LSI Controller FW updates IR/IT modes

[dave_m]

i'm facing the PAL Error on my new Intel DQ67SQB3 under dos. Can u pls explain me how to flash (Step 5t) under Linux? Which distro did u use?

 

I've kept a flash drive around with SystemRescueCD on it for a while, it's useful for little tasks like this or disk cloning / partitioning.

[madburg]

UPDATE: Added to the OPs

 

Added LSI SAS1068E chipset (P21) both windows and unraid.

Added LSI SAS2004 chipset (P11) both windows and unraid.

Added LSI SAS2008 chipset (P11) both windows and unraid.

Added LSI SAS2116 chipset (P11) both windows and unraid.

Added LSI MegaRAID to SAS2008(P11) (DOS, via bootable usb key)

Added NEW LSI SAS2 Series Flash via ESXi 5.0

 

Saw LSI published SAS2FLASH for ESXi 5.0, Its not digitially signed but +1 for them getting it put together. Now I was able to do a flash upgrade on my two controllers at once without having to pay a visit to my server rack. I never disconnected any of the drives hanging of the 2 controllers. In theory one mite be able to use the Linx package (I will post the P11 soon) and flash the controllers via the unRAID VM, so even less work (still need to reboot after a flash) but you would not need to stop pass-thru and add it back. Personally not my cup of tea but in theory it should work. I am adding the _Readme.txt notes to this post so no one has to download the package just to read up on whats involved. Not for beginners.

 

The rest to the P11 packages will be completed soon. All done now, and posted.

 

Observations of P11 FW, multipule controllers go past POST faster, port enable command issued via unRAID seems faster, no apparent issue with a few copies to the array. I will be testing futher this evening, rsync'ing larger amount of data. Large file copy to varies drives (old and new, 3tb, 2tb, 160gb, 320gb, etc.. Across 2 LSI controllers on P11) all succeeded. This is on 5.0Beta12a BTW. Started parity sync this evening (3tb parity, 14 data drives), i will see the result by tomorrow. So far so good.

_README.txt

[Philmatic]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm not a unRAID user, but I've been following this thread because I own three IBM M1015's as part of my Norco RPC-4224 build for WHS 2011. I'm only here to show my appreciation for the awesome work that you guys have done in figuring all this out, to report my findings and to provide a few images that I was able to capture using my IPMI enabled iKVM session.

 

I first attempted to flash my M1015's using the LSI MegaRAID to SAS2008(P11).zip file in the root. I received the "Failed to initialize PAL" on my brand spanking new SuperMicro X9SCM.

So I tried the next best desktop I had, which was my Dell Studio 540, a Intel based Core 2 chipset, where I also recieved the "Failed to initialize PAL" error when attempting to flash IT mode (5IT.bat).

My last hope was my old WHS v1 server, which is a A8N32-SLI Deluxe and runs a now ancient NVIDIA nForce 4 chipset. It has three PCI Express v1 slots, two full x16s and one x4. So I dropped the M1015 in my second x16 solt (Since the first had my video card in it) and BOOM it instantly flashed! I received some "PCIE warnings", probably because it kept finding my video card, but it worked fine nonetheless. Yippie! I did the other two cards and life is good again.

 

I disabled the "Boot support" in the LSI bios like madburg suggested, and that's why I captured these screenshots. My motherboard has KVM over IP functionality so I can remotely see BIOS screens and start up, reboot and shutdown the machine over IP. It's great. One of a nice features is the ability to capture screenshots through the iKVM console. I figured madburg could use these to illustrate what to disable in the OP instead of his photo of his "defective" monitor.

 

Before:

After:

 

Sorry for the lossy JPG compression, it's all that the iKVM console supports. It didn't occur to me to just take a normal desktop screenshot, crop and save to png. I'll do that tomorrow. I'm in the middle of transferring 18TB of data, so I would rather not interrupt it.

 

Thanks Again! And hi from ServeTheHome.com!

[meatincereal]

Thanks for your efforts madburg. Successfully flashed three M1015's to IT-mode firmware using your guide.  

 

Motherboard used: Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R (rev. 1) in 4th PCI-e slot.

 

Failed with PAL issues in Asus P8B WS motherboard (tho I only tested first PCI-e slot)

 

EDIT:

Method was DOS Bootdisk with P11 firmware

 

EDIT2: It was in the 4th PCI-e slot on the gigabyte mobo

[madburg]

1) Added to the OP (BIG THANKS to KKM for creating the empty.bin, so you dont need to have to worry about which sbr to obtain and use.), sorry that I missed posting this a long time ago. Was not my intention to take any credit for his work. That was a big thing for all the people who wanted to wipe megaraid cards (which is alot from the download stats, positive many are non-unRAIDers as google searches point here) so give a big thanks to KKM if you wiped you megaraid card!

 

2) Updated OP with Philmatic screenshot. Thanks Phil, back when I was approaching unRAID I spent alot to time on your the site "ServeTheHome.com" to help me decided what hardware to buy that was ESXi compliant and would also hopefully work with unRAID. Then this post came about. Thank you for dropping a reply here! Thanks to Raj for sticking this thread up for all!

 

Hopefully in the near future, I will put together all the responses of what boards the flashing does and does not work with and post on the OP for quick reading.

[Philmatic]

back when I was approaching unRAID I spent alot to time on your site "ServeTheHome.com" to help me decided what hardware to buy that was ESXi compliant and would also hopefully work with unRAID.

 

Sorry, I'm just a user FROM ServeTheHome who found this thread from their forums, just saying hi and thanking you for this thread.

[madburg]

back when I was approaching unRAID I spent alot to time on your site "ServeTheHome.com" to help me decided what hardware to buy that was ESXi compliant and would also hopefully work with unRAID.

 

Sorry, I'm just a user FROM ServeTheHome who found this thread from their forums, just saying hi and thanking you for this thread.

 

No worries, all the same, thanks for posting a reply 

[Johnm]

I have to do a major server breakdown this Thursday or Friday. when I do, I'll have a spare X9SCM and M1015 to test. there has to be a way to flash with this combo.

 

It sounds like it is the "erase step" that fails. it might be some sort of PCIe setting / slot selection combo.

[madburg]

I have to do a major server breakdown this Thursday or Friday. when I do, I'll have a spare X9SCM and M1015 to test. there has to be a way to flash with this combo.

 

It sounds like it is the "erase step" that fails. it might be some sort of PCIe setting / slot selection combo.

 

Yeap, look out for anything in the bios, about "ADDON CARD" and Force Bios/ etc... good luck!

[nia]

I realise now, that I missed this step when I flashed my first card:

 

6. Program SAS address in IT-mode:
sas2flsh -o -sasadd 500605bxxxxxxxxx
where "500605bxxxxxxxxx" SAS address from small green sticker on yor card, without "-"

 

Despite me missing this, it is humming away nicely in my now converted production box on 5.0.12a.

 

BUT - I now have a second card, that I 'm intending to integrate.

 

I did the reflash including step 5 on the only machine I have been able to. Then I figured I would reboot to do step 6 - also to read the sticker for the number.

 

Unfortunately, that machine now can not boot, as it is hanging at the BIOS of the adapter. So I have no option at my disposal to do step 6 on any of the cards. 

 

Will I have any issues in an unRAID scenario by having two cards that has both not been through step 6 to get individual addresses?

[madburg]

I realise now, that I missed this step when I flashed my first card:

 

6. Program SAS address in IT-mode:
sas2flsh -o -sasadd 500605bxxxxxxxxx 
where "500605bxxxxxxxxx" SAS address from small green sticker on yor card, without "-"

 

Despite me missing this, it is humming away nicely in my now converted production box on 5.0.12a.

 

BUT - I now have a second card, that I 'm intending to integrate.

 

I did the reflash including step 5 on the only machine I have been able to. Then I figured I would reboot to do step 6 - also to read the sticker for the number.

 

Unfortunately, that machine now can not boot, as it is hanging at the BIOS of the adapter. So I have no option at my disposal to do step 6 on any of the cards.  

 

Will I have any issues in an unRAID scenario by having two cards that has both not been through step 6 to get individual addresses?

 

Hard to tell. First I meantion in the notes, that step one's output log will contain your cards sas address. Should it not be in the log, then look for the sticker. What if you purchased a card with a missing sticker or it those not match what was set on the card. That is why I meantioned check your step 1 output log for the sas address.

 

From what I know about SAS controllers  "Systems identify SATA devices by their port number connected to the host bus adapter, while SAS devices are uniquely identified by their World Wide Name (WWN) aka SAS Address."

 

Since we are attaching SATA Drives one would like to say your ok, but two cards with no address, just dont know... as if you watch unRAID boot it loads the driver, logs the Card model, sas address, how many ports and then executes a port enable command to get to the drives... Another issue can be, will the BIOS be OK trying to post these two card which to it are one and the same because they have no sas address? post those not know if your going to use SATA or SAS drives (nor does it care). Or maybe its ok, because each is in a different PCI-E slot address... dont know that level of detail, sorry.

 

Let us know how you make out. Try to wipe the controllers bios again and add back the sas address for each.

[Wimpie]

Hi,

 

Stupid question: I have an IBM M1015 and flashed it to IT mode using the "LSI MegaRAID with SAS2008 chipsets" method. It was flashed with the help of the "LSI MegaRAID to SAS2008(P10).zip - 6.38 MB (DOS, via bootable usb key)" file.

 

I would like to upgrade to the P11 firmware, but am uncertain how to do it.

 

Should I just use "LSI SAS2008 Controllers(P11).rar - 2.21 MB (Windows)" (LSI SAS2008 chipset), or should I use another method?

 

I just don't want to experiment and ruin a good card :-)...

 

Thanks

 

[ma1459]

I think I've bricked my M1015.  

 

I used the LSI MegaRAID to SAS2008(P11).zip - 5.87 MB (DOS, via bootable usb key) download, created the USB boot stick, and started working through the batch files.

 

1.bat worked fine and dumped all the info to adapters.txt

 

2.bat appeared to work however I am now not sure because the mega.sbr filesize is 1kb.

 

3.bat appeared to work

 

I then shutdown and grabbed the controller address from another computer

 

After rebooting and trying to run 5it.bat, I was presented with the "Failed to initialize PAL...".  No problem I think, just try a different computer.  Have now tried several different several different motherboards including dg45id, dg33fb, dg965ryck, etc.  They all post the same error.

 

I've also noticed that the LEDs are not lit on the card.

 

Does anyone have any ideas on what I should try?

[siamsquare]

Yo,

 

Flashed succesfully 3 IBM M1015 to IT mode on a Acer Aspire G7711 using the LSI MegaRAID to SAS2008(P11).zip - 5.87 MB (DOS, via bootable usb key)

Only downside after flashing was that I could not get into the HBA card bios and had to do it from my Unraid server!

 

gr33tz

[madburg]

Hi,

 

Stupid question: I have an IBM M1015 and flashed it to IT mode using the "LSI MegaRAID with SAS2008 chipsets" method. It was flashed with the help of the "LSI MegaRAID to SAS2008(P10).zip - 6.38 MB (DOS, via bootable usb key)" file.

 

I would like to upgrade to the P11 firmware, but am uncertain how to do it.

 

Should I just use "LSI SAS2008 Controllers(P11).rar - 2.21 MB (Windows)" (LSI SAS2008 chipset), or should I use another method?

 

I just don't want to experiment and ruin a good card :-)...

 

Thanks

 

 

Sorry for the late reply, once you flash the bios/fw of a mega card to a non mega bios/fw, going forward just use the non mega updates. So in your case just use the "LSI SAS2008 Controllers(P11).rar" package.

[madburg]

I think I've bricked my M1015.  

 

I used the LSI MegaRAID to SAS2008(P11).zip - 5.87 MB (DOS, via bootable usb key) download, created the USB boot stick, and started working through the batch files.

 

1.bat worked fine and dumped all the info to adapters.txt

 

2.bat appeared to work however I am now not sure because the mega.sbr filesize is 1kb.

 

3.bat appeared to work

 

I then shutdown and grabbed the controller address from another computer

 

After rebooting and trying to run 5it.bat, I was presented with the "Failed to initialize PAL...".  No problem I think, just try a different computer.  Have now tried several different several different motherboards including dg45id, dg33fb, dg965ryck, etc.  They all post the same error.

 

I've also noticed that the LEDs are not lit on the card.

 

Does anyone have any ideas on what I should try?

 

I dont know of anyone who officially bricked a card yet, I would keep trying other motherboards.

[Hamburglar]

Cons:

1. No hdd spindown.

 

Workaround:  

 

add "hdparm -S242 /dev/sdX" in boot script and poweroff.sh (program spindown after wake-on)

 

 

Thanks so much for the info, I just flashed my IBM card. However, I am a bit worried about no HDD spindown. I am using this card in Windows 7. Will that automatically do hard drive spindown? Or do I need to do some other trick to get it working? Kind of worried about my hard drives spinning 24 hours a day even when not being accessed. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!

[BRiT]

That's concerning the built in spindown control of emHttp. As mentioned previously, there are workarounds to still get drive spindown functionality. They mostly involve disabling it in emHttp and using 'hdparm' to set it manually.

 

As for Windows support, that's an entirely different beast. It might support drive spin-down natively without having to do any workarounds. Also, there are some hdparm programs for windows, so give those a shot if Windows can't manage it directly.

[siamsquare]

Yo,

 

Been having issues with spin-down in ZFS too, I have 3 IBM M1015 flashed to the latest IT firmware on my ZFS test server and in powermanagement spindown is also set to 10min,but they don't spin down.

Is this an issue with these cards?

 

gr33tz

[Ford Prefect]

Been having issues with spin-down in ZFS too, I have 3 IBM M1015 flashed to the latest IT firmware on my ZFS test server and in powermanagement spindown is also set to 10min,but they don't spin down.

Is this an issue with these cards?

 

..this thread is about usage in unRAID.

However, I can confirm that the M1015 works perfectly,

incl. spindown with SolEX11 (napp-it all-in-one),

once it has been turned into a 9211-8i by means of cross-flashing it.

[PeterB]

I believe that drive spindown does not work unless the drive is allocated to a spinup group.  I have all my drives allocated to their own spinup group (parity = host0, drive1 = host1, drive2 = host2 ... etc).

 

I had recently added another drive to the array and I noted that it wasn't spinning down - I added a spinup group to the drive's configuration and it span down immediately.

[apatch]

Hello forum users 

 

I got problem to flash my FSC D2607 which is flashable to 9240-8i.

 

I was trying to flash it to 9211-IR  because I desperetly need native drives pass-through mode, even JBOD is not available to my raid card, so every time I want to connect to it some drive with data on it I have to make a virtual drive and make a single drive raid0 array, initialisation leads to data loss.

 

When flashing, first I got pal initialise error, tried it on few motherboard, but if pal doesn't appear I got "failed to validate MfgPage2 !" just like some user here http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=12767.msg137851#msg137851 , so IR mode will not work with this card and only option is to flash back LSI 9240-8i firmware ?

 

Thank You for any help

[znelbok]

Hi all

 

I have a M1015 card that would appear I need to flash.

 

What I am unsure about is which file to use.  What is the P10 and P11 version of the files?

 

What is the difference between IT and IR mode?

 

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

 

So I went ahead with the P11 file and when it came time to run teh 5IT.bat file, I got an error

 

ERROR: Failed to initialize PAL.

 

There is only one mention of this in the thread and it appears to indicate that the flash utility does not like the motherboard/hardware and that I hould try a different machine.  Can anyone confirm that this is indeed correct or is there some other reason that I am getting this error?

 

Thanks

 

Mick

[apatch]

I give up with my FSC card but just bought fairy cheap M1015 and after few problems succesfully flashed it to IR mode.  

 

My M1015 was delievered with old 2009 firmware which didn't work well with any mobo in Win7 x64, device was not working after driver installation.

 

I'm not an expert, rather enthusiast and if I'm correct it basically works like this.

 

IT- mode is useful when you don't need any Raid modes, card will work as pure SAS/SATA controller with pass-through mode for drives which is great if you have many drives to connect and still you will have an option to make a software raid under OS, hardware raid level is removed which sometimes help with drive communication.

 

IR - hardware raid level is active and pass-through mode also which is great btw.

 

P11 is just a newest firmware.

 

And here are my few conclusions:

 

Indeed if you got "Failed to initialize PAL" error then it's your mobo fault (some incompatibilities). Disabling other OROM's and devices in bios most likely will not help you, you need to try it in another mobo.

 

The strangest thing is that mainboards which works with this raid cards perfectly well (all with integrated GPU - AMD and Intel), like my ASRock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3, Supermicro X9SCL/X9SCM and some Intel Core mobo failed to flash a firmware.

 

But mobo which have a problem to run my FSC card and runs out of memory on boot start - GA-MA790FXT-UD5P (without integrated GPU) will allow you to flash this firmware without any problems.  

 

[elkay14]

I can confirm that reflashing an M1015 to IT mode works on a Biostar A760G M2+ (one of the recommended motherboards for unRAID budget server, now EOL)

 

I used the DOS tools -- I could not get the Linux ones to recognize a card.