Guys, please be gentle but I just can't seem to get my head wrapped around how to properly install a AOC-SAS2LP-MV8 into my unraid box.

 

Motherboard: Supermicro X8SIL-F-O

Unraid version: 5.0-rc16c

 

Using the 6 onboard SATA connectors was no problem but now I need to add more disks.

So I added the Icy Dock MB975SP-B cage, the forward breakout cables and the AOC-SAS2LP-MV8.

No issues with the hardware. It's the install of the drivers and firmware update of the AOC-SAS2LP-MV8 that's confusing me.

 

I have created a bootable DOS USB per the instructions here:

http://www.howtogeek.com/136987/how-to-create-a-bootable-dos-usb-drive/

[note that this is not the unraid USB stick; I have removed that as well as disconnected all the SATA drives connected directly to the MB.

 

I have downloaded the latest drivers and firmware for the card from Supermicro.

 

Could someone please walk me through putting the correct files [and which ones] on the USB and how to install them?

 

Sorry but I'm at my wits end and driver / firmware installation is just not my forte.

 

BTW: I use the IPMI feature all the time so no issue getting into BIOS.

I believe all you have to do is install the card connect the drives and boot your unRAID server.  My M1015s required re-flashing to IT mode but I don't believe that is necessary with the SAS2LP-MV8 - I know my SASLP-MV8s were a plug and play solution and I believe the 2nd generation SAS2LP-MV8's are the same as long as you are using 5.0rc16c like you indicate.

why bother with the firmware update? unless you need it for some reason.  The card should work out of the box with unRAID.

it doesn't with me.

everything works well, untill i do parity check.

then i get a lot of errors.

when i use the onboard connectors everything is fine.

 

what do do?

motherboard used: asus M5A99FX PRO R2.0

 

please some advice??

The card is not plug and play for me. I can get into the card BIOS and 'see' the HDD I have connected to it.

However, unraid is not finding the drive.

I'll double check the MB BIOS when I get home to see if anything looks off there.

 

So I don't need to install any drivers for this card considering my MB is the X8SIL-F-O?

it doesn't with me.

everything works well, untill i do parity check.

then i get a lot of errors.

when i use the onboard connectors everything is fine.

 

what do do?

motherboard used: asus M5A99FX PRO R2.0

 

please some advice??

The errors could be from the cable you are using to connect the drives... it could be from any number of things.

 

Start a post in the general support forum and provide a syslog so we know what errors you are talking about.

The card is not plug and play for me. I can get into the card BIOS and 'see' the HDD I have connected to it.

However, unraid is not finding the drive.

I'll double check the MB BIOS when I get home to see if anything looks off there.

 

So I don't need to install any drivers for this card considering my MB is the X8SIL-F-O?

What version of unRAID are you running?

The card is not plug and play for me. I can get into the card BIOS and 'see' the HDD I have connected to it.

However, unraid is not finding the drive.

I'll double check the MB BIOS when I get home to see if anything looks off there.

 

So I don't need to install any drivers for this card considering my MB is the X8SIL-F-O?

What version of unRAID are you running?

 

5.0-rc16c

What is the white plug (J6) for on this card? Do you have yours attached to anything?

 

It doesn't appear to be there on the AOC-SASLP-MV8 model.

 

I can't find an official manual for the "2" version with J6.

 

 

EDIT: After looking at the AOC-SAT2-MV8, I believe the connector is the RAID SMB I2C Connector allowing for the monitoring of RAID status and not necessary for normal operation.

That connector is not connected to anything.

 

This is weird.

MB BIOS looks ok.

Card BIOS sees the drive and can verify it.

But unRAID doesn't show it at all.

 

I pulled the card last night and put it in a different PCI slot. Same issue.

Maybe there's something in my MB BIOS I'm missing.

The MB is a X8SIL-F-O. What BIOS exactly should be changed from stock?

 

I'll probably reset that this evening to see if there's any change.

 

Really frustrating as I have about 3TB of files waiting to be dumped to this drive.

I have never used the SAS2LP but have used the X8SIL-F-O board quite a bit.

 

I am a little stumped as from what I have seen and read about this card it should just work in unRAID.  We really need a syslog

and one shall be provided..............

 

I called Supermicro and they state that the drivers for the card need to be loaded into unraid.

I've never heard of this previously but I can try it if someone would be so kind as to explain the procedure to me.

 

The drivers can be downloaded from here:

http://www.supermicro.com/products/accessories/addon/AOC-SAS2LP-MV8.cfm

 

thanks

Adrian,

 

I had exactly the same symptoms with a SAS2LP-MV8 card that I purchased (new) last week. After trying different PCI slots,  2 different motherboards and flashing MB BIOS with the latest revision the problem remained.

 

I fixed the problem by re-flashing the SAS2LP-MV8 card firmware with the latest version (4.0.0.1808) from the Supermicro ftp site. Curiously this is the same firmware version the card came with.

 

HTH,

 

Ian

Adrian,

 

I had exactly the same symptoms with a SAS2LP-MV8 card that I purchased (new) last week. After trying different PCI slots,  2 different motherboards and flashing MB BIOS with the latest revision the problem remained.

 

I fixed the problem by re-flashing the SAS2LP-MV8 card firmware with the latest version (4.0.0.1808) from the Supermicro ftp site. Curiously this is the same firmware version the card came with.

 

HTH,

 

Ian

That is truly odd but thank you for posting your solution.  It is almost like the original firmware on the card is not "complete"

Well thats definately a step in the right direction.

Thanks.

 

Now, how to go about doing that?

I plan to use a seperate USB than the one unraid exists on.

If you look at my 1st post at the top, you'll see I plan on using a bootable DOS USB.

What files do I add to it and how do I accomplish the flash?

 

 

Well thats definately a step in the right direction.

Thanks.

 

Now, how to go about doing that?

I plan to use a seperate USB than the one unraid exists on.

If you look at my 1st post at the top, you'll see I plan on using a bootable DOS USB.

What files do I add to it and how do I accomplish the flash?

 

Adrian,

 

Download the firmware to a Windows PC, unzip the download and copy the 3 files it contains (9485.bin, dos4gw.exe and mvf.exe) to the DOS bootable USB flash drive (I used Rufus to create my DOS bootable drive). Remove the USB flash drive from your Windows PC and insert it in your unRAID box then :

 

1. Boot the system to DOS.

2. Flash the BIOS using the mvf.exe file with the following command at the DOS

prompt.

a:\>mvf 9485.bin

This automatically flashes the BIOS.

3. When the flashing is completed, reboot the system.

The new firmware is now flashed to your system’s BIOS.

 

Good luck.

 

Ian

and that did the trick guys.

 

Thank you very much!!!

That is good to hear indeed!!

 

It is odd that this would happen on a card that is fresh from the factory.  It almost sounds like the card came with an incomplete flash or one that was slightly corrupt.

Adrian,

 

I'm glad that worked for you too.

 

That is good to hear indeed!!

 

It is odd that this would happen on a card that is fresh from the factory.  It almost sounds like the card came with an incomplete flash or one that was slightly corrupt.

 

Yes, this is very odd. It would appear that the cards that both Adrian and I had were afflicted with the same problem so perhaps there is a firmware load/config/QC issue affecting a recent batch?

 

The fix is simple enough to apply, it's just a pain if, like me, you exhaust all other possibilities before re-flashing the SAS2LP-MV8 card firmware.

 

Ian

Count me in as another person that had to do this.

 

Kind of annoyed at Supermicro...

 

Due to MB / flash drive compatibilities, IPMI erratic behavior, and miscellaneous issues, I lost nearly 1.5 hours to re-flash the firmware.

 

 

I've just had exactly the same issue so many thanks to everyone for pointing me in the right direction.

 

I don't know if it is significant but when you run mvf it reports the version of the ROM and the version of the firmware on any adapters it finds. It reported "Ver 10 SubVer 10" for the ROM and "Ver 00 SubVer 00" for the adapter.

 

N.B. When you type "Y" to actually flash the bios it is quick to report it has successfully erased the old firmware. It then sits there for a minute before letting you know it is doing anything more than that!

 

For anyone who needs to create a bootable USB using Linux, what I did was:

 

[*]Download the FreeDos 1.0 bootable floppy image from http://www.freedos.org/download/.

[*]Use dd to write the fdboot.img file to my pendrive (e.g. # dd if=fdboot.img of=/dev/sdX). Replace X with the appropriate drive letter and it's entirely your own fault if you wipe your hard drive.

[*]Copy the contents of the bios_4.0.0.1808.rar file to your pendrive's root directory.

[*]Boot from the pen and select option number 5.

 

Thanks again to the previous posters.

I've just had the exact same thing on a board which I ordered on 9/9

 

I wonder if we all got them from newegg?

I did.

I'm thinking about buying the same controller...  Would you recommend it, despite the problems you had? 

 

Did all of you pull your SATA cables before flashing the firmware?  It seems like that shouldn't be necessary.