That is a very common school-of-thought... If you're not experiencing trouble with your system, why go out and update the BIOS? SuperMicro is just trying to protect their technically-challenged customers from damaging their systems by applying BIOS updates for no good reason.
That being said, I own and have deployed systems with SuperMicro boards (mostly X9SCM-F) and always update the BIOS to the latest available on the site at the time.... I have yet to encounter any issues. The only complaint I have about SuperMicro BIOSes is probably true of many motherboard manufacturers.... Certain processors will only run in certain boards with certain BIOS revisions. Sometimes you get an older board from a vendor and have to find an older chip to run the BIOS update so that you can install the newer chip. Not a huge deal I know, but just kind of a pain. On Mon, Jul 8, 2013 at 10:21 PM, Paul B. Henson <[email protected]> wrote: > Sorry for two potentially OT supermicro posts in a row :), I just know > they are really popular for illumos servers and there's such a wealth of > knowledge on these mailing lists. > > I usually update firmware/BIOS on a fairly regular basis on my servers, > but supermicro has a fairly scary warning on their download page: > > ------ > WARNING! > Please do not download / upgrade the BIOS/Firmware UNLESS your system has > a BIOS/firmware-related issue. Flashing the wrong BIOS/firmware 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/firmware update. > ------ > > Where it seems they pretty much do not want you to ever update unless you > know of a specific issue the update will solve. Of course, they also don't > post changelogs with their bios updates, so it's kind of hard to know 8-/. > I can't remember the last time I had a box die due to a corrupted bios > update (most of the ones I've worked with won't even let you try to flash > the wrong firmware), I was wondering if that's a problem with supermicro > boards to the point where they actively discourage updates? > > Their technical support sent me a changelog for the motherboard I'm > working with upon request (seems like it would be a timesaver for them to > just post it in the first place), and I think I do want to go ahead and > update the bios. I haven't had to boot DOS for a bios update in a *long* > time, my workstations for years have supported just sticking in a USB flash > drive with the image on it and updating from the bios itself, and the > servers I've been using supported bios updates via the IPMI web interface > or CLI. What's the preferred way to generate a bootable DOS image with the > bios update utility and image on it nowadays? I was thinking of just > downloading a freeDOS floppy image, loopback mounting it to copy on the > additional files, and then booting it via the IPMI remote media option. Is > there an easier way? > > Thanks much… > > > ------------------------------**------------- > smartos-discuss > Archives: > https://www.listbox.com/**member/archive/184463/=now<https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/184463/=now> > RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/**member/archive/rss/184463/** > 24572942-77406857<https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/184463/24572942-77406857> > Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/** > member/?member_id=24572942&id_**secret=24572942-8aaf8efc<https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=24572942&id_secret=24572942-8aaf8efc> > Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com >
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