UEFI BIOS Recovery

Caution: Do not upgrade the BIOS unless your system has a BIOS-related issue. Flashing the wrong BIOS can cause irreparable damage to the system. In no event shall Supermicro be liable for direct, indirect, special, incidental, or consequential damages arising from a BIOS update. If you do update the BIOS, do not shut down or reset the system while the BIOS is updating to avoid possible boot failure.

Overview

The Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) provides a software-based interface between the operating system and the platform firmware in the pre-boot environment. The UEFI specification supports an architecture-independent mechanism that will allow the UEFI OS loader stored in an add-on card to boot the system. The UEFI offers clean, hands-off management to a computer during system boot.

Recovering the UEFI BIOS Image

A UEFI BIOS flash chip consists of a recovery BIOS block and a main BIOS block (a main BIOS image). The recovery block contains critical BIOS codes, including memory detection and recovery codes for the user to flash a healthy BIOS image if the original main BIOS image is corrupted. When the system power is turned on, the recovery block codes execute first. Once this process is complete, the main BIOS code will continue with system initialization and the remaining POST (Power-On Self-Test) routines.

Note 1: Follow the BIOS recovery instructions below for BIOS recovery when the main BIOS block crashes.

Note 2: When the BIOS recovery block crashes, you will need to follow the procedures to make a Returned Merchandise Authorization (RMA) request. Also, you may use the Supermicro Update Manager (SUM) Out-of-Band (https://www.supermicro.com.tw/products/nfo/SMS_SUM.cfm) to reflash the BIOS.

Recovering the Main BIOS Block with a USB Device

This feature allows the user to recover the main BIOS image using a USB-attached device without additional utilities used. A USB flash or media drive can be used for this purpose. However, a USB hard disk drive cannot be used for BIOS recovery at this time.

The file system supported by the recovery block is FAT (including FAT12, FAT16, and FAT32) which is installed on a bootable or non-bootable USB-attached device. However, the BIOS might need several minutes to locate the SUPER.ROM file if the media size becomes too large due to the huge volumes of folders and files stored in the device.

To perform UEFI BIOS recovery using a USB-attached device, follow the instructions below.

  1. Using a different machine, copy the "Super.ROM" binary image file into the Root "\" directory of a USB flash or media drive.

    Note 1: If you cannot locate the "Super.ROM" file in your drive disk, visit our website at www.supermicro.com to download the BIOS package. Extract the BIOS binary image into a USB flash device and rename it "Super.ROM" for the BIOS recovery use.

    Note 2: Before recovering the main BIOS image, confirm that the "Super.ROM" binary image file you download is the same version or a close version meant for your motherboard.

  1. Insert the USB device that contains the new BIOS image ("Super.ROM") into your USB drive and reset the system when the following screen appears.

  2. After locating the healthy BIOS binary image, the system will enter the BIOS Recovery menu as shown below.

    Figure 71. Could Not Find Recovery Image Screen

    Note: At this point, you may decide if you want to start the BIOS recovery. If you decide to proceed with BIOS recovery, follow the procedures below.

    Figure 72. Pursue Recovery

  1. When the screen as shown above displays, use the arrow keys to select the item "Proceed with flash update" and press the <Enter> key. You will see the BIOS recovery progress as shown in the screen below.

    Note: Do not interrupt the BIOS flashing process until it has completed.

  1. After the BIOS recovery process is complete, press any key to reboot the system.

  2. Using a different system, extract the BIOS package into a USB flash drive.

    Figure 73. Extract the BIOS Package

  1. Press <Del> continuously during system boot to enter the BIOS Setup utility. From the top of the tool bar, select Boot to enter the submenu. From the submenu list, select Boot Option #1 as shown below. Then, set Boot Option #1 to [UEFI AP:UEFI: Built-in EFI Shell]. Press <F4> to save the settings and exit the BIOS Setup utility.

    Figure 74. Select Boot

  2. When the UEFI Shell prompt appears, type fs# to change the device directory path. Go to the directory that contains the BIOS package you extracted earlier from Step 6. Enter flash.nsh BIOSname.### at the prompt to start the BIOS update process.

    Figure 75. Start the Process

    Note: Do not interrupt this process until the BIOS flashing is complete.

    Figure 76. The Process

  1. The screen above indicates that the BIOS update process is complete. When you see the screen above, unplug the AC power cable from the power supply, clear CMOS, and plug the AC power cable in the power supply again to power on the system.

    Figure 77. Restart the Process

  2. Press <Del> continuously to enter the BIOS Setup utility.

    Figure 78. Entering the BIOS

  3. Press <F3> to load the default settings.

  4. After loading the default settings, press <F4> to save the settings and exit the BIOS Setup utility.