September 4, 20241 yr On 7/15/2024 at 8:35 PM, theDrell said: What I did was download this. https://www.hirensbootcd.org/ Then booted to it. Installed the Intel Management engine inside it once it was booted. I had already downloaded the Asus firmware with it and put it on the usb stick, and then used that to upgrade the Intel ME. It seems to be running much better now. Also the new bios said to upgrade the Intel ME "Before BIOS update, please download the Intel ME update tool from the ASUS support site and update the ME firmware to Version 16.1.30.2307 to ensure optimized system settings." But that doesn't seem to imply that it has to be done. Thank you for this. I recently updated to the latest BIOS and Intel ME firmware. I have the ATX form factor MB. Here's the specific steps I took: Download the latest Hirens BootCD PE and then install it on a USB stick using Rufus Download the latest Intel ME drivers (i.e. "Intel ME V2407.6.1.0 (SW 2425.6.26.0) for Windows 10 64-bit and Windows 11 64-bit."), extract the files and copy it to the USB stick into a directory (i.e. /Drivers) Download the Intel ME update tool, extract the files, and copy them to the USB stick into a directory (i.e. /Firmware) Download the latest BIOS, extract the files, run the BIOSRenamer tool, and then copy the resulting "PWW680AI.CAP" file to the root of the USB stick Reboot the computer and boot from the USB stick Run "AsusSetup.exe" to install the Intel ME drivers you put in the /Drivers directory Run "MEUpdateTool.exe" to update the Intel ME firmware you put in the /Firmware directory Reboot into the BIOS, and then install the firmware using the ASUS EzFlash Utility Note - these links are to my specific motherboard; make sure to get the files for your specific motherboard from Asus. Hope that helps!
September 15, 20241 yr I'm having trouble getting my SATA ports on the mainboard up and running with my Supermicro BPN-SAS-846A backplane (SFF8087 connectors). It's not clear why they're not working. Are there BIOS settings I should check? I've ensured the ports are "Enabled" in the Advanced portion of the BIOS. I can't seem to get the SlimSAS connector working either, though that was a long shot with a MiniSAS to SFF8087 cable being rare. Here the SlimSAS is set to SATA mode. That said, I feel like the same problem might be impacting both and that I'm missing something obvious. Any ideas?
September 16, 20241 yr On 9/15/2024 at 1:43 PM, Gizmotoy said: Are there BIOS settings I should check? I've ensured the ports are "Enabled" in the Advanced portion of the BIOS. Go to Advanced > Onboard Devices Configuration You'll find a setting for SlimSAS Configuration. You want to change that to SATA.
September 16, 20241 yr Thank you, but unfortunately that is the one that I did find and set. If it's not the BIOS I probably somehow picked incompatible or faulty cables. The drives from the backplane work fine if I connect to another MiniSAS controller, which is what I'm doing temporarily. Maybe I'll just make that permanent.
September 16, 20241 yr 13 hours ago, Gizmotoy said: Thank you, but unfortunately that is the one that I did find and set. If it's not the BIOS I probably somehow picked incompatible or faulty cables. Not checked previous answers so maybe I am stating the obvious but... Going from 4xsata to SFF8087 requires a “reverse” cable. Cannot use a breakout cable. (They look exactly the same). Going from miniSAS to SFF8087 I think should be a “miniSAS host to SFF8087 target” cable. I never got MiniSAS to SSF-8643 working, tried a few cables but ended up adding a HBA-card instead. Now using the minisas with a breakout cable to run some internal ssds instead.
September 17, 20241 yr Got it. Yeah, I'm sure that's it. I probably purchase the wrong direction of both of these cables. In the end I decided to sidestep the issue entirely and add a third HBA card. Two can run with the full 8x lines, but by my calculations the third downrated 8x Lane -> 4x Lane card is still fine for supporting 8 spinning drives. Realistically, I'm doubtful I'll ever fully populate them anyway, but this way every bay in my case will work. The HBA cards came up and worked just fine with the cabling that came with the case, plus since they're 100% the same connectivity across all ports I can keep spare cards and cables and quickly replace one in the event of a failure. Cards with 2x ports instead of 4 were massively less expensive, so while 3 cards feels a little silly it still seems like the economical solution. I got three of these plus a spare for less than a single 4 port card. I think I got to a good spot. Edited September 17, 20241 yr by Gizmotoy
September 17, 20241 yr Hi guys, did anyone try to connect any fan to the IPMI card itself? I just tried but this fan does not even start.. I also tried to connect a temperature sensor but the fan just doesn't even turn on... any idea? Edited September 17, 20241 yr by firstTimer
October 12, 20241 yr On 9/15/2024 at 5:43 AM, Gizmotoy said: I can't seem to get the SlimSAS connector working either, though that was a long shot with a MiniSAS to SFF8087 cable being rare. Here the SlimSAS is set to SATA mode. i've tried two different cables for this purpose, one was explicitly for a sff-8087 host to sff-8654 target from an email with the manufacturer, the other one was one "SFF-8654 to SFF-8087, Mini SAS 4.0 SFF-8654 4i 38Pin Host to Mini SAS 4i SFF-8087 36Pin Target Cable 1M" from amazon. I was a bit dubious about the amazon one but i couldn't find anything else about a "reverse breakout sff-8654 to sff-8087 cable" so i decided to go with it. Anyways neither of them worked so i decided to email asus about it. After a bit of back and forth they sent me a video of their testbench with the cable plugged into the motherboard but nothing connected on the other end, but they kept insisting it was plugged in on both ends even with their own video as proof. I believe it's my third interaction with asus customer support and their reputation is still accurate. i decided to just get another HBA card as you did.
October 12, 20241 yr 4 hours ago, MammothJerk said: i decided to just get another HBA card as you did. I’m at the point where I need to expand past my original 4 drives. What HBA card did you end up getting?
October 13, 20241 yr 7 hours ago, 1adam12 said: I’m at the point where I need to expand past my original 4 drives. What HBA card did you end up getting? I grabbed an LSI 9207-8i from the ebay seller theartofserver
October 13, 20241 yr 3 hours ago, MammothJerk said: I grabbed an LSI 9207-8i from the ebay seller theartofserver Can I stick one of these in the pcie x4 slots?
October 13, 20241 yr 46 minutes ago, 1adam12 said: Can I stick one of these in the pcie x4 slots? LSI 9207-8i is a PCIe 3.0 x8 card. It'll work in a 4x slot, but the maximum bandwidth will be halved, which may cause a bottleneck when you're using a lot of the drives at the same time. You could bifurcate one of the PCIe 5.0 x16 slots so it essentially becomes two x8 slots or four x4 slots, but I don't have any experience doing that so I don't know how to do it. PCIe 4.0 x4 has the same bandwidth as PCIe 3.0 x8, so if you can find an equivalent card in a PCIe 4.0 version, it'll work in a 4.0 or 5.0 x4 slot.
October 13, 20241 yr 17 minutes ago, Daniel15 said: LSI 9207-8i is a PCIe 3.0 x8 card. It'll work in a 4x slot, but the maximum bandwidth will be halved, which may cause a bottleneck when you're using a lot of the drives at the same time. You could bifurcate one of the PCIe 5.0 x16 slots so it essentially becomes two x8 slots or four x4 slots, but I don't have any experience doing that so I don't know how to do it. PCIe 4.0 x4 has the same bandwidth as PCIe 3.0 x8, so if you can find an equivalent card in a PCIe 4.0 version, it'll work in a 4.0 or 5.0 x4 slot. Thank you for this. Very helpful. My pcie 5.0 slots are currently unoccupied but was curious about the 3.0 slot in case I wanted the 5.0 for something else in the future.
October 18, 20241 yr I populated with 3x Dell 4Y5H1 SAS3 (LSI SAS3008) cards from artofserver because they were super cheap on clearance. Works excellently. 2x train at full PCIe3 speed, all lanes (8). The last trains at full PCIe3 speed, but at 4x lanes. No BIOS modifications required. I use spinning drives so don't think I'd max out the controller even if I populate all 8 drives on it, which I do not plan to do. It's a little bit annoying because I should have just been able to use the built-in ports on the motherboard, but this just worked immediately with no fussing and I realized there's some value in having similar hardware in the path for all the drives. Bought a couple spare cards for later just in case.
October 18, 20241 yr Just as a sanity check, I can use SATA drives in a SAS HBA, right? I just need the right cables?
October 19, 20241 yr On 10/17/2024 at 8:09 PM, 1adam12 said: Just as a sanity check, I can use SATA drives in a SAS HBA, right? I just need the right cables? Yes, with the right cable(s). I have only SATA drives in mine.
October 22, 20241 yr On 10/7/2023 at 8:15 PM, Omid said: I've opted to put in into the bottom PCIe slot because installing it into the top slot makes it too close to my Noctua NH-D15 to the point that some of the soldered tips on the PCB are touching the cooler's conductive fins, which is a short waiting to happen (if not today, some time in the future when gravity closes in on the nanometre gap). Just wanted to add to this very useful thread for this board. I have just set this board up and you can use the NH-D15S (one fan included model) it is different to the NH-D15 as it is asymmetrical vertically so you can install it and get 2cm clearance to the top x1 PCIe slot which is perfect for the IPMI card so as to not use one of the x4 or better slots.
October 22, 20241 yr 28 minutes ago, GraemeT said: Just wanted to add to this very useful thread for this board. I have just set this board up and you can use the NH-D15S (one fan included model) it is different to the NH-D15 as it is asymmetrical vertically so you can install it and get 2cm clearance to the top x1 PCIe slot which is perfect for the IPMI card so as to not use one of the x4 or better slots. I had wondered about the noctuas but was definitely worried about the size. They’re beefy boys and I really wanted one. The Arctic Freezer 36 for $30 is honestly tough to beat though.
October 22, 20241 yr 8 minutes ago, 1adam12 said: I had wondered about the noctuas but was definitely worried about the size. They’re beefy boys and I really wanted one. The Arctic Freezer 36 for $30 is honestly tough to beat though. I have the MicroATX version of the board, which has embedded IPMI instead of needing a PCIe card, so it's okay for the x1 slot to be covered (I'm not using it for anything else). I have a Noctua NH-D15 on mine, in a case that it's not even supposed to fit in - a Fractal Design Node 804. Very tight fit, but it does fit with maybe 5-10mm of clearance from the top of the heatsink to the side panel Edited October 22, 20241 yr by Daniel15
October 26, 20241 yr Just got mine today. Works great, unless I plug in the BMC Cable. Then it will not boot. Whats even weirder is that I see some corrosion on the motherboard header for it and on the cable where it was plugged into the motherboard. UNRAID is so much faster than on my Dual Xeon E5-2620 V2 system.
October 26, 20241 yr 4 hours ago, shaunmccloud said: UNRAID is so much faster than on my Dual Xeon E5-2620 V2 system. That CPU is a decade old, so I'm not surprised. A lot has changed in ~10 generations of CPUs, to the point where even a modern low-end i3 would perform better than that dated E5. The significantly faster RAM definitely helps too 4 hours ago, shaunmccloud said: Whats even weirder is that I see some corrosion on the motherboard header for it That's weird... Was it new or second-hand? If new then I'd return it and get a replacement. Edited October 26, 20241 yr by Daniel15
October 28, 20241 yr On 10/26/2024 at 3:47 AM, Daniel15 said: That CPU is a decade old, so I'm not surprised. A lot has changed in ~10 generations of CPUs, to the point where even a modern low-end i3 would perform better than that dated E5. The significantly faster RAM definitely helps too That's weird... Was it new or second-hand? If new then I'd return it and get a replacement. New. I'll have to see if Amazon will do a cross-ship replacement. <edit> Amazon is going to cross-ship me a replacement </edit> Edited October 28, 20241 yr by shaunmccloud
November 2, 20241 yr BIOS 4001 just released. Quote Version 4001 12.52 MB 2024/10/30 "1.Updated with Intel microcode 0x12B to address elevated voltage requests during idle or light activity, further mitigating Vmin Shift instability issues. 2.The option to disable C1E in the BIOS has been removed to ensure it remains enabled, reducing processor stress and maintaining stability per Intel's recommendation. Before BIOS update, please download the Intel ME update tool from the ASUS support site and update the ME firmware to Version 16.1.32.2473 to ensure optimized system settings. Before running the USB BIOS Flashback tool, please rename the BIOS file (PWW680AI.CAP) using BIOSRenamer."
November 2, 20241 yr 2 hours ago, MammothJerk said: BIOS 4001 just released. And an Intel ME update is required, but Asus do not appear to have posted that on the drivers part yet. More fun trying to get a temporary windows version just to update the driver! 😢 Interestingly the 3901 BIOS (that I am running) which also includes the 0x12B microcode seems to have been removed from existence. Does anyone know what the differences are between 3901 and 4001 besides needing a version of Intel ME that has not been publised by Asus yet?
November 2, 20241 yr I need a bit of help from my fellow W680-ACE owners! (ATX version) - I've been seeing an erratic issue where SATA link power management appears to cause random timeouts when an access is made to a connected HDD after an idle period. These are recorded as ATA errors in the `journalctl` log that look like: ata5.00: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x50000 action 0x6 frozen ata5: SError: { PHYRdyChg CommWake } ata5.00: failed command: FLUSH CACHE EXT ata5.00: cmd ea/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/a0 tag 12 res 40/00:ff:81:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/40 Emask 0x4 (timeout) ata5.00: status: { DRDY } ata5: hard resetting link ata5: SATA link up 6.0 Gbps (SStatus 133 SControl 300) ata5.00: configured for UDMA/133 ata5.00: retrying FLUSH 0xea Emask 0x4 ata5: EH complete Details: SATA link power management was enabled by: In the UEFI/BIOS settings: Storage PCH in AHCI mode (the default) "Aggressive LPM support" enabled All "Enable SATA link power management for hostX" options set to "Good" in `powertop` Note, you can't run `powertop --auto-tune` without freezing your system if you're using the onboard NICs as the drivers appear to be bugged. I have these disabled. HDDs: Model: ST16000NM001G (Exos X16 16TB) Tried connecting to both the SATA connectors and the SlimSAS Besides the link timeouts, there are no issues - SMART data is clear and full `badblocks` passes completed. PSU is a Corsair RM850x (2021) and is new. To do a quick check for historical link dropouts on your system, you can run: journalctl | grep 'failed command:' Investigation so far: Replaced SATA cables - Issue occurs Tried different SATA ports - Issue occurs Reduced to a single HDD - Issue occurs Connected an old Samsung HD103UJ HDD to the board - Could not reproduce the issue Connected one of the HDDs and the OS SSD and booted on my old Z97 system - Could not reproduce the issue I'm starting to suspect one of: My PCH/chipset is faulty There's a bug/incompatibility between the PCH/chipset and these particular HDDs There's a bug in the kernel's support for this PCH/chipset when SATA link power management is used. If anyone else is successfully using SATA link power management I'd be interested in whether you see this issue or not. Thanks in advance! Edited November 2, 20241 yr by lwfitzgerald
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