[OmniOS-discuss] [smartos-discuss] Supermicro BIOS updates

[Jim Oltman]

Use YUMI <http://www.pendrivelinux.com/yumi-multiboot-usb-creator/>.  You
can have multiple OSes or utilities loaded on your USB disk and can boot to
any of them.  very handy for BIOS updates, or GParted, or any number of
distros.




On Mon, Jul 8, 2013 at 10:51 PM, Jon Dison <jon.dison at gmail.com> wrote:

> That is a very common school-of-thought... If you're not experiencing
> trouble with your system, why go out and update the BIOS?  SuperMicro is
> just trying to protect their technically-challenged customers from damaging
> their systems by applying BIOS updates for no good reason.
>
> That being said, I own and have deployed systems with SuperMicro boards
> (mostly X9SCM-F) and always update the BIOS to the latest available on the
> site at the time.... I have yet to encounter any issues.
>
> The only complaint I have about SuperMicro BIOSes is probably true of many
> motherboard manufacturers....  Certain processors will only run in certain
> boards with certain BIOS revisions.  Sometimes you get an older board from
> a vendor and have to find an older chip to run the BIOS update so that you
> can install the newer chip.  Not a huge deal I know, but just kind of a
> pain.
>
>
> On Mon, Jul 8, 2013 at 10:21 PM, Paul B. Henson <henson at acm.org> wrote:
>
>> Sorry for two potentially OT supermicro posts in a row :), I just know
>> they are really popular for illumos servers and there's such a wealth of
>> knowledge on these mailing lists.
>>
>> I usually update firmware/BIOS on a fairly regular basis on my servers,
>> but supermicro has a fairly scary warning on their download page:
>>
>> ------
>> WARNING!
>> Please do not download / upgrade the BIOS/Firmware UNLESS your system has
>> a BIOS/firmware-related issue. Flashing the wrong BIOS/firmware can cause
>> irreparable damage to the system.
>>
>> In no event shall Supermicro be liable for direct, indirect, special,
>> incidental, or consequential damages arising from a BIOS/firmware update.
>> ------
>>
>> Where it seems they pretty much do not want you to ever update unless you
>> know of a specific issue the update will solve. Of course, they also don't
>> post changelogs with their bios updates, so it's kind of hard to know 8-/.
>> I can't remember the last time I had a box die due to a corrupted bios
>> update (most of the ones I've worked with won't even let you try to flash
>> the wrong firmware), I was wondering if that's a problem with supermicro
>> boards to the point where they actively discourage updates?
>>
>> Their technical support sent me a changelog for the motherboard I'm
>> working with upon request (seems like it would be a timesaver for them to
>> just post it in the first place), and I think I do want to go ahead and
>> update the bios. I haven't had to boot DOS for a bios update in a *long*
>> time, my workstations for years have supported just sticking in a USB flash
>> drive with the image on it and updating from the bios itself, and the
>> servers I've been using supported bios updates via the IPMI web interface
>> or CLI. What's the preferred way to generate a bootable DOS image with the
>> bios update utility and image on it nowadays? I was thinking of just
>> downloading a freeDOS floppy image, loopback mounting it to copy on the
>> additional files, and then booting it via the IPMI remote media option. Is
>> there an easier way?
>>
>> Thanks much…
>>
>>
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