Issues with flashing LSI 9211


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It's been a stressful day for me - I recently bought a LSI 9211 with a view to cross flashing it to a 9240 as I'd read many similar reports (including some here, which is why I'm posting) of people doing the other way with little trouble. - Alas, it wasn't to be, which is quite annoying a it was the same price as the 9240, but had its connectors in a more convenient orientation for my case, so I got it solely for that reason! :(

 

Long story short, the flash failed as the flash chip I have is only 4MB, and it seems the 9240 requires 8MB. :(

 

So I've tried to get the card back to how it was, but I can't for the life of me get it to flash successfully. I backed up my existing firmware, bios, and sbr. My procedure has been generally:

 

  • megarec -cleanflash 0
  • megarec -writesbr 0 backupsbr.bin
  • <reboot>
  • sas2flash -f backupfw.bin (then -b backupbios.rom, but I gave up trying to get the bios back until I had the firmware working)

 

...it initially succeeds, but then fails at the end with the error about Mfg Page 2 mismatching.

 

If I try flashing the bios, then it also initially succeeds with the flash, but then fails t the end when updating the "version page 3", or similar (as I say, I stopped bothering with it as the fw is more important).

 

Any ideas on how I can flash this back to normal? The card came with firmware P14 IR on it, if that helps any.

 

I've tried using sas2flash's new "-sbr" option, which sounds like it's designed to fix my firmware problem, but it just doesn't seem to work - just fails the same way.

 

 

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You should flash it to the 9211 IT mode, do not use IR mode.  A 9240 in IT mode is the same as a 9211 in IT mode, I don't think there is a 9240 IT mode so I believe the only way to cross flash a 9211 IT and 9240 IT is if you have a 9240 and flash it with 9211 IT.  With unraid you need to run IT mode for drives to spin down correctly.  Correct me if I am wrong.

 

I just also got a 9211-8i and you need to flash IT mode with DOS on a non-UEFI bios or in a UEFI shell if you don't have the non-UEFI bios, Windows and Linux don't work for crossing over IR to IT or IT to IR.  I got this straight from LSI tech support.  I had my own issues trying to flash to I t mode

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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Welcome to the unRAID forums qwerki.

 

First of all, tell us what do you want your card to do?

Shall it end up in IT or in IR mode?

 

Apologies for the delay in replying - been a hectic week and I've had to park this.

 

I'm happy with either mode, really. The card shipped in IR mode, so I'm happy enough for it to end up there again.

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I just also got a 9211-8i and you need to flash IT mode with DOS on a non-UEFI bios or in a UEFI shell if you don't have the non-UEFI bios, Windows and Linux don't work for crossing over IR to IT or IT to IR.  I got this straight from LSI tech support.  I had my own issues trying to flash to I t mode

 

Thanks for replying. On my target PC I've been using a dos-bootable stick for megarec, and uefi shell for sas2flash, but on my old PC I can run sas2flsh.exe from the dos mode fine. I get the same errors both way though.

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Thanks for replying. On my target PC I've been using a dos-bootable stick for megarec, and uefi shell for sas2flash, but on my old PC I can run sas2flsh.exe from the dos mode fine. I get the same errors both way though.

 

Are you going to be using this with unRAID?  If you are flash it to be a 9211 in IT mode.  Having a 9240 does nothing extra for unRAID, and I believe that the major difference between the two is the types of RAID it supports.  unRAID is only going to use HBA and I don't know if the 9240 can be an HBA.

 

Have you looked at this post?

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=12767.0

As far as I can tell even if you had a 9240 this post flashes it to a sas2008 HBA which is a 9211.

 

On LSI's web site the 9211 is under the HBA controllers and the 9240 is under the RAID controllers.

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Ok. I tried LSI support giving them all the details and they just told me to use sas2flash :/ ...when I told them I (as expected) got the exact same error, they suggested I try the bootable USB they offer. Which is freedos and....sas2flsh. So I get the same error. *sigh*

 

There are options on sas2flash that let you upload and download a full image of the entire flash (sas2flash -o -dflash flash.bin firmware.bin to download it to the controller, and sas2flash -uflash flash.bin to upload it to a file). Could anyone with an actual LSI 9211-8i please try grabbing their flash and placing it somewhere I can download it to see if that will reinitialise my NVDATA (which seems to be the problem)?

 

LSI just say to RMA the controller, but a) it's brand new (was still sealed) so just needs reflashing correctly, b) I'd like to try and save the hassle and costs of postage back to them, and c) I bought it from a seller in Hong Kong on eBay...so warranties are likely to get somewhat complicated as when I put the serial into LSI's checker Chinese contact details come up. :/

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Unfortunately, when you buy from the lowest-cost sellers you often end up with grey market products with non-US warranties.    This is no big deal if everything works okay; but as you've discovered with this it can be a PITA when it doesn't.    I learned this lesson a LONG time ago with a grey market camera I bought form the lowest-cost reseller in NYC ... and haven't bought anything without a US warranty since.

 

Hopefully somebody can upload the exact image you need for your version of the card and it will work;  but otherwise I suspect you'll have to send it back to LSI ... and it'll be interesting to see if they consider it an "in warranty" repair.

 

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What version are you using?

 

Of sas2flash? I have many, many versions. :)

 

8,14,15,16,17,18,19 are the ones I know I've tried.

 

Have you tried a different USB stick I was getting an error when I tried flashing mine and I switch USB sticks and it worked.  It turned out the USB stick I had was bad.  Also try making a DOS USB from MSDOS instead of freeDOS.  LSI also told me to do this and it worked.  I flashed my 9211-8i using this method and v19 IT mode firmware.

 

Below are the instructions.

To create a Dos bootable USB drive

Download from the internet “HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool, v2.1.8”. This is freely available on the internet. Install this utility.

Download the ME version of DOS. This is freely available on the internet. Try www.bootdisk.com.  Extract the files to a known location.

Insert the USB drive (all data currently on it will be lost), run the HP USB Disk Storage  Format Tool utility and point it to the location of the DOS.

Check “Create DOS startup disk” and browse to the location of DOS. Start.

 

After the USB device is made into a DOS bootable USB device.

Extract all the files needed to the root of the drive.

1) 2118it.bin    -( IT Firmware file from firmware/HBA_9211_4i_IT/ directory )

2) mptsas2.rom  -(bios file from sasbios_rel directory)

3) sas2flsh.exe  -(sas2flsh from the DOS directory (sas2flash_dos_rel of the download file))

 

A file that is good to have is “SAS2Flash_ReferenceGuide.pdf” which is the sas2flsh user manual.

 

1) First boot with flash drive to a DOS prompt.

2) Run commands to find out if the 9211-4I is the only adapter in the system

a) sas2flsh –list

b) sas2flsh –listall

3) If the above command has only one adapter it will be listed as –c 0

4) Now we need to erase the IR firmware

a) sas2flsh –o –e 6 –c 0          (-o is a alpha o)

5) Now without rebooting we need to flash the firmware.

a) sas2flsh -o –f 2114it.bin –c 0        (-c 0 if this is the only adapter as listed by the –list command above)

6) Now flash the bios

a) sas2flsh –o –b mptsas2.rom –c 0

7) As soon as Dos comes back to a command prompt the flash is complete.

8 ) You could check at this time to see if the new Firmware and bios is on the adapter by running the – list and –listall commands.

a) sas2flsh –list

b) sas2flsh –listall

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Have you tried a different USB stick I was getting an error when I tried flashing mine and I switch USB sticks and it worked.  It turned out the USB stick I had was bad.  Also try making a DOS USB from MSDOS instead of freeDOS.  LSI also told me to do this and it worked.  I flashed my 9211-8i using this method and v19 IT mode firmware.

 

The boot disk I was using previously was a standard msdos affair, I converted it to the LSI one as they requested. As expected, made no difference whatsoever.

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Are you still trying to flash a 9240 fw?  If so just for laughs flash it with a 9211 fw to see if it works.  If it does work, it's not DOS or your flash drive.

 

No, realised that will never work - you can't fit a quart into a pint pot ;) ...so been trying various combinations of downloaded 9211 firmwares (both IT and IR), as well as the firmware I backed up before I started (which seems to be p14, IIRC).

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What version of DOS are you using?  I used the windows ME boot disk to create my flash drive.

 

This is the site I downloaded it from.

http://www.allbootdisks.com/download/iso.html

Download winme_bootdisk.iso and use power ISO to extract the files.  Use the hp USB disk storage tool to create the USB drive.  The first drive I created would boot but kept getting errors so I created a second using a different drive and it worked.  I suspect that I had a bad flash drive.

 

The instructions I posted earlier I got from LSI tech support.

 

 

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Come on guys, if it tells you "Mfg Page 2 mismatch" your tool is running fine and your

floppy or thumbdrive OS is also OK.

 

Just an idea - you could try the detour via the Dell IT firmware (for an H310).

If I remember correctly, there is the same error if you want to flash the H310 straight with the LSI9211IT firmware.

But you can circumvent that if you flash the DELL IT firmware first. After that you can flash the LSI firmware.

Maybe this helps for your problem?

 

STEP BY STEP

From DELL IR go to DELL IT (6GBPSAS.FW)

From DELL IT go to LSI IT P7 (using sasflash -o -f ... )

From LSI IT P7 go to LSI IT PX (where X is any firmware version)

 

EDIT:

Just read your post...

8,14,15,16,17,18,19 are the ones I know I've tried.

Maybe you try the LSI P7 from the package I linked above!

There you have to possibility to override the vendor mismatch. The later versions of sas2flash don't

do that anymore!

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Just an idea - you could try the detour via the Dell IT firmware (for an H310).

 

Maybe you try the LSI P7 from the package I linked above!

There you have to possibility to override the vendor mismatch. The later versions of sas2flash don't

do that anymore!

 

I gave this a go, and sadly, same error :(

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.

 

Valid Initialization Image verified.

Valid BootLoader Image verified.

 

Chip is in RESET state. Attempting Host Boot...

Firmware Host Boot Successful !

Writing Current MfgPage2 Settings to NVRam

Failed to validate MfgPage2 !

Due to error remaining commands will not be executed.

Unable to Process Commands.

Exiting SAS2Flash.

 

Thanks though!

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Have been thinking of this while I was showering this morning...

I remember exactly the same issues when flashing the FSC D2607.

 

User reddi was successful in flashing it with a little trick.

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=12767.msg266471#msg266471

Here is the H200 sbr.

 

In the H310 toolset, it is the step where you delete the ROM (step 2 or 3).

Replace and rename the sbr with the H200 or edit the batch file and set the H200 filename.

Then go through the whole procedure! Dell IT --> LSI P7 --> LSI P16 (or P19, I uploaded an update)

 

As a last resort I have another flash utility from a guy that also managed to flash the

D2607. I can post that too if don't succeed with reddis method.

 

Good luck!

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Which folder did you use?

 

I figured I was being advised to go via Dell, so I used the "5_DELL_IT" directory - this failed as usual. I then figured I may as well try the others, so then restarted, but instead chose the LSI directories, first 5_LSI_P7, then restarted again and chose 5_LSI_P16.

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Have been thinking of this while I was showering this morning...

I remember exactly the same issues when flashing the FSC D2607.

Thanks for making so much effort on my behalf!

 

User reddi was successful in flashing it with a little trick.

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=12767.msg266471#msg266471

Here is the H200 sbr.

 

In the H310 toolset, it is the step where you delete the ROM (step 2 or 3).

Replace and rename the sbr with the H200 or edit the batch file and set the H200 filename.

Then go through the whole procedure! Dell IT --> LSI P7 --> LSI P16 (or P19, I uploaded an update)

 

As a last resort I have another flash utility from a guy that also managed to flash the

D2607. I can post that too if don't succeed with reddis method.

 

Good luck!

:( Failed at the first hurdle again - failed to validate when flashing the dell firmware after the reboot.

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