How to: Arima AMD Opteron Quad Core Socket F 3000 series

[confusis]

Few questions: (yes I'm a n00b here, but some folks may know me)

I've obtained the green PCB version of the Arima. The board came from an IT shop, they bought it in for a customer and none of the customer's RAID cards worked in it, so it's been sitting in a glass cabinet for a month or three. Took it off their hands for a princely sum of NZ$20! Working on sourcing CPUs and RAM for it. (I have a lead on a validated 4x CPU, 16x DIMM kit). I have a few queries:

Did anyone ascertain the possibility of Windows Server 2008 on the newer green board?
Did anyone share their copy of the green PCB BIOS? (once I get it working I'm happy to grab it, I understand ACPI may be more complete with this BIOS)
Did anyone ever find a manual of any sorts for this mobo? I'd like to see if some of the headers could be useful (status LEDs, etc)


I've already hacked down socket 940 retention brackets for the coolers to use regular coolers. I hope to be using a nVidia GT210 GPU with the board, but I have various older cards I can use instead. I plan on pulling the BIOS code apart and checking exactly what CPUs are supported - is it possible the green PCB has support for split power planes? NFI..

[HTownDowner]

I'm rather a newbie to these particular boards as well but from reading this thread and a couple other sources I can tell you the following-

-First, and most importantly, it would seem that the blue and green boards have identical hardware, as evidenced by the BIOS images being interchangeable. The Green boards may have a newer version of the BIOS (depending on revision) but the hardware on the board appears to be identical. AmiJIm tried a Shanghai core chip in a green board with the most recent BIOS and it did not work. On the previous page in this thread he mentioned he would be sharing a image for the v.1.0.6 BIOS "soon".

-I am not sure if Windows has been tested with the 1.0.6 BIOS but I seem to recall that it did not work with v.1.0.4 nor any older ones. I haven't messed with installing Windows on an EFI system but from what I hear it's... complicated.

-AmiJIm reports that the v.1.0.6 BIOS has the best graphics card support yet. Hopefully that will make GPU-roulette a thing of the past.

Keep in mind that these boards were tailor-made for a specific environment and as such act strangely sometimes. Such is the peril working with odd enterprise-level hardware that even the manufacturer does not have documentation for. I've done a bit of searching about and, as far as I can tell, this thread has more information these particular boards than the rest of the internet combined. Arima's website is horrible to begin with (I can't even find it with Google at the moment) and did not have any mention of the 3000-series Quad boards whatsoever when I did find it weeks ago. My recommendation is to read this entire thread (if you haven't already) and go from there.

I'm off to the lab to help a friend with his Arimas (still haven't gotten all the parts for mine)- I'll report if anything new comes up!

[confusis]

Thanks

I've built 3-4 rigs so far out of wacky server hardware (last one was from a SuperMicro X7DWT. Trust me, google it.)

I've read the thread through 2-3 times so far, but I've probably missed a whole lot!

I will report back with any information I have as I build this thing. I've found some documentation on installing Windows with EFI, but to be honest I may just run Ubuntu and virtual machine it. GPU pass through has to be sufficient enough to allow rendering, and maybe some design work.. we'll see.

Does the board boot happily from USB? I don't have any optical drives whatsoever..
Board revision is 41-CMG020-D01G.

[AXm77]

...
Does the board boot happily from USB? I don't have any optical drives whatsoever..
Board revision is 41-CMG020-D01G.

Yes, it will boot form USB pen drive.

[retro77]

Good luck on the GPU. I don't think anyone got it to POST with anything substantial. a 64 bit copy of Ubuntu loads right on it.

2008 supports the EFI install but I haven't heard of anyone trying it on the new BIOS rev. If someone can post the BIOS to a dropbox and share it to us, that'd be awesome. I'm curious on this as well but not crucial since this guy is working just fine and I never touch it. One thing with these boards, I wouldn't put this in a mission critical application. They get wonky if you want to shut them down and then power them back up.

I think I may be able to help in the RAM and CPU department. I have a board that doesn't work with 4 Quad-Core AMD Opteron 8347's and some RAM. It's currently just sitting there. PM if your interested in purchasing it.

[confusis]

I've seen the issues folks have had with boot, so I've planned to have the system running 24/7. Here's hoping the ACPI is complete enough to enable CoolCore, Dynamic core control, etc.

As soon as I get it booted I'll pull a copy of the 1.06 BIOS (serial number sticker has 106 in a separate section so I assume I have it) and upload it. As I said I'll pull the BIOS apart (I've hacked AM3 support onto an unsupported AM2+ motherboard before...) and check exactly what CPUs are supported. We may have the chance of using some split power plane CPUs.. maybe not. Trial and error is too expensive to test CPUs!

I've got instructions on how to install 2K8 on EFI bios, here's hoping it's accurate.

CPUs (8347HE's) and RAM (16x512MB) I've got a good deal on, and is a guaranteed kit for an Arima. just saving for them now. Thanks for the offer though.

I've got a few spare hours to waste before some stuff arrives for my M-ITX project, so I'm budgeting time to produce an unofficial PDF manual for these beasties. Will have to re-read the thread (again, no real issue for me, it's a good read!) and collate any/all confirmed info.

[HTownDowner]

Good luck on the GPU. I don't think anyone got it to POST with anything substantial.

I was working with a friend on his Arima last night- it posted with a PCIe Geforce 9500GT just fine. I forgot to check which BIOS version that board has- next time I'm over there I'll do that next time I'm over there as well as testing a Geforce 8800GT and G100 on the board.

[Kayin]

Mine would boot with a 470 on there, that's a pretty significant GPU. The only issue is that DDPM is more about physical power planes (phases on the board, etc) than it is about AGESA support. Shanghai might come up, but Istanbul won't. It's a strict requirement for any of the six core processors.

[confusis]

My understanding is the Shanghai processors can run without it... Maybe an AGESA hack needs to be done and we'll be able to run up to 3.1ghz quads.. http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K10/AM...93YCP4DGI.html I suppose we'll start running into limits in what HT revision is on the board. With 1ghz HT, we're limited to the 8386, which is a 2.8GHz processor.. I'll endeavour to obtain a 2nd BIOS chip to have some fun.

Partial draft of the manual so far: (Thanks xtremesystems users for the info contained within)
http://sharesend.com/h5xv5

[retro77]

Nice! We'll have to show you how to put it to good use crunching on WCG when its not being used for other tasks

[confusis]

Nice! We'll have to show you how to put it to good use crunching on WCG when its not being used for other tasks

Finances may not allow constant distributed computing running, and when it does, unfortunately it will be for LOSIAS.. being a mod/editor over there I'm biased :P

Hoping to contribute info/work here to make up for the lack of WCG/F@H :P


Also does anyone have images of the BIOS menus? Will be a couple of weeks before I can get the processors, but I'd like to get the manual mostly done before then!

[HTownDowner]

The board my friend has doesn't have a conventional BIOS menu, just an EFI - Shell. Like OpenFirmware on PowerPC systems, the commands are quite similar to BASH.

[confusis]

Then what's this?

It's in the first port >.>

[Sparky]

Yeah, it does have a BIOS, AND an EFI shell. The BIOS doesn't have full ACPI support for some reason however, which is why Windows won't load.

[confusis]

ooh funky. Will have to dig through it when I get my processors. I think I'll hold off on that part of the manual until then..

edit: manual so far (updated) http://sharesend.com/xe1yt

[HTownDowner]

Interesting... I didn't see a prompt for the BIOS, just EFI shell. What key do you press to get into the menu?

[confusis]

I've read DEL somewhere.

[HTownDowner]

That's a pretty standard one... I'll give that a try.

[NKrader]

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! bills bills bills.

anyone wana buy my arima cruncher? i would sell it as a whole or most of the parts. its just a little more than I want right now, the newness wore off and other things are more important.. lol.. i have the attention span of a goldfish...

[AXm77]

Is anyone have copy of BIOS 1.0.4 or even better 1.0.6? AmiJIm links are gone (Megaupload).

Anyone remember this image:



and problem with entering BIOS?

I think, I just found answer: BIOS itself.
From my testing I can tell that BIOS rev 1.0.0 and lower have problem with Barcelona B3's (BGH).
With my original 8354's (B2) I have no problem entering BIOS, but after switching to B3's (tested 8350HE's and 8360SE's on 2 boards)
motherboards hanging on that exactly image.

BTW: you can mix different CPU's on that board

[confusis]

I have 1.06, but I need to save for CPUs to get the image out! Too many projects on the go at once, plus bills, etc :/

BTW what kind of PPD are you getting? Are you running bigadv or bigbeta?

[AXm77]

Running -bigbeta 8354's ~ 80000PPD, 8350's ~ 70000PPD.If you want to run F@H get 667MHz memory - nice speed boost .

[kirk46]

Hi all its just took me hours to read this whole thread lol

i bought the Arima board the other day from the usa for £75 inc shipping will be 2-3 weeks before it arrives tho

i hope is the BIOS rev 1.0.0 or above so i can use the B3 8354, they are £15 each

ive also bought 4 retaining brackets and the psu jumper connector so far...

i really want to get those 8354's but i dont know which BIOS the board has yet.... and im not going to find out unless i buy one anyway lol

[confusis]

Awesome dude. As soon as I get mine running I will finish up the manual that i'm writing (link above) for the board, makign it easier for new folks to have a go with the setup

[kirk46]

ive downloaded the manual

nice for all the info on these boards to be in one place.... rather than reading through 31 pages of posts

shall i take the plunge and get thos 8354's i can get 8360's for £17.99 are they worth the extra clock speed? do they work in this board, the only down side is the extra power they use....

decisions decisions lol