freebsd stable - Oct 2011 - FreeBSD on IBM X3550 M3

Dear All,

I'd like to install FreeBSD onto az IBM X3550 M3 which looks like UEFI 
only. Is it possible to have FreeBSD amd64 get working on it or should I 
forget it? :(

Regards,
Andras

On Mon, Oct 17, 2011 at 2:45 PM, G?t Andr?s <andrej@antiszoc.hu>
wrote:
> Dear All,
>
> I'd like to install FreeBSD onto az IBM X3550 M3 which looks like UEFI
only.
> Is it possible to have FreeBSD amd64 get working on it or should I forget
> it? :(
Will it do traditional MBR boot by any chance?  As a last resort
workaround, it might be possible to take its hard drive to another
system and install grub which will boot FreeBSD but supports EFI.

(We should implement EFI on amd64 by the way).

Cheers,
-- 
Xin LI <delphij@delphij.net> https://www.delphij.net/
FreeBSD - The Power to Serve! Live free or die

Dear All,

To anyone who plan to use the machine in the subject and interested in 
'what's in box' I made some printout saves. Actually my last FreeBSD
install was a FreeBSD 6.1 (6.2 now, and has a nice 790 days of uptime) 
on an Intel branded server.

Printouts from IBM X3550 M3:
----------------------------

ipmitool sensor: http://www.antiszoc.hu/x3550m3/ipmitool_sensor.txt

ipmitool sdr: http://www.antiszoc.hu/x3550m3/ipmitool_sdr.txt

dmesg: http://www.antiszoc.hu/x3550m3/dmesg.txt

mfiutil show adapter: 
http://www.antiszoc.hu/x3550m3/mfiutil_show_adapter.txt

actual kernel config: http://www.antiszoc.hu/x3550m3/X3550M3


NOTES on installing the machine:
--------------------------------

1) It comes with UEFI instead of a BIOS. I had to install from a real 
USB CD/DVD, because the memstick image didn't work. I think the 
installer would also work with the Virtual Media option, but there were 
problem with arrow keys. It also occured on the UEFI screens, so I don't 
think it's FreeBSD related. (Virtual Media option arrived later then I 
could check the installer with it.)

2) The machine really boots slow, be patient. :)

3) Memory MUST BE installed in the order that's in the manual. It will 
boot, but you'll get a 'mem err' message on the small diagnostic
panel
in the front of the machine.

4) The IBM M5014 (LSI based) works fine with mfi(4) and mfiutil. Hot 
inserting new drives and creating an array was 5 minutes (including 
opening the disk packagings).

5) ACPI shutdown/restart etc. from the out-of-band management (IBM 
calls it IMM) console works fine.

6) I couldn't include pf in the kernel, because in that case ipmi(4) 
failed to load or find the interface. The pf and the mfip module loaded 
from loader.conf.

Best,
Andras