Gigabyte BMC Web UI IPMI setup

DaHype · 2 Jul 2021 at 19:13

Hello,

This is my first post on this forum and hopefully someone can help me end my nightmare.

About two weeks ago I finally decided to switch to AMD side after 15 years of Intel and for my office pc I decided to go with a Threadripper workstation. Now, I have plenty of experience with assembling gaming pcs but this time clearly I bitten more than I can chew. Apparently the BIOS of these mobos are a bit different and all the settings that I'm used to find in there are actually in the BMC Web UI, as Gigabyte names it and I couldn't for the life of me figured out how to access it.

The mobo in question is: WRX80-SU8-IPMI (rev. 1.0)
The manual: https://download.gigabyte.com/FileList/Manual/mb_manual_wrx80-su8-ipmi_0519.pdf
What I'm trying to access is at page 42

I watched some YouTube videos and read as much as I could about it and I think I tried every possible combinations of connections from: trying to access it from the workstation (which apparently will not work, I think you need to try and access it from a different pc), another Getac laptop that I had connected to it, or both connected to the BT hub, used all LAN ports combinations, played with the BMC jumpers, set the BMC network configuration with or without the Router IP and MAC address, different Ethernet cables, set the BMC network configuration with static IP or dynamic with Dhcp, tried different browsers, nothing seemed to work.

I also tried to update the bios and firmware of the BMC but guess what its all done through that damn web UI as well.

Am I just unlucky and got a defective mobo? Again? I would really appreciate if I can find someone who can guide me through the whole process before I lose my mind.

Bobcat · 2 Jul 2021 at 21:17

Welcome

The BMC IPMI port will usually have its own MAC Address like any normal port, do you see the port live and an IP Address issued to it, or does it not pick up a DHCP address, if you assign an IP Address can you ping it or load the web interface ?

WJA96 · 3 Jul 2021 at 08:13

I suspect that BMC port and settings have not been set in the BIOS (access with DEL during boot). It doesn’t have a dedicated IPMI interface, so you have to set that up under BMC in the BIOS.

VersionMonkey · 3 Jul 2021 at 22:16

The product page says the IPMI port is shared with the i210 1Gb/s ports, so if you are only using the 10Gb/s ports, you'll need a 2nd cable.
There doesn't seem to be any indication which of the i210 ports is the one, but does use the word "choose". There may be settings under "Intel(R) I210 Gigabit Network Connection" on the Advanced tab in the BIOS to enable one or other of those ports as the IPMI port.
Then it should be just a case of setting either DHCP or a static address in the BMC section of the BIOS. Quite often the IPMI address will be shown during the POST - don't know if that's the case for this board. Wouldn't think you need to set router MAC or anything like that.

sandys · 3 Jul 2021 at 22:57

Nice board looks like it has full IPMI set up, you need to plug the LAN port of the IPMI into your router as mentioned abouve, turn the machine on, give the BMC ~90s to boot up then you can use it to remotely manage the machine and set it up from the comfort of your sofa.

Check your router to find its IP address if it hasn't got a display and you don't know what DHCP has assigned and missed it on boot. plug in a vga cable

once you know its IP you type that in a browser and you can log on to it and get remote display.

you don't need to use this at all btw you can access bios as you would on any other machine. I like the functionality my x570 has it too.

Slackworth · 5 Jul 2021 at 08:39

VersionMonkey said:
The product page says the IPMI port is shared with the i210 1Gb/s ports, so if you are only using the 10Gb/s ports, you'll need a 2nd cable.
There doesn't seem to be any indication which of the i210 ports is the one, but does use the word "choose". There may be settings under "Intel(R) I210 Gigabit Network Connection" on the Advanced tab in the BIOS to enable one or other of those ports as the IPMI port.
Then it should be just a case of setting either DHCP or a static address in the BMC section of the BIOS. Quite often the IPMI address will be shown during the POST - don't know if that's the case for this board. Wouldn't think you need to set router MAC or anything like that.

I'm aware of this board and for the IPMI, VersionMonkey is right - you need to use one of the black ethernet ports and not the red.

Although for a slightly different board, I have a copy of the guide to finding out the IP for the BMC along with update instructions:

https://we.tl/t-WZoDTYaiGD

DaHype · 5 Jul 2021 at 13:14

Thank you everybody for your input. After trying all possible options and then some, I finally gave up and RMA the board. I'll update everybody when I'll get it back.