LSI Controller FW updates IR/IT modes


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1 hour ago, pepsi said:

Hi Im a newbie

If you don't want brick the card risk, you shouldn't touch firmware unless you got problem.

 

1 hour ago, pepsi said:

Will Unraid work with this controller in JBOD mode? 

Just boot Unraid and in "system devices" page, if HBA recognise and load with "mpt3sas" driver then it should work.

 

2008.thumb.PNG.b0f5f3c765a9fea12c9cc2130209975e.PNG

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1 hour ago, pepsi said:

Hi Im a newbie to DIY nas world. Recently I picked up a Intel Server Board S3420GP system with an Intel RAID Controller RS2WC080. I have been doing research prior to installing Unraid on this system and noted discussions around firmware crossflashing for IT mode. Have a couple of questions for those that are experienced.

a) At the moment on system boot I get a message saying the raid controller is in JBOD mode. When I press ctrl + g it doesnt go into raid bios. Guessing there is no bios flashed. Will Unraid work with this controller in JBOD mode? 

b) How do I tell if the controller is already flashed or in IT model prior to flashing? There is EFI command line i can boot into. Is there an EFI command I could use?

Ummm, be ready and press ctrl+g sooner to enter the card's BIOS settings?

 

unRAID handles the RAID. These cards are being used to add SATA ports to a motherboard. So, as I understand it, you do not want even JBOD mode. To unpack @Benson's reply a bit, HBA is Host Bus Adapter. An HBA adds SATA ports to a motherboard.

 

I don't know how important it is to have the latest firmware. I don't. Anyway, the firmware version should be part of the text that goes by during computer bootup sequence. If it doesn't, you really need to access the BIOS. The RAID level/off setting is there. I and others from what I have seen here don't load the card's BIOS as we aren't using the RAID function.

 

As I understand it, it doesn't matter if the card is IT or IR as the latter's RAID is turned off to let unRAID apply the RAID mode.

Edited by pepar
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5 minutes ago, pepar said:

Ummm, be ready and press ctrl+g sooner to enter the card's BIOS settings?

 

unRAID handles the RAID. These cards are being used to add SATA ports to a motherboard. So, as I understand it, you do not want even JBOD mode. To unpack @Benson's reply a bit, HBA is Host Bus Adapter. An HBA adds SATA ports to a motherboard.

 

The firmware version should be part of the text that goes by during computer bootup sequence. If it doesn't, you really need to access the BIOS. The RAID level/off setting is there. I and others from what I have seen here don't load the card's BIOS as we aren't using the RAID function.

The BIOS should only need if disk under HBA will be boot or RAID/JBOD them, due to Unraid boot by USB stick, so you don't need access HBA BIOS. Some people even erase HBA's BIOS. The main point is Unraid detect it and load the driver.

 

Why don't try boot it with Unraid and check what you got ?

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27 minutes ago, pepar said:

As I understand it, it doesn't matter if the card is IT or IR as the latter's RAID is turned off to let unRAID apply the RAID mode.

Only IT haven't RAID mode, for my understand IR have some basic RAID mode and ** if ** you RAID some disks by HBA, then Unraid will detect those disks under that RAID set as a logical disk.

Edited by Benson
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Hi all, thanks for the suggestions. The reason I didn't load Unraid to try yet was I am yet to purchase the drives I'm going to put on the server. But I managed to find a spare 2.5" 60gig drive lying around so I connected it to the raid controller and loaded up Unraid. The drive was detected. Here is the extract from "system devices" page

[8086:244e]	00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev a5)
[8086:3b14]	00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 3420 Chipset LPC Interface Controller (rev 05)
[8086:3b22]	00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset 6 port SATA AHCI Controller (rev 05)
[8086:3b30]	00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset SMBus Controller (rev 05)
[111d:806f]	01:00.0 PCI bridge: Microsemi / PMC / IDT HIO524G2 PCI Express Gen2 Switch (rev 02)
[111d:806f]	02:02.0 PCI bridge: Microsemi / PMC / IDT HIO524G2 PCI Express Gen2 Switch (rev 02)
[111d:806f]	02:03.0 PCI bridge: Microsemi / PMC / IDT HIO524G2 PCI Express Gen2 Switch (rev 02)
[111d:806f]	02:04.0 PCI bridge: Microsemi / PMC / IDT HIO524G2 PCI Express Gen2 Switch (rev 02)
[1000:0073]	04:00.0 RAID bus controller: Broadcom / LSI MegaRAID SAS 2008 [Falcon] (rev 03)
[8086:10d3]	08:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82574L Gigabit Network Connection

I have onboard sata controller as well. Mine doesn't show mpt3sas for the raid controller but the I guess if the drive is recognised then I don't need to bother with flashing IT firmware. This is the raid controller splash screen on boot.

1466102870_raidscreen.thumb.jpg.e9bc912f0779f1356815878e5bb2a2eb.jpg

Do you recommend that I go into bios and turn off jbod? If my controller doesn't have a bios then maybe I need to load a dos based tool or something and turn off jbod mode from command line? I'm not too fussed about jbod mode as it is essentially no raid isn't it? I just want Unraid to see disks that are connected to the raid controller.

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53 minutes ago, pepsi said:

[1000:0073] 04:00.0 RAID bus controller: Broadcom / LSI MegaRAID SAS 2008 [Falcon] (rev 03)

By internet search, it is expect the chips are LSI SAS2008 and also match with device info., like a 9240-8i card with Megaraid BIOS/Firmware, I would agree try flash to IT BIOS, you need follow how to flash Megaraid to IT, anyway some risk need take too.

 

Why we always suggest IT or IR, because you won't have trouble if swap or attach disk between different disk controller.

Edited by Benson
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17 hours ago, Benson said:

Only IT haven't RAID mode, for my understand IR have some basic RAID mode and ** if ** you RAID some disks by HBA, then Unraid will detect those disks under that RAID set as a logical disk.

That seems undesirable. A very large disk, actual or logical, will either go mostly unused or require that the unRAID array be populated with similarly sized disks.

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Hello everyone,

I have a bit of a weird situation wherein my PC wont boot anymore with the H310 card installed, after doing a CPU Upgrade.

 

The long story:

Motherboard: Asus M2N-MX SE Plus (latest Firmware)

DELL Perc H310 updated with P20 (thank you Fireball3)

Original CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3500+

Upgraded CPU: AMD Phenom II x4 9750

Have also tried H700 and a 5i Card. All of them with and without the "Tape fix" on the PCIE connectors.

 

The PC works fine with either CPU. Also works fine with the Tape Fix for the H700 and the 5i. But oddly enough not for the H310.


I just find it odd that by just upgrading the CPU, the card stops working. 
Any help, ideas, tips?

 

H310.PNG

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On 9/7/2020 at 9:19 PM, Benson said:

anyway some risk need take too.

So took the gamble and went ahead. I was particularly nervous because sas2flsh utility didn't work in DOS and sas2flash EFI utility wouldn't even run initially to back up my existing firmware because it didn't detect any LSI firmware. I read that I needed to first erase existing firmware by writing an empty firmware using megarec.exe for the sas2flash utility to be able to write a new firmware. It made sense in my head so just decided to jump over the edge. Glad I did because it worked out as I expected/hoped.  Flashed firmware P16 for the moment with bios. Still waiting on hard drives to install unraid.

LSI.thumb.jpg.953eee20be822b1b70041df35fb0c378.jpg

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29 minutes ago, pepsi said:

So took the gamble and went ahead. I was particularly nervous because sas2flsh utility didn't work in DOS and sas2flash EFI utility wouldn't even run initially to back up my existing firmware because it didn't detect any LSI firmware. I read that I needed to first erase existing firmware by writing an empty firmware using megarec.exe for the sas2flash utility to be able to write a new firmware. It made sense in my head so just decided to jump over the edge. Glad I did because it worked out as I expected/hoped.  Flashed firmware P16 for the moment with bios. Still waiting on hard drives to install unraid.

 

Latest Firmware and BIOS (P20) in official page as below, you could keep P16, someone say P16 support SSD TRIM and later version won't.

 

https://docs.broadcom.com/docs/12350530

Edited by Benson
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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi all. This is an amazing thread and I'm hoping someone can give me some insights into what I have.

 

 

I am trying to repurpose an older Datto 30TB model. It is a supermicro x9drd-7ln4f rev 1.02 with the following embedded adapter:

 

LSI MPT SAS2
MPT2BIOS-7.31.00.00 (2013.02.28)
SAS2308-IR 16.00.01.00

 

 

 

    OS Architecture:         x86_64
    Driver Name:             LSI_SAS2i
    Driver Version:          2.00.79.82
    Application Version:     MegaRAID Storage Manager - 17.05.00.02

HARDWARE---              
    Controller:              Controller0: SMC2308-IR(Bus 3,Dev 0)
    Status:                  Optimal
    Firmware Package Version:00.00.00.00
    Firmware Version:        16.00.01.00
    BBU:                     NO
    Enclosure(s):            1
    Drive(s):                10
    Virtual Drive(s):        0

Drives---
    PRODUCT ID               VENDOR ID                STATE                    DISK TYPE                CAPACITY                 POWER STATE              
    WDCWD3000FYYZ0           ATA                      Unconfigured Good        SATA                     2.728 TB                 On                                                
    WDCWD3000FYYZ0           ATA                      Unconfigured Good        SATA                     2.728 TB                 On                                                
    WDCWD3000FYYZ0           ATA                      Unconfigured Good        SATA                     2.728 TB                 On                                                
    WDCWD3000FYYZ0           ATA                      Unconfigured Good        SATA                     2.728 TB                 On                                                
    WDCWD3000FYYZ0           ATA                      Unconfigured Good        SATA                     2.728 TB                 On                                                
    WDCWD3000FYYZ0           ATA                      Unconfigured Good        SATA                     2.728 TB                 On                                                
    WDCWD3000FYYZ0           ATA                      Unconfigured Good        SATA                     2.728 TB                 On                                                
    WDCWD3000FYYZ0           ATA                      Unconfigured Good        SATA                     2.728 TB                 On                                                
    WDCWD3000FYYZ0           ATA                      Unconfigured Good        SATA                     2.728 TB                 On                                                
    WDCWD3000FYYZ0           ATA                      Unconfigured Good        SATA                     2.728 TB                 On                

 

 

 

Before I nuked the disks I verified they had a ZFS pool across them, but whats bothering me is looking online, this version isn't supposed to support a JBOD configuration as per this:

 

X9DR7-JLN4F – 2x 4 port SAS internal 2×4 ports SAS internal, RAID 0, 1, 10 and JBOD, no cache, no BBU
X9DRD-7LN4F – 2x 4 port SAS internal 2×4 ports SAS internal, RAID 0, 1 and 10, no cache, no BBU

 

 

mine appears to be JBOD capable, as Datto was definitely using zfs-- but mine is the X9DRD-7LN4F that doesnt mention jbod ability?

Is this maybe some weird firmware Datto uses specifically for this adapter to enable JBOD on it like it is the Broadcom/LSI 2308-IT instead of the -IR ?

 

I have included 4 screenshots of various firmware #s

 

supermicro4.png

supermicro3.png

supermicro2.png

supermicro1.png

 

 

 

 

 

EDIT:

Silly me. There was a very quick bios post message that i didn't catch until just now:

Version 2.15.1236.

Supermicro X9DRD-7LN4F(-JBOD)/X9DRD-EF BIOS Date:01/16/2015 Rev:3.2

 

 

Durr.

 

Anyway. I have to sacrifice this thing to the microsoft gods so I cant do unraid or any cute zfs type thing and I got super cold feet thinking about using Win server 2019 with Storage Spaces Direct on it. I found an older Fujitsu card I could do raid6 with so i will sleep better at night.

 

I'll be back when i get bigger drives for my datahoarding at home and time to play.

Edited by ohsnap
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Mainly posting this for the links to Megarec.exe from HP Enterprise and some minor notes. Waiting on SFF8087 cables to start moving drives to my T310 server.

 

https://rcbullock.blogspot.com/2020/10/megarecexe-for-flashin-dell-h310.html

 

Q: I saw someone had a fan on their H310. Mine didn't get that warm just sitting there, do they heat up in operation that much? Might repaste it along with the CPU since this machine/card has 8 year old paste, give or take I'd bet.

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi All, im in need of help!

 

I've got a RH2285 V2 server with a LSI "SR120" SAS 2308 card which I am trying to flash to IT mode. 

 

I tried the firmware below from supermicro but get the following error when trying to update firmware after erasing:

 

"NVDATA Image does not match Controller Chip Revision!

NVDATA Chip Revision Range: 0x5 to 0x5

Controller Chip Revision: 0x1"

 

https://www.supermicro.com/wftp/driver/SAS/LSI/2308/Firmware/IT/

 

I also tried the firmware 9217-4i4e P20 firmware from Broadcom with the same error and SAS2004 firmware with 'Firmware image does not support Target Adapter Device ID:(0x87)'

 

Could anyone point me in the direction of the correct firmware?

Edited by addictweb
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  • 2 weeks later...

Thank you all who have contributed to this mamooth information dump. I have tried to follow the instructions in the Wiki to convert my recently acquired IBM M1015 card to LSI SAS9211-8i but the established process failed with a "No LSI SAS adapters found!" already in step 1. Maybe the information on how to overcome this is already in one of the prior 67 pages of the thread but I did not sit down to read through it all.. I did find the a workable solution here: https://www.truenas.com/community/threads/ibm-serveraid-m1015-and-no-lsi-sas-adapters-found.27445/

I have used this successfully and have taken the liberty of updating the unraid Wiki with this information hoping it might help someone, this is what I have added:

 

Note on converting newer IBM 1015 cards to plain SAS2008 (LSI SAS9211-8i) :

If you encounter the "No LSI SAS adapters found!" in step 1 and when launching the LSI SAS2FLSH tool (either DOS or EFI versions) manually, it may be because newer versions of the IBM M1015 firmware prevent the card being recognized by the LSI tool. In this case you will need to:

- Obtain a copy of "sbrempty.bin" for example from https://www.mediafire.com/folder/5ix2j4jd9n3fi77,x491f4v3ns5i40p,1vcq9f93os76u3o,yc0fsify6eajly0,xkchwsha0yopqmz/shared

- Manually read out the SAS address from the sticker on the back side of the card, as you aren't able to read it out with the sas2flsh.exe tool. It has the format "500605B x-xxxx-xxxx", ignore spaces and dashes and note down the sas address in format "500605Bxxxxxxxxx"

- Still read all the instructions and precautions in the guide (have only one controller card in the machine, preferably have the machine on UPS power, etc.)

- Execute "MEGAREC -writesbr 0 sbrempty.bin" (This wipes out the vendor ID, after this command SAS2FLSH can see the card but refuses to read out the sas address or erase the card)

- Execute "MEGAREC -cleanflash 0" (This erases the card incl sas address)

- Reboot the machine.

- From here you can folow the guide in the P20 package after step 3 - Run the "5ITP20.BAT" batch file in 5_LSI_P20\ folder, then 6.bat in the root folder that you modified with your sas address beforehand.

- For ease of reference and because not much is left of the guide at this point, the actual commands remaining are "SAS2FLSH -o -f 2118it.bin" to flash the P20 IT mode firmware, and "SAS2FLSH -o -sasadd 500605Bxxxxxxxxx" to set the sas address.

 

Edited by MortenSchmidt
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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi, I also am completely lost.

I have an LSI MegaRAID 9260-8i card which seems to have the SAS 2108 controller, or at least that's what I see on the system devices menu.

From what I could gather from this thread and the wiki this is a RAID controller and not a HAB.

 

On the Crossflashing wiki page I see mentions of SAS 2108 for Linux Driver under the notes section for several chipsets.

What I don't understand is if it is at all possible to flash this card or not and if so, which file to choose.

 

Any help at all would be greatly appreciated.

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  • 2 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Hi all,

 

I recently just picked up a 9300-8i HBA. I thought I'd need to flash it, but when I checked, it appears to have firmware 16.00.01.00-IT.

 

Which I think is the latest firmware, and it already running in IT mode? Please correct me if I am wrong.

 

Is the v8.37.00.00 the BIOS? Looking at the date, I think that is also the latest version?

 

Cheers,

Zoltrix

Screenshot 2021-02-27 180915.png

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So I just got a M1015 that I will be using with Unraid, so I need to flash it to LSI firmware IT mode.
I followed guides, but ran into some issues, and I have not been able to find a solution to my problem.

The short version:
Whenever I try to flash the card with the new firmware ("2118it.bin"), I get the error:

"Chip is in RESET state. Attempting Host Boot...
ERROR: Firmware Host Boot Failed !"
And then it exits SAS2Flash.


What I have done so far:
I followed guides, but in the beginning I had issues with booting to EFI shell, so I had to try different things. It is most likely during this, that I must have gotten something wrong.
The below steps are what I have done the last many times, in that order.

1. Followed the guide and downloaded files from Techmattr (as multiple posts I found refered to that site). When this failed I have tried other sources as well, without luck.
Updated: SAS HBA crossflashing or flashing to IT mode, Dell Perc H200 and H310

2. Boot the USB to DOS and run:
megarec.exe -writesbr 0 sbrempty.bin
megarec.exe -cleanflash 0

3. Restart and Boot to EFI Shell (my computer won't work with SAS2Flash in DOS "Failed to initialize PAL"-error)
[EDIT]Erase existing firmware:
sas2flash.efi -o -e -6 : (this was part of the first guide I followed) [/EDIT]

SAS2flash.efi -listall : Shows the card, but no info. ERROR: "Failed to upload image !".
SAS2flash.efi -c 0 -list (details for specific card): Shows:
Controller: SAS2008(??)
PCI address: 00:02:00:00
SAS Address: Undetermined (i have a sticker on the card where the address (I think) is. It reads "500605b 0-04F3-DB90" and then a barcode. Is this the SAS address? And how should I write it when I get that far? "500605B-0-04F3-DB90"? or "500605B004F3DB90"?
NVDATA Version: Undetermined
....
Firmware version could not be retrieved
....
BIOS version could not be retrieved


4. Try to flash the card with new firmware.
SAS2Flash.efi -o -f 2118it.bin
This results in the error:
"Chip is in RESET state. Attempting Host Boot...
ERROR: Firmware Host Boot Failed !"


5. I have tried many variations of flashing it and using different firmware (from guides and posts).
- flashing to older firmware: 2118p7.bin (same error) or 6GBPSAS.FW (this one causes the computer to freeze).
- using an older version of SAS2Flash. Often P14 is recommended, but I couldn't find that one. I have tried P05, P15, P16, P17,P19, P20 (same error or freezing).

6. I can still run the megarect commands in DOS, which as far as I have read, should mean that the card is not bricked, and can be saved.


I really hope someone has advice on how I should proceed.
As I said, I have tried to research this, but every guide or forum post I find, lists the solution above (older version first), and that has not helped.


Thanks in advance.

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On 2/9/2020 at 10:01 PM, Deke The Geek said:

Whew, what a thread! Thanks to OP and all who post here, but I've been unable to resolve my issue, so here goes:

I own four (4) LSI branded 9201-16e HBAs, and have been using two of them for a couple of years without incident. I was able to flash them (~4 mins IIRC) to P20 firmware without incident. The other two have just been sitting on a shelf awaiting their time in the sun 🙂

So I got my FreeDOS USB ready and started down a path to hell I've been on for the past couple days LOL

sas2flsh -o -list output:

Adapter Selected is a LSI SAS: SAS2116_1(B1)
Controller is not operational. A firmware download is required.
Enter firmware file name or quit to exit:

When I offer the P20 fw file, I get:

Firmware Image has a Valid Checksum.
Firmware Image compatible with Controller.
Valid NVDATA Image found.
Valid Initialization Image verified.
Valid Bootloader Image verified.

Chip is in FAULT state. Attempting Host Boot...
ERROR: Firmware Host Boot failed !
Due to error remaining commands will not be executed.
Unable to process Commands.
Exiting SAS2Flash.

Attempts to execute the flash command directly (sas2flsh -o -f 9201-16E.BIN) gives same error message.

Attempts to wipe card (sas2flsh -o -e 6 or any other number for that matter) result in same

I've tried sas2flsh v7, v16, and v20.

megarec commands fail as this is an LSI branded card

Is there any hope for my cards? I have two like this... TIA

EDIT: FYI, I've also tried on two different systems, both of which are able to flash the other two cards

2nd EDIT: I've tried the above commands with v8, v9, v10, v11, v12, v13, v13-5, v14, v15, v16, v17, v18, v19, and v20, all freshly downloaded from LSI website today. It doesn't appear to be an issue with the wrong version or anything... unless there are tools I'm not using that can fix this I may have a couple of useless cards 😕

 

Hello I was wondering if you found a solution to this problem? I'm thinking of switching to a 16i card but have read similar stories about the firmware updates.

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