LSI Raid Firmware Bios Flashing - Revision history

Webdawg at 18:18, 26 July 2018

2018-07-26T18:18:43Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:18, 26 July 2018
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			=Most Recent=
			sas2flsh -o -e 6
			DO NOT REBOOT
			sas2flsh -o -f 2118it.bin -b mptsas2.rom

			Easy <ref> https://nguvu.org/freenas/Convert-LSI-HBA-card-to-IT-mode/ </ref>

			==EFI==
			ERROR: Failed to initialize PAL. Exiting program.

			*https://serverfault.com/questions/679175/failed-to-initialize-pal-while-upgrading-an-lsi-9211-8i-to-it

			Copy and paste:
			<pre>

			Formatting the USB as freedos (using Rufus) - https://www.all4os.com/windows/create-a-bootable-ms-dos-or-freedos-usb-drive.html
			Downloading the Shell_full.efi, renaming to shellx64.efi, and putting it on the root of the drive - https://svn.code.sf.net/p/edk2/code/trunk/edk2/EdkShellBinPkg/FullShell/X64/Shell_Full.efi
			Downloading the sas2flash.efi - http://www.lsi.com/products/host-bus-adapters/pages/lsi-sas-9211-8i.aspx#tab/tab4
			Booting to the ASUS bios and loading EFI shell (it's the last step, in the last page on the advanced screen on the bottom of the page, same page as "Save and Reset"

			Follow the rest of the instructions on this page (http://digitalcardboard.com/blog/2014/07/09/flashing-it-firmware-to-the-lsi-sas-9211-8i-hba-2014-efi-recipe/)

			; to show the controller and verify the current version.
			sas2flash.efi -listall

			; to erase the BIOS, do not reboot after this command.
			sas2flash.efi -o -e 6

			; to write the new firmware and BIOS.
			sas2flash.efi -o -f 2118it.bin -b mptsas2.rom

			More instructions here to compare: http://brycv.com/blog/2012/flashing-it-firmware-to-lsi-sas9211-8i/
			</pre>



	Apparently there is a web bios: https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/confused-about-that-lsi-card-join-the-crowd.11901/		Apparently there is a web bios: https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/confused-about-that-lsi-card-join-the-crowd.11901/
	=First Time=		=First Time=

Webdawg: /* Third Time */

2017-07-11T02:52:29Z

Third Time

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:52, 10 July 2017
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	=Third Time=		=Third Time=
	I do not have a EFI bios, I could only get FreeDOS to work.		I do not have a EFI bios, I could only get FreeDOS to work. I had to use FreeDOS to erase flash and flash the card.

	=NVDATA Image does not match Controller Device ID (Crossflashing)=		=NVDATA Image does not match Controller Device ID (Crossflashing)=

Webdawg: /* Second Time */

2017-07-11T02:51:52Z

Second Time

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:51, 10 July 2017
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	IR over IR firmware worked great.		IR over IR firmware worked great.

			=Third Time=
			I do not have a EFI bios, I could only get FreeDOS to work.

	=NVDATA Image does not match Controller Device ID (Crossflashing)=		=NVDATA Image does not match Controller Device ID (Crossflashing)=

Webdawg: /* UEFI BIOS */

2015-08-23T07:43:23Z

UEFI BIOS

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:43, 23 August 2015
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	Also: http://brycv.com/blog/2012/flashing-it-firmware-to-lsi-sas9211-8i/		Also: http://brycv.com/blog/2012/flashing-it-firmware-to-lsi-sas9211-8i/

			and

			*https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/ibm-serveraid-m1015-and-no-lsi-sas-adapters-found.27445/

			PAL is a set of code in typical BIOSes for accessing hardware directly. It's rarely used except when doing direct access to a device's hardware (for firmware updates most commonly).

			99.9% of UEFIs out there have the PAL removed (along with a crapload of other units from BIOSes) to make room for the UEFI shell. An alternative to PAL is to use the UEFI shell and an application that you run in the UEFI shell to ensure direct connection to the hardware without anything going wrong.

			In essence, newer stuff has no PAL command codes so you have to use the UEFI shell.

			Yes, in theory you could code a DOS application to do the same job as the PAL and then you could reflash it from the DOS shell. The problem is that you can't really stop the OS from saying "hey SAS card.. let's talk" and midway through your firmware update the card receives some bytes that the card writes blindly to its internal flash memory because it thinks all of the bytes are for the firmware update. Next thing you know your SAS card is borked forever because the firmware actually finished, but the data written was garbage.

	=What version of firmware to use=		=What version of firmware to use=

Webdawg: /* What version of firmware to use */

2015-08-23T07:40:35Z

What version of firmware to use

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:40, 23 August 2015
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	=What version of firmware to use=		=What version of firmware to use=

			For the 9211-8i use P19

	23:55 < skoef> yes, 7.39 is the most recent I believe		23:55 < skoef> yes, 7.39 is the most recent I believe
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	Note: I also had a striped mirror of 2TB WD Re drives that also displayed some hard + transport errors with P20, but much less than the SSDs. (only 2 or 4 per WDRe drive after a benchmark run)		Note: I also had a striped mirror of 2TB WD Re drives that also displayed some hard + transport errors with P20, but much less than the SSDs. (only 2 or 4 per WDRe drive after a benchmark run)
	So it seems the faster speed of the SSD was triggering the problem more frequently on P20.		So it seems the faster speed of the SSD was triggering the problem more frequently on P20.

			*https://community.nexenta.com/thread/1053

			I actually got this figured out a few hours after posting it and I wanted to make sure that the information was out there. There is a fairly serious firmware issue with the entire LSI 92XX HBA product line. The currently shipping firmware version for the 92XX HBA line is P20 which was released on September 22. The P20 firmware contains a bug that will show up as IO timeouts, disk errors and corruption on nearly every storage drive on LSI’s compatibility list. I became aware of the issue after observing a catastrophic ZFS storage failure and tracking it back to the HBAs. After isolating the issue I contacted LSI support who informed me of the bug and the fact that they have not publically documented the issue. LSI support also informed me that the only fix for this issue is to return any effected HBA to the P19 firmware.

Webdawg: /* What version of firmware to use */

2015-08-23T07:39:14Z

What version of firmware to use

Webdawg: /* What version of firmware to use */

2015-08-23T07:38:11Z

What version of firmware to use

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:38, 23 August 2015
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	*More confirmation: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1573272&page=320		*More confirmation: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1573272&page=320

			RE: Which version of LSI 9211-i8 IT-mode firmware should I flash? Should I flash the latest P20?

			I just put together a system with three LSI 9211-8i cards and flashed them to P20, and ran into problems on the latest OmniOS during benchmarking with bonnie++.
			A single SSD (or multiples) connected via the LSI 9211-8i cards were throwing errors in the console and /var/adm/messages.

			This was via the SSD drive on a non-expander backplane. To rule out the backplane, I hooked a single Intel S3500 480GB SSD up to a breakout cable but no improvment - the same errors show up in the root console and log..

			OmniOS 5.11 omnios-8c08411 2014.04.28
			LSI 9211-8i cards - Flashed to P20 firmware.

			Nov 4 09:39:30 napp-it-14b Log info 0x31080000 received for target 9.
			Nov 4 09:39:30 napp-it-14b scsi_status=0x0, ioc_status=0x804b, scsi_state=0x0
			Nov 4 09:39:30 napp-it-14b scsi: [ID 107833 kern.notice] /pci@0,0/pci15ad,7a0@16/pci1000,3020@0 (mpt_s as1):
			Nov 4 09:39:30 napp-it-14b Aborted_command!
			Nov 4 09:39:30 napp-it-14b scsi: [ID 243001 kern.warning] WARNING: /scsi_vhci (scsi_vhci0):
			Nov 4 09:39:30 napp-it-14b /scsi_vhci/disk@g55cd2e404b58b0a7 (sd2): Parity Error on path mpt_sas14 /disk@w55cd2e404b58b0a7,0



			Arg. Transport errors and hard errors looked something like this:

			iostat -En
			-------------------
			c8t55CD2E404B58E103d0 Soft Errors: 0 Hard Errors: 1028 Transport Errors: 870
			Vendor: ATA Product: INTEL SSDSC2BB48 Revision: 0370 Serial No: BTWL404501HQ480
			Size: 480.10GB <480103981056 bytes>
			Media Error: 0 Device Not Ready: 0 No Device: 0 Recoverable: 0
			Illegal Request: 0 Predictive Failure Analysis: 0



			So I took to IRC.. and found some advice on #illumos. Someone there (patdk-wk_) mentioned he runs P19.

			Well, lets give it a try - So I downgraded by re-flashing all 3 HBAs to P19 and rebooted.

			No more errors during benchmarking!!!!

			So if you have a LSI 9211-8i hba I would stick with P19.
			There seems to be some error with P20 and these cards.

			(Also, someone on IRC also mentioned 9201-16e having problems with P20)

			Hope this saves someone else some time.

			Note: I also had a striped mirror of 2TB WD Re drives that also displayed some hard + transport errors with P20, but much less than the SSDs. (only 2 or 4 per WDRe drive after a benchmark run)
			So it seems the faster speed of the SSD was triggering the problem more frequently on P20.

Webdawg: /* What version of firmware to use */

2015-08-23T07:37:30Z

What version of firmware to use

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:37, 23 August 2015
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	23:57 < skoef> lsi confirmed issues I believe		23:57 < skoef> lsi confirmed issues I believe
	23:57 < webdawg> Wow, thanks for letting me know, I was just about to flash P20		23:57 < webdawg> Wow, thanks for letting me know, I was just about to flash P20

			*More confirmation: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1573272&page=320

Webdawg: /* IT to IR firmware or Vice Versa */

2015-08-23T07:33:46Z

IT to IR firmware or Vice Versa

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:33, 23 August 2015
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	sas2flsh -o -e 6		sas2flsh -o -e 6

	Then you run the normal flash command.		Then you run the normal flash command. If you need to reprogram your sas address (read below) do it after programming the card with the it firmware.

	I have read <ref>http://mycusthelp.info/LSI/_cs/AnswerPreview.aspx?sSessionID=&inc=7954</ref> sites saying to reboot after erase but a quote from another site<ref>http://brycv.com/blog/2012/flashing-it-firmware-to-lsi-sas9211-8i/</ref>:		I have read <ref>http://mycusthelp.info/LSI/_cs/AnswerPreview.aspx?sSessionID=&inc=7954</ref> sites saying to reboot after erase but a quote from another site<ref>http://brycv.com/blog/2012/flashing-it-firmware-to-lsi-sas9211-8i/</ref>:

Webdawg: /* IT to IR firmware or Vice Versa */

2015-08-23T07:32:48Z

IT to IR firmware or Vice Versa

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:32, 23 August 2015
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	I am thinking that -e 7 will erase everything, plus the address.		I am thinking that -e 7 will erase everything, plus the address.

			It does erase the address.

			*http://www.servethehome.com/howto-flash-supermicro-x8si6f-lsi-sas-2008-controller-lsi-firmware/

			I too had the issue where the flash util refused to flash over the existing firmware.

			I used the sas2flash -o -e 7 line posted in the comments and it worked. BUT it erased the WWN number from the card giving me an error every boot about the SAS address not being programmed.

			SO DO NOT USE sas2flash -o -e 7. Instead use sas2flash -o -e 6. That will erase the flash but it won’t erase the manufacturing area which contains the WWN.

			If you do erase the wwn. You’ll need to reenter it using sas2flash -o -sasadd (wwn number). Usually this number is on a sticker somewhere on the card or motherboard.

			If you can’t find it. You can make up an 8 byte hex number. A WWN is like an ethernet mac address. Every card in the system needs to have a unique one.


	sas2flash -o -c <controller number, in case you have more than one LSI HBA!!!> -sasadd 500605b0xxxxxxxx		sas2flash -o -c <controller number, in case you have more than one LSI HBA!!!> -sasadd 500605b0xxxxxxxx

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:39, 23 August 2015
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	This was via the SSD drive on a non-expander backplane. To rule out the backplane, I hooked a single Intel S3500 480GB SSD up to a breakout cable but no improvment - the same errors show up in the root console and log..		This was via the SSD drive on a non-expander backplane. To rule out the backplane, I hooked a single Intel S3500 480GB SSD up to a breakout cable but no improvment - the same errors show up in the root console and log..

	OmniOS 5.11 omnios-8c08411 2014.04.28		OmniOS 5.11 omnios-8c08411 2014.04.28
	LSI 9211-8i cards - Flashed to P20 firmware.		LSI 9211-8i cards - Flashed to P20 firmware.

	Nov 4 09:39:30 napp-it-14b Log info 0x31080000 received for target 9.		Nov 4 09:39:30 napp-it-14b Log info 0x31080000 received for target 9.
	Nov 4 09:39:30 napp-it-14b scsi_status=0x0, ioc_status=0x804b, scsi_state=0x0		Nov 4 09:39:30 napp-it-14b scsi_status=0x0, ioc_status=0x804b, scsi_state=0x0
	Nov 4 09:39:30 napp-it-14b scsi: [ID 107833 kern.notice] /pci@0,0/pci15ad,7a0@16/pci1000,3020@0 (mpt_s as1):		Nov 4 09:39:30 napp-it-14b scsi: [ID 107833 kern.notice] /pci@0,0/pci15ad,7a0@16/pci1000,3020@0 (mpt_s as1):
	Nov 4 09:39:30 napp-it-14b Aborted_command!		Nov 4 09:39:30 napp-it-14b Aborted_command!
	Nov 4 09:39:30 napp-it-14b scsi: [ID 243001 kern.warning] WARNING: /scsi_vhci (scsi_vhci0):		Nov 4 09:39:30 napp-it-14b scsi: [ID 243001 kern.warning] WARNING: /scsi_vhci (scsi_vhci0):
	Nov 4 09:39:30 napp-it-14b /scsi_vhci/disk@g55cd2e404b58b0a7 (sd2): Parity Error on path mpt_sas14 /disk@w55cd2e404b58b0a7,0		Nov 4 09:39:30 napp-it-14b /scsi_vhci/disk@g55cd2e404b58b0a7 (sd2): Parity Error on path mpt_sas14 /disk@w55cd2e404b58b0a7,0


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	Arg. Transport errors and hard errors looked something like this:		Arg. Transport errors and hard errors looked something like this:

	iostat -En		iostat -En
	-------------------		-------------------
	c8t55CD2E404B58E103d0 Soft Errors: 0 Hard Errors: 1028 Transport Errors: 870		c8t55CD2E404B58E103d0 Soft Errors: 0 Hard Errors: 1028 Transport Errors: 870
	Vendor: ATA Product: INTEL SSDSC2BB48 Revision: 0370 Serial No: BTWL404501HQ480		Vendor: ATA Product: INTEL SSDSC2BB48 Revision: 0370 Serial No: BTWL404501HQ480
	Size: 480.10GB <480103981056 bytes>		Size: 480.10GB <480103981056 bytes>
	Media Error: 0 Device Not Ready: 0 No Device: 0 Recoverable: 0		Media Error: 0 Device Not Ready: 0 No Device: 0 Recoverable: 0
	Illegal Request: 0 Predictive Failure Analysis: 0		Illegal Request: 0 Predictive Failure Analysis: 0