Support of Ivy bridge (QM67) in Advantech AIMB-272

[JanA]

Hello guys,
I have motherboard AIMB-272 from Advantech and I tried to use Intel 3630QM (CPUID 306A9 (QCF5)) but it is not working as it is generation 3 CPU and board officially support generation 2 only. However gen2 and gen3 CPUs have the same pinouts and there are many boards which support both, so I think it may be "just" the thing of updating BIOS.

BIOS can be found here http://support.advantech.com/Support/DownloadSRDetail_New.aspx?SR_ID=1-J5XQIZ&Doc_Source=Download - click on Primary or Secondary download server.

To meet that goal I experienced two problems so far:
1. I cannot find proper CBROM version which would display information in the BIOS file properly, and which would extract BIOS file from the BIN file. I tried versions 1.82, 1.96, 2.15, 2.20, 32_149 without luck. I also found old CBROM version (1.26B) on Advantech site http://support.advantech.com/support/KnowledgeBaseSRDetail_New.aspx?SR_ID=1%2BFY%2B688&Doc_Source=Knowledge+Base but it is not really working /D displays size and space, but I cannot extract BIOS. Can you please check if you can find CBROM utility which will work so you can extract BIOS from that BIN file?

2. I'm having problem to find microcode file for 3630QM (CPUID 306A9) CPU. It is not listed here https://downloadcenter.intel.com/search?...+Data+File and even when I downloaded that file (microcode-20150121.tgz) it only contains microcode.dat file which contains text data but there is no microcode binary. Do you please know where to download microcode files for my CPU?

Also please note that this CPU is actually laptop CPU using not very common socket - Socket G2 rPGA 988/989.

Thank you very much!!!

[DeathBringer]

Install your native CPU and post screenshots of first (CPU) & third (Mainboard) tabs of CPU-Z.

[DeathBringer]

AIMB-272 is based on QM67/HM65 chipsets, not QM77.
So you can't use CPU with Ivy Bridge core.

[JanA]

AIMB-272 is based on QM67/HM65 chipsets, not QM77.
So you can't use CPU with Ivy Bridge core.

Sorry for not posting CPU-Z screenshots, I do not have Windows installed at the moment. I understand what are you saying - so QM77 can support older CPU (gen2) but newer CPU (gen3) won't run with older chipset (QM67) even if socket is the same...
Pitty  , But thank you for confirmation!!!

[JanA]

However... Finding this web-site http://www.cpu-upgrade.com/mb-Intel_%28c...press.html
Do you think the information there is not correct? It actually claims QM67 can support both Ivy bridge and Sandy bridge CPUs...
(even so mine is not listed)

And another board here http://support.liantec.com/product/ITX-QM67.htm claiming to support both Sandy bridge and Ivy bridge, so can it be "just" the BIOS thing?

[DeathBringer]

There are special mainboards based on QM67 with support Ivy Bridge core. These special mainboards are designed for embedded systems and can boot CPU with "E" index. But your motherboard can't.
In addition: ITX-QM67 don't support Ivy Bridge core:

Liantec ITX-QM67 series is an industrial Mini-ITX motherboard, features Intel Sandy Bridge Mobile computing platform, supports Intel Socket G2 PGA988 (rPGA988B, FCPGA988) Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, Celeron mobile processors...

It only uses common graphics driver for Ivy Bridge & Sandy Bridge.

[JanA]

Based on this thread - https://thinkpad-forum.de/threads/170582...bc1ad7214e - Lenovo T420 with Q67 chipset can support both Sandy and Ivy bridge. It "just" needs graphics card initialization fix - check below links:

https://www.coreboot.org/Board:lenovo/t4...or_support
http://review.coreboot.org/#/c/12087/

Last link is a patch with this info:
"northbridge/intel/sandybridge: support both Sandy&Ivy on one board
Sandy and Ivy Bridge processors use the same socket,
and a mainboard with the socket can support both types
of CPUs. However, they use different native graphics init
code and cause a crashing if running the wrong code.
So it needs a detecting, then selects the right code to run.
This patch will add some more code in ramstage (maybe we can add some
more flexible Kconfig settings).
Tested on a Lenovo T420 with i5-2520m or i7-3720qm
Needs testing: desktop/server platforms, 7 series chipset with SNB/IVB
Signed-off-by: Iru Cai "

But I'm not sure if I can try to play with my BIOS and do the same thing?

DeathBringer - I know you are skeptical, but thank you for looking into this!!!

BTW - I finally managed to get CPU-Z screenshots of current CPU - attached:
   
   

[DeathBringer]

I know about coreboot, but it don't help you. Writing similar patch for your motherboard will cost more than new motherboard's price.

[JanA]

I know about coreboot, but it don't help you. Writing similar patch for your motherboard will cost more than new motherboard's price.

Thank you. So does it apply to updating current BIOS as well? Can't I update VideoBIOS only, add new CPUID to it and keep the rest as it is?
Will it be costly as well? You are the experts, you tell me...

[DeathBringer]

No, updating VBIOS and microcode don't help. You need a specific patch for your BIOS as result of large investigation.
Try to write to author of coreboot about a cost.