Asus Rampage III Extreme ZioMod Bios (Latest: 1601_S17)

[Kosti]

Hi All

I know this is a long shot but I am wanting to confirm how one would go about supporting specific functions of a CPU in particular Xeon X5670's

The CPU boots fine with Asus 1502 original BIOS, but its not an offically supported CPU so how much microcode support does it really have already and are all of the CPU's features added to the BIOS? Can it be modified to support it 100% all features of the chip?

Also memory comparability, does this live within the BIOS as well? Asus QVL for RAM is limited and we have seen cases were more than its 24GN limit has been achieved. My question here is how would you go about supporting ECC registered RAM on this board as I think ECC ram was supported under the QVL which seems to be an ECC module KVR1333D3E9S/4G

If the BIOS is what determines if the RAM and CPU can POST/Boot I would like to be able to know if the BIOS can be tweaked to support more RAM and CPU features

Hoping someone can advise

PEACE
Kosti

[pir8man]

Hi All

I know this is a long shot but I am wanting to confirm how one would go about supporting specific functions of a CPU in particular Xeon X5670's

The CPU boots fine with Asus 1502 original BIOS, but its not an offically supported CPU so how much microcode support does it really have already and are all of the CPU's features added to the BIOS? Can it be modified to support it 100% all features of the chip?

Also memory comparability, does this live within the BIOS as well? Asus QVL for RAM is limited and we have seen cases were more than its 24GN limit has been achieved. My question here is how would you go about supporting ECC registered RAM on this board as I think ECC ram was supported under the QVL which seems to be an ECC module KVR1333D3E9S/4G

If the BIOS is what determines if the RAM and CPU can POST/Boot I would like to be able to know if the BIOS can be tweaked to support more RAM and CPU features

Hoping someone can advise

PEACE
Kosti

Hello Kosti,  here is what I know ...
If you CPU posts and is correctly identified, then the CPU microcode to support is there.  there it no additonal features to be unlocked.  Without the correct microcode, you would either not post, or your CPU would be misidentified in POST sequence.

Memory on this board can be ECC/Non-ECC but never Registered.  Registered is strictly for server chipsets.  ECC option works with a supported XEON processor and ECC (non Registered) memory installed.
any tweakiing beyond that is done in BIOS settings.

[Kosti]

Hey Pir8man!

OK so its the "registered" part that is preventing it to post ok!!

So is it the BIOS that is preventing it from booting up or something on the RAM because when I try and boot it the DRAM LED light ON and it just shuts down and reboots and loops in that fashion

If any tweaking could be done, what could they be could it ever be possible to post with these modules

Code:

Brand: Kingston
Part No: KTH-PL313SK3/12G
Memory Speed: 1333Mhz PC3-10600
Capacity: 12GB (3x4GB Sticks)
Pins: 240 DIMM
RAM Type: DDR3 DIMM
ECC: Yes
Registered: Yes
CAS Latency (CL): 9
Voltage: 1.5v
Module configuration: 512x72

[Kosti]

I also read this

I’ve been using a Gigabyte X58A-UD5 with ECC unbuffered ram, and I can turn on the ECC option in memtest. I guess this means the ECC traces are there? I also found that registered ECC works if they are 2r x8, unfortunately most cheap server pulls are 2r x4.

So if the registered memory is being physically different (with extra hardware on them) and the way the integrated memory controller on the i7 is reading is it still the BIOS that is preventing them to boot with such RAM sticks?

[pir8man]

I also read this

I’ve been using a Gigabyte X58A-UD5 with ECC unbuffered ram, and I can turn on the ECC option in memtest. I guess this means the ECC traces are there? I also found that registered ECC works if they are 2r x8, unfortunately most cheap server pulls are 2r x4.

So if the registered memory is being physically different (with extra hardware on them) and the way the integrated memory controller on the i7 is reading is it still the BIOS that is preventing them to boot with such RAM sticks?

no, it is not the BIOS.  it is the chipset.  the x58 chipset on this mainboard DOES NOT support registed memory.  just change your memory to non-registered and it will boot fine.

[Kosti]

I also read this

I’ve been using a Gigabyte X58A-UD5 with ECC unbuffered ram, and I can turn on the ECC option in memtest. I guess this means the ECC traces are there? I also found that registered ECC works if they are 2r x8, unfortunately most cheap server pulls are 2r x4.

So if the registered memory is being physically different (with extra hardware on them) and the way the integrated memory controller on the i7 is reading is it still the BIOS that is preventing them to boot with such RAM sticks?

no, it is not the BIOS.  it is the chipset.  the x58 chipset on this mainboard DOES NOT support registed memory.  just change your memory to non-registered and it will boot fine.

OK thanks heaps M8 for providing feedback!

So I assume that the BIOS updated for this board is now dead or at the least no one trusts anyone else to add the updated firmware for the controllers etc? 

I may take a read Fernando's guide but I am not that good at these things, so don't want to bugger it up.

My next issue is the apparent bug in the firmware of the Marvell adapters (88SE9123) that prevents it from properly detecting attached devices if you have VT-D enabled in your computer's BIOS on an ESXI whitebox. I have tried to disable VT-D but that is no good for me since I am using ESXI and require the visualization on.

According to this thread - How to make your unsupported SATA AHCI Controller work with ESXi 5.5 and 6.0 it indicates that the Marvell is buggy when it comes to using it in VMWare due to them removing support and manual adding of support is sometime required.

So I am curious if there is an updated BIOS and FW for the Marvell 9123 then it may resolve the bug so wanting to know if anyone has patched a newer BIOS FW for this great board

My current Marvel looks like this

Code:

In ESXi Shell 

~ # lspci -v | grep "Class 0106" -B 1
0000:01:00.0 SATA controller Mass storage controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88SE9123 PCIe SATA 6.0 Gb/s controller
         Class 0106: 1b4b:9123
~ #

Code:

In BIOS 1601_S17

Vender ID 1B4B
Device ID 9123
Revision ID B1
BIOS 1.0.0.1033
Firmware 2.2.0.1125
PCIe Speed 5Gps
Configure SATA AHCI
Support Mode Raid 0, Raid 1

Has anyone been able to add any newer FW to the Marvell?

Cheers
Kosti

[nicke85]

Any update for little brother Asus Rampage III Gene?

[pir8man]

nicke85, we would not know. there is a GENE thread you can ask in.

Kosti, as this thread is dead, I will create a new one with my new BIOS versions as well as a test one for you.

>HERE< is my new thread.

read post #4 to see my notes about why one device drops off when you enable another.

[juanpc]

¿does anyone know if this Bios mod 1601_S17 has MPS Tables v1.4?

not "modern",

problem is i have a pci soundcard, that does not install on Windows 8.1 Pro x64 because Windows device manager gives an error code 35,
"the bios MPS tables are incomplete to install this hardware, please contact board manufacturer for a new bios."

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help...in-windows

the soundcárd works in Windows 8.1 Pro in other brand of x58 board "msi x58 eclipse sli." that has MPS tables v1.4,
the soundcard works with Windows 7sp1 x64 in the Asus board, but... has problems, in Win8.1 issues are far less.
https://www.pcper.com/images/reviews/702/bios6.jpg

[squall_leonhart]

has anyone found or made a bios mod that allows toggling the jmicron controller between ahci and ide modes?

¿does anyone know if this Bios mod 1601_S17 has MPS Tables v1.4?

not "modern",

problem is i have a pci soundcard, that does not install on Windows 8.1 Pro x64 because Windows device manager gives an error code 35,
"the bios MPS tables are incomplete to install this hardware, please contact board manufacturer for a new bios."

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help...in-windows

the soundcárd works in Windows 8.1 Pro in other brand of x58 board "msi x58 eclipse sli." that has MPS tables v1.4,
the soundcard works with Windows 7sp1 x64 in the Asus board, but... has problems, in Win8.1 issues are far less.
https://www.pcper.com/images/reviews/702/bios6.jpg

sounds like you had ACPI 2.0 disabled when installing the OS.