LSI Controller FW updates IR/IT modes


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LSI SAS1068E

 

1) IBM BR10i

 

 

Please let me know (PM or post here) what Card you have successfully flashed with the LSI SAS3081E chipset with the provided zip

 

FW:1.32.00.00, BIOS 6.34.00.00 / 20-DEC-10

Both IT/IR mode available

 

LSI 1068E Controller.zip - 3.79 MB

 

Linux Driver: MPTSAS - supports the LSI SAS1064, SAS1064A, SAS1064E, SAS1066, SAS1068, SAS1068E, and SAS1078 chipsets. (Thanks to "BRiT"s prior post)

unRAID Support: Added as of 5.0Beta6a

 

Drive Spin Down support: NO

Drive Temp Readings: YES

 

*** Note: Multiple controllers all post under one MPTSAS Bios, there are global setting that affect all controllers and individual settings per controller available ***

 

 

 

If i put each drive in its own SpinDown group they spin down based on the global SpinDown time (ive got mine set at 2hours)

 

FYI I have 16HDDs hung off two of these cards and the all spin down using the above fix. running unRAID 5b6a

 

 

cheers.

 

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LSI SAS1068E

 

1) IBM BR10i

 

 

Please let me know (PM or post here) what Card you have successfully flashed with the LSI SAS3081E chipset with the provided zip

 

FW:1.32.00.00, BIOS 6.34.00.00 / 20-DEC-10

Both IT/IR mode available

 

LSI 1068E Controller.zip - 3.79 MB

 

Linux Driver: MPTSAS - supports the LSI SAS1064, SAS1064A, SAS1064E, SAS1066, SAS1068, SAS1068E, and SAS1078 chipsets. (Thanks to "BRiT"s prior post)

unRAID Support: Added as of 5.0Beta6a

 

Drive Spin Down support: NO

Drive Temp Readings: YES

 

*** Note: Multiple controllers all post under one MPTSAS Bios, there are global setting that affect all controllers and individual settings per controller available ***

 

 

 

If i put each drive in its own SpinDown group they spin down based on the global SpinDown time (ive got mine set at 2hours)

 

FYI I have 16HDDs hung off two of these cards and the all spin down using the above fix. running unRAID 5b6a

 

 

cheers.

 

 

1) I need a bit more detail please, you are stating you have 16 spindown groups? but they spin down based on the global SpinDown time?

 

2) What do you mean by "using the above fix"?

 

3) What are the exact cards you are using (Manf/Model) please.

 

4) Can you confirm both cards are posting under one bios?

 

This seems to be good news but we need a bit more info to update the post.

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I have been attempting to re-flash my Supermicro AOC-USAS2-L8i (LSI 2008-based), using the dos reflash utility and image files as found on the Supermicro site.

 

As soon as I run sas2flsh, irrespective of what switches I apply, I get an error 'Failed to initialize PAL ...'.  The only reference to this error I can find anywhere is on the LSI knowledge base where it offers, rather unhelpfully, "... you will need to flash in a different system/motherboard".

 

Since I only have two, almost identical mobos, I appear to be rather stuck.  Can anyone offer any insights as to why this error should occur and whether there might be any way to make the flash work in my motherboard?

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Ok, here is long-awaited, short HOW-TO... reflash  IBM m1015, LSI 9240-8i, Intel RS2WC080 (SAS2008 SATAIII) controllers to IT-mode!!!

 

First off, create a standard bootable DOS USB Flash Drive.

 

Download and unpack tools from http://www.mediafire.com/?x1t5z0qyohnhopf  to USB flash root directory.

 

System req: ONLY ONE LSI card in your system at reflash time!!!

 

 

Boot from USB Flash Drive :)

 

 

1. Save original sbr (serial boot rom) - i have only original IBM 1015 sbr file, another (intel/LSI) controller users, pls, upload and share

your sbr files in this forum!

 

 

Megarec -readsbr 0 backup.sbr

 

 

2. Write clean sbr file to controller:

 

 

megarec -writesbr 0 empty.bin

 

 

3. Erase controller Flash (Yes, this is safe procedure)

 

megarec -cleanflash 0

 

 

4. Power cycle your system (yes, no boot-time bios screen appear, this is normal)

 

 

5. Reflash controller to IT-mode.

 

sas2flsh -o -f 2108it.bin -b mptsas2.rom

 

6. Program SAS address in IT-mode:

 

sas2flsh -o -sasadd 500605bxxxxxxxxx

 

where "500605bxxxxxxxxx" SAS address from small green sticker on yor card, without "-"

 

All done :)

 

 

Pros: You have low-cost(65$ on ebay), fast, high-quality LSI 9210-8i Unraid 5.6a+ compatible controller. IT-mode ;)

 

http://lsi.com/storage_home/products_home/host_bus_adapters/sas_hbas/internal/sas9210-8i/index.html

 

 

 

Cons:

 

 

1. No hdd spindown.

 

Workaround:  

 

add "hdparm -S242 /dev/sdX" in boot script and poweroff.sh (program spindown after wake-on)

 

 

2. Hdd Temp/Smart att. do not show in Unmenu/Mymain

 

Workaround: find and delete all strings

 

"-d ata" from "smartctl -a -d ata" in unmain scripts

 

 

==============================================================

 

 

It is possibly to re-flash controller back?

Yes.

 

 

Megarec -writesbr 0 m1015.bin

 

Download LSI 9240-8i firmware from lsi site: http://lsi.com/storage_home/products_home/internal_raid/megaraid_sas/entry_line/megaraid_sas_9240-8i/index.html

Extract imr_fw.rom file.

 

MegaRec -m0flash 0 imr_fw.rom

 

Power cycle your system

 

Megacli -adpfacdefset -a0

 

Rreboot

 

Waaaaiiiittt (about ~3 min frosen boot-screen)

 

All done!

 

Edit, FAQ, etc. are welcome....

 

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I cannot take credit as the big guys (BRiT & Joe L.) reached out to Limetech and started their findings/thoughts on this: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=10869.0

 

I just purchased multipule LSI cards and started talks with LimeTech and relayed OUR importance to gain unRAID's native functionality of drive spin ups/downs (spin groups, etc...) extended to LSI SAS Controllers as well. I offered several of these controllers with no strings attached to help. Tom (Limetech) felt it was not nessasary at this point in time and was able to get private test beta's out for this functionality testing. After a few rev's it looked very promising. So be on the look out for the next public beta release from Limetech in the announcement threads. This was offered to all, you just needed to watch the announcements and contact Limetech for the private release: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=13120.0

 

I do want to point out one thing I ran into and share with other to test and get feedback for the advanced guys out here; while manually testing spin up commands "hdparm -S0" on a LSI Controller that is 6Gbps capable (interface) with a Hard Drive that was 6Gbps capable (interface) and synced at 6.0 (SATAIII) the "hdparm -S0" command would delay greatly and the following message would be displayed "HDIO_DRIVE_CMD(setidle) failed: Invalid exchange".

 

This was not the case on hard drives that were only 3Gbps capable (interface SATAII) on the LSI Controllers that were 6Gbps capable (interface) syned at 3.0 (SATA II). Using process of elimination to get to the root cause I proceeded to to move a SATAIII drive to an onboard 3Gbps port, the drive sync at 3.0 (SATAII) and the same "hdparm -S0" command now no longer delayed and no error was relayed back. So it pointed me toward HDPARM. I found that running "hdparm -I" on a SATAIII hard drive you will notice lines stating:

 

"*   Gen1 signaling speed (1.5Gb/s)"

"*   Gen2 signaling speed (3.0Gb/s)"

"*    unknown 76[3]"

 

I then checked the version of HDPARM shipped with unRAID "hdparm -v" it was 9.27. I checked the web they were up to 9.37. Checked slackware next, noticed they had 9.37 available for slackware-13.37. This is were I am interested in others opinion as I am not a linux guys. I created for testing purposes a unmenu hdparm 9.37 config file "hdparm-9.37-unmenu-package.conf"(attached to this post for others). And it worked and does install hdparm v9.37.

 

Now when i ran "hdparm -I" on a SATAIII hard drive it displayed:

 

"*   Gen1 signaling speed (1.5Gb/s)"

"*   Gen2 signaling speed (3.0Gb/s)"

"*   Gen3 signaling speed (6.0Gb/s)"

 

Proceeded to test manual hpdparm spin up tests again. On the LSI Controllers that were 6Gbps capable (interface) with a Hard Drive that was 6Gbps capable (interface) and synced at 6.0 (SATAIII) the "hdparm -S0" now came back fast and no longer spit back that message.

 

These tests were also run with the private unRAID beta's and showed the same behavior, except you would not see the "HDIO_DRIVE_CMD(setidle) failed: Invalid exchange" message, you saw "May 22 17:11:48 Tower kernel: res 40/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x4 (timeout)" in the unRAID logs. But with HDPARM v9.37 installed no messages were displayed. The finally decision resides with Tom and I dont not know his thoughts on this.

 

So I am wondering is there any type of stability (anything else) of installing/running something that came from the slackware-13.37 site. Not sure what slackware version unRAID beta 5.0's are based off either. Its showing that it is not just a cosmetic update from hdparm  9.27 to 9.37

 

hdparm-9.37-unmenu-package.conf

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Good diagnostics work

That was some very good detectives work to figure out what was going on.  Please let Tom know about your findings, and direct him to your post above.  Updating hdparm for the next version release should not be overly difficult, and if is solves some issues with the SATAIII drives attached to SATAIII ports then it is something that needs to be changed/included.

 

 

So I am wondering is there any type of sability (anything else) of installing/running something that came from the slackware-13.37 site. Not sure what slackware version unRAID beta 5.0's are based off either. Its showing that it is not just a cosmetic update from hdparm  9.27 to 9.37

There is no issue... usually.  Installing a newer hdparm over the top of any existing one should not cause any stability, etc problems.

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Good diagnostics work

That was some very good detectives work to figure out what was going on.  Please let Tom know about your findings, and direct him to your post above.  Updating hdparm for the next version release should not be overly difficult, and if is solves some issues with the SATAIII drives attached to SATAIII ports then it is something that needs to be changed/included.

 

 

So I am wondering is there any type of sability (anything else) of installing/running something that came from the slackware-13.37 site. Not sure what slackware version unRAID beta 5.0's are based off either. Its showing that it is not just a cosmetic update from hdparm  9.27 to 9.37

There is no issue... usually.  Installing a newer hdparm over the top of any existing one should not cause any stability, etc problems.

 

Tom knows and has all detailed emails (many, hope it was not to much) of all my tests, findings, etc... I just did not receive a reply on this specific thing (his thoughts) maybe he is doing his own homework on it, just dont know.

 

I am sorry I wanted to post all this earlier, after my comms. with Tom, and since he posted in the annocments for beta testers I felt this would not step on his toes, I have been very hush hush with getting this going, with respect to him. But I got tied up at work and finally found a moment to share. I did relay I did not have a warm and fuzzy feeling not going with an updated hdparm version. But again the final decision is his.

 

My original comms. with Tom I shared the link to this post. You just cant know what he does or does not read (or at least I cant  :P)

 

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Ok, here is long-awaited, short HOW-TO... reflash  IBM m1015, LSI 9240-8i, Intel RS2WC080 (SAS2008 SATAIII) controllers to IT-mode!!!

 

Wow, I never thought that this will be possible....but it works!

Just tried it with one of my IBM M1015 cards...it now shows no sign of "big blue" anymore  ;D and reports as a pure LSI 9210-8i.

ESXi 4.1 recognises it just OK...about to test some linux VMs and vmdirectpath now.

 

Thanks for sharing!  8)

 

Edit: vmdirectpath works fine with my SM X8SIL-F and the cross-flashed 9210-8i. The same card as a M1015 would only work in a windoze VM...now a VM with ubuntu 11.04 can see the disks and SMART reports are working  :)

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Before I forget (this may need to go into its own post, I could not find anyone explaining this via a search in the forums.)

 

I noticed on many occasions with smartctl that newer drives and all my Hitachi 2TB drive (7200k and Greens) would state not in database. I check the version 5.40 is good and finally found the command (or calling a script, still learning this linux stuff  :P) to get it to download the latest Drive DB.

 

Update the drive database

Starting with smartmontools 5.40 the drive database file drivedb.h can be updated separately with the following command:

"/usr/sbin/update-smart-drivedb"

 

From 347 entries that came with (unRAID 5.0Beta6d) to 415 entries after the update. Found the Hitachi's amongst others in the drive DB now  ;)

 

I am assuming it would be as simple as adding that line above to your GO script? to have it update on reboots.

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Not being a Microsoft devotee, I don't have a windows system in which to flash my AOC-USAS2-L8i, so I had wasted a lot of time trying to create a bootable DOS usb stick.  I have reported, elsewhere, that I had received a rather unhelpful error message when trying to flash under DOS.  After some research, I discovered that sas2fl(a)sh needs a largish amount of memory for workspace - I suspect that I wasn't getting sufficient EMS/XMS/whatever memory allocated.

 

I also tried to find out how to use the UEFI version, but didn't find sufficient information on UEFI to work out how to do that.

 

Anyway, I have just managed to reflash my card from IR to IT mode in the unRAID server, without even bothering to stop the array!  :o

 

In the end, it turns out to be very simple, although there were a couple of 'gotchas' on the way.

 

I downloaded the linux version of the sas2flash program from the LSI site.  I first tried the phase9 version, then the phase8 version, but both refused to cross-flash IR<->IT.  Also, for some reason, the flash erase option (-e) is reported as not being implemented under linux.  I suspect that the phase7 version would be okay for cross-flashing, but I couldn't find a copy.  However, the phase5 version is still available in the LSI archives.

 

So, I used this version, with the phase7 firmware and rom images which I retrieved from the supermicro site.  I may try, in a minute, to flash the phase9 images (which I should now be able to do with the phase9 sas2flash).

 

root@Tower:/mnt/cache/.hide/SAS2008# sas2flash5 -list

****************************************************************************
  LSI Corporation SAS2Flash Utility.
  Version 5.00.00.00 (2010.02.10) 
  Copyright (c) 2009 LSI Corporation. All rights reserved. 
****************************************************************************

Adapter Selected is a LSI SAS: SAS2008(B1)   

Controller Number              : 0
Controller                     : SAS2008(B1)   
PCI Address                    : 00:01:00:00
SAS Address                    : 5003048-0-041f-4c00
NVDATA Version (Default)       : 07.00.00.03
NVDATA Version (Persistant)    : 07.00.00.03
Firmware Product ID            : 0x2713 
Firmware Version               : 07.00.00.00
NVDATA Vendor                  : LSI
NVDATA Product ID              : SAS2008-IR
BIOS Version                   : 07.11.00.00
UEFI BSD Version               : N/A
FCODE Version                  : N/A

Finished Processing Commands Successfully.
Exiting SAS2Flash.
root@Tower:/mnt/cache/.hide/SAS2008# sas2flash5 -o -f SMC2008.FW -b mptsas2.rom

****************************************************************************
  LSI Corporation SAS2Flash Utility.
  Version 5.00.00.00 (2010.02.10) 
  Copyright (c) 2009 LSI Corporation. All rights reserved. 
****************************************************************************

Advanced Mode Set

Adapter Selected is a LSI SAS: SAS2008(B1)   

Executing Operation: Flash Firmware Image

	Firmware Image has a Valid Checksum. 

	Firmware Image compatible with Controller. 

	Valid NVDATA Image found. 

	NVDATA Versions Compatible.
	NVDATA Product ID and Vendor ID do not match.
	Would you like to flash anyway [y/n]? y

	Valid Initialization Image verified.
	Valid BootLoader Image verified.

	Beginning Firmware Download...
	Firmware Download Successful.

	Verifying Download...

	Firmware Flash Successful!

	Resetting Adapter...
	Adapter Successfully Reset.

Executing Operation: Flash BIOS Image

	Validating BIOS Image...

	BIOS Header Signature is Valid

	BIOS Image has a Valid Checksum. 

	BIOS PCI Structure Signature Valid.

	BIOS Image Compatible with the SAS Controller.

	Attempting to Flash BIOS Image...

	Flash BIOS Image Successful.

Finished Processing Commands Successfully.
Exiting SAS2Flash.
root@Tower:/mnt/cache/.hide/SAS2008# sas2flash5 -list

****************************************************************************
  LSI Corporation SAS2Flash Utility.
  Version 5.00.00.00 (2010.02.10) 
  Copyright (c) 2009 LSI Corporation. All rights reserved. 
****************************************************************************

Adapter Selected is a LSI SAS: SAS2008(B1)   

Controller Number              : 0
Controller                     : SAS2008(B1)   
PCI Address                    : 00:01:00:00
SAS Address                    : 5003048-0-041f-4c00
NVDATA Version (Default)       : 07.00.00.03
NVDATA Version (Persistant)    : 07.00.00.03
Firmware Product ID            : 0x2213 
Firmware Version               : 07.00.00.00
NVDATA Vendor                  : LSI
NVDATA Product ID              : SAS2008-IT
BIOS Version                   : 07.11.00.00
UEFI BSD Version               : N/A
FCODE Version                  : N/A

Finished Processing Commands Successfully.
Exiting SAS2Flash.
root@Tower:/mnt/cache/.hide/SAS2008# 

 

sas2flash phase5 is available here.

 

The supermicro-issued firmware is available here.

 

Now, that was a whole lot easier than finding a box running windows, and moving the card!

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So, I used this version, with the phase7 firmware and rom images which I retrieved from the supermicro site.  I may try, in a minute, to flash the phase9 images (which I should now be able to do with the phase9 sas2flash).

 

Flash to Phase9 firmware went relatively easily and the card has been functioning perfectly.  All of this has been achieved within the unRAID environment - no need to remove the card, no need to boot any other O/S.

 

mpt2sas0: LSISAS2008: FWVersion(09.00.00.00), ChipRevision(0x02), BiosVersion(07.17.00.00)
mpt2sas0: Protocol=(Initiator,Target), Capabilities=(TLR,EEDP,Snapshot Buffer,Diag Trace Buffer,Task Set Full,NCQ)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Updated main post to reflect 5.0Beta7 release and added an addition row "3TB Drive Support with this card:" so if you test on one of these particular cards with a 3TB drive (precleared or not, added to array, formatted, saw all 3TB, etc...) please post your results. I will update accordingly.

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What chipset does the usas2-l8i use, is it the same as the LSI 9211-8i board?

 

LSI SAS2008.

 

LSI HBAs based on this chip: LSISAS9200-8e, LSISAS9210-8i, LSISAS9211-8i, LSISAS9212-4i4e; SuperMicro HBAs: AOC-USAS2-L8i, AOC-USAS2-L8e; Intel HBAs: RS2WC080.

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  • 2 weeks later...

do i need to upgrade my br10i ?

just put the card in my PCI E X16 slot

hung one drive on it with an external power supply :P

drive is recognised in post.... and in Unraid

is preclearing the drive now

 

i saw it has 1.27 or so firmware IR ...

 

peterb found somewhere a linux proggie to do so ...  will this work for the br10i too and where to find this linux version ?

 

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do i need to upgrade my br10i ?

just put the card in my PCI E X16 slot

hung one drive on it with an external power supply :P

drive is recognised in post.... and in Unraid

is preclearing the drive now

 

i saw it has 1.27 or so firmware IR ...

 

peterb found somewhere a linux proggie to do so ...  will this work for the br10i too and where to find this linux version ?

 

 

Please read the OP, first page has what you need and clearly states which one is for the BR10i. Not sure what you mean by linux version.

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I read the whole thread ....

but i can't see why i really should upgrade it ....

if it is working it should be OK not ?

Since you read the post and see no reason to go to IT mode and new firmware for your card, then you should do what you feel is best, if it works and thats enough for you. Then leave it alone.

 

linux version of the flash program...

if i need to flash it to IT then i would like to do it from unraid

You can obtain that from the LSI site, I did not have time to create 2 flavors, sorry.

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peterb found somewhere a linux proggie to do so ...  will this work for the br10i too...

It should do, yes.

 

... and where to find this linux version ?

 

Hmmm ... LSI appear to have changed their product line and their website, so my link no longer works.  Perhaps I should host the essential programs on my own site.

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LSI SAS1068E

 

1) IBM BR10i

 

 

Please let me know (PM or post here) what Card you have successfully flashed with the LSI SAS3081E chipset with the provided zip

 

FW:1.32.00.00, BIOS 6.34.00.00 / 20-DEC-10

Both IT/IR mode available

 

LSI 1068E Controller.zip - 3.79 MB

 

Linux Driver: MPTSAS - supports the LSI SAS1064, SAS1064A, SAS1064E, SAS1066, SAS1068, SAS1068E, and SAS1078 chipsets. (Thanks to "BRiT"s prior post)

unRAID Support: Added as of 5.0Beta6a

 

Drive Spin Down Support: YES (UPDATE: Added as of 5.0Beta7)

Drive Temp Readings: YES

 

3TB Drive Support with this card: Waiting for testers to confirm on this card (UPDATE: 5.0Beta7 added 3TB Drive support)

 

*** Note: Multiple controllers all post under one MPTSAS Bios, there are global setting that affect all controllers and individual settings per controller available ***

 

 

 

Did anyone try to install this LSI BIOS on a BR10i?  I cannot find where it says it supports 3T drives.  Did I miss it?

 

BUT ...

 

Look here on IBM's site:

 

According to THIS VERSION HISTORY, the BR10i version 2.72 (and newer) support large drives.

 

Enhancement

- Support 2TB LUNS and greater

 

Download here ...

 

http://www-947.ibm.com/support/entry/portal/docdisplay?lndocid=MIGR-5077837

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LUNS != Drives. Luns is their logical units for their RAID sets. The 2.72 BIOS does not support > 2.2TB drives considering the newer BIOS from LSI do not.

 

Unfortunately I do not have a > 2.2TB physical drive.

 

The BIOS in the first post is the one I've been running since here - http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=7451.msg104148#msg104148

 

Hope you're wrong.  I am going to try 2.74 and see.  BIOS is dated June 2011.  It should support 3T drives.

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I hope so too...

 

Though the change set that said support for > 2TB LUNS [iBM 2.72] was the latest IBM-branded BIOS I had linked to in the other thread. It predates the December BIOS LSI version I first toyed around with when cross-flashing.

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LSI SAS1068E

 

1) IBM BR10i

 

 

Please let me know (PM or post here) what Card you have successfully flashed with the LSI SAS3081E chipset with the provided zip

 

FW:1.32.00.00, BIOS 6.34.00.00 / 20-DEC-10

Both IT/IR mode available

 

LSI 1068E Controller.zip - 3.79 MB

 

Linux Driver: MPTSAS - supports the LSI SAS1064, SAS1064A, SAS1064E, SAS1066, SAS1068, SAS1068E, and SAS1078 chipsets. (Thanks to "BRiT"s prior post)

unRAID Support: Added as of 5.0Beta6a

 

Drive Spin Down Support: YES (UPDATE: Added as of 5.0Beta7)

Drive Temp Readings: YES

 

3TB Drive Support with this card: Waiting for testers to confirm on this card (UPDATE: 5.0Beta7 added 3TB Drive support)

 

*** Note: Multiple controllers all post under one MPTSAS Bios, there are global setting that affect all controllers and individual settings per controller available ***

 

 

 

Just Flashed 2 BR10i cards and it all went great!  Thanks so much for making it so easy! 

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