ASMB4-iKVM issues (Asus KVM card)

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bamtown

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Mar 25, 2010
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I realize I will probably get no responses for this topic, because it's very unique, but it's worth a try. I'm about to scream at this thing.

I recently purchased a Z8NA-D6 motherboard and the ASMB4-iKVM card came with it. From what I understand, other Z8NA-D6 owners have experienced a bitch of a time setting this up on their motherboards, because it uses a shared LAN port (LAN 1), instead of a dedicated LAN port.

With that said, I set out on my own to configure this thing. I had issues getting it to show up at all, but I finally got it to the point where the motherboard could see it. I also applied a newer firmware to both the motherboard and the iKVM card. I can now ping it after assigning an IP address to the BMC LAN configuration under IPMI in the BIOS.

I attempted to connect to it using Asus Remote Console (ARC) from an XP machine. I can get it to show up in the list, but I can't access the actual remote console to manage it. I also can't see any of the other settings, so something is clearly not right here. It keeps saying "failed to connect" and it doesn't seem to take the default credentials. If anyone has successfully installed this card with a Z8NA-D6 motherboard, could you please list the steps you took to get it running? There is almost no information on the ASUS website concerning this issue and their support is worthless.
 
Well, I finally figured it out after wasting two days on it. I'm just posting what I did in case anyone else is searching for a resolution to this issue.

I made the mistake of following the ASUS directions, which appear to be somewhat wrong. I flashed it as the guide suggested and this went fine. However, I still couldn't login afterwards, so I tried changing the admin username and password. This still didn't work.

Here's what ended up fixing it for me:

Prerequisite:

A.) Make absolutely sure your network cable is plugged into LAN1 or else the iKVM definitely will not work.

B.) Ignore section 2.5.1 of the setup guide "Configuring the LAN controller". None of these settings seem to get programmed after you enter them. I believe the ip and password changes that I made with the ASMC utility are what caused my original problems (even though ASUS says to do this). Other people with the Z8NA-D6 board have noted similar problems.

The fix that worked for me:

1.) Powered down the machine. Unplugged the computer and the iKVM card inside.

2.) Reseated the iKVM card and plugged the power cord back in.

3.) Booted and ran into same password issue, so I booted with the ASMC utility again and flashed again, selecting the "ASMB4-iKVM Firmware Update for Clear Configuration (SDR, LAN, Username)" option.

4.) Rebooted. Went into BIOS > Server > IPMI and set the IP again. Make sure you use all digit spaces (i.e. If you want the card to have an IP of 192.168.1.7, enter it as 192.168.001.007 -Same goes for the subnet mask and the gateway).

5.) Still couldn't access with default credentials of admin/admin, so I powered off machine and unplugged computer for 30 seconds.

6.) Plugged the computer back in and powered on the machine. Everything seemed to work. I could ping the card and login with admin/admin credentials.


Basically, if the card isn't working after one or two flashes, don't hesitate to flash it 2-3 more times and also do full power downs of the machine. It doesn't make sense, but it seemed to work.

Overall, this was an incredible pain in the ass, but man was it worth it. This card is awesome. You get everything you would expect from a commercial KVM solution and more. I also recommend not bothering to use the Asus Remote Console (ARC). Just connect directly to your card via https://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

As long as you have Jave installed, you should be good to go.
 
I've been building my wishlist in Newegg (which doesn't include this KVM board) and decided to change from the Supermicro X8SIA-F to the ASUS P7F-E instead, mainly because I need another PCI slot. I will be buying this KVM option somewhere too. I look forward to the build.
 
Bamtown,
I got my ASMB4-IKVM working on my ASUS P7F-E server board and the KVM works okay, except the mouse is too slow to use. Keyboard & BIOS works great.

I can't get any of the Sensor readings to work via the web interface though. Everything comes up N/A for temperatures. Do yours work?
 
Hi,
Sorry to revive this old thread. I bought the asmb4 card used from aliexpress but it does not come with the CD.
Can someone convert the CD into ISO and upload it somewhere please? I can't find the CD on the ASUS support page.

Thanks in advance
 
yeahman said:
Hi,
Sorry to revive this old thread. I bought the asmb4 card used from aliexpress but it does not come with the CD.
Can someone convert the CD into ISO and upload it somewhere please? I can't find the CD on the ASUS support page.

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...

Glad I stumbled across this. Probably should have created a new thread, but I'll respond anyway.

You shouldn't need the CD, everything is available on their website. Check out the support page here:
https://www.asus.com/Commercial-Servers-Workstations/ASMB4iKVM/HelpDesk_Download/

You will need to select "DOS" as your operating system, then hit View All. All the support CD (as far as I can tell, since I don't have one) contains is a DOS boot disk with management utilities on it. You can achieve the same result by creating a FreeDOS bootable flash drive and throw on the ASMC4.exe utility, as well as the firmware update package(s) you need.

I bought two ASUS servers with these management boards last year. It's been interesting setting up ~10 year old hardware, but I've been satisfied so far. Some things have been a bit flaky (especially before updating firmware to the latest available).
 
bamtown said:
Well, I finally figured it out after wasting two days on it. I'm just posting what I did in case anyone else is searching for a resolution to this issue.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this. I'm going to try this when I get home, as I had one of my servers crap out and its not letting me in the web interface anymore. I only flashed once, so I'm guessing something got corrupted.
 
mrtumnus said:
Glad I stumbled across this. Probably should have created a new thread, but I'll respond anyway.

You shouldn't need the CD, everything is available on their website. Check out the support page here:
https://www.asus.com/Commercial-Servers-Workstations/ASMB4iKVM/HelpDesk_Download/

You will need to select "DOS" as your operating system, then hit View All. All the support CD (as far as I can tell, since I don't have one) contains is a DOS boot disk with management utilities on it. You can achieve the same result by creating a FreeDOS bootable flash drive and throw on the ASMC4.exe utility, as well as the firmware update package(s) you need.

I bought two ASUS servers with these management boards last year. It's been interesting setting up ~10 year old hardware, but I've been satisfied so far. Some things have been a bit flaky (especially before updating firmware to the latest available).
Click to expand...

thx man!!! I managed to flash the firmware by putting Freedos on a flashdrive, putting all the files of the firmware (downloaded from asus website) in the usb drive, booting to freedos and running FLASH2.bat to flash firmware and clear configuration.

but now booting my computer takes a lot more time and at startup I get

"BMC is loading, please wait ..."

and then after like 30 - 40 seconds later:

"BMC failed ... "

now basically BMC does not work.

I will try to reflash the firmware hoping it will fix it
 
I think I flashed a firmware for the wrong mobo (I downloaded the latest).. I didn't know there were different firmwares for each mobo.... I downloaded the correct firmware for my mobo Z8NA-D6(C) but it can't be flashed anymore...
I get
"AMI Init Flash Command : communication failed"
"AMI Init Flash Command failed"

did I mess up?

edit: ok tried all firmware I could .. cannot flash.. pretty much considered bricked .... At least before I was able to get sensor readings with it. Now it's just a brick :(
 
Last edited:
kindof sucks..I don't have any clue about the temperatures of my CPUs now...was making load noise yesterday and I had no idea what components are running hot without the ASMB4 board..today my ESXI is freezing up .... fml
 
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