madburg

Hey Joe L., are you working on a new release of preclear_disk for 3TB drives? If so and you need a beta tester, I just received one today.

Will do thanks.

My preclears finished successfully on 3 new 2TB drives using Preclear_disk.sh v1.11 and the latest unmenu additions to be able to see the results of preclear via MyMain. I stopped the array added the 3 disks to the array and formatted them. All is well. When I went back to MyMain page the preclear results are still there. Is this by design? Do they fall out eventually? or is the idea for it to live with the drive for its life? Where are the (assuming here) files that MyMain is reading to display in a browser? Any other info would be appreciated.

Probably can detect the failure and try without the "-d ata" Not a bad idea for the next version. Thanks for the feedback. How are you Joe L., two questions, did the above make it into any of the releases after 1.9 (1.10 or 1.11)? If i am currently running a preclear (using version 1.9) can I update the preclear_disk.sh file on my key to the lastest version, or is it in use and not a good idea. Or just not a good idea at all while a preclear cycle is currently running? I did not yet add the logic, so your version is as good as any. The big difference between 1.9 and 1.11 is the ability to monitor the progress on the MyMain screen. 1.10 was never released, it was an internal version number. Do not change the script while it is running. Just let the current pre-clears you have running complete. Thanks for the reminder though, I had not been thinking of the change to add that logic much... Joe L. Thanks Joe L. I will hang tight until it finishes before upgrading to v1.11, another question (I may have missed it if it was already stated) If you are preclearing more than one drive will the results for all (each) of the drives display in the MyMain page OR at this time the design is only capable of displaying the results of one drive preclearing? It will show multiple. I would change it to device_type="" Thank you as always! Updated to the lastest unmenu, preclear_disk.sh v1.11, updated smartctl drive db (for my Hitachi's). Runing it on two new drives. unMenu shows the preclear stats, very nice guys! Between kicking these off with screen and then email alerts (-M 4) and now unMenu integration, pretty sweet. Thank you all very much.

Before I forget (this may need to go into its own post, I could not find anyone explaining this via a search in the forums.) I noticed on many occasions with smartctl that newer drives and all my Hitachi 2TB drive (7200k and Greens) would state not in database. I check the version 5.40 is good and finally found the command (or calling a script, still learning this linux stuff ) to get it to download the latest Drive DB. Update the drive database Starting with smartmontools 5.40 the drive database file drivedb.h can be updated separately with the following command: "/usr/sbin/update-smart-drivedb" From 347 entries that came with (unRAID 5.0Beta6d) to 415 entries after the update. Found the Hitachi's amongst others in the drive DB now I am assuming it would be as simple as adding that line above to your GO script? to have it update on reboots.

Probably can detect the failure and try without the "-d ata" Not a bad idea for the next version. Thanks for the feedback. How are you Joe L., two questions, did the above make it into any of the releases after 1.9 (1.10 or 1.11)? If i am currently running a preclear (using version 1.9) can I update the preclear_disk.sh file on my key to the lastest version, or is it in use and not a good idea. Or just not a good idea at all while a preclear cycle is currently running? I did not yet add the logic, so your version is as good as any. The big difference between 1.9 and 1.11 is the ability to monitor the progress on the MyMain screen. 1.10 was never released, it was an internal version number. Do not change the script while it is running. Just let the current pre-clears you have running complete. Thanks for the reminder though, I had not been thinking of the change to add that logic much... Joe L. Thanks Joe L. I will hang tight until it finishes before upgrading to v1.11, another question (I may have missed it if it was already stated) If you are preclearing more than one drive will the results for all (each) of the drives display in the MyMain page OR at this time the design is only capable of displaying the results of one drive preclearing? I like BRiTs comment after my requests as to making the -D option the standard as well, but I am keeping in mind to be fair with all, an auto detect funtionality would serve both worlds better. And I would think many members have setups where they start with onboard sata ports first and then only expanded to these newer sas cards (just guessing here). Would changing (for me) the line "device_type="-d ata"" to "device_type="-D"" accomplish this goal for the time being? until you whip up something cool.

Probably can detect the failure and try without the "-d ata" Not a bad idea for the next version. Thanks for the feedback. How are you Joe L., two questions, did the above make it into any of the releases after 1.9 (1.10 or 1.11)? If i am currently running a preclear (using version 1.9) can I update the preclear_disk.sh file on my key to the lastest version, or is it in use and not a good idea. Or just not a good idea at all while a preclear cycle is currently running?

That was some very good detectives work to figure out what was going on. Please let Tom know about your findings, and direct him to your post above. Updating hdparm for the next version release should not be overly difficult, and if is solves some issues with the SATAIII drives attached to SATAIII ports then it is something that needs to be changed/included. There is no issue... usually. Installing a newer hdparm over the top of any existing one should not cause any stability, etc problems. Tom knows and has all detailed emails (many, hope it was not to much) of all my tests, findings, etc... I just did not receive a reply on this specific thing (his thoughts) maybe he is doing his own homework on it, just dont know. I am sorry I wanted to post all this earlier, after my comms. with Tom, and since he posted in the annocments for beta testers I felt this would not step on his toes, I have been very hush hush with getting this going, with respect to him. But I got tied up at work and finally found a moment to share. I did relay I did not have a warm and fuzzy feeling not going with an updated hdparm version. But again the final decision is his. My original comms. with Tom I shared the link to this post. You just cant know what he does or does not read (or at least I cant )

I cannot take credit as the big guys (BRiT & Joe L.) reached out to Limetech and started their findings/thoughts on this: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=10869.0 I just purchased multipule LSI cards and started talks with LimeTech and relayed OUR importance to gain unRAID's native functionality of drive spin ups/downs (spin groups, etc...) extended to LSI SAS Controllers as well. I offered several of these controllers with no strings attached to help. Tom (Limetech) felt it was not nessasary at this point in time and was able to get private test beta's out for this functionality testing. After a few rev's it looked very promising. So be on the look out for the next public beta release from Limetech in the announcement threads. This was offered to all, you just needed to watch the announcements and contact Limetech for the private release: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=13120.0 I do want to point out one thing I ran into and share with other to test and get feedback for the advanced guys out here; while manually testing spin up commands "hdparm -S0" on a LSI Controller that is 6Gbps capable (interface) with a Hard Drive that was 6Gbps capable (interface) and synced at 6.0 (SATAIII) the "hdparm -S0" command would delay greatly and the following message would be displayed "HDIO_DRIVE_CMD(setidle) failed: Invalid exchange". This was not the case on hard drives that were only 3Gbps capable (interface SATAII) on the LSI Controllers that were 6Gbps capable (interface) syned at 3.0 (SATA II). Using process of elimination to get to the root cause I proceeded to to move a SATAIII drive to an onboard 3Gbps port, the drive sync at 3.0 (SATAII) and the same "hdparm -S0" command now no longer delayed and no error was relayed back. So it pointed me toward HDPARM. I found that running "hdparm -I" on a SATAIII hard drive you will notice lines stating: "* Gen1 signaling speed (1.5Gb/s)" "* Gen2 signaling speed (3.0Gb/s)" "* unknown 76[3]" I then checked the version of HDPARM shipped with unRAID "hdparm -v" it was 9.27. I checked the web they were up to 9.37. Checked slackware next, noticed they had 9.37 available for slackware-13.37. This is were I am interested in others opinion as I am not a linux guys. I created for testing purposes a unmenu hdparm 9.37 config file "hdparm-9.37-unmenu-package.conf"(attached to this post for others). And it worked and does install hdparm v9.37. Now when i ran "hdparm -I" on a SATAIII hard drive it displayed: "* Gen1 signaling speed (1.5Gb/s)" "* Gen2 signaling speed (3.0Gb/s)" "* Gen3 signaling speed (6.0Gb/s)" Proceeded to test manual hpdparm spin up tests again. On the LSI Controllers that were 6Gbps capable (interface) with a Hard Drive that was 6Gbps capable (interface) and synced at 6.0 (SATAIII) the "hdparm -S0" now came back fast and no longer spit back that message. These tests were also run with the private unRAID beta's and showed the same behavior, except you would not see the "HDIO_DRIVE_CMD(setidle) failed: Invalid exchange" message, you saw "May 22 17:11:48 Tower kernel: res 40/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x4 (timeout)" in the unRAID logs. But with HDPARM v9.37 installed no messages were displayed. The finally decision resides with Tom and I dont not know his thoughts on this. So I am wondering is there any type of stability (anything else) of installing/running something that came from the slackware-13.37 site. Not sure what slackware version unRAID beta 5.0's are based off either. Its showing that it is not just a cosmetic update from hdparm 9.27 to 9.37 hdparm-9.37-unmenu-package.conf

If i put each drive in its own SpinDown group they spin down based on the global SpinDown time (ive got mine set at 2hours) FYI I have 16HDDs hung off two of these cards and the all spin down using the above fix. running unRAID 5b6a cheers. 1) I need a bit more detail please, you are stating you have 16 spindown groups? but they spin down based on the global SpinDown time? 2) What do you mean by "using the above fix"? 3) What are the exact cards you are using (Manf/Model) please. 4) Can you confirm both cards are posting under one bios? This seems to be good news but we need a bit more info to update the post.

LSI SAS9201-16i tested positive with unRAID 5.0Beta6a

JoeL knows what he is talking about...

...sure, will do....need to find some time...probably not earlier than this weekend, if you don't mind... I know how it is myself thanks for pitching in for all!

..steps 1 (list) and step 3 (flash) worked. Step 1 produced the appropriate output...tested with 1 card only (sorry my Win7 MoBo only has 1x PCI-E-x4+) Step 2 (save config) did not work...complained about a bad parameter....but I didn't care because my cards were unconfigured spares. I have updated the zip now. Would you mind going through all three stages again (So I know this is done completely and help others). Changes are as followed Stage 2, it turns out you must specify what controller # you wish to back up the ALL switch is not supported and the N is a place holder for # you must input. I defaulted it to Zero but the batch file will prompt you to check stage 1's output file to see what controller was issued what #. In a one card system this should always be Zero (the default I put in). Changed Stage 3 to Flash ALL MegaRAID SAS2008 controller in one shot that it finds. Again the batch will prompt if that is not what you wish change it. So j5428 / Ford Perfect would end up reflashing to the same firmware you are already at now. Talk about no doc's for the MegaCLi, and -help sucks as well....

...I was only able to flash my card after adding the "-NoVerChk" option, like this: MegaCli_x64.exe -adpfwflash -f imr_fw.rom -NoSigChk -NoVerChk -a0 -ApplogFile Flashlog.txt My FW before flash was 20.10.1-0020. I did flash under Win7_x64...hit ad to install the LSI Drivers for Win7 first. Thanks, I saw the switch but did not seem safe to apply (better off having less & have someone like you check first ), so Thank you for testing and confirming, I will add it soon and re-zip. But before i do, did all the other batch files work? and export files out for historic sake?

Yes, I declare myself guilty Thanks...but this is the standard IR mode FW, right? AFAIK unRAID does not come with the megaraid_sas kernel modules... If not for IT mode at least your ZIP with latest FW and scripts comes in handy... thanks! I've updated the IBM cards with FW from LSI before...worked without props... ...the cards are working well under other linux OS with all drives in JBOD (since the latest FW from Dec2010, all non configured disks will automagically be set as JBOD and I haven't seen one drop out as it happened with older FWs. The cards have enough beef to serve drives for unRAID, even with IR FW, i think. ...it's the lack of drivers and maybe smartctl support that prevent them from being a good candidate for unRAID but thats not the cards fault I updated the post to reflect NO megaraid_sas at this time. That is correct this card only has iMR Firmware available. (I dont make firmware ). The card is a good card, chipset, etc... its just not a HBA, I added more notes in the first post as to why (see blue excerpt). The biggest thing for you right now is no driver in unRaid for it to be able to test and see how you like it... sorry but that will have to be a request with LimeTech.

I need your help with specifics to iron this one out (as I do not have one of these cards). 1) You have a IBM M1015 correct? 2) You downloaded the "LSI MegaRAID SAS2008 Controller.zip - 5.32 MB" zip file correct? 3) What OS were you booted into? and architecture of the OS 32bit or 64bit? (ex. Windows XP 32 bit) 4) Did you first run one of the "1_ListAdaptors_xXX.bat" batch files? If so could you post or PM me the 4 txt files it should have exported (AdaptersInfo1.txt, AdaptersInfo2.txt, AdaptersInfo3.txt, AdaptersTime-Date.txt) 5) Did you run one of the second batch files "2_Backup_Controller_Configuration_xXX.bat", did it export out a "Controller.cfg" file containing the controllers configuration in it (should not 6) For the third stage batch file ("3_Flash_to_latest_IR_mode_xXX.bat) the IBM M1015 is a RAID only card and there is no IT mode firmware, can you post or PM me what message you received and if it exported out a "Flashlog.txt" file, if so could you post or PM me that file I forgot to meantion but hopefully you saw, I did not find any commandline available to backup the FW/Bios, just backup the controllers configuration! please be aware of this...

...OK, I tested (under Windoze with my IBM ServeRAID M1015 (LSI SAS2008, re-branded/custom version of 9240-8i) the sas2flash utility from your zip is version 7, although it should be version 9, yes?...at least you did supply the original docs of P9 with your zip sas2flash v7 did not recognise my IBM card (step 1 "LIST")...downloaded v9 from LSI...same result ...looks like my M1015 is still a no go :'( Not for your situation, but you cannot use v9 of sas2flash it will not allow rebadged cards to be flashed, its in my notes with the zip. v7 with "-o" command added WORKIE WORKIE

...OK, I tested (under Windoze with my IBM ServeRAID M1015 (LSI SAS2008, re-branded/custom version of 9240-8i) the sas2flash utility from your zip is version 7, although it should be version 9, yes?...at least you did supply the original docs of P9 with your zip sas2flash v7 did not recognise my IBM card (step 1 "LIST")...downloaded v9 from LSI...same result ...looks like my M1015 is still a no go :'( Sure you had to get a MegaRAID card involved I added it for you, please go slow and test each stage, let me know, stop if you are not sure of anything. Personally i do not believe this is a good canidate card for unraid. I forgot to meantion but hopefully you saw, I did not find any commandline available to backup the FW/Bios, just backup the controllers configuration! please be aware of this...

Should not be an issue at all, but very pricey for a 8 port card.

....Windoze?... Is there a DOS version of sas2flash or will the x86 version provided just work under DOS? If it has to be windows...do you recommend to install the card AFTER installing windows first and/or run without win-drivers loaded? regards, Ford I believe (pretty sure) they are DOS compatible, so you could give it a shot. Nope just checked you would have to download the DOS version of the file, swapout and change the batch file code. Most people would have a harder time find DOS to make this happen, I assumed that everyone here could quickly load 2000, XP, W7, etc… I personal load W2K8R2 faster and smaller than W7 when I dont have a box with an OS and/or PCI-E slot around. I always had the card already in when adding the OS. MS already has drivers for ALL of them (MS – LSI compatibility is very good), but I know for a fact you could add the card later, the OS will just add the drivers and ask you to reboot. 85% of the flashes I did were just dropped the card into a PC at work that already had an OS and flashed. You are done in a few minutes. Shutdown PC, add card, boot up, copied zip from USB stick to local, I don’t like running these types of things off USB as if there is a hiccup bye bye controller. Run all 3 stages (you can skip to stage 3 if you don’t care about 1 & 2), shutdown, remove card, and its ready for your end destination unRAID box.

LSI MegaRAID with SAS2008 chipsets 1) IBM ServeRAID M1015 2) Intel RS2WC080 Please let me know (PM or post here) what Card you have successfully flashed with the LSI MegaRAID SAS2008 chipset with the provided zip. 20.10.1-0037 (APP-2.120.54-1235) / 15-APR-11 Only iMR mode available. LSI MegaRAID SAS2008 Controller.zip - 5.32 MB (Windows) Linux Driver: megaraid_sas - supports the LSI SAS1078, SAS1078 GEN2, SAS1079 GEN2, SAS0073 and SAS0071 chipsets. Though is is an old version indeed. (Thanks to "BRiT"s prior post) unRAID Support: Driver not included at this point. Drive Spin Down support: YES (UPDATE: Added as of 5.0Beta7) Drive Temp Readings: YES 3TB Drive Support with this card: YES (UPDATE: 5.0Beta7 added 3TB Drive support) Update: Convert your LSI MegaRAID controller card with LSI SAS2008 chipset to a Plain SAS2008 controller card (IT or IR mode), will look and feel like a LSI SAS9211-8i, and will be ready to use with unRAID (BIG THANKS to KKM for creating the empty.bin, so you dont need to have to worry about which sbr to obtain and use.) 1) IBM ServeRAID M1015 (tested successfully) 2) Intel RS2WC080 (tested successfully) Please let me know (PM or post here) what Card you have successfully flashed with the LSI MegaRAID to SAS2008 with the provided zip. LSI MegaRAID to SAS2008(P10).zip - 6.38 MB (DOS, via bootable usb key) LSI MegaRAID to SAS2008(P11).zip - 5.87 MB (DOS, via bootable usb key) Please read the __READMEFIRST.txt file so you are clear as to all the steps and why it is important not to skip any steps. Converting it follows all details in the post above for the LSI SAS2008 chipset (firmware release, support, etc.)

LSI SAS2004 chipset 1) LSI SAS9211-4i Please let me know (PM or post here) what Card you have successfully flashed with the LSI SAS2004 chipset with the provided zip. FW: 10.00.02.00 / BIOS: 7.19.00.00 / 15-JUN-11 (LSI P10) Both IT/IR mode available. LSI SAS2004 Controllers(P10).zip - 2.32 MB (Windows) After you expand the zip file, please read the file "__ReadMeFirst.txt" before doing anything! LSI SAS2004 Controllers(P10)Linux.zip - 3.16 MB (unRAID) FW: 11.00.00.00 / BIOS: 7.21.00.00 / 22-AUG-11 (LSI P11) Both IT/IR mode available. LSI SAS2004 Controllers(P11).rar - 1.94 MB (Windows) After you expand the zip file, please read the file "__ReadMeFirst.txt" before doing anything! LSI SAS2004 Controllers(P11)Linux.rar - 2.88 MB (unRAID) Linux Driver: MPT2SAS - supports the LSI SAS2004, SAS2008, SAS2108, SAS2116, SAS2208, and SAS2308 chipsets. (Thanks to "BRiT"s prior post) unRAID Support: Added as of 5.0Beta6a Drive Spin Down Support: YES (UPDATE: Added as of 5.0Beta7) Drive Temp Readings: YES 3TB Drive Support with this card: YES (UPDATE: 5.0Beta7 added 3TB Drive support) *** Note: Multiple controllers all post under one MPT2SAS Bios, there are global setting that affect all controllers and individual settings per controller available *** LSI SAS2008 chipset 1) LSI SAS9211-8i 2) SuperMicro X8SI6-F with onboard SAS2008 controller Please let me know (PM or post here) what Card you have successfully flashed with the LSI SAS2008 chipset with the provided zip. FW: 10.00.02.00 / BIOS: 7.19.00.00 / 15-JUN-11 (LSI P10) Both IT/IR mode available. LSI SAS2008 Controllers(P10).zip - 2.59 MB (Windows) After you expand the zip file, please read the file "__ReadMeFirst.txt" before doing anything! LSI SAS2008 Controllers(P10)Linux.zip - 3.43 MB (unRAID) FW: 11.00.00.00 / BIOS: 7.21.00.00 / 22-AUG-11 (LSI P11) Both IT/IR mode available. LSI SAS2008 Controllers(P11).rar - 2.21 MB (Windows) After you expand the zip file, please read the file "__ReadMeFirst.txt" before doing anything! LSI SAS2008 Controllers(P11)Linux.rar - 3.16 MB (unRAID) Linux Driver: MPT2SAS - supports the LSI SAS2004, SAS2008, SAS2108, SAS2116, SAS2208, and SAS2308 chipsets. (Thanks to "BRiT"s prior post) unRAID Support: Added as of 5.0Beta6a Drive Spin Down Support: YES (UPDATE: Added as of 5.0Beta7) Drive Temp Readings: YES 3TB Drive Support with this card: YES (UPDATE: 5.0Beta7 added 3TB Drive support) *** Note: Multiple controllers all post under one MPT2SAS Bios, there are global setting that affect all controllers and individual settings per controller available *** *** Note: If combined with any other MPT2SAS Controller/s (ex. (1) LSI SAS2116 and (1) LSI SAS2008 they post under one MPT2SAS BIOs *** LSI SAS2116 chipset 1) LSI SAS9201-16i Please let me know (PM or post here) what Card you have successfully flashed with the LSI SAS2116 chipset with the provided zip. FW: 10.00.02.00 / BIOS: 7.19.00.00 / 15-JUN-11 (LSI P10) Only IT mode available. LSI SAS2116 Controllers(P10).zip - 2.28 MB (Windows) After you expand the zip file, please read the file "__ReadMeFirst.txt" before doing anything! LSI SAS2116 Controllers(P10)Linux.zip - 3.12 MB (unRAID) FW: 11.00.00.00 / BIOS: 7.21.00.00 / 22-AUG-11 (LSI P11) Only IT mode available. LSI SAS2116 Controllers(P11).rar - 1.97 MB (Windows) After you expand the zip file, please read the file "__ReadMeFirst.txt" before doing anything! LSI SAS2116 Controllers(P11)Linux.rar - 2.91 MB (unRAID) Linux Driver: MPT2SAS - supports the LSI SAS2004, SAS2008, SAS2108, SAS2116, SAS2208, and SAS2308 chipsets. (Thanks to "BRiT"s prior post) unRAID Support: Added as of 5.0beta6a Drive Spin Down Support: YES (UPDATE: Added as of 5.0Beta7) Drive Temp Readings: YES 3TB Drive Support with this card: YES (UPDATE: 5.0Beta7 added 3TB support) *** Note: Multiple controllers all post under one MPT2SAS Bios, there are global setting that affect all controllers and individual settings per controller available *** *** Note: If combined with any other MPT2SAS Controller/s (ex. (1) LSI SAS9201-16i and (1) LSI SAS9211-8i they post under one MPT2SAS BIOs *** LSI SAS2 Series Flash via ESXi 5.0 Package includes ALL files to flash via ESX 5.0: 1) LSI SAS2004 1) LSI SAS2008 1) LSI SAS2116 LSI P10 LSI SAS2series Controllers(P10)ESX5.rar - 2.61 MB (ESXi5.0) LSI P11 LSI SAS2series Controllers(P11)ESX5.rar - 2.4 MB (ESXi5.0) After you expand the zipped file, please read the file "_ReadMeFirst.txt" before doing anything! Note: Not for beginners

LSI SAS1068E chipset 1) LSI SAS 3081-R 2) IBM BR10i 3) Intel SASUC8I Please let me know (PM or post here) what Card you have successfully flashed with the LSI SAS1068E chipset with the provided zip FW:1.32.00.00, BIOS 6.34.00.00 / 20-DEC-10 (LSI P20) Both IT/IR mode available LSI SAS1068E Controllers(P20).zip - 3.8 MB (Windows) LSI SAS1068E Controllers(P20)Linux.zip - 4.5 MB (unRAID) FW:1.33.00.00, BIOS 6.36.00.00 / 22-AUG-11 (LSI P21) Both IT/IR mode available LSI SAS1068E Controllers(P21).rar - 1.46 MB (Windows) LSI SAS1068E Controllers(P21)Linux.rar - 2.02 MB (unRAID) Linux Driver: MPTSAS - supports the LSI SAS1064, SAS1064A, SAS1064E, SAS1066, SAS1068, SAS1068E, and SAS1078 chipsets. (Thanks to "BRiT"s prior post) unRAID Support: Added as of 5.0Beta6a Drive Spin Down Support: YES (UPDATE: Added as of 5.0Beta7) Drive Temp Readings: YES 3TB Drive Support with this card: Will only offer 2.2TB out of 3TB (UPDATE: even though 5.0Beta7 added 3TB Drive support, this card does NOT support 3TB drives, it only sees and uses 2.2TB from a 3TB drive) *** Note: Multiple controllers all post under one MPTSAS Bios, there are global setting that affect all controllers and individual settings per controller available ***

Moderator note: madburg started this way back in May of 2011, and deserves an enormous amount of credit and appreciation, from many users (both unRAID users and others from around the web). Fireball3 has picked it up and is maintaining it now, and also deserves much credit and appreciation. But it has now grown to over 74 pages, and as the flash files and tools and instructions have been upgraded over time, it has become hard to find the latest info for particular situations and hardware. So a wiki page has been created, to compile all the best info into one place. It is still a work in progress, but is now usable. We can't promise however that all of the latest info is in it yet, so a search of this thread may still be important. (madburg, if this note bothers you, feel free to remove it, or edit as you wish) Wiki page compilation of this thread (work in progress): Crossflashing Controllers Many people are looking for alternatives to HAVING to use the supermicro controllers. Not that there isn’t anything wrong with them. But having more options than 1 controller is always welcome. Also it seems no one has successfully been able to pass-through the supermicro controllers in ESXi which for some is a big thing. There are faster performing cards (channels, etc.) as well as 6Gb/s out there that can be obtained for less or about the same money as the supermicro's. USED in most cases or pulls from brand new servers, or just Froogle shopping. There are various skill sets in the unRAID community so I am putting this post together to help those who require an easy method of being able to flash FIRMWARE & BIOs for popular LSI Controllers. Whether they are onboard (motherboard) or external LSI or rebadged LSI controllers. I have compiled the zip files to contain at least: 1) Original Manufacturer Product Brief PDF for each LSI IO Controller chipset 2) All original Readme files which came with the manufactures Firmware Download 3) Batch files to first “LIST” what controllers were found and details about them 4) Batch files to secondly backup your current controllers Firmware & Bios 5) Batch files to Flash to Initator-Target (IT) mode AND/OR back to Integrated RAID (IR) mode These batch files have been setup to Flash rebadged version of LSI controllers as well. This is based on you performing these flashes from a Windows 32bit or 64bit OS. You will notice there is 2 batch file for each stage based on the platform you are running. I decided to remove the dependence of using “choice.exe” to create a single batch file to do all the stages as I saw issues with the x64 version of “choice.exe” as well as various OS’s in the mix. I could definitely create a script to do all this but currently do not have the time and not everyone would be able to follow it, so the batch files make it very clear to all. *** Disclaimer – You are doing this at your own risk by performing a flash on a controller *** This is done all day long by many people in the world, but sometimes cards are bad or are going bad, you lose power, etc… Please keep this in mind. Best practices are: 1) Put the pc you are inserting your LSI controller into on a UPS 2) Don’t boot off a drive that is connected to the controller you will be flashing Not that it is not to say you have to follow this best practice, I flashed all of my (2-IBM BR10i, 1-LSI 9211-8i, 1-onboard SAS2008, 1-LSISAS2116) without having them on UPS, and one of them was booted off the controller I was flashing. But something to definitely keep in mind and aware of. I am adding some place holder while I put the rest of the Post together below. Comments/suggestions/QA is appreciated. Please add your card if it worked for you. I found the following excerpt on ServeTheHome.com and could not say it better myself: It is a well known practice that many vendors re-brand LSI RAID cards and host bus adapters (HBAs) using different firmware and re-sell them as their own. Oftentimes, re-branded cards are less expensive to acquire than their LSI counterparts making re-brands highly desirable. It is also well known that using the initiator-target (IT) firmware mode is a great way to give up the RAID features of the cards, treating the cards instead as simple HBAs in IT mode. In turn, this allows operating systems that handle parity calculations to directly access the drives, thereby reducing the rate of TLER dropouts from RAID arrays among other things. I am not too crazy about the fileswap provider I found to hold these zip files so if someone could recommend another service I will move them. Note: All updates must be done with Admin prevledges (watch out for UAC level in Vista/W7/W2K8/W2K8R2 OS's) Once you have flashed your conroller card to IT mode, I recommend you change the "Boot Support" to "Disabled" via the LSI BIOS settings (CTRL-C). This will not offer any drive to be bootable to the system bios, posts must quicker and lets unRAID have sole control over the drives, which is what we want. Additional Note: If you receive a "Failed to initialize PAL" message while trying to flash a LSI controller card, it is most likely due to your motherboard having limited Option ROM. You will need to find another motherboard to use to flash the controller card. This has been the only reported issue thus far. Complements of Zeron’s find: http://kb.lsi.com/KnowledgebaseArticle15807.aspx and http://kb.lsi.com/KnowledgebaseArticle16266.aspx Another read from the LSI KnowledgeBase "Using drives >2TB in capacity with LSI SAS HBAs":http://kb.lsi.com/KnowledgebaseArticle16399.aspx