My experience flashing an H310 to IT firmware with an Asus motherboard, PAL error


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It highly depends on availability at your location.

Very economical are the DELL H200 and H310 cards if you don't mind cross-flashing.

Same goes for the IBM M1015 and M1115.

Since a couple of days flashing of the Fujitsu D2607 is also possible.

There are some more SAS2008 based cards  (see wiki) but I haven't seen them that often in the bay.

 

The plug'n'play version is directly from LSI/Avago called 9211-8i in IT mode.

But prices are usually far from competitive.

 

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So this one would work http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/142008252948?lpid=82&chn=ps&ul_noapp=true

by flashing it with this firmware : http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=12767.msg121131#msg121131

 

Also, what is the difference between the P10 and P11 ZIP files that contain the firmware and utilities for flashing (I assume)??

thanks very much, I just don't want to purchase the incorrect card

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Also, for anyone else doing this flash for this card, after reading the instructions in the readme, there is a rather odd step which I believe can be avoided. The instructions say to boot from USB (I use a FreeDOS boot disk created using Rufus, not the HP boot utility described in the how to) and run a file called 1.bat which dumps information about the controller to a file called ADAPTERS.TXT. Later in the readme / how-to it says to power down the computer, take the usb out and put it into another computer to obtain the files contents. This is not necessary. In FreeDOS you can simply use the "more" command. You don't need to powerdown your computer or use a 2nd computer. You can simply type

more ADAPTERS.TXT

and it will output the SAS address needed for the final step.

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That is the right card and the right tool for flashing it.

P10, P11 etc. are the firmware versions available.

The toolset for this card hasn't been updated for a long time since the most up to date firmware

is P20.00.07.00.

You can grab this latest firmware from the LSI/Avago site or take the LSI_P20 folder out of the H310 toolset.

Use that instead of the P11 folder, at that stage there is no more difference between DELL and IBM.

The H310 toolset is based on the M1015.

 

With regard to the reboot.

If you clean the flash with megarec you have to do a reboot or the next step will fail.

If you clean with sas2flash you don't need to reboot.

I know, the  process can be optimized to run totally automatic, but I don't think it's worth the effort.

In fact, one could write those 5 command lines in a batch file and it would suffice.

 

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So basically you're saying I'd me much better off to use this newer firmware and toolset you've linked? I'm all for that if it's newer and better. But you're saying the way in your readme there, the reboot is necessary. Also, can I use FreeDOS with this firmware or should I use the included HP disk tool? Also, the "issues" you mention with some users having their parity drives messing up and some drives not spinning down have been eliminated with your newest post http://www3.zippyshare.com/v/xZKIOHaz/file.html correct?

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So basically you're saying I'd me much better off to use this newer firmware and toolset you've linked? I'm all for that if it's newer and better. But you're saying the way in your readme there, the reboot is necessary.

I guess it's not a bad idea to run up-to-date firmware although I have never heard of issues with P11 or so.

The reboot is necessary as the controller is not reset after the megarec -cleanflash step. You would have to issue the reset command "sas2flsh -o -resetall" or simply reboot.

 

Also, can I use FreeDOS with this firmware or should I use the included HP disk tool? Also, the "issues" you mention with some users having their parity drives messing up and some drives not spinning down have been eliminated with your newest post http://www3.zippyshare.com/v/xZKIOHaz/file.html correct?

Yes, FreeDOS is also viable. The HP tool is not working with Windows10 so the new solution is FreeDOS with RUFUS. You can also use the H310 files to build the bootdisk. It includes the himemx/config.sys which is also needed.

The lates files are on mediafire - check the OP please.

Did I really mention "some users having their parity drives messing up and some drives not spinning down"?

There was a data corruption issue with P20.00.00.00 but it was corrected with P20.00.07.00.

 

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You had mentioned "check here http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=12767.msg339192#msg339192 and http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=12767.msg399690#msg399690" but that was way back. I think I'll try the P11 1st. Thanks very much!

 

There was a data corruption issue with P20.00.00.00 but it was corrected with P20.00.07.00.

 

Use the latest toolset with P20.00.07.00 and you're fine.

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Got it, I'll report back when I get the card. It's being sent via e-package from China so I imagine it'll take it some time to get here. I've flashed cards before, I'm just not very familiar with the terminology although I can follow instructions in a readme. The enclosed screenshot is the one I want to be using correct? It just has the 5ITP20.BAT file, which says nothing about rebooting or where to retrieve the information from "step one". The readme is simply a list of what all the files in this directory are, and the above mentioned batch file simply says:

@echo off
cls
echo .
REM     ========================================================
REM         Start firmware and BIOS update
echo .
echo .	Flashing LSI2911-8i IT-Firmware (P20.00.07.00)
echo .
echo .	COMMANDLINE THAT WILL BE USED:
echo .	sas2flsh.exe -l Flashlog.txt -o -f 2118it.bin
echo .
echo .	NOTE
echo .	If you want the BIOS to be flashed also, CTRL+C now and edit 
echo .	the command by adding "-b MPTSAS2.ROM"
echo .
echo .	(You don't want a BIOS if you intend to use the controller
echo .	in IT-mode as HBA! Boot time is speed up without BIOS)
echo .
echo .
pause
echo .
echo .	Proceeding to flash while logging to Flashlog.txt
echo .	in the current directory.
echo .
echo .
sas2flsh.exe -l Flashlog.txt -o -f 2118it.bin
echo .
echo .
echo .
pause
cls
echo .
echo .
echo .	Almost finished!
echo .	Last step, execute 6.bat to reprogram the SAS address that
echo .	was collected in step 1. Ensure that your 6.bat contains a
echo .	valid SAS address - preferrably the one that is in you log from step 1.
echo .
echo .
echo .
pause

 

Although there is no "step 1" mentioned anywhere.  Will the SAS address just be written to a file called flashlog.txt?

 

Thanks again, sorry if these are stupid questions. The other firmware readme's have Steps 1-6 instructions and 1-6.bat, where this only has the 5ITP20.bat and 6.bat. Am I correct in assuming that the SAS address to program in 6.bat will be in flashlog.txt and I do not need to reboot between these steps? So just run 5ITP20.BAT, get the SAS address from flashlog.txt, edit 6.bat to the correct SAS address and run 6.bat? That's it correct?

Capture.JPG.3ce45c0b2fc37f2a70897dc65e3a2841.JPG

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I felt like I mixed two threads so I went through your last few posts...

 

If your card is still on stock IBM software you have to start with the M1015 toolset at step 1.

I don't have that package at hand to check its content but it still should be quite similar to the H310 set.

 

Once you finished with flashing P11 you add an additional step which is 5_LSI_P20 out of the H310 set.

Finally run 6.bat.

or

Take the M1015 base and replace the P11 folder with the 5_LSI_P20 from the H310 set.

Then run all steps as described in the __READMEFIRST.txt

 

I will update the M1015 toolset to the P20 firmware next few days.

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So I have the card and everything went fine up until running 5ITP20.BAT. It gives me the error message that it has failed to initialize PAL. What should I do now? I don't have another mobo to try the flash on. Can I finish it in unRAID? I've seen here: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=25891.0 but I cannot figure out how to do what's being recommended. Can anyone offer a little guidance? I have an Asus Z170M-PLUS motherboard.

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Yes, I see it's been discussed thoroughly but that doesn't help me figure out what to do. Admittedly this is over my head and if someone could just point me in the right direction it would be greatly appreciated. It shouldn't need "persistence" there should be some definitive how to for people with this card that details the steps. I've tried following the post I referenced above but I can't even find the files he's discussing.

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Thanks very much! Well I already have this card and am more than half way there. So I downloaded this link: https://app.box.com/s/ytc4uv333ls8ey8vjft0a1872z300swt and simply place those files on the root of my FreeDOS USB, boot from it,

then type:

megarec -writesbr 0 sbrempty.bin
megarec -cleanflash 0

reboot, then type:

sas2flsh -o -f 2118it.bin -b mptsas2.rom
sas2flsh -o -sasadd 500605b0xxxxxxxx (replace the xx's with the SAS address from your card)

 

And that's it? I've already completed up to 3.bat from Fireball13's P20 firmware recommendation the H310 toolset http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=12767.msg259006#msg259006. I can simply follow the above steps and it will work even though I've already gone this far? I don't want to brick this card. Thanks again for the help.

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If you've got to the part where you get the "Failed to initialize PAL" error then you've done with megarec. The onboard flash is already empty.

 

So you need to select UEFI boot from your motherboard's boot options - your USB stick should appear twice, so you want the UEFI option. You should be presented with a shell that looks a bit like the DOS prompt and a bit like the Linux bash prompt. You need to select the flash by entering its identifier at the prompt. It's very likely to be fs0: then you can access the files in the root of the device.

 

There's a very good step by step guide here. Scroll down to the UEFI Motherboards section. It helps if you're unfamiliar with the EFI shell. From that point you use the

sas2flash.efi

program instead of the

sas2flsh.exe

program - note the different spelling. The parameters they take are the same.

 

I haven't flashed an M1015 but I have done a Dell H310 so take advice from experts like Fireball3, but I think you have to load a specific version (P7) of the LSI firmware first, as it's the only one that the IBM card will accept. Once it has taken that version you can load the latest P20 version. So I think the commands are something like this:

 

sas2flash.efi -o -f 2118it7.bin -b mptsas2.rom
sas2flash.efi -o -sasadd 500605b0xxxxxxxx (replace the xx's with the SAS address from your card)

 

reboot to UEFI shell

 

sas2flash.efi -o -f 2118it.bin

 

You might have to find the specific .bin files and collect them in the root of the USB. 2118it7.bin is the file from the P7 update and 2118it.bin is the file from the P20 update.

 

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  • mikedpitt420 changed the title to My experience flashing an H310 to IT firmware with an Asus motherboard, PAL error

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