Hammer Posted January 15, 2020 Share Posted January 15, 2020 Hi people, Sorry if my request is dense but I have flashed all kinds of devices before but seem to come up short on how to do it to the LSI 9207-8i Controller. It is running the latest Firmware: 20.00.07.00 in IT mode. The BIOS however is a bit outdated so I wanted to upgrade to: 7.27.01.01 since my version is from 2015 and since I am new to all of this I did not want to worry about it after installing Unraid. I managed to download the latest BIOS from their website here: https://www.broadcom.com/products/storage/host-bus-adapters/sas-9207-8i I used Rufus to make bootable USB I unzipped the root contents of the BIOS download on to said USB It boots fine into said USB This is where I get lost. I need to know exactly what command to type to flash the controller and I read the readme and I understand that I am surely dense but help a fellow out please? I have only one controller plugged in but as I said I have no idea what exact syntax I need to make magic happen. Remember I am new to all of this! Any help would be appreciated! Quote Link to comment
Squid Posted January 15, 2020 Share Posted January 15, 2020 If I understand it correctly, there's no fundamental reason to upgrade the BIOS of the card. It's really only used to make RAID sets or enumerate the drives at POST. (As a matter of fact, neither of my LSI cards flashed to IT mode have a BIOS installed at all in them) Quote Link to comment
JorgeB Posted January 15, 2020 Share Posted January 15, 2020 Like mentioned you don't really need a bios, but if you want to update: sas2flsh.exe -o -b MPTSAS2.ROM Quote Link to comment
Hammer Posted January 15, 2020 Author Share Posted January 15, 2020 Thank you both for the swift and excellent replies! But mine was shipped with BIOS on them? how would I remove their BIOS and what would be the point to have BIOS or not if you do not mind me asking? Quote Link to comment
Squid Posted January 15, 2020 Share Posted January 15, 2020 Following the "how to cross flash thread here", it's instructions and steps include removing the BIOS. Not having a BIOS simply speeds up the boot process. In my case though, I simply forgot to reinstall it after I removed it as part of the crossflashing, and have never gotten around to re-installing it. Either way, the BIOS is more or less pointless in IT mode, as there's no RAID sets to make, and unRaid will simply enumerate the drives itself. Since every flashing operation entails a slight risk of bricking, I'd just leave well enough alone and not worry about it.. Quote Link to comment
JorgeB Posted January 15, 2020 Share Posted January 15, 2020 You only need a bios if you want to boot from a connected device, and that's never needed with Unraid. Quote Link to comment
JorgeB Posted January 15, 2020 Share Posted January 15, 2020 To erase bios you can use: sas2flash -o -e 5 It can be flashed later at anytime if needed. Quote Link to comment
Hammer Posted January 15, 2020 Author Share Posted January 15, 2020 Superb! 1 headache averted! thank you again both of you! Quote Link to comment
Walter S Posted March 20, 2020 Share Posted March 20, 2020 Hey Squid, I finally ordered a LSI SAS 9207-8i card. I'm wondering, If I wanted to add additional drives to my system beyond 8 (not counting the MB SATA ports). Would I need to add an additional 9207-8i card? Or is there another way? I've seen reference to "expander cards" (?) Also, based on this thread I should't be concerned about the Bios/Firmware versions that my 9207-8i has. Thanks Quote Link to comment
JorgeB Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 13 hours ago, Walter S said: I've seen reference to "expander cards" (?) There are SAS expanders, but they require a SAS HBA, like the 9207. Quote Link to comment
das1996 Posted January 17, 2021 Share Posted January 17, 2021 A bit late to the party but wanted to add, Updating to the 07.39.02.00 bios (from 07.39.00.00) fixes the long delay at POST when the system has CSM enabled. Quote Link to comment
alitech Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 Hi guys Where is the thread showing us how to remove the bios? I cant seem to locate the link in the comments. On 1/15/2020 at 2:45 PM, Squid said: Following the "how to cross flash thread here", it's instructions and steps include removing the BIOS. Not having a BIOS simply speeds up the boot process. In my case though, I simply forgot to reinstall it after I removed it as part of the crossflashing, and have never gotten around to re-installing it. Either way, the BIOS is more or less pointless in IT mode, as there's no RAID sets to make, and unRaid will simply enumerate the drives itself. Since every flashing operation entails a slight risk of bricking, I'd just leave well enough alone and not worry about it.. Quote Link to comment
JorgeB Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 4 hours ago, alitech said: Where is the thread showing us how to remove the bios? https://forums.unraid.net/topic/12114-lsi-controller-fw-updates-irit-modes/?do=findComment&comment=632252 Quote Link to comment
Knights21 Posted February 8, 2021 Share Posted February 8, 2021 (edited) I had trouble with the HP 220 branded Broadcom / LSI 2308 card and the sas2flash version not allowing the 9207-8e V20 firmware update to complete because of the in-built manufacturer flag. Way around it has been stated many times around the web by using sas2flash V14 but took me ages to find. Hence here attached to save others searching. lsi-HP-broadcom-SAS2flash_V14-dos.zip And FYI if you are searching and come across this, after I updated to V20 I then had problems with SSD trim operations which turns out V20 doesn't support 😵 (see this thread:) So had to downgrade back to V16. (my card is IT mode with no BIOS) Edited February 11, 2021 by Knights21 Quote Link to comment
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