Disk 1 wiped out

[steve1977]

Thanks. How to check what FW I am running?

 

I also noticed something else that may point to a separate issue, which is actually HW related. Disk 1 now shows an exclamation mark at SMART test. Is the card broken and do I need to replace the disk? If so, what's the safest way to do so with my somewhat unstable setup? Log below.

 

 

tower-diagnostics-20170902-0956.zip

[JorgeB]

Disk1 has pending sectors, run an extended SMART test, if it fails you need to replace it.

 

LSI is using firmware 20.00.04.00, latest is 20.00.07.00.

[miniwalks]

20.00.04 had some nasty issues too if I recall


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[JorgeB]

IIRC 20.00.00.00 was worse, but you still should update.

[steve1977]

Running an extended SMART now. How to repair the sector issue if it does not fail?

 

Any easy way to update the FW to 20.00.07? I remember I tried updates a few times in the past and it has always been a lengthy nightmare.

[JorgeB]

1 hour ago, steve1977 said:

How to repair the sector issue if it does not fail?

 

If the SMART test completes without a read error then they are false positives and there's no way to fix them, just ignore, if the test completes with a read failure then it need to be replaced.

[JorgeB]

1 hour ago, steve1977 said:

Any easy way to update the FW to 20.00.07? I remember I tried updates a few times in the past and it has always been a lengthy nightmare.

 

It's usually very simple, see the LSI thread, generally you just have to see if your board supports legacy bios or if UEFI need to be used, ask there for help if you need it.

 

 

[miniwalks]

Running an extended SMART now. How to repair the sector issue if it does not fail?
 
Any easy way to update the FW to 20.00.07? I remember I tried updates a few times in the past and it has always been a lengthy nightmare.

FreeDoS USB and about 5 minutes


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[steve1977]

I think my issue in the past was around UEFI. I found a step-by-step guide (https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/tutorial-updating-ibm-m1015-lsi-9211-8i-firmware-on-uefi-systems.11462/). Will give it a try after the extended SMART completes. Seems that this will take forever,

[JorgeB]

5 minutes ago, steve1977 said:

Seems that this will take forever,

 

It should take around this time, it's on SMART:

 

Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time:      ( 707) minutes.

 

[steve1977]

I believe the extended test finished well. Attached is the log. Thanks for your help!

tower-diagnostics-20170903-0855.zip

[steve1977]

i tried for hours, but don't get the FW update to work. i struggle to boot into built-in uefi shell (asus z77). any idea?

[miniwalks]

i tried for hours, but don't get the FW update to work. i struggle to boot into built-in uefi shell (asus z77). any idea?

USB stick
Rufus format it to FreeDoS
Add the 2118it and other sas2flsh files needed
Power down server
Remove all drives and other usbs
Boot to FreeDoS
Run sas2flsh commands
Completed
Power down
Remove FreeDoS USB
Reattach other devices
Power on


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[steve1977]

i followed all, but cannot boot into freedos (at least not in uefi shell). i must over-look something easy?

[miniwalks]

i followed all, but cannot boot into freedos (at least not in uefi shell). i must over-look something easy?

Yes.

Don't boot to UEFI shell. Make sure the Rufus makes it UEFI and Legacy Compatible. Manually select boot device. Boot to FreeDoS CLI

 

 

 

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[steve1977]

i would have thought the rufus part is the easiest one, but i fail to get this running.

 

im using latest rufus. installed bootable mbr both bios and uefi. with freedos (default by rufus).

 

when booting, i reach the asus uefi. the flash drive shows twice (once as uefi and once as something else). uefi gets me back to the uefi asus. the other one gives me error messages and a command line. anything i enter gives errors.

[miniwalks]

Sounds like it didn't build the USB, can you try launching rufus as Administrator?

Give that a shot, and if you still get errors - please attach photos of the error

Cheers
Matt


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[JorgeB]

5 hours ago, steve1977 said:

I believe the extended test finished well. Attached is the log. Thanks for your help!

tower-diagnostics-20170903-0855.zip

 

The test completed without errors, so the current pending sectors reported are false positives, keep monitoring the disk, but for now it's OK.

[steve1977]

4 hours ago, miniwalks said:

Sounds like it didn't build the USB, can you try launching rufus as Administrator?

Give that a shot, and if you still get errors - please attach photos of the error

 

Have rebuilt the USB with rufus as administrator.

 

Computer boots right into Asus UEFU bios utility.

 

When forcing to boot into "UEFI: Flashdisk", it turns black for a sec and then returns to the Uefi Bios Utility.

When forcing to boot into "Flashdisk", it gives me error message: "drive is too large to handle...".

 

It then gives me a commandline. "Dir" gives me the list of files on the USB stick. "fso:" gives me "bad command or filename". "sas2flash" and "sas2fl~1.efi" give me "bad command or filename". "sas2fl~1" and "sas2fl~2" give me "this program cannot be run in DOS mode.

 

Any more thoughts?

[miniwalks]

 
Have rebuilt the USB with rufus as administrator.
 
Computer boots right into Asus UEFU bios utility.
 
When forcing to boot into "UEFI: Flashdisk", it turns black for a sec and then returns to the Uefi Bios Utility.

When forcing to boot into "Flashdisk", it gives me error message: "drive is too large to handle...".
 
It then gives me a commandline. "Dir" gives me the list of files on the USB stick. "fso:" gives me "bad command or filename". "sas2flash" and "sas2fl~1.efi" give me "bad command or filename". "sas2fl~1" and "sas2fl~2" give me "this program cannot be run in DOS mode.
 
Any more thoughts?

Can you check which USB it's plugged itlnto when booting? Apparently the USB2 are on an ASMedia controller, but the USB3 closest to the PS2 should be native

If you can try those to get the USB UEFI?


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[steve1977]

Tried another USB flashdisk. And also changed the ports (to the one right adjacent to PS2). Unfortunately still the same error message upon start and cannot execute any of the files. The first appears to be a known bug (https://github.com/pbatard/rufus/issues/23).

 

I am into FW update nightmare again. Is this an issue with my mobo (which is not stone-old and had been reasonably popular back then) or this is just a complex ting to accomplish?

[steve1977]

Maybe additional info. I am creating the USB stick within a VM (Win10) on Unraid.

[steve1977]

And one more info - info about my mobo was wrong. I actually have a Asus P8Z77-V Pro. Changed from the previous Sabertooth in a desperate attempt to get things working with Unraid

[steve1977]

I solved it... Had to manually download bootx64.efi and rename it to shellx64.efi. This allowed me to open an uefi shell and execute the commands. FW is now updated. Fingers crossed that this increases stability.

 

When it comes to disk 1 with pending sectors. Is this a slow death and worth to anyhow replace the disk? Anything I can do about these sectors?

[JorgeB]

At the moment there are no pending sectors, but it's never a good sign, keep monitoring and if there are any more issues in the near future replace.