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diehard

Modified BIOS for Microserver N40L enables hidden features

By diehard, in Microserver N54L, N40L, Etc

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nrf    119

nrf
Posted

my foggy recollection is that it is also necessary to go into some of the 'new' settings that the upgrade made available and adjust them to get full functionality.

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LVLouisCyphre    3

LVLouisCyphre
Posted

Update and my bad; it does work.  You need to go to Southbridge Configuration > SB SATA Configuration > SATA IDE Combined Mode > DISABLED; it's enabled by default.

 

If you don't, the last two SATA ports will be bifurcated to a separate PCI device with only SATA 1 capabilities (AMD SB7x0/SB8x0) or appear as a pair of Southbridges at kernel loading; two IDE ports and four AHCI ports.  It's unknown if this is the default configuration for the AMD chipset that's on the G7s.  AMD doesn't have a technical archive of their products like Intel does.

 

When you disable combined mode; you get a single AMD SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 with six AHCI SATA 2 ports with SATA multiplier capability which is what you want to get the most out of a G7.

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LVLouisCyphre    3

LVLouisCyphre
Posted (edited)
On 2/10/2020 at 7:51 PM, nrf said:

my foggy recollection is that it is also necessary to go into some of the 'new' settings that the upgrade made available and adjust them to get full functionality.

I found it.  What threw me off when it's in brain damaged combined mode, SATA ports 5 and 6 are bifurcated to a separate IDE controller.  A bit confusing since this is called "combined mode" as bifurcate and combine are antonyms. I was expecting it to show up as a six SATA ports from the beginning with ports 5 and 6 being locked at SATA 1 speeds.

Edited by LVLouisCyphre

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nrf    119

nrf
Posted
1 hour ago, LVLouisCyphre said:

SATA IDE Combined Mode

not exactly clear usable menu text. thanks for the explanation

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