How to upgrade an LSI HBA firmware using Unraid

[JorgeB]

8 hours ago, FungShui said:

Is there another way to find a Linux sas3flash?

Look for the 9300-8i and use the sas3flash from that package, it's the same.

[FungShui]

6 hours ago, JorgeB said:

Look for the 9300-8i and use the sas3flash from that package, it's the same.

Thanks you are a life saver!

[ved]

So i read a lot of info about this flashing progress and i am so confused.

For now, i do not have access to my unraid machine, so i will have to do it from my Desktop ( B450 + Ryzen 5 5500 ).

What would i need to do, to have an succesfull flash ?

Can i do it directly from windows ? do i use freedos env from an usb ? uefi shell if my MB can do it ?

The card that needs to be flashed is Dell PERC H310, i have watched the video from the art of server about the firmware and bios downloading so i think this settled.

[ved]

I am considering following this guide:

https://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/188146-my-journey-into-crossflashing-a-dell-perc-h310-ir-mode-to-lsi-9211-8i-it-mode-for-zfs-truenas-use

 

Is it any good ?

Other guides recommend using two different OS's , freedos and linus, to flash the card, others dont.

A lot of info around but not so much clarification about why to do it and on what hardware, server, consumer and for a begginer its hard what to trust and follow.

Any help would be apreciated.

[ChatNoir]

@ved I moved your posts to a more appropriate thread.

[ved]

Alright, thank you, still have not figured it out..

[ved]

I have managed finally to flash IT Firmware on my Dell H310 card, so i here it is how i did it, maybe it will help someone in the future.

I followed this guide: https://fohdeesha.com/docs/perc.html ( I used this one instead of the one available in this forum tailored for unraid because i didn't have access to my unraid machine at that time )

I flashed the card using my personal desktop ( R5 5500, B450 PRO4 P8 ) , be sure to disable everything that the guide mentions and enable CSM. ( PSA, with an Intel 500 platform you cannot enable CSM with out an dedicated GPU )

In my case i also needed to have every back io cable pluged in ( BT USB Dongle, Internet, Headphones jacks, Printer USB ) to be able to type a single letter into FreeDOS instead of like 30-40 at once. I do not know why this happened and sadly i didnt experiment which cable or device was allowing me to type normally so i included it all above, otherwise if only my mouse,keyboard,DP and power was plugged in i couldn't type correctly at all.

After i FINALLY managed to be able to type a single letter into FreeDOS ( It took me a day to figure this stupid issue out ) i followed the guide and the card was flashed to it firmware in like 15 min.

 

[endystrike]

Hi @JorgeB,

Is there any particular risk in updating also the UEFI like this (without erasing anything) from a Windows machine?

I feel more confident in flashing those cards from a Windows environment and later to move the card to the Unraid server

 

sas3flash.exe -o -f SAS9300-16i_IT.bin -b mptsas3.rom -b mpt3x64.rom

 

Thank you!

[JorgeB]

Should be fine. 

[vertigo12369]

@JorgeB, thank you for the walkthrough.  Was able to flash my 9300-8i with no issues!

[rkeytek]

I have run into a problem making the flash executable or even confirming adapters

 

I enter chmod +x sas3flash but get chmod: cannot access 'sas3flash': No such file or directory

I enter ./sas3flash -listall and get -bash: ./sas3flash: No such file or directory

 

I have listed the contents of the lsi folder and find all 3 files present (I'm upgrading the BIOS also).

 

Running a LSI SAS 9300-8i PCI Express to 12Gb/s HBA.  If you need more build info, I can share.

[trurl]

22 minutes ago, rkeytek said:

No such file or directory

Are you sure you're in the correct directory when you enter that command? 

[rkeytek]

I'm in the root LSI directory as shown in the instructions.  Do I need to be in the boot/LSI directory?

[Wody]

6 hours ago, rkeytek said:

I'm in the root LSI directory as shown in the instructions.

It sounds like you forgot to do some steps. You should first unpack the installer (Installer_P16_for_Linux in the example) and then copy sas3flash to the lsi directory on the USB, something like:

cp Installer_P16_for_Linux\sas3flash_linux_x64_rel\sas3flash /boot/LSI

 

This is explained but without commandlines in the part starting with 'From the installer package we only need sas3flash (sas2flash for SAS2 models):'

 

 

[rkeytek]

I did unpack and only placed the 3 files required for flash and bios update in the lsi folder, SAS9300_8i_IT.bin, mptsas3.rom and sas3flash.  I verifies that each file is in the root/lsi and /boot/lsi directories as noted in the tutorial.

[JorgeB]

Post the output of 

ls -l /lsi

 

[rkeytek]

@JorgeB, sorry for the late reply.  Vaca.

 

total 1720

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 214016 Jun 13 18:40 mptsas3.rom

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 167424 Jun 13 18:40 sas3flash.exe

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1372424 Jun 13 18:40 SAS9311_8i_IR.bin

 

Note:  I'm flashing IR for a hardware raid and the raid option show in the HBA bios

[JorgeB]

That looks OK to me, post a screenshot showing the error when running it from the CLI.

[Wody]

On 6/28/2024 at 10:12 PM, rkeytek said:

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 167424 Jun 13 18:40 sas3flash.exe

You've downloaded/unpacked the wrong installer, probably installer_Pxx_for_Windows or _for_DOS instead of for_Linux

Edited June 30 by Wody

[JorgeB]

1 hour ago, Wody said:

You've downloaded/unpacked the wrong installer,

Thanks, I missed that.

[Chunks]

Thank you so much for this thread. The most challenging part was navigating the Broadcom website to find my firmware. It worked great for my old SAS 9207-8i (even if the newest firmware is 8ish years old at this point, it's newer than what I had )

[prongATO]

mrpunrfsx1-diagnostics-20220211-0206.zipCould this same process be used to crossflash from IR to IT firmware?  I currently have an LSI 9207-8i (SAS2308) with one drive keeps reporting errors but the drive SMART always comes back clean for that drive and it’s the second newest WD Red in the server (full preclear was successful).  I’ve already replaced the breakout cables and have tested that drive in three different slots and 2 different 5 in 3 cages (but all slots are attached to the same HBA card). I installed a fan on the heatsink in case it was overheating and still get periodic read errors. I used this process to update the firmware on it to 20.00.07.00 and still no joy.  Diagnostics attached just in case you want to take a look. 

 I ordered an LSI 9300-8i replacement and will likely need to crossflash it. 

Edited August 19 by prongATO
Diagnostics file

[JorgeB]

14 minutes ago, prongATO said:

Could this same process be used to crossflash from IR to IT firmware?

Not AFAIK, it won't accept a crossflash, just a BIOS from the same mode.

[prongATO]

1 minute ago, JorgeB said:

Not AFAIK, it won't accept a crossflash, just a BIOS from the same mode.

Damn, okay.  I really HATE cross flashing LBA cards.

[Wody]

On 8/19/2024 at 7:48 PM, prongATO said:

Damn, okay.  I really HATE cross flashing LBA cards.

Both the 9207 and 9300 have ir and it firmware, so as soon as it identifies as LSI you can flash one or the other, the 9207 will identify as a 9217 in ir mode, and the 9300 as a 9311. But it may require reformatting the drives, because of the extra raid-information the cards want to put on the drive, and of course ir mode is not recommended for unraid.