% ASUS KFSN4-DRE server/workstation board

This is a server board using AMD hardware (Fam10h). It can also be used for building a high-powered workstation. Powered by libreboot.

Flashing instructions can be found at ../install/#flashrom

Form factor {#formfactor}

These boards use the SSI EEB 3.61 form factor; make sure that your case supports this. This form factor is similar to E-ATX in that the size is identical, but the position of the screws are different.

Flash chips {#flashchips}

These boards use LPC flash (not SPI), in a PLCC socket. The default flash size 1MiB (8Mbits), and can be upgraded to 2MiB (16Mbits). SST49LF080A is the default that the board uses. SST49LF016C is an example of a 2MiB (16Mbits) chip, which might work. It is believed that 2MiB (16Mbits) is the maximum size available for the flash chip.

DO NOT hot-swap the chip with your bare hands. Use a PLCC chip extractor. These can be found online. See http://www.coreboot.org/Developer_Manual/Tools#Chip_removal_tools

Native graphics initialization {#graphics}

Native graphics initialization exists (XGI Z9s) for this board. Framebuffer- and text-mode both work. A serial port is also available.

Memory

DDR2 533/667 Registered ECC. 16 slots. Total capacity up to 64GiB.

Hex-core CPUs {#hexcore}

PCB revision 1.05G is the best version of this board (the revision number will be printed on the board), because it can use dual hex-core CPUs (Opteron 2400/8400 series). Other revisions are believed to only support dual quad-core CPUs.

Current issues {#issues}

There seems to be a 30 second bootblock delay (observed by tpearson); the system otherwise boots and works as expected. See text/kfsn4-dre/bootlog.txt - this uses the 'simple' bootblock, while tpearson uses the 'normal' bootblock, which tpearson suspects may be a possible cause. This person says that they will look into it. This config doesn't have the issue.
Text-mode is a bit jittery (but still usable). (the jitter disappears if using KMS, once the kernel starts. The jitter will remain, if booting the kernel in text-mode).

Other information

specifications

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