LSI Controller FW updates IR/IT modes


Recommended Posts

Can Dell Perc h310 be flashed with LSI 2008  P16 firmware or does it need to be flashed with Dell's HBA IT firmware?

 

I have both firmwares, instructions and all the tools and files I have collected from this site, dell, LSI, etc. ready to put on a bootable USB DOS stick and flash it once my card arrives in the mail this afternoon.

 

I found a nice compilation of tools here:

http://forums.laptopvideo2go.com/topic/29059-sas2008-lsi92409211-firmware-files/

 

 

The Dell firmware I have is    07.03.06.00 A10

 

The LSI package is  9211_8i_Package_P16_IR_IT_Firmware_BIOS_for_MSDOS_Windows

 

I had many issues trying to get an LSI card to work in an eVGA Classified 3  x58 motherboard 3 years ago because their BIOS and the LSI BIOS uses the same option ROM address space. My plan is to find another system I have that is not a tweaked out overclocker board and use that to flash with. I have some simpler Z68, Z77, B75, 680i LT etc. boards I could use flash.

 

Any advice on this card would be helpful.

 

thanks

 

Link to comment

Can Dell Perc h310 be flashed with LSI 2008  P16 firmware or does it need to be flashed with Dell's HBA IT firmware?

 

I have both firmwares, instructions and all the tools and files I have collected from this site, dell, LSI, etc. ready to put on a bootable USB DOS stick and flash it once my card arrives in the mail this afternoon.

 

I found a nice compilation of tools here:

http://forums.laptopvideo2go.com/topic/29059-sas2008-lsi92409211-firmware-files/

 

 

The Dell firmware I have is    07.03.06.00 A10

 

The LSI package is  9211_8i_Package_P16_IR_IT_Firmware_BIOS_for_MSDOS_Windows

 

I had many issues trying to get an LSI card to work in an eVGA Classified 3  x58 motherboard 3 years ago because their BIOS and the LSI BIOS uses the same option ROM address space. My plan is to find another system I have that is not a tweaked out overclocker board and use that to flash with. I have some simpler Z68, Z77, B75, 680i LT etc. boards I could use flash.

 

Any advice on this card would be helpful.

 

thanks

 

Ok.  I had no luck with the LSI P16 firmware on the Perc h310 but I did manage to get the Dell HBA firmware to flash.

 

Dell firmware: http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/19/DriverDetails?driverId=YJ78T&fileId=3203984450#OldVersion

SASHBA_Firmware_6GBPS-SAS-HBA_07.03.06.00_A10_ZPE.exe

 

I used this pack of tools: http://forums.laptopvideo2go.com/topic/29059-sas2008-lsi92409211-firmware-files/

and created a DOS USB Flash boot drive and put MegaRec.exe and sbrempty.bin on it along with the contents of

SASHBA_Firmware_6GBPS-SAS-HBA_07.03.06.00_A10_ZPE.exe from Dell

 

I booted my Asus A8N-SLI with the Perc h310 in the 2nd PCI Express x16 slot and a PCI MX400 video card. I had everything but the sata controller and USB turned off in the Mobo BIOS.

 

At the C:\ prompt I entered:

 

  megacli -AdpAllInfo -aAll

to find the SAS address (be ready to hit the pause/break key as it scrolls)

 

Now to wipe the card

 

  megarec -writesbr 0 sbrempty.bin

  megarec -cleanflash 0

 

then I programmed the firmware:

 

  sas2flsh -o -f 6gbpsas.fw

 

I did not need boot time BIOS access so I went right to programming  the SAS address

 

  sas2flsh -o -sasadd 590b1cxxxxxxxxx

 

I restarted the machine and entered:

 

  sas2flsh -list

 

This showed of course there was no BIOS installed on the card.

 

At this point I am almost ready to install the card.

I searched around and came up with smallish 40 or 50mm PWM fan and attached it to the Perc h310 heatsink with a couple course thread machine screws.

 

I installed the card in my Win 7 x64 Ultimate backup media server. Win7 already had drivers but I went to LSI and got their latest here:

http://www.lsi.com/support/Pages/Download-Results.aspx?productcode=P00049&assettype=Firmware&component=Storage%20Component&productfamily=Host%20Bus%20Adapters&productname=LSI%20SAS%209211-8i

 

I used these: LSImpt_SAS2_Windows7_Windows_Server_2008_R2_P16.zip

 

All is good again. I am getting 120MB transfers between Movie drives in the same machine  vs. the dismal  28MB/sec transfers I got using a couple Silicon Image 3114 PCI adapters. Yay!!! ;D

 

Link to comment

Hi 2 all unraiders!

I'm in the process of gathering equipment for an unraid server.

I already set up an ASUS M4A87TD EVO with a 140 Sempron and 2GB RAM.

Unraid is already running with 3 test drives.

Before going live with the big drives I want to make sure to have enough free slots for

upgrading because I expect the 5+1 (sata+esata) slots that come with the mobo will soon be fully equipped.

 

After reading this http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=12767.msg139775#msg139775

I shot myself a Fujitsu D2607 on ebay and yesterday I tried to put it in IT mode with the MEGA firmware.

Tried v10 and v11 and it seems it's not possible. I have the same issue as described here (Failed to validate MfgPage2!):

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=12767.msg137851#msg137851

 

At that point I turned google on again and found a thread on a german forum.

http://www.hardwareluxx.de/community/f15/lsi-megaraid-und-dell-perc-5-6-sas-sata-pcie-5-a-793769-74.html#post19868191

User tdz2000 states that it is not possible to flash the FSC D2607 with IR/IT firmware. Well, that's what I already learned...

But he provides a method to flash the LSI MegaRAID SAS 9240-8i firmware.

Unfortunately I don't fully understand what he's trying to do in his steps. Any help appreciated!

 

Let me translate it for you:

1. download the firmware from FSC website and run it //purpose not clear 2 me//

- reboot -

2. megarec -writesbr 0 sbrempty.bin //write an empty.sbr like in the tutorial available in this tread//

3. megarec -cleanflash 0 //delete flash//

- reboot -

4. Megarec -writesbr 0 sbrlsi.bin //don't know which sbrlsi.bin to use; he just says: sbrlsi.bin is found with google... :-( ; in fact, I found one file which is suitable for 9260, 9280 a.s.o and I wonder if it will work for 9240 also?; anybody here with a proper sbrlsi.bin? //

5. download firmware for LSI MegaRAID SAS 9240-8i and

megarec -m0flash 0 xxxxxxxx.rom

- reboot -

6. Megarec -writesbr 0 D2607.bin //write the original Fujitsu SBR else it will "hang up" at boot//

7. MegaOEM -AdpSetSASA xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx -a0 //write back the card id - will not work with mega.exe; use megaoem.exe  (a0 = controller number if there are more than 1)//

 

I had problems in finding the sbrlsi.bin and obviously chose a wrong one because

it issued an error but the next step went through (had it all done in a batch file).

At that point I had to stop because there was no more time for toying around.

Today I have to let him write a new ADAPTERS.TXT to get some more information and make sure it's a LSI.

 

Now I'm wondering if I can make use of the card without the dedicated IT mode?

What problems should I expect?

 

br

Fireball

 

Link to comment

[...]

User tdz2000 states that it is not possible to flash the FSC D2607 with IR/IT firmware. Well, that's what I already learned...

But he provides a method to flash the LSI MegaRAID SAS 9240-8i firmware.

[...]

 

Now I'm wondering if I can make use of the card without the dedicated IT mode?

What problems should I expect?

 

...in recent LSI MegaRAID firmwares, all unconfigured disks will be presented as individual disks in JBOD mode.

This would allow you to use the disks individually, whithout HW RAID at a very small, IMHO unnoticeable performance penalty (because of the sw stack of the raid firmware being larger)

What you'll need is the MegaRAID driver for unRAID / in the unRAID kernel.

AFAIR this is not supplied/part of the standard image.

Link to comment
.in recent LSI MegaRAID firmwares, all unconfigured disks will be presented as individual disks in JBOD mode.

Yes, that was my last hope.

 

This guy apparently has it working with "unsupported firmware" (LSI 9240 8i???)

http://mmurayama.blogspot.de/2013/02/setting-up-jbod-with-fujitsu-d2607-raid.html

 

What you'll need is the MegaRAID driver for unRAID / in the unRAID kernel.

Now this is really bad news isn't it?  :'(

 

:'( :'( :'(...going to search the forums... :'( :'( :'(

 

Edit:

Ford Perfect, it's been a while, but I read you also had troubles flashing the M1015.

You flashed with

MegaCli_x64.exe -adpfwflash -f imr_fw.rom -NoSigChk -NoVerChk -a0 -ApplogFile Flashlog.txt

I also flashed the LSI firmware with megarec not sas2flash.

 

Would it be possible to flash the IT.rom with megarec instead of sas2flash?

 

 

Link to comment

.in recent LSI MegaRAID firmwares, all unconfigured disks will be presented as individual disks in JBOD mode.

Yes, that was my last hope.

 

This guy apparently has it working with "unsupported firmware" (LSI 9240 8i???)

http://mmurayama.blogspot.de/2013/02/setting-up-jbod-with-fujitsu-d2607-raid.html

 

What you'll need is the MegaRAID driver for unRAID / in the unRAID kernel.

Now this is really bad news isn't it?  :'(

 

:'( :'( :'(...going to search the forums... :'( :'( :'(

 

This is "just" a kernel module.

There are quite some customizations around, like support for DVB cards and stuff.

...what it takes is to find someone who can compile that module for you, if you are not able to do that on your own.

The backdraw is, that your unRAID will move away from being a standard version...

 

Ford Perfect, it's been a while, but I read you also had troubles flashing the M1015.

You flashed with

MegaCli_x64.exe -adpfwflash -f imr_fw.rom -NoSigChk -NoVerChk -a0 -ApplogFile Flashlog.txt

I also flashed the LSI firmware with megarec not sas2flash.

 

Would it be possible to flash the IT.rom with megarec instead of sas2flash?

 

no that is not possible, AFAIK.

There are three version of LSI FW, from two product lines.

First it for MegaRAID and hold the "advanced" RAID FW.

Second is for HBA with IT FW or IR (which is a "light RAID") FW.

 

The cross-flash process involves a step where the card gets wiped, so it will accept "anything fit".

When the card is empty or already flashed with an IT/IR version, you can only use sas2flash to perform the action to flash the IT/IR version.

When the card carries a MegaRAID FW, you need to use the tools from that product line and it will not allow you to flash the IT (or IR) FW.

 

Each product line comes with its dedicated set of tools.

I believe what the tools do is "imprint" the card to declare them of being either type HBA or MegaRAID....and the FW must match that.

Link to comment

Still looking for an appropriate HBA.

It's not so easy to find one at reasonable prices in Europe/Germany - I envy you guys in the US!.

Found a Perc H310 @ebay for about 70€+shipping but would that work?

 

I was finally able to flash the Dell H310 with an IT Firmware!  :)

 

I basically follwed the guide here:  http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=1045376

 

But the first thing I had to do was wipe the card completely otherwise sas2flsh would not recognize it as an LSI card.  So, I did:

 

megarec -writesbr 0 sbrempty.bin
megarec -cleanflash 0

 

and then flashed it with the firmware found here:  http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/19/DriverDetails/Product/poweredge-r610?DriverId=6M53D&FileId=2731103519&DriverName=Dell%206Gbps%20SAS%20HBA%2C%20v.07.03.05.00%2C%20A08&urlProductCode=False  Funny that Dell actually provides this firmware but in the same breath will tell you that the H310 cannot be flashed with an IT firmware.

 

sas2flsh -o -f 6gbpsas.fw

 

Then flash with the mptsas2.rom.

 

sas2flsh -o -b mptsas2.rom

 

Lastly, add the SAS Address back to teh card:

 

sas2flsh -o -sasadd 500605bxxxxxxxxx

 

That's it.  I now have an H310 that I can passthrough in ESXi.  :)

 

John

 

Is it correct, that despite the IT mode that comes with the dell firmware, this controller will not necessarily work with unraid since it is not the LSI firmware?

I suppose the driver for this specific firmware is provided by ESXi?

So, if I don't want to set up an ESXi, the fact that IT mode is working is not enough.

 

Then one should try the last steps described in this thread:

http://forums.servethehome.com/raid-controllers-host-bus-adapters/467-dell-h200-flash-firmware-procedure-dell-servers.html

 

THIS IS AN IMPORTANT STEP.

From DELL IR go to DELL IT (6GBPSAS.FW)

From DELL IT go to LSI IT P7 (using sasflash -o -f ... )

From LSI IT P7 go to LSI IT PX (where X is any firmware version)

 

The OP did that with the Perc H200. Doing it with the H310 is an EXPERIMENT!  :-\

 

 

Link to comment
  • 3 weeks later...

After successfully bricking the Fujitsu D2607 by downflashing it  :'(

I'm proud to be able to contribute to this thread and hereby report:

 

LSI MegaRAID with SAS2008 chipsets

 

3) DELL Perc H310 as well as H200 Flashed successfully to LSI9211-8i IT (P20)

 

 

3TB Drive Support with this card: YES (UPDATE: 5.0Beta7 added 3TB Drive support)

Drive Spin Down support: YES (UPDATE: Added as of 5.0Beta7)

Drive Temp Readings: YES

 

Toolset_PercH310 to LSIMegaraid.zip (DOS, via bootable usb key)

http://www45.zippyshare.com/v/51016808/file.html (for some reason I can't embed the link...)

MD5:80174075959fb7d1ff8c6362f7241bfe

 

Update on 06.08.2014

Included the P19 firmware

http://www21.zippyshare.com/v/9541812/file.html

 

Update on 01.12.2014

Possible issues with P20 firmware! See this post and this.

Update on 23.10.2015

There is an new version of Avago (former LSI) P20 (20.00.04.00) which seems to be OK with unRAID. See this post.

 

Update on 15.09.2015

User opentoe found out that the DELL IT firmware is also working with unRAID.

It's your decision what to flash. Flashing DELL firmware is easier and supported by DELL!

opentoe's verdict on DELL IT or Avago (former LSI).

 

Update on 07.06.2016

There is a new firmware from Avago. P20.00.07.00

The toolset has been updated accordingly. First impressions.

http://www3.zippyshare.com/v/xZKIOHaz/file.html

https://www.mediafire.com/?8f82hx4c032a929

MD5: 24f7d428292e00f9dee6f715d8564202

 

Update on 30.12.2016

Firmware is still P20.00.07.00

Switch to RUFUS for bootdisk creation.

Added alternative ways to extract controller info if MegaCli is not working.

https://www.mediafire.com/?9cbklh4i1002n23

MD5: 7d90f84c831e8b939c5536d9eb03ba81

 

Update on 23.02.2017

Firmware is still P20.00.07.00

Uses sas2flsh through the whole process.

Tested on a "backflashed" H200, to be confirmed on a stock H200 card and on H310's.

Card backup is now dumping the full flash. This can be used to restore the initial condition of the card.

Added script for automatic SAS address extraction. No reboot necessary any more.

 https://www.mediafire.com/?0op114fpim9xwwf

MD5: 2fbe3d562846e493714a9e8ac3f15923

Due to missing UEFI environment, no changes nor testing with UEFI shell.

 

Update on 30.03.2017, v2

Firmware is still P20.00.07.00

Spiced up the routines with some checks to automatically select the right tool if one is not working.

Tested on a stock H310 as well as a H200 - works for me. Post your experience in the forum.

https://www.mediafire.com/?6b77v4s7czluvs2

MD5: 6cb92336ff537aeb838085a028aa6601

 

Update on 11.04.2017, v3

Firmware is still P20.00.07.00

Added files for use in an EFI environment. Untested due to missing hardware.

Post your experience in the forum.

https://www.mediafire.com/?9ovj2rxuaf43wv4

MD5: t.b.d.

 

Update on 17.04.2017, v4 <--- this is the latest, use this one!

Firmware is still P20.00.07.00

Corrections for EFI environment. Untested due to missing hardware.

Post your experience in the forum.

https://www.mediafire.com/?py9c1w5u56xytw2

MD5: t.b.d.

 

If you experience the "failed to initialize PAL" error somewhere in step 5, you have to boot from

UEFI shell and try again or use another mainboard. See here how to use UEFI shell (Kudos 2 Maglin).

 

Make sure you read and understand the __READMEFIRST.txt before starting!

If you experience troubles or something is not clear, don't hesitate to ask for help.

You can help improving the howto by doing so. Chances are small but you can brick the controller!

 

Edited by Fireball3
  • Like 2
  • Thanks 1
  • Upvote 8
Link to comment

After successfully bricking the Fujitsu D2607 by downflashing it  :'(

I'm proud to be able to contribute to this thread and hereby report:

 

LSI MegaRAID with SAS2008 chipsets

 

3) DELL Perc H310 Flashed successfully to LSI9211-8i IT (P15)

 

Files and instructions for flashing will be put together and added to this post ASAP.

 

3TB Drive Support with this card: YES (UPDATE: 5.0Beta7 added 3TB Drive support)

Drive Spin Down support: YES (UPDATE: Added as of 5.0Beta7)

Drive Temp Readings: YES

 

Toolset_PercH310 to LSIMegaraid.zip (DOS, via bootable usb key)

I just got a perc H310, good job.  Unfortunately every machine I have either will not POST, or throws the PAL error in SAS2FLSH.
Link to comment

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 ***

 

This will not work with a LSI Logic / Symbios Logic MegaRAID SAS 1078 (rev 03) on a Intel Server Board S5000PSL

Link to comment

I'm having some real issues with a Dell Perc 6/i (based on 1078 chipset) and would really appreciate any help.

 

1.) I first made the mistake of flashing firmware from LSi and it broke the Dell Perc 6i BIOS (no more Ctrl+R and no more booting or posting most of the time):

2.) I used the wrong SAS2008 P11 drivers from here and it wiped the BIOS and the card is no longer detected in any OS.

 

I'm more so interested in this because of all the time I've wasted so far.  I would be very grateful or any tips or solutions on how to proceed to get these cards working even if just as a Dell Perc 6i with JBOD preferably (MegaCli cannot enable JBOD on any of the drives).

 

 

 

I have tried to use MegaRAID to flash back Dell firmware but neither that or Dell's works:

 

/SAS-RAID_Firmware_W83M2_LN32_6.3.1-0003_A14.BIN

Collecting inventory...

.......

Running validation...

 

This Update Package is not compatible with your system configuration.

 

MegaCli64 -adpfwflash -f FW1371iI.rom -NoSigChk -NoVerChk -a0

                                   

Adapter 0: PERC 6/i Adapter

Vendor ID: 0x1000, Device ID: 0x0060

 

Download Completed.   

Flashing image to adapter...

Firmware Failed to FLASH flash. Stop!!!

 

FW error description:

The requested command cannot be completed as the image is corrupted. 

 

Exit Code: 0x13

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

================

 

MegaCli64 -adpfwflash -f mr1078fw.rom -a1

                                   

Adapter 1: PERC 6/i Adapter

Vendor ID: 0x1000, Device ID: 0x0060

 

Package version on the controller: 6.2.0-0013

Package version of the image file: 11.0.1-0048

Download Completed.   

Flashing image to adapter...

Adapter 1: Flash Completed.

Please reboot the system for the changes to take effect

 

============

Release date: 06/18/12

 

======================

Supported Controllers:

======================

MegaRAID SAS 8704ELP

MegaRAID SAS 8704EM2

MegaRAID SAS 8708ELP

MegaRAID SAS 8708EM2

MegaRAID SAS 8880EM2

MegaRAID SAS 8888ELP

 

Link to comment

Just to update I was able to fix 1 of my Perc 6/i cards (the one that didn't have the BIOS erased by megarec).  I was able to just flash back an official Dell firmware and get it working as before (of course no JBOD even with the MegaCli enabled for it it won't change the state of any disk to JBOD).

 

I need a way to use MegaCli or sas2flash to forcefully flash the SAS address of the dead card (with no BIOS).  But it seems all versions of sas2flash are not compatible with my Perc 6/i.  Does anyone have a solution to force flash a ROM back to this dead card based on the SAS Address?

 

 

sas2flash in Linux and in DOS (I've tried every version I could find) always says this:

 

LSI Corporation SAS2 Flash Utility

Version 9.00.00.00 (2011.02.17)

Copyright © 2008-2011 LSI Corporation. All rights reserved

 

No LSI SAS adapters found! Limited Command Set Available!

Finished Processing Commands Successfully.

Exiting SAS2Flash.

 

 

Link to comment

I did actually but unfortunately it's not related to my issue.  My main issue now is that I want the card working but the BIOS was wiped and it is not detected by the system at all (not even with lspci).

megarec wiped out my BIOS and then in the later steps I realized sas2flash does not support my card so this is my dilemma (I can't find a way to flash any BIOS).

 

Does anyone have a solution when sas2flash does not work on a Dell Perc 6/i?

 

Thanks everyone

Link to comment

No tools detect the card unless there's a special Dell BIOS restore/update tool that most don't know about?

Because there is no BIOS you can't flash any firmware, unless you use sas2flash or megarec AFAIK but none of those will detect the card anymore.

 

This is the issue, if I can just flash the BIOS back I can at least restore the firmware and get the card working.

Link to comment

1.) I first made the mistake of flashing firmware from LSi ...

2.) I used the wrong SAS2008 P11 drivers...

Because there is no BIOS you can't flash any firmware...

 

Sorry to say this, but it sounds to me as if you're simply trying things out without knowing what you're actually doing.  :-\

I know it's not easy to find out and understand what's the purpose of each step in the instructions posted here and there. But that's essential if you run into problems and it took me most of the time to find that out. Especially if you have no confirmed working tutorial you should know the background. Ialways have a bad feeling just following some steps without knowing what they will do - but that may be only the engineer in me?

 

Back to topic:

From what I learned it is the other way round.

 

First you have to flash the firmware (-f means firmware)

sas2flsh -o -f ...

In the second step you use (-b means BIOS)

sas2flsh -o -b ...

Whereas you can skip flashing the BIOS if you only need an HBA in IT mode.

Gives you faster boot times.

 

Conclusion: There is no need to have a BIOS to flash the card!

 

You will have to get the right sas2flash to do it.

I also experienced that you cannot flash firmware if the ROM is not cleared.

sas2flash will not detect the controller!

Check the first step here.

 

(Although, last statement is a little bit confusing to me, because when I flashed the H310 I had to flash 3 firmwares consecutively with sas2flash and it worked. But starting with the first flash without clearing didn't work.)

 

If megarec doesn't detect your card anymore there maybe another (bigger) issue?

I see you also used MegaCLI...have no xp with that.

Perhaps you bricked it?

 

Start over:

You should try to get the card cleared and then follow a tutorial which is known to work.

And make sure you use the !right! software.

I used the wrong SAS2008 P11 drivers from...

Try clearing with the same tools you used most recently. Maybe they recognize the card?

 

 

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment

Hey Fireball

 

Yes at first I did not, but the mistakes I made are not related to this issue, and I am very familiar now lol.

I did actually follow the instructions correctly even though I was using the wrong firmware.  The reason the instructions are not an issue is because I was never able to flash a new BIOS or firmware, after megarec wiped the BIOS it was game over because only then did I realize that sas2flash does not support Perc 6/i :(.  It's too bad the tools and instructions don't first verify that sas2flash works, otherwise you're right the card and any card which does not support sas2flash will be bricked AFAIK.

 

The sas2flash tool simply is not compatible with the Perc 6/i as mentioned earlier with error messages showing it is not detected (I tried every version included with the download and others linked from this thread).

 

Yes I understand you don't need a BIOS to flash the card with sas2flash (I tried many different versions of it in DOS and Linux) but I was referring to MegaCli which would technically allow me to flash my firmware back, but it depends on the card being detected (MegaCli cannot detect this card after the BIOS is wipe, it does detect my second remaining alive Perc 6/i of course).

 

The issue is that sas2flash cannot detect the card even with the -o flags and everything else in the manual so there's no way that I can figure out to get the card working again.

 

Even megarec will not recognize the card anymore despite being able to wipe the BIOS.

Do you have any ideas on a possible solution?

 

Thanks so much everyone.

Link to comment

I'll keep checking back here hoping for a solution but my plan is to just buy some Dell SAS 6ir(s) because I've read they support JBOD standard and have read in many places that they work with sas2flash. I think it would be great to warn others by adding to the OP that this will brick your Perc 6/i (until further notice) and consider that maybe sas2flash/sas2flsh should be run first to verify the procedure is possible for any card (eg. otherwise if megarec wipes your BIOS and sas2flash does not support your card you are permanently bricked).

Link to comment

Well, then it's probably bricked.

I also learned it the hard way with that FSC D2607. I probably know now how to do it right but I'm out of controllers  ;D .

(Btw, anyone in here with a Fujitsu Celsius M720 Workstation that has a D2607 controller built in? Mind sharing the S/N of that machine?)

 

I checked your previous posts but I didn't find which instructions you followed that led you so far.

There is this thread that reports successful flashing to IT mode. But instructions were from that HardForum site. Didn't check the content although.

Which OP do you refer to?

 

Why do you want to try again with Perc 6/i?

What is your goal? HBA in IT mode to use with unRAID?

 

 

 

Link to comment

My apologies but I was referring to this thread: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=12767.0

Perhaps my comments should all be moved there if a mod is watching.

 

I want to use HBA in IT mode for unRAID.

I will try the SAS 6ir because it apparently supports JBOD out of the box and is confirmed to flash successfully with LSi BIOS+firmware.

 

I prefer similar cards with the SFF-8484 cables because I have a backplane that uses it on the server I have (Dell FS-12 with 12-bays).

Link to comment

No prob, you refer to this thread. No need to move it. To be more specific, you probably refer to this post in this thread.

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=12767.msg142399;topicseen#msg142399

 

The conclusion at that point is, that it is not tested!

So you were aware of the risk  ;) .

 

But if you search this thread, there is a more recent report with a link to the hardforum.

Won't help you with the bricked controller but perhaps with the new one?

 

I want to use HBA in IT mode for unRAID.

I will try the SAS 6ir because it apparently supports JBOD out of the box...

As far as I understood from this it is not necessarily working if you have it running as JBOD.

You need a firmware which is supported by the unRAID driver (or vice versa)!

 

is confirmed to flash successfully with LSi BIOS+firmware.

Yes, in that post hellbringer flashed it and it seems it's no big deal. He had more problems to get it working in his

specific machine. Perhaps you send him a PM and ask for help?

 

@all who were successful in the end:

If you finally succeed, it would be nice if you come back and post a step by step tutorial (like the ones you downloaded here) along with the software/tools for the Perc 6/i.

It's way better then just reporting "it worked".

Perhaps in a couple of days you have to do it again and you'll start over searching the tools again.

 

Link to comment

I will definitely update, I think it's worthy to note that for any unproven controller that sas2flash MUST be tested/run first to make sure it detects the card.  I also recommend either way not using MegaRec, many have flashed different cards without wiping the BIOS by just using sas2flash.  I believe it may be possible to use megacli alone but no one has documented the -fwtype option to clarify if/how to also flash BIOS.

 

MegaCli -AdpFwFlash -f filename [-NoSigChk] [-NoVerChk] [-FWTYPE n] -aN|-a0,1,2|-aALL

Link to comment

I also have a Dell PERC H310, and was having some issues with it. It would boot just fine in my test system (an old Asus P5N-D) but would not boot in either of my newer systems (Asus P7P55D-E Pro or a MSI 970A-G46). I ended up finding this post by MHzTweaker: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=28727.msg256252#msg256252

 

I ended up having to put a strip of electrical tape over pins B5 and B6 which apparently do this:

The pins you need to mask are:

B5 (SMCLK, SMBus clock) an B6 (SMDAT, SMBus data)

 

When these two are masked you are blocking the SMBus signals, now they cannot interrupt the boot process anymore. In the past there where only some vague guidelines for this, not real standard, which lead to a variety of different implementations, which in the current time lead to issues with new motherboards who do follow the now current standards.

 

As soon as I got that electrical tape on, they are booting just fine. Fireball3 posted here: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=12767.msg259006#msg259006 that he was able to flash to P16 firmware. I was not able to do so using his toolset. At the end of this post is a link to my dropbox that has the zip file I used to flash my card to Dell HBA IT firmware. I have also attached a picture of exactly the pins that need covered with the electrical tape.

 

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4jednhrzbnt2tj6/Flash%20Dell%20PERC%20H310%20for%20unRAID%20-%20Custom%20instructions.zip

Capture.JPG.8f5442a7c2247ecb607974aa8edfc474.JPG

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.