Am I doing something wrong? I talked to our friend William Lee and about to send this board back to Asrock. I got PSU connected, 3 CPU ATX connected. I had basically gotten a second PSU as the first that I got had only 2 CPU cables included. All vendors have different connectors on PSU side I couldn’t find a spare for the Asrock PSU. So I got a new PSU with 3 CPU cables included, I tried a splitter at first, I thought that would just work. After getting everything connected I was hoping I would CPU readings but no luck. RDIMM from SK Hynix. After mocking around and flushing new BIOS and attempting to debug with redfish and ipmitool, no luck.
So sad, this board build looked promising for a nice workstation.
I don’t have this board/bundle (yet at least), but I’d be interested in a picture of the motherboard top-down so we can see all the power connections, also what PSU are you currently using? I’d also check the CPU voltage jumper to make sure its set to the correct voltage for the CPU you have (section 2.6 in the motherboard manual)
Is the 4pin in the top left from the 20 + 4pin cable from your PSU, or is it using the adapter included with the motherboard? Also I assume attempting to power it on doesn’t result in anything interesting in the ipmi?
you may want to try different slots for the ram as well, just in case something odd is going on with one of the ram channels
If you can compile a short list of things you’ve tried/verified that would be great too, just so we don’t go over stuff you’ve tried already
4pin top left is the one from the motherboard package. standoff on the bottom blue colored cap, I removed it. ipmi reads voltage from everything except CPU and memory. I tried to flush bios and, I had to send hex codex to unlock via ipmitool. I tried to factory reset couple of times as well. I had 4 sticks of memory in the beginning, but then trying only A1 slot.
Hm, I’d try putting the ram in different slots, if that doesn’t work I’d make sure that the screws that put pressure on the cpu have been screwed in all the way.
May want to also check the PSU side to make sure it’s ends are plugged into the correct places, and that they’re fully seated
Otherwise it looks like you may have got a DoA bundle unfortunately. I’m sure there are some other folks in this forum that have gotten this bundle so it may be worth seeing if they have any ideas before sending it back to Asrock (though it may be a day or so before folks can respond)
That’ll let you know if it’s maybe finding the DIMMs but refusing to work with them etc.
Also, since it’s caught me out - the CPU should appear to be ‘upside down’ in the socket - i.e. the lettering on it should be upside down when the motherboard is viewed from the bottom.
oh awesome, thanks, I will try on the next board, hopefully turnaround will be quick. I sent this board back already. yup, cpu is upside down if seated correctly, it’s a pretty heavy chip!
4800 DIMMs should be fine. Oh, another thing: did you use a torque screwdriver when installing the CPU and heatsink? I’ve found it’s important to get the torque correct otherwise it won’t boot.
hm, I used T20 screwdriver and used my hands, I did it in their recommended sequence (6-1, 1-6) when I was reseating cpu. It came preassembled with cpu installed and with a light touch of thermal paste, which I accidentally smudged on my palm lol. I am wondering if I should purchase a torque screwdriver
Hey! So I actually have this board and ran into the same problem. Couple things have to be done here:
First, the* middle jumper must be moved to the AmpereOne location (CPU VREF). This messes with memory.
Second, you need to check the 24 pin to 4 pin adapter, since it’s a pretty flimsy design and can depin. It also can be put in backwards despite keying.
Third and finally (this is the big one) you HAVE to connect the 6-pin graphics connector in the bottom. Previous Altra boards didn’t require this, but the AmpereOne board does.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Edit: Oh, and make sure you flip the BMC Disabled jumper from its default location or this thing will take forever to boot. BMC doesn’t actually disable, it just tells the motherboard it’s allowed to boot without waiting for BMC to boot first.
Edit 2: One more thing, unless you’re workstation is going into a closet somewhere, that Dynatron W23 is going mean you’ll want noise cancelling headphones (another ask me how I know moment). The latest Arctic Freezer 4U-OneX is out online (at your favorite rainforest-themed seller) and it’s way quieter, with better cooling performance.
Once you get everything booted, let me know and I can also help you with operating systems, since even some Linux distros struggle to boot / install properly on AmpereOne.
Personally? I’ve found that Debian works best out of the box. Not as glamorous as a full HCI-type OS like Harvester, but it just works without complaining.
If you want, I could test both Talos and Harvester out and see what the install experience is like (since other distros, even ones that are more common like Fedora, have issues).
So you know what to look for, if you connect to IPMI SOL instance 3 before powering on the host, this is what you should see when the host boots if everything works. If no DIMMs are detected, or the DIMMs aren’t compatible (e.g. trying to use UDIMMs) you’ll see an error printed and booting will stop.
As you can see, there’s quite a bit going on before RAM is initialized: that’s a combination of code running on other processors (for example on the Altra family there was a Cortex-M3 doing system and power management - on AmpereOne it’s similar with the SECpro and Mpro) and the host processor booting.
The information after “DRAM populated DIMMs” is read from the DIMMs SPD over I2C or I3C. Then, you’ll see a bunch of checkpoint messages as the initialization/training is slowly done. If all goes well you should see a line like “DRAM: 128GB DDR5 5200 SECDED_64_8 ECC” with the amount of RAM you installed. Then, TF-A hands over to UEFI where you can enter Setup or boot an OS.
bcran@adder:~$ ipmitool -I lanplus -H 10.0.0.181 -U admin -P <redacted> sol activate instance=3
[SOL Session operational. Use ~? for help]
[00:00:00.000,000] <inf> boot_banner: SRP secpro_rom version 4.0 00000000
...
<inf> boot_banner: SRP mpro_fw version 4.4 00003.001releasing combined_c[00o00
...
NOTICE: BL1: Built : 23:33:52, Nov 18 2024
NOTICE: Security flags are not enabled, Skipping platform manifest hash table authentication
NOTICE: BL1 time elapsed: 00:00:00
NOTICE: BL1: Booting BL2
NOTICE: BL21 to BL22 time elapsed: 00:00:00
DRAM FW version 230830-68161435
DRAM populated DIMMs:
SK0 MC0 S0: RDIMM[SKHNX] 32GB 5600 ECC 2R 16Gb 5x8 HMCG88AGBRA190N
SPD[IDT R.21] RCD[MTG R.11] PMIC[MPSI R.12] TS[IDT R.12]
SK0 MC2 S0: RDIMM[SKHNX] 32GB 5600 ECC 2R 16Gb 5x8 HMCG88AGBRA190N
SPD[IDT R.21] RCD[MTG R.11] PMIC[MPSI R.12] TS[IDT R.12]
SK0 MC4 S0: RDIMM[SKHNX] 32GB 5600 ECC 2R 16Gb 5x8 HMCG88AGBRA190N
SPD[IDT R.21] RCD[MTG R.11] PMIC[MPSI R.12] TS[IDT R.12]
SK0 MC6 S0: RDIMM[SKHNX] 32GB 5600 ECC 2R 16Gb 5x8 HMCG88AGBRA190N
SPD[IDT R.21] RCD[MTG R.11] PMIC[MPSI R.12] TS[IDT R.12]
NOTICE: frb: condition change detected
NOTICE: frb: Force full DDR retraining
ACMIE version: 5.34_A3279_4.4.3.1_114
DRAM Setup PMIC
DRAM enable power
Socket-0 DIMM_PWR_GOOD active
DRAM FW Core API version 230830
unrecognized PlatformRev 0x3
OdtParamOverride: MTC1 ODT Profile
...
NOTICE: MCU0:Slot0: operating at speed 5200
CP: 02f01903
NOTICE: MCU2:Slot0: operating at speed 5200
CP: 04f01903
NOTICE: MCU4:Slot0: operating at speed 5200
CP: 06f01903
NOTICE: MCU6:Slot0: operating at speed 5200
CP: 0ff00b01
...
MemoryInitExtEntryPoint Done.
DRAM memory regions:
Node[0] Region[0]: 0x000000000000 - 0x001fffffffff
DRAM: 128GB DDR5 5200 SECDED_64_8 ECC
NOTICE: DDR init time elapsed: 00:02:13
NOTICE: frb: Save PHY/DIMM trained data
NOTICE: Security flags are not enabled, Skipping platform manifest hash table authentication
NOTICE: BL2: v2.7(release):0016b99
NOTICE: BL2: Built : 23:33:52, Nov 18 2024
NOTICE: BL21 to BL31 time elapsed: 00:02:27
NOTICE: BL1: Booting BL31
NOTICE: BL1 to BL31 time elapsed: 00:02:29
NOTICE: BL31: SPMC Manifest at 0x6800000
NOTICE: BL31: Secure code at 0x680a000
NOTICE: BL31: Non secure code at 0x20000000
NOTICE: BL31: v2.7(release):0016b99
NOTICE: BL31: Built : 23:33:52, Nov 18 2024
NOTICE: BL31 to BL32 time elapsed: 00:00:00
NOTICE: BL31 to BL33 time elapsed: 00:00:01
UEFI firmware (version 5.34_A3279_4.4.3.1_114 built at 11:23:01 on Jan 10 2025)
Checkpoint 2F
...
Copyright (C) 2025 American Megatrends, Inc. BIOS Date: 01/10/2025 11:22:39 AMPONED8-2T/BCM UEFI 1.14 ... System Product Name: AMPONED8-2T/BCM System Uuid: <redacted> BaseBoard Manufacturer: ASRockRack B4
BaseBoard Product Name: AMPONED8-2T/BCM
BaseBoard Serial Number: <redacted>
Entering Setup ...
...
Aptio Setup - AMI
Main Advanced Server Mgmt Security Boot Exit
/----------------------------------------------------+-------------------------\
| Save Changes and Exit | |
| Discard Changes and Exit | |
| Save Changes | |
| Discard Changes | |
| Load UEFI Defaults | |
| | |
| Boot Override | |
| ----------------------------------------------- | |
| ---------- | |
| openSUSE (MCIO1-1: Sabrent SB-P4U2-1920) |-------------------------|
| UEFI OS (M2_1: WD_BLACK SN8100 2000GB) |<>: Select Screen |
| UEFI: Built-in EFI Shell |^v: Select Item |
| |Enter: Select |
| |+/-: Change Option |
| |F1: General Help |
| |F7: Discard Changes |
| |F9: Load UEFI Defaults |
| |F10: Save and Exit |
| |ESC: Exit |
\----------------------------------------------------+-------------------------/
Version 2.22.1293 Copyright (C) 2025 AMI
If you’re wondering what other SOL instances are used for, instance 2 is the secure console, and has messages from TF-A:
NOTICE: Booting Trusted Firmware
NOTICE: BL1: v2.7(release):0016b99
NOTICE: BL1: Built : 23:33:52, Nov 18 2024
NOTICE: Security flags are not enabled, Skipping platform manifest hash table authentication
NOTICE: BL1 time elapsed: 00:00:00
NOTICE: BL1: Booting BL2
NOTICE: BL21 to BL31 time elapsed: 00:02:27
NOTICE: BL1: Booting BL31
NOTICE: BL1 to BL31 time elapsed: 00:02:29
NOTICE: BL31: SPMC Manifest at 0x6800000
NOTICE: BL31: Secure code at 0x680a000
NOTICE: BL31: Non secure code at 0x20000000
NOTICE: BL31: v2.7(release):0016b99
NOTICE: BL31: Built : 23:33:52, Nov 18 2024
NOTICE: BL31 to BL32 time elapsed: 00:00:00
NOTICE: Initialized VM: 0x8001, boot_order: 0
NOTICE: Initialized VM: 0x8002, boot_order: 0
NOTICE: Finished initializing all VMs.
NOTICE: BL31 to BL33 time elapsed: 00:00:01
