Dell H700 cross flashed to IT mode

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poldim

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Nov 21, 2016
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Looking for a bit of guidance:
This is my first foray with flash raid controllers. I'm trying to get my H700 to operate in IT mode so that UNRAID or FREENAS can see the drives individually.

Last night I tried flashing the files I found in previous thread but it's not in IT mode. I'm not sure if there are different files I should be using or another setting that needs to be set after the flash but I didn't see anything obvious on the controller setup screen.

Odd thing was MEGAREC would freeze in the R510 when I ran any command including "-adplist". I could only get it to work inside of my R610.

EDIT: Adding details
Files used: see "previous thread" above for link to thread, direct link: https://bigxor.com/H700.zip
Steps used:
0) Identify the card you want to flash
megarec -adplist

1) Save your current SBR to backup SBR just in case...
megarec -readsbr 0 backup_h700.sbr

2) Reflash the SBR with the version you want:
megarec -writesbr 0 sbrh700.bin

3) Empty the BIOS:
megarec -cleanflash 0

4) Reboot the computer and boot from the flash drive again. Your RAID card BIOS will not load. That is normal, you just wiped it clean.

5) Flash the Firmware back:
megarec -m0flash 0 0004_del.rom
When that didn't work, I also tried following:
  1. Boot PC to USB DOS
  2. Megarec -adplist
  3. Megarec -cleanflash 0
  4. Reboot PC back to USB DOS
  5. Megarec -m0flash 0 0004_del.rom
  6. Megarec -writesbr 0 sbrh700.bin
  7. Megarec -writespd 0 spdh700.bin
  8. Reboot
After that didnt work, I went out and got new drivers from LSI for the card. 12.15.0-0239_MR_2108_SAS_FW_2.130.403-4660 was the current firmware that came with mr2108fw.rom. I then repeated the above processes using this firmware. All four times everything flashed correctly and executed with "success".
 
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pricklypunter

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Nov 10, 2015
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What firmware files did you use? Where did you get them from? Exactly what commands did you use and in what order? There's not enough information in your post for anyone to be able to help you :)

The files in that post are quite likely well out of date now. I suggest that you obtain the latest files for your card along with the latest firmware tools :)
 

poldim

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Nov 21, 2016
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What firmware files did you use? Where did you get them from? Exactly what commands did you use and in what order? There's not enough information in your post for anyone to be able to help you :)

The files in that post are quite likely well out of date now. I suggest that you obtain the latest files for your card along with the latest firmware tools :)
The files are linked in the OP but it may not be obvious as the link is "previous thread". I'll add more info.
 

pricklypunter

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Nov 10, 2015
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Now that I've woken up and re-read your op, the H700 can't do IT mode as far as I know, it's a raid only card. I was thinking about the H310 for some stupid reason. You can flash it to LSI firmware though, but it won't help you. You could, depending on what you want to do with it, set each disk in a raid 0 and present them that way, but if you are planning on using Freenasty, that's going to be using ZFS which will not take kindly to anything but direct disk access. Get your hands on a different card, M1015, H200, H310 etc :)
 

poldim

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Nov 21, 2016
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Now that I've woken up and re-read your op, the H700 can't do IT mode as far as I know, it's a raid only card. I was thinking about the H310 for some stupid reason. You can flash it to LSI firmware though, but it won't help you. You could, depending on what you want to do with it, set each disk in a raid 0 and present them that way, but if you are planning on using Freenasty, that's going to be using ZFS which will not take kindly to anything but direct disk access. Get your hands on a different card, M1015, H200, H310 etc :)
Any suggestions on what to use in a R510 with 14 drives? Will it work in the internal slot so I don't have to replace the cables?
 

pricklypunter

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Nov 10, 2015
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Either of the cards I listed will do 8 disks directly, or lots if using an expander card/ backplane like what's fitted in the Dell R510. I would probably use either the H200 or the H310, depending on what other cards I had installed that might foul the wiring. They are pretty much identical, functionally speaking, but the wiring is either on top of the card (H200) or facing out the end of the card (H310) :)

Either the H200 or H700 is what Dell fit internally anyway, but the H700 can't do IT mode, the H200 can :)
 

poldim

New Member
Nov 21, 2016
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Either of the cards I listed will do 8 disks directly, or lots if using an expander card/ backplane like what's fitted in the Dell R510. I would probably use either the H200 or the H310, depending on what other cards I had installed that might foul the wiring. They are pretty much identical, functionally speaking, but the wiring is either on top of the card (H200) or facing out the end of the card (H310) :)

Either the H200 or H700 is what Dell fit internally anyway, but the H700 can't do IT mode, the H200 can :)

Thanks, ordered an h200. Anyone have a link to the dukes I need to put it in IT mode?