Corvid wrote:

Andy Burns wrote:

Yousuf Khan wrote:

If the CPU is locked, then you can't even run tools that can modify
the firmware.

Surely you can if you leave the original cpu in the server, or how do
you ever upgrade the bios?

I have an MSI Tomahawk Max (Ryzen) motherboard which can flash its BIOS
without a CPU or RAM installed. It only needs a power supply connected.

Yep, and every server motherboard worth the name has a baseboard
management controller that could handle locking it down, without
involving the cpu.