Need help flashing LSI Falcon to IT Mode

[Fritz]

I did this a year or so ago and made notes that at the time were clear and concise. Well fast forward and they have turned clear as mud. There are numerous sets of instructions on the web, including here, and they're all different and none of them make sense.

1. I need to retrieve the SAS address and all the instructions I've found omit this critical step. My notes say "megacli.exe -AdpAllInfo -aAll -page 20" but this command errors out with "cannot initialize mouse". This is gibberish to me because the mouse is not needed at all.

2. I need to flash it to IT Mode which I think requires 2118IT.bin. I haven't gotten this far but don't think it's a problem.

3. I'd like to flash the BIOS back just in case I ever want to boot from it.

Any help much appreciated.

 

[BLinux]

I just did this a few months ago for that X8DTH-6F board. What I found was that using the Supermicro provided IT mode firmware was the easiest way to go about it. I have it on my freedos USB drive, but let me find it and get back to you.

 

[BLinux]

reference to my post at your other thread has the info:

Need to flash a Supermicro X8DT6-F to IT mode

 

[BLinux]

to answer your questions more directly:

1. with the method using the Supermicro provided IT firmware, you don't need to copy your SAS address as it will be preserved. you will not need to wipe the sbr, etc. that said, the error your are seeing I've noticed before when running megacli in FreeDOS with himem; I get around it by running without the himem option - something to try if you're just determined to get megacli working.

2. IT mode firmware by Supermicro is straightforward. the download includes instructions.

3. The same package also includes a MPTSAS2.ROM or some such file which is the BIOS ROM.

 

[Fritz]

In spite of myself I managed to get it done.

I didn't know about the SM provided firmware. I assumed that all the tools required a login so I looked elsewhere. I grabbed mptsas2.rom from Intel. Still don't know why the command to retrieve the SAS address didn't work but I found it in the BIOS and successfully reentered it after the flashing was done. I don't do this enough to remember all the details and it's disheartening when the very first step is a step into trouble. It's my own freaking fault for not refining my notes enough to be of future use but that will be corrected. I also updated my usb boot drive with mptsas2.rom.

Crap, to add embarrassment on top of my bungling, you guys answered this in my own thread last year.

Now excuse my while I go eat some crow.

 

[BLinux]

In spite of myself I managed to get it done.

I didn't know about the SM provided firmware. I assumed that all the tools required a login so I looked elsewhere. I grabbed mptsas2.rom from Intel. Still don't know why the command to retrieve the SAS address didn't work but I found it in the BIOS and successfully reentered it after the flashing was done. I don't do this enough to remember all the details and it's disheartening when the very first step is a step into trouble. It's my own freaking fault for not refining my notes enough to be of future use but that will be corrected. I also updated my usb boot drive with mptsas2.rom.

Crap, to add embarrassment on top of my bungling, you guys answered this in my own thread last year.

Now excuse my while I go eat some crow.

ha ha ha... no problem. glad you got it done either way. i chose the Supermicro provided stuff as it was straight forward and easy; no need to "work around" anything. either way you got it going.

there's too much info in the world to keep it all crammed in your head. don't worry about it... the internet is an extension of our brain's memory capacity... just takes a little longer to search and find.