LSI Controller FW updates IR/IT modes


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I choose Avago's firmware as it is holds more functions and has been updated lately - still trying different versions.

 

Thanks

 

Just make sure you are flashing it with the correct chipset firmware. If you aren't, you can brick the card. Once you have confirmed you do have the right firmware files, then you should be able to crossflash it. We don't normally see users asking to flash a card to IR mode, since you can't use passthru at that point but if you are getting those errors you listed above, try another version of the sas2flsh.exe utility. I have noticed that the older versions of that utility let you bypass manufacture ID conflicts and give you much better odds on flashing it successfully.

 

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Yes, it's quite up to date but remember the H310 is limited to 25 queue depth in firmware - Avagos firmware is set up for 600.

 

Can't find it now but I read a site that showed a few different fw differences between these cards and the Lsi/Avago is the prefered fw.

 

An update, I managed to flash P16 It and bios and got rid of Nvdata version mismatch but I cant flash the ir as it complains I can't write ir over it fw.

Not giving up yet.

 

Also, added the original Dell Precision H310 serial boot rom for your collection + a picture showing Dell H310 on the left and Lsi 9211 on the right with device id/subsystem info.

 

Sbr name changed to txt.

DellPrecisionH310.TXT

DellH310vsLsi9211sbrinfo.jpg.4b672ab19cb9eb663f24d600127010fb.jpg

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Just make sure you are flashing it with the correct chipset firmware. If you aren't, you can brick the card. Once you have confirmed you do have the right firmware files, then you should be able to crossflash it. We don't normally see users asking to flash a card to IR mode, since you can't use passthru at that point but if you are getting those errors you listed above, try another version of the sas2flsh.exe utility. I have noticed that the older versions of that utility let you bypass manufacture ID conflicts and give you much better odds on flashing it successfully.

 

I'm using the correct bios/fw but I do notice that flashing to ir is a problem comparing to flashing to it - yes I am trying older version of sas2flsh too. Do you know what the oldest sas2flsh fileversion is ?

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Just make sure you are flashing it with the correct chipset firmware. If you aren't, you can brick the card. Once you have confirmed you do have the right firmware files, then you should be able to crossflash it. We don't normally see users asking to flash a card to IR mode, since you can't use passthru at that point but if you are getting those errors you listed above, try another version of the sas2flsh.exe utility. I have noticed that the older versions of that utility let you bypass manufacture ID conflicts and give you much better odds on flashing it successfully.

 

I'm using the correct bios/fw but I do notice that flashing to ir is a problem comparing to flashing to it - yes I am trying older version of sas2flsh too. Do you know what the oldest sas2flsh fileversion is ?

 

I remember getting the older version of sas2flsh from grabbing an older firmware version from 2011. There are probably over a dozen versions of that utility around. Each firmware download from Avago's site is packaged with the utility. Download some older ones and extract the utility. Dump them all on the USB stick and try them out.

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Yes, it's quite up to date but remember the H310 is limited to 25 queue depth in firmware - Avagos firmware is set up for 600.

 

Can't find it now but I read a site that showed a few different fw differences between these cards and the Lsi/Avago is the prefered fw.

 

An update, I managed to flash P16 It and bios and got rid of Nvdata version mismatch but I cant flash the ir as it complains I can't write ir over it fw.

Not giving up yet.

 

Also, added the original Dell Precision H310 serial boot rom for your collection + a picture showing Dell H310 on the left and Lsi 9211 on the right with device id/subsystem info.

 

Sbr name changed to txt.

 

I read about the queue depth with the Dell firmware as well. I don't know if Dell updated that with their 2014 version IT firmware or not. I've used both versions of the card (Dell IT and LSI IT) and the performance was the same. I can't even remember which versions I have installed right now, but the server is operating very nicely so I won't screw it up. :)

 

 

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I've noticed version 7 of the sas2flsh.exe utility works best. I fooled around with an extra H310 card I had. Also I was able to re-program the SAS address to a different address then what it originally was. Not that this matters much, but just for information. Just as long as there aren't any address conflicts should be ok. Why? Because one H310 card was "messed" up from someone at work and said he "bricked" the card. Apparently he erased everything on the card but I brought it back to life by re-flashing it and re-programming the address.

 

 

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I have the card working with Lsi fw 19 and bios for some days - I used Fireball3 usb files and the only change I did was to flash the 6GBPSAS.FW together with the mptsas2.rom in the same folder. After that I could upgrade to whatever lsi fw and rom I wanted - no more nvdata version mismatch.

 

Everything seems to work as it should exept for one litte feature that I do not know is supposed to work on the 9211-8i.

 

I have a test setup with the 9211-8i and the progress with background initialization is as expected taking several hours - now i want to use fast initialization as my final setup will use 4TB drives.

 

Gropu%20Init.jpg

 

As you can see fast initialization is greyd out and not possible to activate, even though I have a virtual drive the drive is not shown or an option.Fast initialization is not an option in virtual drive properties either - also, if I setup raid in bios there is no option there either.

 

SetVirtualDriveProperties.jpg

 

 

PCI%20Devices.jpg

Downgraded to P9 did not make any change, used several different megaraid storage managers in windows but option is not working.

Wondering it it has anything to with the device id class the card has now, it's listed as sas controller not raid controller as the H310 was.

 

If anyone has an original 9211-8i I will be grateful if they could check this on their card.

 

 

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This thread is confusing.

 

What is the latest version of IBM ServeRaid M1015  firmware?

Yes, it is confusing because many different issues are discussed here.

 

If you want to crossflash the M1015 to LSI IT firmware, the latest is P11.

Because P20 apparently has some data corruption issues, it is recommended to stay with P19!

 

The package linked for the M1015 is not up to date because nobody worked on it.

It shouldn't be a problem to take the P19 (e.g. out of the H310 package) instead of the P16.

 

EDIT: fixed, and linked

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I have the card working with Lsi fw 19 and bios for some days - I used Fireball3 usb files and the only change I did was to flash the 6GBPSAS.FW together with the mptsas2.rom in the same folder. After that I could upgrade to whatever lsi fw and rom I wanted - no more nvdata version mismatch.

 

Everything seems to work as it should exept for one litte feature that I do not know is supposed to work on the 9211-8i.

 

I have a test setup with the 9211-8i and the progress with background initialization is as expected taking several hours - now i want to use fast initialization as my final setup will use 4TB drives.

 

Gropu%20Init.jpg

 

As you can see fast initialization is greyd out and not possible to activate, even though I have a virtual drive the drive is not shown or an option.Fast initialization is not an option in virtual drive properties either - also, if I setup raid in bios there is no option there either.

 

SetVirtualDriveProperties.jpg

 

 

PCI%20Devices.jpg

Downgraded to P9 did not make any change, used several different megaraid storage managers in windows but option is not working.

Wondering it it has anything to with the device id class the card has now, it's listed as sas controller not raid controller as the H310 was.

 

If anyone has an original 9211-8i I will be grateful if they could check this on their card.

 

I made a bootable USB stick and copied multiple versions of the LSI firmware/bios. Multiple versions of the sas2flsh utility, threw in a text based editor and whatever else I could think of so I wouldn't need anything else.

 

That card doesn't have any BBU or on-board cache. I don't think that mode will even turn on. That's my guess.

 

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This thread is confusing.

 

What is the latest version of IBM ServeRaid M1015  firmware?

Yes, it is confusing because many different issues are discussed here.

 

If you want to crossflash the M1015 to LSI IT firmware, the latest is P11.

Because P20 apparently has some data corruption issues, it is recommended to stay with P19!

 

The package linked for the M1015 is not up to date because nobody worked on it.

It shouldn't be a problem to take the P19 (e.g. out of the H310 package) instead of the P16.

 

EDIT: fixed, and linked

 

Has P20 version been confirmed "bad" by multiple users? I opted to use P20, and has been running good. I know there was a document or thread out there here about it.

 

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Has P20 version been confirmed "bad" by multiple users? I opted to use P20, and has been running good. I know there was a document or thread out there here about it.

 

I linked 2 posts. May be more though.

 

LSI/Avago quietly fixed the P20 firmware with a new update. They still called it P20. I suggest do NOT use any of the custom or pre-packaged zip files out there since they all will probably contain the original, faulty firmware. Just download the latest P20 from the Avago site. I did confirm it is the newer firmware. I also got this from LSI/Avago's knowledge base.

 

 

20.00.00.00  OLD

20.00.04.00  NEW

 

Question:

 

Upgrading to firmware phase 20 (20.00.00.00) caused errors in /var/log/messages file

Answer:

 

If you upgrade to phase 20 firmware (20.00.00.00) on LSI SAS HBAs (e.g. LSISAS2004, LSISAS2008, LSISAS2308 based) then you may see this repeated many times in /var/log/messages:

 

mpt2sas0:  log_info (0x31080000):  original (PL), code (0x08), sub_code (0x0000)

 

This has been addressed by Avago and has been fixed in a newer firmware release: 20.00.04.00 (still called phase 20, or P20).  This firmware can be downloaded from the Avago web site (http://www.avagotech.com).

 

To avoid the message, you can flash the controller to an older version of firmware (e.g. phase 19), or flash to the newer firmware release 20.00.04.00 or newer (if available).

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LSI/Avago quietly fixed the P20 firmware with a new update. They still called it P20. I suggest do NOT use any of the custom or pre-packaged zip files out there since they all will probably contain the original, faulty firmware. Just download the latest P20 from the Avago site. I did confirm it is the newer firmware. I also got this from LSI/Avago's knowledge base.

 

20.00.00.00  OLD

20.00.04.00  NEW

 

I'm not sure about it!

This guy mentioned the firmware version 20.0.04 to be problematic with FreeNAS.

Can't say how it works with unRAID.

Finding a changelog for the firmware is hard and I can't tell if upgrading to 20.xx is worth the hassle.

 

I've read somewhere that there is also a firmware specific driver - at least for Windows it is the case.

This means if you update to P20 they recommend to update the driver also.

I don't think that the unRAID driver is updated frequently (if at all) so it will always be a risk to

update to a new firmware.

The new firmware might run flawless with FreeNAS or Win but not necessarily with unRAID (or vice versa).

 

Therefore stay with P19 on a productive system as it is known working with unRAID.

If you have time to test P20, your welcome to do so and share your results with the community.

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LSI/Avago quietly fixed the P20 firmware with a new update. They still called it P20. I suggest do NOT use any of the custom or pre-packaged zip files out there since they all will probably contain the original, faulty firmware. Just download the latest P20 from the Avago site. I did confirm it is the newer firmware. I also got this from LSI/Avago's knowledge base.

 

20.00.00.00  OLD

20.00.04.00  NEW

 

I'm not sure about it!

This guy mentioned the firmware version 20.0.04 to be problematic with FreeNAS.

Can't say how it works with unRAID.

Finding a changelog for the firmware is hard and I can't tell if upgrading to 20.xx is worth the hassle.

 

I've read somewhere that there is also a firmware specific driver - at least for Windows it is the case.

This means if you update to P20 they recommend to update the driver also.

I don't think that the unRAID driver is updated frequently (if at all) so it will always be a risk to

update to a new firmware.

The new firmware might run flawless with FreeNAS or Win but not necessarily with unRAID (or vice versa).

 

Therefore stay with P19 on a productive system as it is known working with unRAID.

If you have time to test P20, your welcome to do so and share your results with the community.

 

Been running the latest P20 for over a 60 days with different hard drive models and sizes. I think the original P20 firmware and an older Linux kernel was a bad combo. I think once LSI/Avago performed their update and with a new kernel may have taken the issues away. It is hard to tell from a single post from a user with 4 total posts. Not saying he's wrong but it does contradict my results %100. If there was an issue I would have definitely noticed it by now. I wouldn't even try the original P20 firmware. I still recommend if someone wants to try the P20, don't get it from a packaged zip file or depository. Just grab the new one from the Avago site. Just to be on the safe side. Someone has to be a pioneer and try it, right?

 

 

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I think once LSI/Avago performed their update and with a new kernel may have taken the issues away.

Assumption - can't tell if there was a driver change with the newer kernels used in v6.

 

It is hard to tell from a single post from a user with 4 total posts. Not saying he's wrong but it does contradict my results %100. If there was an issue I would have definitely noticed it by now.

IMHO the numbers of posts is irrelevant. He solved his issue by going back to V19.

Far more interesting is the fact that he is running FreeNAS and not unRAID.

 

I wouldn't even try the original P20 firmware. I still recommend if someone wants to try the P20, don't get it from a packaged zip file or depository. Just grab the new one from the Avago site. Just to be on the safe side.

Like I already mentioned, it's hard to track down the changes as the versioning of LSI/Avago is not easy to find.

 

Someone has to be a pioneer and try it, right?

Yes, it's appreciated!

I will edit my post and link to your feedback above. If somebody else is running the P20.00.04: please report your experience!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have two M1015s and a Supermicro motherboard with a LSI 2008 integrated on it. I used Supermicros files to flash this one to IT mode, their latest is P16. The M1015 were flashed a while back with files I found here. They are P14s. Are there any known defects in these fws? Or performance differences? Would it be advisable to upgrade to P19 or P20?

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I have two M1015s and a Supermicro motherboard with a LSI 2008 integrated on it. I used Supermicros files to flash this one to IT mode, their latest is P16. The M1015 were flashed a while back with files I found here. They are P14s. Are there any known defects in these fws? Or performance differences? Would it be advisable to upgrade to P19 or P20?

sorry, but don't fix until it works :)

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I have two M1015s and a Supermicro motherboard with a LSI 2008 integrated on it. I used Supermicros files to flash this one to IT mode, their latest is P16. The M1015 were flashed a while back with files I found here. They are P14s. Are there any known defects in these fws? Or performance differences? Would it be advisable to upgrade to P19 or P20?

sorry, but don't fix until it works :)

 

You are right. Remember Murphy?  :)

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Hello,

 

I did quite a bit of digging on this thread along with multiple other sites, however I don't see any tutorial for flashing the Dell PERC 6/i with the IT firmware.

 

Would anyone be able to point me to a good tutorial to help me accomplish this goal?

 

If no tutorial exists, I've got two cards that I'm okay with potentially bricking if anyone wants to work with me via PM or publicly in this or another thread to build a solid process.

 

This is kind of my last attempt to see if there's a way I can just use the cards I have rather than buy a couple of SAS 6/iR cards which can be flashed with the IT firmware :-P

 

Thanks!

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Hi SnackMaster,

yes, I did successfully flash a PERC 6iR E2K-UCS-61-(B).

I'm not sure if this is the same card you have!

I remember having examined the differences but forgot it again.

Anyway, I flashed that card but refrained from using it since it doesn't support

drives with capacities > 2.2TB.

 

If you have the E2K-UCS-61 card, I can look for the tools I used.

But first make sure you have the right card.

 

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Ehm, check the labels on the card!

The 6/iR has also E2K-UCS-61-(B) written on it.

How can you say you have the Perc 6/i?

 

Anyway, there are differences between the 6/i and the 6/iR.

I flashed the 6/iR and can provide the files to do so.

 

I found this about flashing the 6/i.

Can't say if it will work, but might be a hot trail.

Edit:

May be a dead end after all, because they are talking about a plain firmware upgrade and

not flashing IT firmware... :(

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