit  Network Connection
UEFI: PNY USB 2.0 FD 0.00, Partition 1

Selecting the FreeDOS USB Key (“UEFI: PNY USB 2.0 FD 0.00, Partition 1”) produces:

DXE--00B Data Sync-Up..
DXE--Ready to Boot..
>>Checking Media Presence......
>>No Media Present......
>>Checking Media Presence......
>>No Media Present......
EFI Shell version 2.40 [5.11]
Current running mode 1.1.2
Device mapping table
  fs0   :Removable HardDisk - Alias hd4a0b blk0
         PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x14,0x0)/USB(0x0,0x0)/HD(1,MBR,0x00000000,0x3F,0xFFEC1)
  blk0  :Removable HardDisk - Alias hd4a0b fs0
         PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x14,0x0)/USB(0x0,0x0)/HD(1,MBR,0x00000000,0x3F,0xFFEC1)
  blk1  :Removable HardDisk - Alias (null)
         PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x14,0x0)/USB(0x0,0x0)

Press ESC in 1 seconds to skp startup.nsh, any other key to continue.
Shell>

(Question: why is the FreeDOS image showing “UEFI” instead of “BIOS”?)

The BIOS lists both UEFI USB Keys and BIOS USB Keys in its Boot configuration and Boot Mode Select = DUAL.
So it appears the old BIOS allows booting of both UEFI and BIOS devices.
Here is the Boot configuration shown in BIOS Setup (v1.0b):

Aptio Setup Utility - Copyright (C) 2015 American Megatrends,  Inc.
Version 2.17.1254.  Copyright (C) 2015 American Megatrengs, Inc.

* Main tab
    Supermicro X11SSM-F
    BIOS Version        1.0b
    Build Date          12/29/2015

    Memory Information
    Total Memory        65536 MB
    Memory Speed        2133 MHz

* Boot tab
    Boot configuration

    Boot Mode Select    [DUAL]

    FIXED BOOT ORDER Priorities
    Dual Boot Order #1  [Hard Disk]
    Dual Boot Order #2  [CD/DVD]
    Dual Boot Order #3  [USB Hard Disk]
    Dual Boot Order #4  [USB CD/DVD]
    Dual Boot Order #5  [USB key]
    Dual Boot Order #6  [USB Floppy]
    Dual Boot Order #7  [Network]
    Dual Boot Order #8  [UEFI Hard Disk]
    Dual Boot Order #9  [UEFI CD/DVD]
    Dual Boot Order #10 [UEFI USB Hard Disk]
    Dual Boot Order #11 [UEFI USB CD/DVD]
    Dual Boot Order #12 [UEFI USB Key]
    Dual Boot Order #13 [UEFI USB Floppy]
    Dual Boot Order #14 [UEFI Network:UEFI...]
    Dual Boot Order #15 [UEFI AP:UEFI: Bui...]

I tried to boot several other USB keys (Windows-7 install, MemTest, Image For Linux); but they all failed to boot.
(Another strange behavior was that some of these keys appeared in the “Boot selection” list (F11) and some did not appear. I’m guessing that UEFI images appeared and BIOS images didn’t. But the FreeDOS image should be BIOS, not UEFI. So why did it appear???)

I’ve also tried disabling “Secure Boot”, but boot still fails.

I checked the motherboard jumpers. They are all in the default locations, according to the documentation.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks for the help.

etorix · November 19, 2024, 11:53am

Probably not properly formatting these keys for UEFI boot. Or attempting a Legacy boot from UEFI.
But why are you using FreeDOS in the first place? You can do a BIOS upgrade with the UEFI shell with the appropriate UEFI utility. And, of course, the best way to do it is through IPMI.

bacon · November 19, 2024, 12:37pm

Sounds like your usb device isn’t bootable. FreeDOS can only be booted using legacy boot.

If you use windows:

Get Rufus
Select your USB Device
Select FreeDOS under Boot Selection
Click START

Copy the BIOS files to the device and try to boot from it.

I think updating via IPMI requires to pay for a license.

dan · November 19, 2024, 2:06pm

Only on certain boards (and I don’t know which ones–my X11DPH-T didn’t need one). And for those, there are workarounds.

bacon · November 19, 2024, 2:08pm

Nice, I’ll try that “workaround” later on my X10

joeschmuck · November 19, 2024, 2:24pm

Generating your own key is a good way to go. I don’t know why Supermicro setup this scheme, I’m sure it was to pull some extra income from the big corporate places. I generated a key for myself years ago, updated the BIOS once.

gvimlag · November 19, 2024, 8:09pm

Thanks for your response.

I need to know how to boot the Supermicro from a LEGACY boot USB stick.

I have an assortment of LEGACY boot USB sticks for various use cases.
Examples:

test the RAM (“MemTest86” USB stick)
image the OS (“Image for Linux” USB stick)
fix disk issues (“GParted” USB stick)

So I need to know how to boot the Supermicro from a LEGACY boot USB stick.

I changed the Supermicro BIOS option from “Mode Select = DUAL” to “Mode Select = LEGACY” to force acceptance of LEGACY boot.
I attempted to LEGACY boot 4 different USB sticks (all of which successfully LEGACY boot on other computers):

“Windows-7 Installation” USB stick
“Debian 12.6 installation” USB stick
“Image For Linux” USB stick
“MemTest86” USB stick

All 4 of these USB sticks FAILED to boot on the Supermicro, even with “Mode Select = LEGACY” forcing LEGACY boot.
Why?

I’d appreciate any guidance on how to get the Supermicro BIOS to LEGACY boot.

Thank you.