How to flash an LSI1068E to IT mode?

loftydan · Dec 31, 2010

I’m in progress of going from a 3 x 750 GB Intel Matrix RAID server in Windows on a Q6600 that initially was meant to be a media playing computer, to ESXi on a X3440 / X8SIL-F combo with 6 2 TB drives in a ZFS RAID-Z2 (plus a 1 TB old scratch drive and essential services on a 40 GB SSD). I’ve loved the improvements along the way, but have run into 1 major snag that I’ve not been able to fix.

After much difficulty, and 2 ½ months delay, I’ve finally gotten an LSI-1068E based SAS HBA into Canada and to me. Were I’ve failed, is updating the firmware. When it boots, I see following info indicating an IR firmware.
[pic removed...it's lost]

I've spent a good day trying to get this card updated to an LSI IT firmware, using a command I gleaned from servethehome

Code:

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

I've tried doing this many different ways:
1) Passing the card through to both a Windows 2008 and Windows 7 (64-bit) VM - no LSI card detected.
2) Passing the card through to a freedos VM - no LSI card detected.
3) Booting the physical machine from a freedos ISO using IPMI - no LSI card detected.
4) Booting the physical machine from a real freedos CD - no CD-ROM detected, so unable to run sas2flsh.
5) Repeating the last real CD method with all variations of BIOS settings, IDE, AHCI, Compatibility mode, Enhanced Mode, etc, same result.

It seems I'm stuck unless someone here can help. I love the speed this card gives me; 162 MB writes and 234 MB reads with 3 drives in a RAID-Z (using a dd 20 GB test), but don't want to put any real data on the pool until I can get IT mode working.

How the heck can I get this card to be recognized by sasflash / sasflsh?

pjkenned · Dec 31, 2010

You are using the wrong flash utility (in particular the one for the LSI SAS 2008) denoted by "sas2flash" and "mptsas2"

After downloading the sasflash utility for the 1068e see: http://www.servethehome.com/flashing-intel-sasuc8i-lsi-firmware-guide/

loftydan · Dec 31, 2010

Ineed. Thank you for noticing that. The phrase, "despite being virtually identical to the LSI SAS3081E-R," on your link get me a lot closer to a working solution. I'm able to simply pass the controller to a Windows VM and run sasflash, etc. The problem now being that I need a firmware named 3081ETB0.fw and only B1, B2, and B3 appear to be available.

Code:

ERROR: The Firmware Image is for a 106e b3 LSI SAS Controller,
but the target adapter is a 1068 b0 LSI SAS Controller

A further detail that may be quite important, the card is an IBM ServeRAID BR10i.

loftydan · Dec 31, 2010

I finally got it! Thanks again for your help. Reading another post where someone was having trouble updating to the official IBM firmware for my card, I ran a sasflash -listall and noticed something important...

Code:

        Adapter Selected is a LSI SAS 1068(B0):

 Num   Ctlr      FW Ver     NVDATA   x86-BIOS     EFI-BSD    PCI Addr
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

1   1068(B0)  00.103.00.117             ERROR: Firmware image does not have a NV
DATA image concatenated.
 00.00   No Image     No Image   00:03:00:00
2   1068E(B3)  01.31.02.00  2d.03  06.32.00.00  03.16.00.05  00:13:00:00

The card is appearing as two controllers. Modifying my command to sasflash -o -c 2 -f 3081ETB3.fw -b MPTSAS.ROM

BonOeil · Jan 12, 2011

So, have you finally got your Br10i into LSI IT firmware ?

dandragonrage · Jan 12, 2011

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1036388001

I made a flash CD for the SAS 6i but it has the LSI firmware (in addition to Dell FW) so you can use it for LSI cards too. I just updated the link in it. Pretty sure the 1068 uses the same firmware, at least:

o Support for the LSI53C1068 device
o Support for the LSI53C1068e device

loftydan · Jan 12, 2011

Yes, I was finally able to get my BR10i to the LSI IT firmware. All the RAID options no longer show in the BIOS, and on POST I see the firmware version listed as being IT. I actually did the flashing through a Windows VM, passing the adapter through, since I was having difficulty get a boot CD that could see the CD after booting.

It looks like dandragonrage's CD would have made things easy.

BonOeil · Jan 13, 2011

Have you got smart infos and power management (spin-up/down) with your Br10i ?

loftydan · Jan 13, 2011

Thanks for the question. I had not yet gotten to verifying that myself as I'm still waiting for some cabling to arrive. I've just now checked, and SMART info is indeed readable. I've not yet bothered with any power management. Here some output from smartctl:

Code:

smartctl -a /dev/rdsk/c2t3d0--------------------------------------------------------------------------------smartctl 5.39.1 2010-01-28 r3054 [i386-pc-solaris2.11] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-10 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Device Model:     ST32000542AS
Serial Number:    5XW00CRH
Firmware Version: CC32
User Capacity:    2,000,398,934,016 bytes
Device is:        Not in smartctl database [for details use: -P showall]
ATA Version is:   8
ATA Standard is:  ATA-8-ACS revision 4
Local Time is:    Thu Jan 13 14:00:54 2011 CST
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status:  (0x00)	Offline data collection activity
					was never started.
					Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled.
Self-test execution status:      (   0)	The previous self-test routine completed
					without error or no self-test has ever 
					been run.
Total time to complete Offline 
data collection: 		 ( 623) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities: 			 (0x73) SMART execute Offline immediate.
					Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
					Suspend Offline collection upon new
					command.
					No Offline surface scan supported.
					Self-test supported.
					Conveyance Self-test supported.
					Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities:            (0x0003)	Saves SMART data before entering
					power-saving mode.
					Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability:        (0x01)	Error logging supported.
					General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine 
recommended polling time: 	 (   1) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time: 	 ( 255) minutes.
Conveyance self-test routine
recommended polling time: 	 (   2) minutes.
SCT capabilities: 	       (0x103f)	SCT Status supported.
					SCT Feature Control supported.
					SCT Data Table supported.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 10
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x000f   115   091   006    Pre-fail  Always       -       92317225
  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0003   100   100   000    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   100   100   020    Old_age   Always       -       41
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   096   096   036    Pre-fail  Always       -       166
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x000f   050   048   030    Pre-fail  Always       -       64426120963
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       393
 10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0013   100   100   097    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   020    Old_age   Always       -       26
183 Runtime_Bad_Block       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
184 End-to-End_Error        0x0032   100   100   099    Old_age   Always       -       0
187 Reported_Uncorrect      0x0032   001   001   000    Old_age   Always       -       140
188 Command_Timeout         0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       65537
189 High_Fly_Writes         0x003a   078   078   000    Old_age   Always       -       22
190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel 0x0022   071   055   045    Old_age   Always       -       29 (Lifetime Min/Max 21/45)
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0022   029   045   000    Old_age   Always       -       29 (0 19 0 0)
195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered  0x001a   051   041   000    Old_age   Always       -       92317225
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0012   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0010   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x003e   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
240 Head_Flying_Hours       0x0000   100   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       147824184393837
241 Total_LBAs_Written      0x0000   100   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       1599021523
242 Total_LBAs_Read         0x0000   100   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       805269799

SMART Error Log Version: 1
ATA Error Count: 140 (device log contains only the most recent five errors)
	CR = Command Register [HEX]
	FR = Features Register [HEX]
	SC = Sector Count Register [HEX]
	SN = Sector Number Register [HEX]
	CL = Cylinder Low Register [HEX]
	CH = Cylinder High Register [HEX]
	DH = Device/Head Register [HEX]
	DC = Device Command Register [HEX]
	ER = Error register [HEX]
	ST = Status register [HEX]
Powered_Up_Time is measured from power on, and printed as
DDd+hh:mm:SS.sss where DD=days, hh=hours, mm=minutes,
SS=sec, and sss=millisec. It "wraps" after 49.710 days.

Error 140 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 95 hours (3 days + 23 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  40 51 00 ff ff ff 0f

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  60 00 00 ff ff ff 4f 00   2d+09:42:49.408  READ FPDMA QUEUED
  60 00 00 ff ff ff 4f 00   2d+09:42:49.408  READ FPDMA QUEUED
  60 00 00 ff ff ff 4f 00   2d+09:42:49.408  READ FPDMA QUEUED
  60 00 00 ff ff ff 4f 00   2d+09:42:49.407  READ FPDMA QUEUED
  60 00 00 ff ff ff 4f 00   2d+09:42:49.407  READ FPDMA QUEUED

Error 139 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 95 hours (3 days + 23 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  40 51 00 ff ff ff 0f

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  60 00 00 ff ff ff 4f 00   2d+09:42:16.895  READ FPDMA QUEUED
  60 00 00 ff ff ff 4f 00   2d+09:42:16.895  READ FPDMA QUEUED
  60 00 00 ff ff ff 4f 00   2d+09:42:16.895  READ FPDMA QUEUED
  60 00 00 ff ff ff 4f 00   2d+09:42:16.895  READ FPDMA QUEUED
  60 00 00 ff ff ff 4f 00   2d+09:42:16.895  READ FPDMA QUEUED

Error 138 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 95 hours (3 days + 23 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  40 51 00 ff ff ff 0f

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  60 00 80 ff ff ff 4f 00   2d+09:42:04.079  READ FPDMA QUEUED
  2f 00 01 10 00 00 00 00   2d+09:42:03.989  READ LOG EXT
  60 00 80 ff ff ff 4f 00   2d+09:42:00.283  READ FPDMA QUEUED
  60 00 00 ff ff ff 4f 00   2d+09:42:00.283  READ FPDMA QUEUED
  60 00 00 ff ff ff 4f 00   2d+09:42:00.282  READ FPDMA QUEUED

Error 137 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 95 hours (3 days + 23 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  40 51 00 ff ff ff 0f

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  60 00 80 ff ff ff 4f 00   2d+09:42:00.283  READ FPDMA QUEUED
  60 00 00 ff ff ff 4f 00   2d+09:42:00.283  READ FPDMA QUEUED
  60 00 00 ff ff ff 4f 00   2d+09:42:00.282  READ FPDMA QUEUED
  2f 00 01 10 00 00 00 00   2d+09:42:00.279  READ LOG EXT
  60 00 80 ff ff ff 4f 00   2d+09:41:55.756  READ FPDMA QUEUED

Error 136 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 95 hours (3 days + 23 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  40 51 00 ff ff ff 0f

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  60 00 80 ff ff ff 4f 00   2d+09:41:55.756  READ FPDMA QUEUED
  60 00 00 ff ff ff 4f 00   2d+09:41:55.754  READ FPDMA QUEUED
  60 00 00 ff ff ff 4f 00   2d+09:41:55.748  READ FPDMA QUEUED
  60 00 00 ff ff ff 4f 00   2d+09:41:55.736  READ FPDMA QUEUED
  60 00 00 ff ff ff 4f 00   2d+09:41:55.654  READ FPDMA QUEUED

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
No self-tests have been logged.  [To run self-tests, use: smartctl -t]


SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
 SPAN  MIN_LBA  MAX_LBA  CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
    1        0        0  Not_testing
    2        0        0  Not_testing
    3        0        0  Not_testing
    4        0        0  Not_testing
    5        0        0  Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
  After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.

BonOeil · Jan 14, 2011

Sounds good !

How to flash an LSI1068E to IT mode?

loftydan

n00b

pjkenned

[H]ard|Gawd

loftydan

n00b

loftydan

n00b

BonOeil

n00b

dandragonrage

[H]F Junkie

loftydan

n00b

BonOeil

n00b

loftydan

n00b

BonOeil

n00b