ServeRAID M1015 in JBOD mode??

easiest way is to enter the BIOS at boot time.


next easiest way is to download the lsi mega raid storage manager and it will tell you the firmware running on the card.


it and ir mode will present the disks as jbod, but IT mode has slightly less over head I believe
 
The Motherboard BIOS or the RAID card utility? I have no OS installed so I can't use the Mega RAID storage manager.
 
RAID card BIOS.

What am I looking for? I've looked around in there but I don't see anything that tells me what mode the card it in. I just see the firmware version and I see all 6 of my discs listed at JBODs.
 
Look at the cards firmware version number in the LSI pre-boot bios or in the POST messages. IT mode version number ends in iT. iR mode ends in IR. doh!
 
It probably with the stock m1015 firmware then.


This is what the 9211 firmware looks like:

FpzTDgn.jpg


Pu3AN5X.jpg


it says IT for IT mode.

This is on a m1015 that has been crossflashed.
 
Line 4 of that screen says:

"HA -0 (Bus 2 Dev 0) ServeRAID m1015 SAS/SATA Controller"

And that's exactly what it is.

it's neither IT nor IR mode, its the m1015 fakeraid bios.
 
EDIT: Just saw the above post. I guess I need to update my firmware then. Can I update and crossflash at the same time?

yes, when you download the utilites to crossflash you can simply download the new firmware for the 9211-8i and the mptbios and flash those directly. Instead of first flashing an older firmware then having to upgrade.
 
Is there a specific recommended guide for flashing? I've got all the necessary files now loaded on a bootable USB drive. I'm just seeing conflicting guides as to what commands to run once I boot from that USB.
 
This guide will work perfectly:
http://www.servethehome.com/ibm-serveraid-m1015-part-4/

Code:
Convert LSI9240(IBM M1015) to a LSI9211-IT mode
Type in the following exactly:
megarec -writesbr 0 sbrempty.bin
megarec -cleanflash 0
<reboot, back to USB stick >
sas2flsh -o -f 2118it.bin -b mptsas2.rom (sas2flsh -o -f 2118it.bin if OptionROM is not needed)
sas2flsh -o -sasadd 500605bxxxxxxxxx (x= numbers for SAS address)
<reboot>
Done!

You can reboot in dos by hitting ctrl+alt+del

If you have a UEFI motherboard you will run into trouble. (You will get address out of range error and have to use the workaround UEFI method)

The boot disk also needs to be legit DOS, not freedos.

I'd say the toughest part of the whole thing is getting the stupid USB to work with DOS. I know some USB drives won't allow you to boot from them in DOS. PNYs are ok, Sandisks are hit and miss.
 
I have upgraded and flashed all of my lsi 9211 and m1015 using freedos on a usb. It is simple and easy to do. I have no idea why you say freedos wouldn't work.

I use the unetbootin and have it create a freedos usb stick, then drop the lsi files onto it, works great.\

UEFI works great too, been doing all my firmware updates using it lately. Just boot into the UEFI shell, run the UEFI firmware update program, no dos or anything to worry about.
 
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This guide will work perfectly:
http://www.servethehome.com/ibm-serveraid-m1015-part-4/

Code:
Convert LSI9240(IBM M1015) to a LSI9211-IT mode
Type in the following exactly:
megarec -writesbr 0 sbrempty.bin
megarec -cleanflash 0
<reboot, back to USB stick >
sas2flsh -o -f 2118it.bin -b mptsas2.rom (sas2flsh -o -f 2118it.bin if OptionROM is not needed)
sas2flsh -o -sasadd 500605bxxxxxxxxx (x= numbers for SAS address)
<reboot>
Done!

You can reboot in dos by hitting ctrl+alt+del

If you have a UEFI motherboard you will run into trouble. (You will get address out of range error and have to use the workaround UEFI method)

The boot disk also needs to be legit DOS, not freedos.

I'd say the toughest part of the whole thing is getting the stupid USB to work with DOS. I know some USB drives won't allow you to boot from them in DOS. PNYs are ok, Sandisks are hit and miss.

Errrrrr got the dreaded "ERROR: Failed ot initialize PAL" when following that guide
 
I got a few errors with FreeDOS when trying to do a few motherboards and cards like 5 years ago and I don't trust it. It could be great now-a-days for all I know.
 
Ok I got it to flash with the UEFI shell. However now upon rebooting it doesn't show like it's even recognizing the card. There's no option to go into the LSI utility or anything.

EDIT: I'm just going to have to start fresh tomorrow with a clear head because now I'm just frustrated. I've flashed back to LSI9240 and then back to IT mode 3 times now and all seems to go perfectly. However upon reboot it acts like there is no controller even there as it makes no mention of the LSI controller so I can't confirm if it's in IT mode or not by looking for the "LSI2008-IT" during boot (although it does show that all my hard disks are connected in the BIOS).
 
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IT mode lacks an option ROM and boot prompts. You'll want to boot into an OS and list devices to confirm the card is still being detected.
 
IT mode lacks an option ROM and boot prompts. You'll want to boot into an OS and list devices to confirm the card is still being detected.

I think it's working because I'm in FreeNAS and it shows all my disks.
 
Are you flashing just the firmware, or are you also flashing the option rom?

You need the option ROM to see it at boot.


Option ROM enabled:

sas2flsh.efi -o -f 2118it.bin -b mptsas2.rom

Option ROM disabled:

sas2flsh.efi -o -f 2118it.bin
 
IT mode lacks an option ROM and boot prompts. You'll want to boot into an OS and list devices to confirm the card is still being detected.

IT doesn't lack option ROM or bootability. Check my pics from earlier in the thread.
 
I purposedly didn't flash the ROM since I'm using the card with FreeNAS and wanted faster boot. So I guess I did it right and that's why I'm not seeing it at boot.
 
i ran into the same problem. Running sas2flash gets me this error.

No LSI SAS adapters found! Limited Command Set Available!
Finished Processing Commands Successfully.
Exiting SAS2Flash.

Please note i did not execute:
megarec -writesbr 0 sbrempty.bin
megarec -cleanflash 0

i was too afraid to flush the firmware and be left with non-working pci cards.
 
Line 4 of that screen says:

"HA -0 (Bus 2 Dev 0) ServeRAID m1015 SAS/SATA Controller"

And that's exactly what it is.

it's neither IT nor IR mode, its the m1015 fakeraid bios.
No, line 4 states it very clearly - IT

IT mode lacks an option ROM and boot prompts. You'll want to boot into an OS and list devices to confirm the card is still being detected.
No, you have the option to load the Option ROM or leave it out.

Are you flashing just the firmware, or are you also flashing the option rom?

You need the option ROM to see it at boot.
+1
I purposedly didn't flash the ROM since I'm using the card with FreeNAS and wanted faster boot. So I guess I did it right and that's why I'm not seeing it at boot.
Correct, only load the Option ROM if you for some reason have your server connected to monitor and want to see attached drives in a much slower boot.
For OS's and setups wanting a no-BS HBA that is stupidly fast, leave the O-ROM out.
 
Why would you want to do JBOD? Or have the card manage the disks? I just flashed mine last night into IR mode so I can do SATA Passthrough w/ SMART and have FreeNAS manage all the disks through ZFS
 
Why would you want to do JBOD? Or have the card manage the disks? I just flashed mine last night into IR mode so I can do SATA Passthrough w/ SMART and have FreeNAS manage all the disks through ZFS

Then you are using the card in JBOD mode, too. Both IR and IT modes can pass the drives through, aka JBOD mode.
 
i ran into the same problem. Running sas2flash gets me this error.

No LSI SAS adapters found! Limited Command Set Available!
Finished Processing Commands Successfully.
Exiting SAS2Flash.

Please note i did not execute:
megarec -writesbr 0 sbrempty.bin
megarec -cleanflash 0

i was too afraid to flush the firmware and be left with non-working pci cards.

sas2flsh is only for a certain version of LSI SAS cards. You need to completely flush the megaraid firmware to be able to use the sas2flsh utility.

Don't worry I have crossflashed exactly 10 m1015s and have in trial and error ended up running the clear commands above, then moved the card to a different machine to write the new firmware to. It wrote just fine. Those commands put the card into a permanent listen state that will allow it to receive commands even if power is removed from it.

I've never heard of anyone bricking a modern LSI card so no worries.
 
@staticlag

th for the info, i will try it again and give you some feedback
 
No, it does not. You seem lost. You are probably looking at staticlag's screenshot rather than the jimphreak video that is being discussed in this thread.

I was looking at the screenies, I don't pay attention to links to youtube much.


So, with that being said; Youtube video would appear to be IR rather than IT.

Your other comment on both IT & IR being able to do JBOD is correct and handy for those who wish to do simple RAID configs (RAID-0, 1 & 10), no parity.
 
I'm trying to flash my M1015 back to normal (RAID) mode and I'm having some serous trouble doing so on my SuperMicro board. I've gone back and forth over this thread and the links I used to flash my card into IT mode in the first place and I can't figure out the exact process I need to do. I can't even get my board to boot an MS-DOS USB drive to begin the process.

I can already tell it's just one of those days I'm having some serious brain cramps. Can someone jumpstart my thought process here? I still have all the necessary SAS2008 files.
 
Ok I was able to figure out how to flash it back to normal mode and did so with the latest firmware from LSI. However upon reboot my machine is now hanging at the LSI MegaRAID initialization screen. I can't boot to a hard drive or USB because it just hangs at this screen if I choose the boot menu. What do I do now?

56174e64-f521-4fab-a6e1-d5686a9e26af_zps5e123f39.jpg



EDIT: Well now it seems it's my hard drives that are hanging the system. If I unplug them the system boots fine. I have 6 drives that were part of a RAIDz2 array in FreeNAS. I unmounted the volume and checked off "make as new" before shutting down my FreeNAS system so why would these drives hang my server now?
 
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Well it turns out my RAID card does not like having 8 drives attached to it. My server hangs after the initializing devices screen once an 8th drive is plugged in. Boots fine with 1-7 drives attached but doesn't like the 8th (and I've tried swapping out the 8th drive for a new one to no avail).

I'm pretty puzzled at this point. Could it be bad firmware?

EDIT: Looks like it was the wrong firmware and now that I've installed the latest firmware for the LSI9240 it's working. However the card is not working properly in Windows. It's giving me a Code 10 I/O adapter hardware error. Anyone gotten this card to work in WS 2012 R2?
 
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