[REQUEST] ASRock 970m Pro3 - add IPXE and headless mode

Board: ASRock 970M Pro3
Bios: AMI APTIO IV - Version 1.60
Official Link: http://asrock.pc.cdn.bitgravity.com/BIOS…o3(1.60)DOS.zip

Hi, everyone :slight_smile: I need two a little bit unusual modifications.

First, add ipxe(http://ipxe.org/) to UEFI because I want to make diskless system. I know that mb can pxe out of the box, but ipxe needed because that has the functionality like static ip, https, certs and scripting that I really need. I already compile(http://ipxe.org/download#uefi) it as .efi app and test from uefi shell via flash drive, every work perfect. Now I would like to insert it directly into uefi firmware as .efi app(with boot capability) or maybe as uefi driver.

Second one, I’m really interesting for add headless mode for boot without GPU for use mb for servers setup.

Thanks in advance for your time and help :slight_smile:

P.S.
I don’t want chain load ipxe via pxe if it possible to avoid dependence on dhcp server settings.
I have RPI as programmer or can buy one if in needed.

Sorry, off. link was broken

@daedmen - I’ve never done such a mod with PXE/IPXE, have you seen others discuss doing this to their BIOS? Hmm, I guess that is a thing, according to that site - http://ipxe.org/howto/romburning
I am not familiar with doing any of that stuff that’s required to build/compile a rom for this. YOu will need to do that, I can edit/replace the Vendor and device ID’s so you don’t need to worry about that (use whatever you want, and let me know), I will pull those ID’s from the BIOS PXE rom
http://ipxe.org/download

Or, maybe this is that, compiled EFI already?
http://boot.ipxe.org/ipxe.efi
Or maybe this legacy one, since BIOS may not have EFI rom alread - http://boot.ipxe.org/ipxe.pxe
I found by removing the ISO part of the above link to look at that root folder (at http://boot.ipxe.org/)

Actually, this BIOS contains both EFI and legacy Realtek PXE modules (UNDI+Boot Agent GE), so I guess both of the above, if those are compiled roms.
Both of these files are MUCH larger than their current In-BIOS counterparts, if these are the correct things I should use, or does that size difference mean maybe not correct things?
Current BIOS EFI = 88KB and Legacy = 52KB, above files = 959KB + 332KB

I think that may not be it, or you need to insert your own VendorID and DeviceID and then build, there is no where in the legacy module for this info like other modules. Same for EFI, but I don’t see this in the stock one either, legacy it’s there, as expected after PCIR entry
For your info, if you can do the build >> VendorID = 10EC (EC 10 in hex) + DeviceID = 8168 (68 81 in Hex)


On headless, there is no headless option hidden, and you cannot disable internal graphics roms from loading either, only PCI/PCIE ports can be disabled.
We could try removing the graphics rom and see if it boots past it as missing, but to test that you’d really want a flash programmer in hand and backup made already, and this checked by someone to confirm it’s valid BIOS backup, this way you could recover if that test fails.

I do see this BIOS contains option for DOL (Disk on LAN) and a Realtek rom for that as well. Unsure if any of that matters to you, or could be related or used for any of this, mention just in case.