A small percentage of exacqVision systems with Supermicro C7Q67 motherboards installed have been found to exhibit widely fluctuating network performance and then lock up. The problem is known to occur only on systems containing Supermicro C7Q67 motherboards with the BIOS firmware version 1.0b. These motherboards are found mostly in 2U exacqVision A Series and Z series servers.
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NOTE: To determine which motherboard model is installed in an exacqVision system by opening a Command Prompt and typing systeminfo. The System Manufacturer and System Model lines display the make and model of the motherboard.
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To resolve the network and system lockup issues, you must update the BIOS firmware using the following procedure:
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NOTE: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO INSTALL THE FIRMWARE UPDATE ON ANY MOTHERBOARD OTHER THAN SUPERMICRO C7Q67.
- Make a bootable USB flash drive. If you need assistance with this step, visit http://rufus.akeo.ie.
- Create a folder named c711 on the root of the flash drive.
- Download the latest BIOS firmware for the motherboard from https://exacq.com/reseller/C711.zip. (The username required to download the file is guest, and the password is exacqvisionip.) Extract the contents to the c711 folder on the flash drive.
- Plug the flash drive into the exacqVision system and start (or restart) the system.
- When the system restarts, immediately press Delete to enter the BIOS settings. (If you have a RAID controller, wait until it finishes initialization and then immediately press Delete.)
- Type admin256 as the password and press Enter.
- Navigate to the Boot tab and find the USB flash drive or USB Devices in the list. NOTE THE BOOT ORDER so that you can restore it after this process is complete.
- Highlight the USB drive and press the + button to move it higher in the boot list. Repeat until it is located at the top of the list.
- To restart the computer, press F4 (Save and Exit) and select Yes.
- When the system restarts, immediately press Delete to enter the BIOS settings. (If you have a RAID controller, wait until it finishes initialization and then immediately press Delete.)
- Navigate to the last line on the EXIT tab and select Reset System with ME Disable Mode.
- When the system boots to the flash drive C:> prompt, type cd c711 and press Enter.
- Type ami C7Q67_T9062.bin and press Enter.
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- If you see a message indicating that you need to update the ME firmware to 1.10, type the following in ALL CAPS (press Enter after each line) and wait for the process to complete:
REN AFUDOSU.SMC AFUDOSU.EXE
AFUDOSU.EXE C7Q672.417 /P /B /N /R /ME - Shut down the system and remove the power cable from the power supply on the back for at least ten seconds.
- Plug the power cable into the system and press the power button (if necessary) to start it.
- When the system restarts, immediately press Delete to enter the BIOS settings. (If you have a RAID controller, wait until it finishes initialization and then immediately press Delete.)
- On the Main tab, verify that the BIOS is now version 1.10 (09/06/12) and set the current time and date.
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On the Advanced tab, select or verify the following Boot Feature settings:
- Power Button Function [4 Seconds Override]
- Restore on AC Power Loss [Last State]
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On the Advanced tab, select or verify the following Processor & Clock Options setting:
- Power Technology [Custom]
- EIST [Disabled]
- CPU C1E [Disabled]
- CPU C3 Report [Disabled]
- CPU C6 report [Disabled]
- Package C State limit [No Limit]
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On the Advanced tab, select or verify the following IDE/SATA Configuration setting:
- SATA Mode [AHCI Mode]
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On the Advanced tab, select or verify the following Hardware Health Configuration setting:
- Fan Speed Control Mode [Full Speed]
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- On the Security tab, set the Administrator password as admin256.
- On the Boot tab, reset the boot order as it was before you promoted the USB drive.
- To restart the computer, press F4 (Save and Exit) and select Yes.