Lenovo 930-8i to Broadcom SAS 9460-8i SAS3508

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nthu9280

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Feb 3, 2016
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Not yet. I have it's smaller bother 530-8i. I think 430-8i is the HBA version.

They use storcli for these operations instead of SAS<?>flash tools. Megarec does not recognize it. I have not tried putting the jumper for SBR though. @BLinux started a thread and I added my findings there
 

nthu9280

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Feb 3, 2016
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So far, we have @iblik, @BLinux and my self have successfully cross-flashed 530-8i to 9400-8i IT mode as reported here. SBR jumper is needed to convert OEM to LSI 9400.

So far no one has reported an update on 930-8i. But if that also has the SBR jumper like the LSI 9460/9480, I don't see why it couldn't be flashed to LSI FW.

StorCLI /c<ctrl#> download file=9460-8i_nopad.rom

Link to 9460-8i MegaRAID FW

Interesting tidbit on pages 5 & 6 different variants in the user guide:
Broadcom MegaRAID and HBA Tri-Mode Storage Adapters User Guide

SAS3516 chip is used in most of the 16 port MegaRAID & HBA cards. So in thoery, RAID controllers also can be flashed to IT / HBA mode. Whether it makes a logical/economical sense is totally a different matter. :)

MegaRAID
9480-8i8e
9460-16i

HBA
9400-16i
9400-16e
9400-8i8e
 
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am45931472

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Feb 26, 2019
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So far, we have @iblik, @BLinux and my self have successfully cross-flashed 530-8i to 9400-8i IT mode as reported here. SBR jumper is needed to convert OEM to LSI 9400.

So far no one has reported an update on 930-8i. But if that also has the SBR jumper like the LSI 9460/9480, I don't see why it couldn't be flashed to LSI FW.

StorCLI /c<ctrl#> download file=9460-8i_nopad.rom

Link to 9460-8i MegaRAID FW

Interesting tidbit on pages 5 & 6 different variants in the user guide:
Broadcom MegaRAID and HBA Tri-Mode Storage Adapters User Guide

SAS3516 chip is used in most of the 16 port MegaRAID & HBA cards. So in thoery, RAID controllers also can be flashed to IT / HBA mode. Whether it makes a logical/economical sense is totally a different matter. :)

MegaRAID
9480-8i8e
9460-16i

HBA
9400-16i
9400-16e
9400-8i8e

With the cross flash have you tried using NVME disks with the HBA like the 9400 can. The 9400 Series stuff is so expensive i havnt even bothered looking at it for nvme drives. I'd love to forget about buying these asus x16 m.2 adapters and then running cables off that and then bifurcating the pci e slots to x4x4x4x4.
 
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Ollie2001

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Mar 31, 2019
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Ok guys, think I might have the Intel one at least? Thanks to http://pciids.sourceforge.net/v2.2/pci.ids

Original 930-8i:
Vendor ID: 0x1000
DeviceID: 0x16
SubVendor ID: 0x1D49
SubDevice ID: 0x601

Intel RSP3DD080F:
Vendor ID: 0x1000
DeviceID: 0x16
SubVendor ID: 0x8086
SubDevice ID: 0x9461

That would go up to a 5.8 Firmware release as opposed to my current Lenovo 5.5. Latest from Broadcom was 5.9 last week.

Went through all of the LSI vendor 1000's on PCI Lookup and couldn't see a vanilla retail 9460-8i at all? :(
 

Rand__

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Mar 6, 2014
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Any progress @Ollie2001 ?
I got a 930 and wondered how to manage them from bios since it causes my box to freeze when I try to enter bios.
It might be manageable via windows but that seems sub-optimal...

Edit: Ok, so in windows it is manageable via LSA, no problem to update firmware either.

Still can't get into bios though with the card installed, pretty annoying
 
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nthu9280

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Feb 3, 2016
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I did a quick scan of windows driver inf file from LSI latest MR driver and VMware compatibility info:

Sub System IDs for 9460-8i are different. Also 9440-8i has two different SubDevID under windows - 9440 & 9441.

Another interesting item on VMware list - 9450-8i but can's find any info on LSI site

Code:
From Windows driver Inf

9460-16i :
VID - 1000    DID -  0014 SUBSYS 94601000

9460-8i :
VID: 1000 DID: 0016 SUB_IDS: 94611000

9440-16i :
VID: 1000 DID: 0015 SUB_IDS: 94411000

9440-8i :
VID: 1000 DID: 0017 SUB_IDS: 94401000

9440-8i :
VID: 1000 DID: 0017 SUB_IDS: 94411000

#####
From VMware compatibility info:
https://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php?deviceCategory=io&details=1&deviceTypes=27&page=1&display_interval=10&sortColumn=Partner&sortOrder=Asc

No listing for 9440-8i

Model : SAS 9400-8i
Number of Ports: 8
VID: 1000 / DID: 00af  / SVID: 1000 / SSID: 3010

Model :     MegaRAID SAS 9460-8i /w JBOD Mode
Number of Ports:    8
VID: 1000 / DID: 0016 / SVID: 1000 / SSID: 9a61

Interesting:
Model :    MegaRAID Tri-Mode SAS3408
Number of Ports:    0  
VID: 1000 / DID: 0017 /  SVID: 0000 / SSID: 0000

Model :    MegaRAID SAS 9450-8i
Number of Ports:    8  
VID :    1000 /  DID :    0016 / SVID :    1000 / SSID :    9450
 
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nezach

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Oct 14, 2012
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Another interesting item on VMware list - 9450-8i but can's find any info on LSI site
There are actually quite a few of these quasi existing cards. And not just cards, but also ICs like SAS3404, SAS3504. LSI adds PCI IDs to their drivers during development so it is possible that some of these products never see a light of day.
 

Baz

New Member
Aug 9, 2019
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9460-16i
HDD need to reserve 20% = 12TB HDD ,uses 9 TB but reserve 3TB , - If you try writing above 9TB it fails to recognize HDD , this is a fun part ( take card out of pcie about a day or 2 then it recognize HDD or disconnect Battery a day or 2 , LSI authourity software set software RAID to JBOD vice-versa from JBOD back to RAID )
The Card work but you have to play with it ,i know it is time consuming & frustrating
I have 4 pcie , 2 pcie that recognize the Card , the other 2 pcie would fail to recognize the card , All 4 pcie is 3.1 &16x .
works on pcie 2 16x 8x
The other problem is install software , it recognize the card ,at other times it fails to recognize ,uninstall & reinstall software.
Card works well at Temp about 55"C , Card Fails at 100"C +
 
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mattlach

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Aug 1, 2014
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I'd love to forget about buying these asus x16 m.2 adapters and then running cables off that and then bifurcating the pci e slots to x4x4x4x4.
Any reason you are favoring the Asus one? I'd like to do the same for my server, but Asus stuff is very, well, consumery, which is why I have been leaning towards the Dell Quad adapter instead. Though it goes for ~$200...
 

cuco

Member
Feb 13, 2018
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hey,
i am lokking for an Lenovo 430-16i to use with an Asrockrack X470D4U. Do these cards work in non Lenovo Setups?
How about drivers? can the broadcom ones be used?
And has anyone flashed a HBA like this? Or only raid cards?
Thanks for the help!
 

RAIDER

New Member
Apr 16, 2020
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Ok guys, think I might have the Intel one at least? Thanks to http://pciids.sourceforge.net/v2.2/pci.ids

Original 930-8i:
Vendor ID: 0x1000
DeviceID: 0x16
SubVendor ID: 0x1D49
SubDevice ID: 0x601

Intel RSP3DD080F:
Vendor ID: 0x1000
DeviceID: 0x16
SubVendor ID: 0x8086
SubDevice ID: 0x9461

That would go up to a 5.8 Firmware release as opposed to my current Lenovo 5.5. Latest from Broadcom was 5.9 last week.

Went through all of the LSI vendor 1000's on PCI Lookup and couldn't see a vanilla retail 9460-8i at all? :(
Any news from the 930-8i fight? I've got myself a 930-8i for a very low price so I am willing to give it a try. Any ideas how I should proceed to convert it to an LSI 9460-8i?
 
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Ollie2001

New Member
Mar 31, 2019
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Hey guys! Having a root through old kit and found my 2 x 930-8i again and have a use case of setting up a 2 node VSAN. I really want to put these in IT/HBA mode so want to flash the LSI firmware again, so googled it and see I tried to do it 2 years ago as well and a few people since have tried and failed

any more updates? I didn’t try this “jumper”trick I don’t think, any guides?

or does the latest Lenovo firmware allow IT/HBA mode?
 

Ollie2001

New Member
Mar 31, 2019
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Hi my friend, sadly, the Lenovo 930-8i uses the SAS3508 chipset, which is an interim gen ROC (RAID on Chip) chipset. Or in other words, fully RAID, with no IT mode firmware. So no point in trying to flash the firmware as LSI never made IT mode firmware for it :.(

Notwithstanding everything, these newer chipsets have full passthrough "HBA mode" built-in that usually does a good job at passing through your drives to the OS.

Most times, you can enable it in Storcli.
Cool, have you got the command handy?
 

tommy001

New Member
Sep 24, 2021
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The attachment is the Lenovo ThinkSystem RAID 930 Series Internal RAID Adapters information.

Detail information link is :

Lenovo ThinkSystem RAID 930 Series Internal RAID Adapters

Lenovo's every generations of Raid card products with the LSI/Avago chips as following:
Lenovo server has four product lines including Wanquan, ThinkServer, System x and ThinkSystem and more than ten generations of products. The SAS RAID cards of each generation of products are crossed with each other. Here is a data sorting of SAS RAID cards using LSI/Avago chips.
ause Analysis:
The LSI array card has the following working modes:

MR-MegaRAID mode:

using RoC chip hardware to realize RAID function, common array cards with cache work in this mode, such as ServeRAID M5210, RAID720ix, 9260-8i, etc.;

iMR-Integrated MegaRAID mode:

through software (driver) to achieve advanced RAID functions (such as RAID5), common array cards without cache work in this mode, such as ServeRAID M1215 and ServeRAID M5210, 9240-8i with the cache module removed;

IR-Integrated RAID mode:

SAS cards that can only provide the simplest RAID function (RAID0/1/1E) work in this mode, such as ServeRAID H1110, etc.;

I/T-Initiator and Target mode:

namely pass-through mode, without any RAID function, SAS HBA card works in this mode, such as N2215, N2225, etc.
Summary of specifications

LSI chipThinkSystemSystem xThinkServerLSI modeltypeCacheinterfacedrive
SAS3516RAID 930-16i

RAID 930-8e
MegaRAID 9460-16i

MegaRAID 9480-8i8e
MR

(RoC)
4GBSAS12Gmegasas35
SAS3508RAID 930-8i

RAID 930-24i
MegaRAID 9460-8i

MegaRAID 9365-28i
MR

(RoC)
2GB

4GB
SAS12Gmegasas35
SAS3416430-16i

430-16e
HBA 9400-16i

HBA 9400-16e
I/T

(IOC)
withoutSAS12Gmpt35sas
SAS3408RAID 530-8iMegaRAID 9440-8iiMR

(IOC)
withoutSAS12Gmegasas35
SAS3408430-8i

430-8e
HBA 9400-8i

HBA 9400-8e

I/T

(IOC)
withoutSAS12Gmpt35sas
SAS3108RAID 730-8iServeRAID M5210
ServeRAID M5215
ServeRAID M5225
RAID 720i
AnyRAID 720i
AnyRAID 720ix
MegaRAID 9361-8i

MegaRAID 9364-8i
MegaRAID 9380-8e
MR

(RoC)
1GB

2GB
4GB
SAS12Gmegasas2
SAS3008ServeRAID M1215RAID 520iMegaRAID 9340-8iiMR

(IOC)
withoutSAS12Gmegasas2
SAS3008N2215

N2225
N2226
9300-8i

9300-8e
9300-16e

I/T

(IOC)
withoutSAS12Gmpt3sas
SAS2308N2115

N2125
9207-8i

9207-8e
I/T

(IOC)
withoutSAS6Gmpt2sas
SAS2208ServeRAID M5110

ServeRAID M5115
ServeRAID M5120
ServeRAID M5016
RAID 710MegaRAID 9270CV-8i

MegaRAID 9286CV-8e
MegaRAID 9265CV-8i
MR

(RoC)
512MB

1GB
2GB
SAS6Gmegasas2
SAS2108ServeRAID M5015

ServeRAID M5014
ServeRAID M5025
RAID 700MegaRAID 9260-8i

MegaRAID 9280-8e
MR

(RoC)
512MB

256MB
SAS6Gmegasas2
SAS2008ServeRAID M1015

ServeRAID M1115
RAID 500

AnyRAID 510i
MegaRAID 9240-8iiMR

(IOC)
withoutSAS6Gmegasas2
SAS20086Gb SSD HBA

6Gb SAS HBA
9210-8i

9212-4i4e

I/T

(IOC)
withoutSAS6Gmpt2sas
SAS2004ServeRAID H11109211-4iIR

(IOC)
withoutSAS6Gmpt2sas
SAS1078MegaRAID 8708EM2MR

(RoC)
256MBSAS3Gmegasas2
 

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KLMR

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Jun 25, 2022
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You seem to want to use it in HBA (IT).

If you want to use the RAID chip on it, as a hardware raid controller, can you flash/upgrade the firmware from broadcom and use the drivers/interface from Broadcom?

SAS3508: RAID 930-8i --> MegaRAID 9460-8i
 

RAIDER

New Member
Apr 16, 2020
14
2
3
You seem to want to use it in HBA (IT).

If you want to use the RAID chip on it, as a hardware raid controller, can you flash/upgrade the firmware from broadcom and use the drivers/interface from Broadcom?

SAS3508: RAID 930-8i --> MegaRAID 9460-8i
You can't use the firmware from Broadcom. Drivers and LSA management software working fine though.