Supermicro X11SSH-F/X11SSH-LN4F

This section details how to run coreboot on the Supermicro X11SSH-F or Supermicro X11SSH-LN4F.

Flashing coreboot

The board can be flashed externally. STM32-based programmers worked.

The flash IC “W25Q128.V” (detected by flashrom) can be found near PCH PCIe Slot 4. It is sometime socketed, and covered by a sticker, hindering the observation of its precise model.

It can be programmed in-system with a clip like pomona 5250.

BMC (IPMI)

This board has an ASPEED AST2400, which has BMC/IPMI functionality. The BMC firmware resides in a 32 MiB SOIC-16 chip in the corner of the mainboard near the PCH PCIe Slot 4. This chip is a MX25L25635F.

IGD

If an IGD is integrated with CPU, it will be enabled on this board. Though there is no video output for it (The onboard VGA port is connected to BMC), it is said to be capable of being used for compute tasks, or for offloading graphics rendering via “muxless” [vga_witcheroo].

Tested and working

  • SeaBIOS payload to boot Kali Linux live USB
  • ECC ram (Linux’ ie31200 driver works)
  • Integrated graphics device available without output
  • USB ports
  • Ethernet
  • SATA ports
  • RS232 external
  • PCIe slots
  • BMC (IPMI)
  • VGA on Aspeed
  • TPM on TPM expansion header

Known issues

  • See general issue section
  • S3 resume not working (vendor and coreboot)
  • SeaBIOS cannot make use of VGA on Aspeed (even if IGD is disabled)

Difference between X11SSH-F and X11SSH-LN4F

The PCB is identical. The X11SSH-F has 2 NICs, the X11SSH-LN4F has 4 NICs. So the X11SSH-F just doesn’t have 2 NICs populated.

ToDo

  • Fix known issues
  • Testing other payloads

Technology

CPU Intel Kaby Lake
PCH Intel C236
Coprocessor Intel SPS (server version of the ME)
Super I/O ASPEED AST2400
Ethernet 2x Intel I210-AT 1 GbE (for X11SSH-F) 4x Intel I210-AT 1 GbE (for X11SSH-LN4F) 1x dedicated BMC
PCIe slots 1x 3.0 x8 1x 3.0 x8 (in x16) 1x 3.0 x4 (in x8) 1x 3.0 x2 (in M.2 slot with key M)
USB slots 2x USB 2.0 (ext) 2x USB 3.0 (ext) 1x USB 3.0 (int) 1x dual USB 3.0 header 2x dual USB 2.0 header
SATA slots 8x S-ATA III
Other slots 1x RS232 (ext) 1x RS232 header 1x TPM header 1x Power SMB header 5x PWM Fan connector 2x I-SGPIO 2x S-ATA DOM Power connector 1x XDP Port (connector may absent) 1x External BMC I2C Header (for IPMI card) 1x Chassis Intrusion Header