Server Motherboards — 30 Frequently Asked Questions
Real questions enterprise IT engineers ask about Server Motherboards, with practical answers from Pro Disk Engineering. Questions sourced from Server Fault and Network Engineering Stack Exchange under CC BY-SA — see source links per question. Answers are original Pro Disk Network content with links to our buying guides and product catalog.
USB drive not detected in Intel EFI shell
Server motherboard questions usually involve socket / chipset compatibility or PCIe lane planning.
iSCSI / FC LUN scanning: from Linux iscsiadm -m discovery + iscsiadm -m node --login; on Windows, refresh in iSCSI Initiator. Rescan SCSI bus with echo "- - -" > /sys/class/scsi_host/hostN/scan.
BMC access: ipmitool -H <ip> -U admin -P <pw> chassis status for remote IPMI. For Dell iDRAC, HPE iLO, Lenovo IMM/XCC, Supermicro IPMI — all expose Redfish REST API as the modern alternative.
Pro Disk Network ships Supermicro, Tyan, ASRock Rack, and OEM-replacement motherboards. Motherboard buying guide · Motherboard catalog
Original question on Server Fault (18 votes · 179,409 views) ›
How do I convert my linux disk from MBR to GPT with UEFI?
Server motherboard questions usually involve socket / chipset compatibility or PCIe lane planning.
The answer depends on your specific platform, workload, and operational requirements. For environment-specific guidance, email sales@prodisknetwork.com with your server model and target configuration.
Pro Disk Network ships Supermicro, Tyan, ASRock Rack, and OEM-replacement motherboards. Motherboard buying guide · Motherboard catalog
Original question on Server Fault (38 votes · 122,025 views) ›
How to make my HP server boot faster?
Server motherboard questions usually involve socket / chipset compatibility or PCIe lane planning.
The answer depends on your specific platform, workload, and operational requirements. For environment-specific guidance, email sales@prodisknetwork.com with your server model and target configuration.
Pro Disk Network ships Supermicro, Tyan, ASRock Rack, and OEM-replacement motherboards. Motherboard buying guide · Motherboard catalog
Original question on Server Fault (21 votes · 57,076 views) ›
Bootrec /FIXBOOT vs Bootrec /FIXMBR
Server motherboard questions usually involve socket / chipset compatibility or PCIe lane planning.
The answer depends on your specific platform, workload, and operational requirements. For environment-specific guidance, email sales@prodisknetwork.com with your server model and target configuration.
Pro Disk Network ships Supermicro, Tyan, ASRock Rack, and OEM-replacement motherboards. Motherboard buying guide · Motherboard catalog
Original question on Server Fault (13 votes · 63,756 views) ›
iLO 3 Firmware Update (HP Proliant DL380 G7)
Server motherboard questions usually involve socket / chipset compatibility or PCIe lane planning.
BMC access: ipmitool -H <ip> -U admin -P <pw> chassis status for remote IPMI. For Dell iDRAC, HPE iLO, Lenovo IMM/XCC, Supermicro IPMI — all expose Redfish REST API as the modern alternative.
BIOS / firmware update: flash before installing newer-generation CPUs. Many motherboards refuse to POST with unsupported CPUs long enough to flash. Modern BMCs (iDRAC, iLO) include online flash without OS interaction.
Pro Disk Network ships Supermicro, Tyan, ASRock Rack, and OEM-replacement motherboards. Motherboard buying guide · Motherboard catalog
Original question on Server Fault (13 votes · 62,065 views) ›
How to find out the exact IPMI unit you have for firmware upgrade?
Server motherboard questions usually involve socket / chipset compatibility or PCIe lane planning.
BMC access: ipmitool -H <ip> -U admin -P <pw> chassis status for remote IPMI. For Dell iDRAC, HPE iLO, Lenovo IMM/XCC, Supermicro IPMI — all expose Redfish REST API as the modern alternative.
Pro Disk Network ships Supermicro, Tyan, ASRock Rack, and OEM-replacement motherboards. Motherboard buying guide · Motherboard catalog
Original question on Server Fault (16 votes · 52,868 views) ›
IBM Server takes a long time to boot past UEFI to OS
Server motherboard questions usually involve socket / chipset compatibility or PCIe lane planning.
The answer depends on your specific platform, workload, and operational requirements. For environment-specific guidance, email sales@prodisknetwork.com with your server model and target configuration.
Pro Disk Network ships Supermicro, Tyan, ASRock Rack, and OEM-replacement motherboards. Motherboard buying guide · Motherboard catalog
Original question on Server Fault (11 votes · 59,556 views) ›
Could `rm -rf / --no-preserve-root` mess up the bios?
Server motherboard questions usually involve socket / chipset compatibility or PCIe lane planning.
The answer depends on your specific platform, workload, and operational requirements. For environment-specific guidance, email sales@prodisknetwork.com with your server model and target configuration.
Pro Disk Network ships Supermicro, Tyan, ASRock Rack, and OEM-replacement motherboards. Motherboard buying guide · Motherboard catalog
Original question on Server Fault (37 votes · 7,184 views) ›
HP plan to restrict access to ProLiant server firmware - consequences?
Server motherboard questions usually involve socket / chipset compatibility or PCIe lane planning.
SMART monitoring: alert on attributes 187 (reported uncorrectable errors), 197 (current pending sector count), and 198 (offline uncorrectable count). Non-zero values typically indicate 30-90 days of remaining service life.
HBA firmware mode: IT-mode (pass-through) is required for software RAID (ZFS, vSAN, Ceph). RAID-mode for hardware RAID. LSI/Broadcom 9300/9400/9500 series HBAs flash between modes cleanly.
Pro Disk Network ships Supermicro, Tyan, ASRock Rack, and OEM-replacement motherboards. Motherboard buying guide · Motherboard catalog
Original question on Server Fault (36 votes · 8,251 views) ›
Should I use bios "Advanced ECC" in Dell PowerEdge R710 Bios with ECC DIMMs?
Server motherboard questions usually involve socket / chipset compatibility or PCIe lane planning.
The answer depends on your specific platform, workload, and operational requirements. For environment-specific guidance, email sales@prodisknetwork.com with your server model and target configuration.
Pro Disk Network ships Supermicro, Tyan, ASRock Rack, and OEM-replacement motherboards. Motherboard buying guide · Motherboard catalog
Original question on Server Fault (16 votes · 43,559 views) ›
Is it possible to change BIOS settings from Linux?
Server motherboard questions usually involve socket / chipset compatibility or PCIe lane planning.
BMC access: ipmitool -H <ip> -U admin -P <pw> chassis status for remote IPMI. For Dell iDRAC, HPE iLO, Lenovo IMM/XCC, Supermicro IPMI — all expose Redfish REST API as the modern alternative.
Pro Disk Network ships Supermicro, Tyan, ASRock Rack, and OEM-replacement motherboards. Motherboard buying guide · Motherboard catalog
Original question on Server Fault (15 votes · 38,625 views) ›
How to discover the MAC address of machines in a network?
Server motherboard questions usually involve socket / chipset compatibility or PCIe lane planning.
The answer depends on your specific platform, workload, and operational requirements. For environment-specific guidance, email sales@prodisknetwork.com with your server model and target configuration.
Pro Disk Network ships Supermicro, Tyan, ASRock Rack, and OEM-replacement motherboards. Motherboard buying guide · Motherboard catalog
Original question on Server Fault (12 votes · 40,648 views) ›
Force Windows Server 2008 to use legacy BIOS bootloader instead of EFI
Server motherboard questions usually involve socket / chipset compatibility or PCIe lane planning.
The answer depends on your specific platform, workload, and operational requirements. For environment-specific guidance, email sales@prodisknetwork.com with your server model and target configuration.
Pro Disk Network ships Supermicro, Tyan, ASRock Rack, and OEM-replacement motherboards. Motherboard buying guide · Motherboard catalog
Original question on Server Fault (13 votes · 32,268 views) ›
SSD head / cylinder / cluster details
Server motherboard questions usually involve socket / chipset compatibility or PCIe lane planning.
Interface selection: NVMe (PCIe Gen4/5) for random workloads above 500 IOPS. SAS SSDs for mid-tier. SATA HDDs for capacity / backup tiers. Match drive interface to RAID controller; mismatches force fallback to lowest common denominator.
Pro Disk Network ships Supermicro, Tyan, ASRock Rack, and OEM-replacement motherboards. Motherboard buying guide · Motherboard catalog
Original question on Server Fault (23 votes · 8,236 views) ›
Disable CPU cores in bios?
Server motherboard questions usually involve socket / chipset compatibility or PCIe lane planning.
The answer depends on your specific platform, workload, and operational requirements. For environment-specific guidance, email sales@prodisknetwork.com with your server model and target configuration.
Pro Disk Network ships Supermicro, Tyan, ASRock Rack, and OEM-replacement motherboards. Motherboard buying guide · Motherboard catalog
Original question on Server Fault (13 votes · 27,457 views) ›
Know which firmware my linux kernel has loaded since booting
Server motherboard questions usually involve socket / chipset compatibility or PCIe lane planning.
The answer depends on your specific platform, workload, and operational requirements. For environment-specific guidance, email sales@prodisknetwork.com with your server model and target configuration.
Pro Disk Network ships Supermicro, Tyan, ASRock Rack, and OEM-replacement motherboards. Motherboard buying guide · Motherboard catalog
Original question on Server Fault (13 votes · 16,871 views) ›
How to obtain Cisco IOS firmware?
Server motherboard questions usually involve socket / chipset compatibility or PCIe lane planning.
BIOS / firmware update: flash before installing newer-generation CPUs. Many motherboards refuse to POST with unsupported CPUs long enough to flash. Modern BMCs (iDRAC, iLO) include online flash without OS interaction.
Pro Disk Network ships Supermicro, Tyan, ASRock Rack, and OEM-replacement motherboards. Motherboard buying guide · Motherboard catalog
Original question on Server Fault (9 votes · 24,557 views) ›
How to perform a P2V conversion of a Windows Server 2008 R2 EFI system?
Server motherboard questions usually involve socket / chipset compatibility or PCIe lane planning.
The answer depends on your specific platform, workload, and operational requirements. For environment-specific guidance, email sales@prodisknetwork.com with your server model and target configuration.
Pro Disk Network ships Supermicro, Tyan, ASRock Rack, and OEM-replacement motherboards. Motherboard buying guide · Motherboard catalog
Original question on Server Fault (8 votes · 23,987 views) ›
CentOS 7 and Hyper-V
Server motherboard questions usually involve socket / chipset compatibility or PCIe lane planning.
The answer depends on your specific platform, workload, and operational requirements. For environment-specific guidance, email sales@prodisknetwork.com with your server model and target configuration.
Pro Disk Network ships Supermicro, Tyan, ASRock Rack, and OEM-replacement motherboards. Motherboard buying guide · Motherboard catalog
Original question on Server Fault (8 votes · 23,684 views) ›
Firmware Best Practices and Update Schedules
Server motherboard questions usually involve socket / chipset compatibility or PCIe lane planning.
Interface selection: NVMe (PCIe Gen4/5) for random workloads above 500 IOPS. SAS SSDs for mid-tier. SATA HDDs for capacity / backup tiers. Match drive interface to RAID controller; mismatches force fallback to lowest common denominator.
Pro Disk Network ships Supermicro, Tyan, ASRock Rack, and OEM-replacement motherboards. Motherboard buying guide · Motherboard catalog
Original question on Server Fault (12 votes · 11,886 views) ›
How to upgrade the firmware of HP SAS expander card without Smart Array controller or Proliant Server?
Server motherboard questions usually involve socket / chipset compatibility or PCIe lane planning.
SMART monitoring: alert on attributes 187 (reported uncorrectable errors), 197 (current pending sector count), and 198 (offline uncorrectable count). Non-zero values typically indicate 30-90 days of remaining service life.
Interface selection: NVMe (PCIe Gen4/5) for random workloads above 500 IOPS. SAS SSDs for mid-tier. SATA HDDs for capacity / backup tiers. Match drive interface to RAID controller; mismatches force fallback to lowest common denominator.
HBA firmware mode: IT-mode (pass-through) is required for software RAID (ZFS, vSAN, Ceph). RAID-mode for hardware RAID. LSI/Broadcom 9300/9400/9500 series HBAs flash between modes cleanly.
Pro Disk Network ships Supermicro, Tyan, ASRock Rack, and OEM-replacement motherboards. Motherboard buying guide · Motherboard catalog
Original question on Server Fault (6 votes · 21,928 views) ›
What is the PXE Client System Architecture Type "BC EFI (7)" from RFC 4578?
Server motherboard questions usually involve socket / chipset compatibility or PCIe lane planning.
The answer depends on your specific platform, workload, and operational requirements. For environment-specific guidance, email sales@prodisknetwork.com with your server model and target configuration.
Pro Disk Network ships Supermicro, Tyan, ASRock Rack, and OEM-replacement motherboards. Motherboard buying guide · Motherboard catalog
Original question on Server Fault (12 votes · 9,774 views) ›
Enabling hardware virtualisation BIOS; anything to beware?
Server motherboard questions usually involve socket / chipset compatibility or PCIe lane planning.
The answer depends on your specific platform, workload, and operational requirements. For environment-specific guidance, email sales@prodisknetwork.com with your server model and target configuration.
Pro Disk Network ships Supermicro, Tyan, ASRock Rack, and OEM-replacement motherboards. Motherboard buying guide · Motherboard catalog
Original question on Server Fault (15 votes · 3,031 views) ›
Syslinux: How to correctly configure for UEFI PXE boot?
Server motherboard questions usually involve socket / chipset compatibility or PCIe lane planning.
The answer depends on your specific platform, workload, and operational requirements. For environment-specific guidance, email sales@prodisknetwork.com with your server model and target configuration.
Pro Disk Network ships Supermicro, Tyan, ASRock Rack, and OEM-replacement motherboards. Motherboard buying guide · Motherboard catalog
Original question on Server Fault (7 votes · 15,421 views) ›
UEFI netboot menu
Server motherboard questions usually involve socket / chipset compatibility or PCIe lane planning.
The answer depends on your specific platform, workload, and operational requirements. For environment-specific guidance, email sales@prodisknetwork.com with your server model and target configuration.
Pro Disk Network ships Supermicro, Tyan, ASRock Rack, and OEM-replacement motherboards. Motherboard buying guide · Motherboard catalog
Original question on Server Fault (11 votes · 4,443 views) ›
ssd firmware, linux: updating large batch of drives
Server motherboard questions usually involve socket / chipset compatibility or PCIe lane planning.
Interface selection: NVMe (PCIe Gen4/5) for random workloads above 500 IOPS. SAS SSDs for mid-tier. SATA HDDs for capacity / backup tiers. Match drive interface to RAID controller; mismatches force fallback to lowest common denominator.
Pro Disk Network ships Supermicro, Tyan, ASRock Rack, and OEM-replacement motherboards. Motherboard buying guide · Motherboard catalog
Firmware update failures due to filesystem corruption on iLO3
Server motherboard questions usually involve socket / chipset compatibility or PCIe lane planning.
BMC access: ipmitool -H <ip> -U admin -P <pw> chassis status for remote IPMI. For Dell iDRAC, HPE iLO, Lenovo IMM/XCC, Supermicro IPMI — all expose Redfish REST API as the modern alternative.
BIOS / firmware update: flash before installing newer-generation CPUs. Many motherboards refuse to POST with unsupported CPUs long enough to flash. Modern BMCs (iDRAC, iLO) include online flash without OS interaction.
Pro Disk Network ships Supermicro, Tyan, ASRock Rack, and OEM-replacement motherboards. Motherboard buying guide · Motherboard catalog
How to install Ubuntu Server 12.04 in a Virtualbox VM with UEFI boot enabled
Server motherboard questions usually involve socket / chipset compatibility or PCIe lane planning.
The answer depends on your specific platform, workload, and operational requirements. For environment-specific guidance, email sales@prodisknetwork.com with your server model and target configuration.
Pro Disk Network ships Supermicro, Tyan, ASRock Rack, and OEM-replacement motherboards. Motherboard buying guide · Motherboard catalog
HP Color Laserjet issue
Server motherboard questions usually involve socket / chipset compatibility or PCIe lane planning.
The answer depends on your specific platform, workload, and operational requirements. For environment-specific guidance, email sales@prodisknetwork.com with your server model and target configuration.
Pro Disk Network ships Supermicro, Tyan, ASRock Rack, and OEM-replacement motherboards. Motherboard buying guide · Motherboard catalog
How can I write data from within the UEFI shell if the medium is mounted as a CD ISO?
Server motherboard questions usually involve socket / chipset compatibility or PCIe lane planning.
The answer depends on your specific platform, workload, and operational requirements. For environment-specific guidance, email sales@prodisknetwork.com with your server model and target configuration.
Pro Disk Network ships Supermicro, Tyan, ASRock Rack, and OEM-replacement motherboards. Motherboard buying guide · Motherboard catalog
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