title: ASUS KFSN4-DRE server/workstation board ...

This is a server board using AMD hardware (Fam10h). It can also be used for building a high-powered workstation. Powered by libreboot.

Flashing instructions can be found at ../install/#flashrom

Form factor {#formfactor}

These boards use the SSI EEB 3.61 form factor; make sure that your case supports this. This form factor is similar to E-ATX in that the size is identical, but the position of the screws are different.

Flash chips {#flashchips}

These boards use LPC flash (not SPI), in a PLCC socket. The default flash size 1MiB (8Mbits), and can be upgraded to 2MiB (16Mbits). SST49LF080A is the default that the board uses. SST49LF016C is an example of a 2MiB (16Mbits) chip, which might work. It is believed that 2MiB (16Mbits) is the maximum size available for the flash chip.

DO NOT hot-swap the chip with your bare hands. Use a PLCC chip extractor. These can be found online. See http://www.coreboot.org/Developer_Manual/Tools#Chip_removal_tools

Native graphics initialization {#graphics}

Native graphics initialization exists (XGI Z9s) for this board. Framebuffer- and text-mode both work. A serial port is also available.

Memory

DDR2 533/667 Registered ECC. 16 slots. Total capacity up to 64GiB.

Hex-core CPUs {#hexcore}

PCB revision 1.05G is the best version of this board (the revision number will be printed on the board), because it can use dual hex-core CPUs (Opteron 2400/8400 series). Other revisions are believed to only support dual quad-core CPUs.

Current issues {#issues}

There seems to be a 30 second bootblock delay (observed by tpearson); the system otherwise boots and works as expected. See text/kfsn4-dre/bootlog.txt - this uses the 'simple' bootblock, while tpearson uses the 'normal' bootblock, which tpearson suspects may be a possible cause. This person says that they will look into it. This config doesn't have the issue.
Text-mode is a bit jittery (but still usable). (the jitter disappears if using KMS, once the kernel starts. The jitter will remain, if booting the kernel in text-mode).
Booting from USB mass storage devices is not possible; neither GRUB nor SeaBIOS detect USB drives when present. USB keyboards function under both GRUB and SeaBIOS, albeit slowly under GRUB (several seconds per character typed).

Other information

specifications

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License Version 1.3 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation with no Invariant Sections, no Front Cover Texts, and no Back Cover Texts. A copy of this license is found in ../fdl-1.3.md

kfsn4-dre.md 3.2 KB Permalink Verlauf Originalformat