Asus KGPE-D16 (6386SE)

User Support HCL Reports
1 
---
layout:
  'hcl'
type:
  'desktop'
hvm:
  'yes'
iommu:
  'yes'
slat:
  'yes'
tpm:
  ''*see remarks
remap:
  'yes'
brand: |
  ASUSTeK Computer INC.
model: |
  KGP(M)E-D16
bios: |
  3309   
cpu: |
  AMD Opteron(tm) Processor 6386 SE
cpu-short: |
  FIXME
chipset: |
  Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RD890 Northbridge only dual slot (2x16) PCI-e GFX Hydra part [1002:5a10] (rev 02)
chipset-short: |
  FIXME
gpu: |
  Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Caicos [Radeon HD 6450/7450/8450 / R5 230 OEM] [1002:6779] (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
gpu-short: |
  FIXME
network: |
  Qualcomm Atheros AR922X Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)
memory: |
  65503
scsi: |
  Samsung SSD 860
usb: |
  9
versions:

- works:
    'yes|partial'
  qubes: |
    R4.0
  xen: |
    4.8.5-34.fc25
  kernel: |
    5.4.129-1
  remarks: |
  Hardware Notes:
    ASUS KGPE-D16(ASMB4-IKVM) with clear CPU socket covers and 1.05 visible on the board
    Only using one CPU (OS6386YETGGHK) and four 16GB RDIMMs (M393B2G70QH0-YK0) config per manual
    Only PS/2 keyboard and PS/2 mouse used attached to PS/2 ports
    Disabled Aspeed onboard VGA using the board's jumper setting.
    Added an ASUS HD 6450 PCIe (EAH6450) graphics card
    ASMB4 came installed and was left unaltered (does fan control)
    Disabled onboard LAN controllers via the motherboard jumpers. Onboard LAN not tested
    Added an Atheros Wireless PCI card
    Added two 4-Port Type-A USB 3 PCIe cards
    Added Asus TPM 1.02g
  BIOS Notes:
    This is likely incomplete since I didn't document it well. Sorry :(
    Changed IOMMU to Enabled
    Changed Remote Access to Disabled
    Changed Onboard LAN1/LAN2 Chip to Disabled
    Changed Boot Device Seeking to Normal
    Changed SATA Port1 - Port4 from IDE to AHCI - for the SSD
    Made sure VGA ROM Boot Priority was set to PCIE VGA Card
  Qubes 4.0 Notes: 
    Asus TPM 1.02g (TPM 1.2) shows in BIOS and when enabled is identified in dom0 using tpm_version. AEM was not tested. I had difficulties with the onboard USB ontrollers, although I was always using the rear PS/2 ports. This may be due to my configuration in BIOS, in Qubes, or both. Qubes 4.0x installation was accomplished via the USB port on the motherboard (labled USB9 in the manual).  Unfortunately I don't recall if any special installation steps were required. There is no onboard audio.  A USB audio device (attached via an add-on PCIe USB card) is used instead but must be passed to VMs requiring it. In this setup audio is not available system-wide.  
  credit: |
    Justin
  link: |
    Manual: http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/SocketG34(1944)/KGPE-D16/Menual_QVL/E8847_KGPE-D16.pdf
---

Remarks

Hardware Notes:
ASUS KGPE-D16(ASMB4-IKVM) with clear CPU socket covers and 1.05 visible on the board
Only using one CPU (OS6386YETGGHK) and four 16GB RDIMMs (M393B2G70QH0-YK0) config per manual
Only PS/2 keyboard and PS/2 mouse used attached to PS/2 ports
Disabled Aspeed onboard VGA using the boardā€™s jumper setting
Added an ASUS HD 6450 PCIe (EAH6450) graphics card
ASMB4 came installed and was left unaltered (does fan control)
Disabled onboard LAN controllers via the motherboard jumpers Onboard LAN not tested
Added an Atheros Wireless PCI card
Added two 4-Port Type-A USB 3 PCIe cards
Added Asus TPM 1.02g

BIOS Notes:
This is likely incomplete since I didnā€™t document it well (installed over a year ago). Sorry :frowning:
Changed IOMMU to Enabled
Changed Remote Access to Disabled
Changed Onboard LAN1/LAN2 Chip to Disabled
Changed Boot Device Seeking to Normal
Changed SATA Port1 - Port4 from IDE to AHCI - for the SSD
Made sure VGA ROM Boot Priority was set to PCIE VGA Card

Qubes 4.0 Notes:
Asus TPM 1.02g (TPM 1.2) shows in BIOS and when enabled is identified in dom0 using tpm_version. AEM was not tested. I had difficulties with the onboard USB ontrollers, although I was always using the rear PS/2 ports. This may be due to my configuration in BIOS, in Qubes, both, or something else. Qubes 4.0x installation was accomplished via the USB port on the motherboard (labeled USB9 in the manual). Unfortunately I donā€™t recall if any special installation steps were required. There is no onboard audio. A USB audio device (attached to an add-on PCIe USB card) is used instead but must be passed to VMs requiring it. In this setup audio is not available system-wide.

Attachments

Qubes-HCL-ASUSTeK_Computer_INC_-KGP_M_E_D16-20210820-153727.yml (2.6 KB)

3 Likes
2

Thank you @Justin for your HCL report, which is now part of this pull request and will be visible on the website soon!

You put so much work into itā€¦ impressive. Unfortunately the ā€˜remarksā€™ need to be rather short to display nicely in the table. As in all such cases I put a ā€˜read moreā€™ link into the remarks which points to your forum post that contains all the details.

Great job!

2 Likes
3

Thank you @Sven
Appreciate all youā€™ve done and continue to do for Qubes!
btw love the community list of recommended computers

Some Additional KGPE-D16 Hardware Notes:
The working Asus TPM 1.02G is a 20-1 TPM 1.2 module with a capacitor to
the left of the SLB9635 Infineon chip. An Asus TPM-L R2.0 rev 1.00
SLB9665TT20 was also tested and is NOT identified by the OEM BIOS. If
looking for a compatible TPM 1.2 module also try searching for Asus
90-C1B0AU-00XBN0VZ

The BIOS (SPI) flash chip is a socketed 16M-bit/2M-byte Winbond
25Q16BVAIG DIP8 that is fairly easy to remove with a DIP extractor (no
soldering required).

Best regardsā€¦

1 Like
4

Hi @Justin, I have a similar setup and wanted to know if we could chat about some issues Iā€™m having?

1 Like
5

Greetings @jr77 Would you mind describing the issues you are having
and/or posting a HCL Report for your setup?

I would be glad to try to help! Just please understand I interact with
the forum through email, am not an expert, and may be slow to respond.

Using the Forum Via Email and I only
watch certain threads. Please respond here (or in All Around Qubes) if
you open new threads related to your setup so hopefully I donā€™t miss
them.

Possibly helpful links in the meantime:
https://forum.qubes-os.org/search?q=KGPE

If you would prefer to not post publicly here please feel free to
suggest an alternative. Best regardsā€¦

1 Like
6

Here are a few other resources that might have some useful info if you,
or anyone else, has not come across them already.

KGPE-D16 Manual

Tashtariā€™s KGPE-D16 Tech Notes

qubes-users maling list archives KGPE-D16 mentions

Board:asus/kgpe-d16 - coreboot - Old Coreboot Wiki

coreboot maling list archives KGPE-D16 mentions

KGPE-D16 [# vikings wiki] - Vikings KGPE-D16 Info

3mdeb.com KGPE-D16 search results

Overview - Dasharo Universe - Dasharo Info
Issues Ā· Dasharo/dasharo-issues Ā· GitHub Dasharo github issues

GitHub - kakobrekla/kgpe-d16-opteron: collection of items related to opteron on kgpe-d16 - NVME boot?

ā€“

Note: On my kgpe-d16, which is currently still running Qubes 4.0 with
stock firmware and not network connected, I have more notes and links that might be helpful depending on your particular issues and use case.

It has been running Q4.0 24/7 without any real issue since before my HCL report at the beginning of this thread. It was used online until 4.0 went EOL (with the ASMB4-IKVM removed).

I never got around to installing and cross-flashing the separately purchased PIKE 2008 to IT mode - to get SATA 3 speeds, flashing BMC with OpenBMC, or installing Heads (although I have two compatible 1.2 TPMs and a 2.0 TPM that I think would work with dasharo). Your question has reminded me of all my original goals for the machine.

ā€“

Also Note: I have not followed recent kgpe-d16 coreboot/dasharo/libreboot/heads news, if it has occurred in the last 3-6 months both because of personal life challenges and the following:

I have not evaluated the security of Opteron cpus (like Insurgo did for
the Ivy in Short list of laptops/desktops that work well with Qubes OS - #245 by Insurgo).

Additionally, to quote from one of @Insurgo posts in All around Qubes
from July 2023 (I really hope he doesnā€™t mind) referring to
Thoughts dereferenced from the scratchpad noise. | KGPE-D16 open-source firmware status :

"For those who didnā€™t follow the story of kgpe-d16, the short story
highlighted above was also its downfall. I have integrated the kgpe-d16
stitching Raptor parts together back in 2016, parts that were partly
upstreamed. Meaning that flashrom, openbmc and coreboot code was not
directly upstreamed. When it was finally ported upstream under coreboot,
lack of testing reports from end-users and downstream projects were not
substantial enough and permitted coreboot 4.12 to drop the kgpe-d16
platform. And then libreboot dropped support of its platform as well.
Insurgo initially wanted to inject funds to re-upstream that board prior
of its upstreaming costs to become exponential. And retracted because of
lack of sustainable income coming from this project. Then the kgpe-d16
was lucky again and received funding from Immunefi. But still no
sustainable funding sources for maintainership of that platform to cover
the 500k fee, and counting, to bring it back in a clean state upstream
under coreboot, to become mainstream again, without any guarantee that
the same story would not happen again. Afterall, the kgpe-d16 is a story
of a board which never received enough love (time, energy, support,
money) from its first coreboot port to nowā€¦

So what is the state of kgpe-d16 under Heads?
Same as for other untested platforms, still under coreboot 4.11 branch
with patches needing to be updated, where still awaiting for board
owners to test the dasharo fork instead of 4.11. Without going too much
into the details, its really hard to build roms for older build systemsā€¦"

ā€“

I would love to see things move forward, but do not have 500k, and cannot test much right now.

Slight Explanation

An 85 year old relative currently uses the machine (offline as I mentioned above) as her primary machine. Someday, hopefully soon, I intend to get her a replacement and return to working on kgpe-d16 firmware testing and upgrading Qubes.

ā€“

Although a ā€œbeastā€ the kgpe-d16 holds a special place in my heart and
if/when I can assist, I will. I think it is worth the effort to get
it working @jr77 but thatā€™s just my opinion.

When you have time please consider

Discussion in the forum would be my preference, but I understand if that you have reasons not to do so.

Still you have peeked my curiousity and would like to help or discuss what / if I can.

ā€“
Edited 10-11-2023: to fix links and ideally make this post more readable.

2 Likes
7

I have had difficulty with them as well. But up until 4.2-rc4 I made it work. Just wanted to cross-post my recent post on that here:

I see you are still on 4.0 so canā€™t compare notes on how 4.2 is working. But these issues have made my D16 (my main driver) not very usable for now, so hoping to find a solution.

2 Likes
8

Pleasure to hear from you scallyob!

Justin:

I had difficulties with the onboard USB controllers, although I was
always using the rear PS/2 ports.

I have had difficulty with them as well. But up until 4.2-rc4 I made it
work. Just wanted to cross-post my recent post on that here:

USB device and PCI Sound card issues persistent with 4.2-rc4
<https://forum.qubes-os.org/t/usb-device-and-pci-sound-card-issues-persistent-with-4-2-rc4/21561> User Support <https://forum.qubes-os.org/c/user-support/5>

Thanks you for the info/link. Iā€™ll try to investigate further and report
anything useful.

After upgrading from 4.1 to 4.2-rc4, what was once an annoyance
seems to be a real problem. Prior to upgrading, the symptoms below
could generally be overcome after a max of 3 reboots. These symptoms
have existed since back in Qubes 3.1 or so. Since fully upgrading to
4.2-rc4, after over a dozen reboots, the problems are persisting.
SYMPTOMS: 1.USB devices arenā€™t recognized, canā€™t be attached, or
arenā€™t recognized. a. trackpad - is often not recognized - this is
my indication that the other pā€¦

It might be useful scallyob if you are willing to share what firmware
are you using dasharo, coreboot 4.11, stock, or something else?

Somewhat reluctantly, Iā€™m going to ping (also known as annoy) a few
experts in the hope they may have some insights theyā€™d be willing to
share. @pietrushnic @miczyg @Insurgo @mike_banon

I see you are still on 4.0 so canā€™t compare notes on how 4.2 is working.
But these issues have made my D16 (my main driver) not very usable for
now, so hoping to find a solution.

Yeah Iā€™ve pretty much taken this machine offline until I can assess itā€™s
vulnerabilities and give it the love it deserves (I hope to get back to
it before Christmas 2023).

Since Iā€™m probably annoying lots of my heroā€™s already, hereā€™s a few
other pings: @marmarek and @Demi

Hope someone can help, or least provide breadcrumbs to follow.
@scallyob I really appreciate you sharing your 4.1 and 4.2-rc4
experience(s).

1 Like
9

Somewhat reluctantly, Iā€™m going to ping (also known as annoy) a few
experts in the hope they may have some insights theyā€™d be willing to
share.

Iā€™m not sure where ping == annoy is coming from, especially that you marked us for the first time in this post :slight_smile: Definitely not an annoy.

Thierry from Insurgo (heads maintainer) had been working on KGPE-D16 heads support in free time: WiP: current kgpe-d16 boards against dasharo/coreboot (kgpe-d16 dasharo release 0.4) by tlaurion Ā· Pull Request #1303 Ā· linuxboot/heads Ā· GitHub
Although, as you can see, this is WIP. This PR is using the Dasharo coreboot fork instead of upstream coreboot 4.11, which was repeatedly reported as being more stable than 4.11.

All that said, 3mdeb lacks resources to address lingering issues for this board (despite our best intentions), unfortunately: Issues Ā· Dasharo/dasharo-issues Ā· GitHub

As for USB, we have also noticed that the USB ports are not working reliably, but we do not know the cause yet.

2 Likes
10

That is totally from me. Thank you, so much, for your response.

:frowning:
Stil I really really thank you for your work. When / iI I ever find the money tree :smile:
I promise you wil receive the first harvest

Iā€™m no expert but @Insurgo comment below seems plausible to me, although Iā€™m admittedly ignorant :

I donā€™t know, youā€™ve probably already investigated this, but unfortunately I have little else to offer at the moment.

Thanks for replying and tolerating my ā€œping == annoyā€ misunderstanding. Best regardsā€¦

1 Like
11

This was installed on libreboot with petitboot. This was a Vikings setup. I donā€™t know much more than that.

Thanks for getting this more attention!

1 Like
12

Just installed Qubes 4.3 RC3 on KGPE-D16 . (15h.org / latest build)

[D16 w/ 16x16GB ram, RX580 dGPU, PCIE nNVME + SATA dual card, (m2 sata not populated, SAMS 970EVO nVME populated) , PCIE USB 3.2 card (5gb USB-A , 10gb ISB-C)

My experience installing qubes 4.3 RC3 has been somewhat normal other then a warning ā€œ This hardware lacks features required by Qubes OS : HAP/SLAT/EPT/RVI, interupt remapping "
***see pics

After ignoring the warning (recommended for developers only), and pressing OK,
The Qubes system was fully installed without issue.

After install, I tested creating VMā€™s (win10) and (arch linux) without issue.
All functions of Qubes seem to work fine, and I did not experience any further issues with a defualt install and normal usage.

@justmike80386 's latest work using AGESA seems to work properly and without error.

IMG_20251114_194706_517
IMG_20251114_194706_5171920Ɨ1440 421 KB

IMG_20251114_211403_256
IMG_20251114_211403_2561920Ɨ1440 286 KB

IMG_20251114_230600_440
IMG_20251114_230600_4401920Ɨ1440 135 KB

1 Like
13

Can you generate an HCL report with HCL Support Files?

1 Like
14 
---
layout:
  'hcl'
type:
  'Desktop'
hvm:
  'yes'
iommu:
  'yes'
slat:
  ''
tpm:
  'unknown'
remap:
  'no'
brand: |
  ASUS
model: |
  KGPE-D16
bios: |
  e5550ce486
cpu: |
  AMD Opteron(tm) Processor 6386 SE
cpu-short: |
  FIXME
chipset: |
  Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RD890 Northbridge only dual slot (2x16) PCI-e GFX Hydra part [1002:5a10] (rev 02)
chipset-short: |
  FIXME
gpu: |
  
  Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Ellesmere [Radeon RX 470/480/570/570X/580/580X/590] [1002:67df] (rev e7) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
gpu-short: |
  FIXME
network: |
  Intel Corporation 82574L Gigabit Network Connection [8086:10d3]
memory: |
  261628
scsi: |

usb: |
  16
certified:
  'no'
versions:
  - works:
      'FIXME:yes|no|partial'
    qubes: |
      R4.3-rc3
    xen: |
      4.19.3
    kernel: |
      6.12.54-1
    remark: |
      FIXME
    credit: |
      FIXAUTHOR
    link: |
      FIXLINK

Here is the HCL as requested.
I did unzip the original file and censor my NIC macaddr, and re zip.

Please let me know if anything else is required.

Attachments

Qubes-HCL-ASUS-KGPE_D16-20251116-091748.yml (912 Bytes)
Qubes-HCL-ASUS-KGPE_D16-20251116-091748.cpio.gz (6.9 KB)

2 Likes
15

I rearchived the HCL Support Files using tar -czvf, so it should be properly extractable now.