Flashing an LSI SAS card to IT

[Guest asrequested]

OK, need some help, here. I bought an LSI 9211 8i. It came configured in IR mode, but I need it in IT. I researched how to do it. I got all the files needed, made a boot USB drive. All good so far. Part of the process is erasing the flash. But as soon as I do that, the motherboard no longer sees the card, and I am not able to flash the new firmware. Has anyone successfully achieved doing this? If so, how did you do it? I'm a very frustrated Doofus.

Edited December 27, 2016 by Doofus

[PenkethBoy 2063]

https://www.servethehome.com/ibm-serveraid-m1015-part-4/

 

[Guest asrequested]

Yup, that's the way I did it, but it kills the card. That's why I asked if someone has actually done it. I have a feeling that if you use a sever board, it works correctly. One person said not to reboot, and the others say to reboot. I rebooted, and it killed the card.

[PenkethBoy 2063]

yes you have to flash before reboot and use the sas id (on a sticker on the card or should be) - as you have erased the bios - no wonder the bios cant see it - its brainless at that point

[Guest asrequested]

yes you have to flash before reboot and use the sas id (on a sticker on the card or should be) - as you have erased the bios - no wonder the bios cant see it - its brainless at that point

 

And that seems to be an issue. This is what is says in your link

 

 

 

And this guy says don't reboot.

 

http://brycv.com/blog/2012/flashing-it-firmware-to-lsi-sas9211-8i/

 

 

 

I rebooted 

Edited December 29, 2016 by Doofus

[PenkethBoy 2063]

ah oops 

[PenkethBoy 2063]

for info and a record for me when i want to do this again!!!!!

 

Well i spent a fun 3 hours trying to update my 9211 in my dp server today - it was actually in IR mode not IT like i thought - unbelievable amount of useless info on the net - conflicting - plain wrong - and some just horseshit

 

When you figure it out it's quite easy - especially if you ignore what the LSI docs say is possible - when it plainly is not

 

The sas2flash utility works in windows and you can list the settings on the card - you can even update the bios of the card - but you cant overwrite the firmware with another type i.e. IT over IR - computer says no! - grr

 

So you have to go the efi route - now this took a while to figure out but the process is

 

Create a bootable usb stick (dos not ntfs) - no need to put any files on it from a dos perspective - just needs the boot sector

 

create a directory called \efi\boot and put in the file shell_full.efi (from LSi site) rename as bootx64.efi - this will make you bios boot into the efi shell

 

on the same disk put the sas2flash.efi file plus your firmware image and bios rom files 

 

Slap the usb into your machine and boot

 

you will see a black screen with a list of drives

 

for me the usb drive was "fs1:" it might be fs0: as well

 

at the shell prompt type fs1: and this will take you to the usb drive

 

navigate to the dir with your files and run

 

sas2flash -o -e 6

 

this deletes the flash memory and sets the card to default - takes a few seconds to happen

 

then run 

 

sas2flash -o -f 2118it.bin -b mptsas2.rom

 

this writes the firmware and bios respectively

 

wait for it to complete - 20 seconds or so 

 

sas2flash -list

will show you the result

 

Reboot and update the sas drivers in windows 

 

You are done! 

 

now you can update the bios/firmware at will 

Edited January 5, 2017 by PenkethBoy

[mediacowboy 438]

@@PenkethBoy,

 

Would you be willing to share your files are point me at the correct website to obtain the files. I keep getting redirected to broadcom and when I search for the 9211 I get the product brief and nothing else.

 

Reason for the files is i keep seeing a lot of these errors "The driver detected a controller error on \Device\RaidPort0." and it takes forever to boot the machine up. I have two of these cards one in one machine and the other in another. One boots up pretty quick while the other takes a tremendous amount of time.

 

Thanks,

MediaCowboy

[aptalca 70]

Ton of great info here: https://forums.lime-technology.com/index.php?/topic/12114-LSI-Controller-FW-updates-IR/IT-modes

 

That's how I did mine

[PenkethBoy 2063]

@@PenkethBoy,

 

Would you be willing to share your files are point me at the correct website to obtain the files. I keep getting redirected to broadcom and when I search for the 9211 I get the product brief and nothing else.

 

Reason for the files is i keep seeing a lot of these errors "The driver detected a controller error on \Device\RaidPort0." and it takes forever to boot the machine up. I have two of these cards one in one machine and the other in another. One boots up pretty quick while the other takes a tremendous amount of time.

 

Thanks,

MediaCowboy

@@mediacowboy

 

Link1 - see bottom for EFI stuff to download in a zip

 

https://www.broadcom.com/support/knowledgebase/1211161501344/flashing-firmware-and-bios-on-lsi-sas-hbas

 

Link 2 - firmware stuff and docs - zip file second from bottom

 

https://www.broadcom.com/site-search?q=9211

 

PDF (reference guide) in zip gives you the command line info

 

Backup your data first just in case you brick the card

 

Broadcom now own LSI

 

Good Luck

[PenkethBoy 2063]

@@mediacowboy

 

any luck?

[mediacowboy 438]

@@PenkethBoy

 

I didn't do it as it is showing that I have the latest firmware for it mode

 

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[mediacowboy 438]

So after being woken up twice this week because the emby quit responding and the server being locked up. I decide to run the LSI firmware update on my card. It showed I had the latest version but I went ahead and updated both the bios and the firmware. I have been watching it for the past 3 hours and haven't had any errors yet. So maybe the other was bad or something. Will continue to watch it.

[Guest asrequested]

I haven't scoured my logs, but all three of mine seem to be working well. Two of  them are 19 and one is 18. When I was researching this, I did read that they recommended updating only if you have issues.

[mediacowboy 438]

First, why did you change your icon?

 

Second I was supposedly on the last version. The update or replacement of the bios and flash did something so who knows.

Edited June 24, 2017 by mediacowboy

[Guest asrequested]

First, why did you change your icon?

 

Second I was supposedly on the last version. The update or replacement of the bios and flash did something so who knows.

 

lol...I'm in disguise  

 

Yeah, it looked like you were on 20. I hope your BIOS isn't failing 

[PenkethBoy 2063]

They will never see you coming in that disguise 

[CBers 6771]

First, why did you change your icon?

 

 

Captain Pugwash and all of those innuendos

[Guest asrequested]

Captain Pugwash and all of those innuendos

Lol.... Right?

[CBers 6771]

Lol.... Right?

And now you have 600 points

[Guest asrequested]

And now you have 600 points

Maybe I should pick one of the Rainbow characters lol.... Zippy

[CBers 6771]

Oh George!

[mediacowboy 438]

Just wanted to come back and say thanks again for the write up. Like I said in a previous post I went ahead and updated my firmware and bios and haven't had a issue since.

 

I am still seeing a drive was slow to respond but that drive is my drive bender drive so I am not as worried about it since the primary drives making up my drive bender drive are not reporting any issues.

[Guest asrequested]

That's good to know, should similar issues, arise 

[PenkethBoy 2063]

Just wanted to come back and say thanks again for the write up. Like I said in a previous post I went ahead and updated my firmware and bios and haven't had a issue since.

 

I am still seeing a drive was slow to respond but that drive is my drive bender drive so I am not as worried about it since the primary drives making up my drive bender drive are not reporting any issues.

Good glad its working better now