Skylake-F SP Microcode (On Package Omni-Path - SKL-F Fabric) Xeon Scalable - LGA 3647

Special Topics CPU Microcodes
1

Hi,

Supermicro company reported that factory versions of processors are not supported by boards in the x11 series. This means they have a different microcode. The microcode has been removed. Could someone please share the microcode for Xeon 8176F LGA 3647 Skylake-SP (Intel® Xeon® Scalable Processors SKL-F)?

What is the difference between these two Skylake-F and Skylake-SP versions in microcode? What is the firmware number for the Skylake-F version?

Previously, support was declared in the documentation.

2022-05-15_
2022-05-15_882×778 190 KB

This firmware should be suitable for other versions, the difference can only be in stepping.
Intel® Xeon® Gold 6126F Processor
Intel® Xeon® Gold 6130F Processor
Intel® Xeon® Gold 6138F Processor
Intel® Xeon® Gold 6142F Processor
Intel® Xeon® Gold 6148F Processor
Intel® Xeon® Platinum 8160F Processor
Intel® Xeon® Platinum 8176F Processor

Omni-Path Architecture (OPA) was a high-performance communication architecture owned by Intel - Omni-Path - Wikipedia

Here you can see the difference between the simple version and SKL-F https://www.techpowerup.com/img/7qnbUvDeWZXvXwDs.jpg

This microcode does not work apparently, the motherboard does not start.

Socket 3647 (LGA)

50653 Skylake-SP Xeon Platinum

cpu50653_plat97_ver0100013B_2017-08-09_PRD_984E6F2D.bin
cpu50653_plat97_ver01000140_2018-01-29_PRD_4981DEEA.bin
cpu50653_plat97_ver01000144_2018-04-20_PRD_5F6D2EC3.bin
cpu50653_plat97_ver01000146_2018-08-24_PRD_9F52DEC6.bin
cpu50653_plat97_ver01000154_2019-12-20_PRD_909D6278.bin
cpu50653_plat97_ver01000155_2020-02-21_PRD_028841AD.bin
cpu50653_plat97_ver01000157_2020-04-24_PRD_D44BC2EB.bin
cpu50653_plat97_ver01000159_2020-06-18_PRD_8A7CB578.bin

50654 Skylake-X, Skylake-SP Xeon D,W, Skylake-SP Xeon Gold, Skylake-SP Xeon Platinum

cpu50654_plat97_ver02000021_2017-05-25_PRD_4FFA0668.bin
cpu50654_plat97_ver02000022_2017-06-01_PRD_CE8A8AEC.bin
cpu50654_plat97_ver02000023_2017-06-09_PRD_DEC08313.bin
cpu50654_plat97_ver02000026_2017-06-30_PRD_226329FE.bin
cpu50654_plat97_ver0200002B_2017-08-09_PRD_5FFAAE55.bin
cpu50654_plat97_ver0200002E_2017-09-01_PRD_7EFD5486.bin
cpu50654_platB7_ver02000035_2017-10-17_PRD_0D66C8E3.bin
cpu50654_platB7_ver0200003C_2017-12-08_PRD_A4059069.bin
cpu50654_platB7_ver02000043_2018-01-26_PRD_4840163E.bin
cpu50654_platB7_ver02000049_2018-03-27_PRD_DC30919B.bin
cpu50654_platB7_ver0200004D_2018-05-15_PRD_205C031D.bin
cpu50654_platB7_ver02000050_2018-08-09_PRD_88EFAF9F.bin
cpu50654_platB7_ver02000055_2018-10-08_PRD_43EA874C.bin
cpu50654_platB7_ver02000057_2018-10-22_PRD_26B11B5A.bin
cpu50654_platB7_ver02000059_2018-12-20_PRD_D2B4FBC1.bin
cpu50654_platB7_ver0200005D_2019-03-07_PRD_2C268A86.bin
cpu50654_platB7_ver0200005E_2019-04-02_PRD_13470AAF.bin
cpu50654_platB7_ver02000064_2019-07-31_PRD_8E7C22B2.bin
cpu50654_platB7_ver02000065_2019-09-05_PRD_460640CD.bin
cpu50654_platB7_ver02000068_2019-11-18_PRD_707F7CDD.bin
cpu50654_platB7_ver02000069_2019-12-20_PRD_6A6A88C5.bin
cpu50654_platB7_ver02006901_2020-02-12_PRD_2F78C3D8.bin
cpu50654_platB7_ver02006906_2020-04-24_PRD_B163D4FA.bin
cpu50654_platB7_ver02006A08_2020-06-16_PRD_8B444904.bin
cpu50654_platB7_ver02006A0A_2020-12-31_PRD_A8BC2C73.bin
cpu50654_platB7_ver02006B05_2021-01-15_PRD_0BFAA366.bin
cpu50654_platB7_ver02006B06_2021-03-08_PRD_095E1DFE.bin
cpu50654_platB7_ver02006D05_2021-11-13_PRD_060B1D6D.bin

The Intel Xeon processor Scalable family on the Purley platform supports Cornelis OPA in one of two forms: through the use of an Cornelis Omni-Path Host Fabric Interface 100 Series add-in card or through a specific processor model line (SKL-F) found within the Intel Xeon processor Scalable family that has a Host Fabric Interface integrated into the processor. The fabric integration on the processor has its own dedicated pathways on the motherboard and doesn’t impact the PCIe lanes available for add-in cards. The architecture is able to provide up to 100 Gb/s per processor socket.

Thank you in advance!

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@XeonSensei Hi, could you please supply some more info on your hardware?

What is the specific CPU model? Can you also supply the S-Spec on the IHS?

Which specific motherboard SKU do you have? Can you please link to the product support page?

Can you please link to the BIOS you are attempting to use?

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Hi chinobino,

Xeon Platinum 8176F:
S-Spec SR3MK
QS S-Spec QN3D

X11DPG-QT - X11DPG-QT | Motherboards | Products | Super Micro Computer, Inc.

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Bios - https://www.supermicro.com/support/resources/getfile.php?SoftwareItemID=5031
X11DPG-QT_BIOS_2.0b_release_notes.pdf

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5

@XeonSensei Thanks for the info.

For the CPUID 60654 there are several steppings.

The earlier stepping B1 = Platform 97

The later steppings H0/M0/U0 = Platform B7

If your CPU is a Qualification Sample (QS) then it likely is the earlier B1 stepping so I would suggest you try the earlier microcodes for Platform 97 (e.g. 21, 22, 23, 26, 2B, 2E).

Which microcodes have you tested so far?

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Hi chinobino,

I have three processors, two of the same Qualification Sample (QS) - QS S-Spec QN3D and another retail version S-Spec SR3MK.

I didn’t make modifications, I just took all the standard firmware that was available from the very first version, from the first to the third version. This is the question, I dont know what microcode should fit on the factory version.

I don’t have examples and I don’t know where I can get the original microcode for factory processors. If we take the first version of the BIOS, which supposedly had support for factory versions, then the microcode for testing was the following:

1350650
A-1 Stepping

1350651
A-2 Stepping

9750652
B-0 Stepping

9750653
B-1 Stepping

9750654
H-0 Stepping

1350650_8000002B
A-1 Stepping

1350651_8000002B
A-2 Stepping

9750652_80000037
B-0, L-0 Stepping

9750654_0200002B
H-0 Stepping

Both QS and retail version dont work :expressionless:

The documentation for the retail version says that the processor will successfully work on HPE ProLiant Gen10 Servers https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docId=sf000042096en_us&docLocale=en_US

Is it possible to compare the microcode in this case?

Thanks!

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According to information on the Internet, all three processors have stepping H-0.

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@XeonSensei Thanks for the clarification on the steppings, it seems I need to correct some info in my Intel microcodes thread and rearrange some incorrectly placed folders for sockets 2066 and 3647.

It seems very strange that the retail 8176F does not POST.

Does the X11DPG-QT come with a fabric Processor Clip? I can’t see any mention of omni-path or on-die Fabric in the manual.

9

Hi Chinobino,

I got a couple of other motherboards, I’ll try on them, in the documentation there is nothing about supporting factory versions. Therefore, the experiments will be in the blind!

At first I thought it was a power problem :grinning:

As far as I know, no … But there are no exact rules here, sometimes yes, sometimes no …

  1. If you buy fans from Noctua, they can send additional F-clips.
  2. Original heatsinks for server processors also come with F-clips.
  3. Sometimes the clip comes with the processor, in my case, there were clips in the retail package, but not in QS-package.
  4. Sometimes it comes as a separate package of peripherals.
  5. Sometimes it comes with a network card.


www.intel.cn/content/dam/support/us/en/documents/server-products/server-boards/S2600WF_TPS.pdf

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Thank you for providing the info about the clips - it seems to be a very confusing product to support.

I have read the thread Allow B0 stepping on Asus W621E Sage in its entirety and found that these are the top 7 reasons for Xeon’s not posting in the C621 chipset;

  1. Faulty / incompatible RAM (i.e. need to test each DIMM in different slots one at a time) <— Note that this was a big issue for many people!
  2. Bent pins in CPU socket(s)
  3. Microcode missing in BIOS
  4. BIOS SecCore module incompatible and needs to be updated (I am unsure how to do this)
  5. CPU TDP too high and drawing too much power on boot (i.e. 240W vs 204W)
  6. Using incompatible GPU (legacy only with CSM disabled or UEFI only with CSM enabled)
  7. BMC firmware not updated

Note the POST error codes for the memory issues, “Supermicros show post code 53 which is a mem error, Asus showed bb after cycling of b1-7”

In regards to HPE ProLiant Gen10 Servers, I have examined many BIOS for the HPE Apollo 6500 Gen10 XL230k U37 (which supports the 8176F) and compared them to the Supermicro X11DPG-QT.

For each BIOS version of your Supermicro X11DPG-QT motherboard I can see the following;

v1.0 (X11DPG7.622)
ME FW 04.00.03.211
CPUID 50650 Microcode 8000002B
CPUID 50651 Microcode 8000002B
CPUID 50652 Microcode 80000037
CPUID 50654 Microcode 20000022

v2.0 (X11DPG7.B29)
ME FW 04.00.04.288
CPUID 50650 Microcode 8000002B
CPUID 50651 Microcode 8000002B
CPUID 50652 Microcode 80000037
CPUID 50654 Microcode 20000030

v2.0a (X11DPG7.C05)
ME FW 04.00.04.288
CPUID 50650 Microcode 8000002B
CPUID 50651 Microcode 8000002B
CPUID 50652 Microcode 80000037
CPUID 50654 Microcode 2000003A

v2.0b (X11DPG8.2265)
ME FW 04.00.04.294
CPUID 50650 Microcode 8000002B
CPUID 50651 Microcode 8000002B
CPUID 50652 Microcode 80000037
CPUID 50654 Microcode 20000043

v2.1 (X11DPG8.720)
ME FW 04.00.04.340
CPUID 50652 Microcode 80000037
CPUID 50654 Microcode 2000004D

v3.0a (X11DPG8.C21)
ME FW 04.01.03.239
CPUID 50654 Microcode 20000057
CPUID 50655 Microcode 30000010
CPUID 50656 Microcode 40000013
CPUID 50657 Microcode 50000013

You can see that CPUID’s 50650 and 50651 were removed in v2.1 and that all pre-production silicon support was removed in v3.0a (e.g. 50650, 50651, 50652, 50653) when Cascade Lake support was added. In the thread I linked above many people noted that v2.x of Supermicro firmware supported QS Xeons without any modification, as such I didn’t include details for 3.0b, 3.0c, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4a, 3.4, 3.5, but can if you want.

The HP XL230k U37 BIOS does not contain Intel Management Engine Firmware (I believe it is stored on a seperate EEPROM) so I can only compare the microcodes;

v1.00 (U37_1.00_06_02_2017.signed.flash)
v1.02 (U37_1.02_06_14_2017.signed.flash)
CPUID 50651 Microcode 8000002B
CPUID 50652 Microcode 80000034
CPUID 50654 Microcode 20000022

v1.20 (U37_1.20_08_18_2017.signed.flash)
v1.22 (U37_1.22_09_29_2017.signed.flash)
v1.26 (U37_1.26_11_14_2017.signed.flash)
CPUID 50651 Microcode 8000002B
CPUID 50652 Microcode 80000034
CPUID 50654 Microcode 20000029

v1.32 (U37_1.32_02_01_2018.signed.flash)
v1.38 (U37_1.38_03_20_2018.signed.flash)
v1.40 (U37_1.40_06_15_2018.signed.flash)
CPUID 50651 Microcode 8000002B
CPUID 50652 Microcode 80000034
CPUID 50654 Microcode 20000043

v1.42 (U37_1.42_06_20_2018.signed.flash)
CPUID 50651 Microcode 8000002B
CPUID 50652 Microcode 80000034
CPUID 50654 Microcode 2000004D

v1.46 (U37_1.46_10_02_2018.signed.flash)
CPUID 50651 Microcode 8000002B
CPUID 50652 Microcode 80000034
CPUID 50654 Microcode 20000050

v1.50 (U37_1.50_12_29_2018.signed.flash)
CPUID 50651 Microcode 8000002B
CPUID 50652 Microcode 80000034
CPUID 50654 Microcode 20000057

v2.02 (U37_2.02_03_19_2019.signed.flash)
CPUID 50654 Microcode 2000005A
CPUID 50655 Microcode 3000000F
CPUID 50656 Microcode 40000017
CPUID 50657 Microcode 50000017

Similar to Supermicro, when Cascade lake support was added all pre-production silicon support was removed in BIOS v2.02 and later.

According to the Asus W621E Sage thread B0 stepping CPUs (CPUIDs 60652 & 60653) work on these Supermicro motherboards without BIOS modification if the correct microcode is present;
X11DAC
X11DPG-Q
X11DPG-QT
X11DPH-T
X11DPH-i
X11DPI-N
X11DAi-N

Unfortunately no-one mentioned getting any Xeon’s with integrated Omni-Path Architecture (OPA) fabric to work (i.e. 6126Fd, 6130F, 6138F, 6142F, 6148F, 8160F, 8176F) which should all be H0 stepping, the same as other retail Xeons.

You might want to check which ME Firmware version is currently on the motherboard and try different versions if downgrading is possible - I would highly recommend obtaining a BIOS programmer and backing up the BIOS & ME EEPROMS before you attempt this!

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Hi Chinobino,

yes, support is difficult, besides that, all products in this processor line are discontinued and out of production, since 2020 production has been discontinued. Therefore, it is very difficult to find components.

  1. Faulty / incompatible RAM (i.e. need to test each DIMM in different slots one at a time) <— Note that this was a big issue for many people!
  2. Bent pins in CPU socket(s)
  3. Microcode missing in BIOS
  4. BIOS SecCore module incompatible and needs to be updated (I am unsure how to do this)
  5. CPU TDP too high and drawing too much power on boot (i.e. 240W vs 204W)
  6. Using incompatible GPU (legacy only with CSM disabled or UEFI only with CSM enabled)
  7. BMC firmware not updated

I have already checked all this, and the motherboard itself works with any other type of processor that is not a factory version, i.e. all components are working. I studied the problem for a long time, since at that time I did not have a normal non-factory version of the processor.

What I have already done for testing:

  1. I tested the power supply and cables on another system, everything works fine.
  2. I took the RAM from an already running system and left only one stick of memory.
  3. I reset CMOS and checked the voltage on the battery, which was 3.15V
  4. I tried shorting the power to turn it on manually (JF1 - PWR)
  5. I have three processors, I tried each of them
  6. I’ve tried a combination of methods, with minimal configuration, no hard drive, no video card.
  7. I compared the entire pinout of the power cable.

Note the POST error codes for the memory issues, “Supermicros show post code 53 which is a mem error, Asus showed bb after cycling of b1-7”

FF code is shown there …

In regards to HPE ProLiant Gen10 Servers, I have examined many BIOS for the HPE Apollo 6500 Gen10 XL230k U37 (which supports the 8176F) and compared them to the Supermicro X11DPG-QT.

Thanks a lot! This comparison is very useful to me!

Xeons without any modification, as such I didn’t include details for 3.0b, 3.0c, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4a, 3.4, 3.5, but can if you want.

No not required! Thank you!

Unfortunately no-one mentioned getting any Xeon’s with integrated Omni-Path Architecture (OPA) fabric to work (i.e. 6126Fd, 6130F, 6138F, 6142F, 6148F, 8160F, 8176F) which should all be H0 stepping, the same as other retail Xeons.

Thank you! In that case, I will move towards electrical power! Probably something is missing in the power supply. I’ve ordered extra cables for the factory version and we’ll see what happens. I have not yet tested on another motherboard from ASRock.

You might want to check which ME Firmware version is currently on the motherboard and try different versions if downgrading is possible - I would highly recommend obtaining a BIOS programmer and backing up the BIOS & ME EEPROMS before you attempt this!

I have all this, technically I am prepared from all sides. Thanks! :+1:

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@XeonSensei I wish you the best of luck! Please report your findings if anything relevant is discovered :+1: