[SOLVED] Supermicro X11SSH-CTF IT mode flash successful BUT...

[Rivest]

after reboot, it's totally gone. I don't see it at boot, I don't see it using sas3flash in UEFI shell nor the DOS shell.

Tried clearing CMOS but didn't help. It's totally gone, even in the BIOS. And because sas3flash can't detect it, I can't do anything.

Did I brick it?

Is there anything I can do to bring it back?

 

[vangoose]

Maybe there is a jumper on the motherboard if you want to use IT mode.

 

[K D]

I remember having some issues when I flashed the LSI firmware on this while ago. Try downloading the latest firmware from the Supermicro ftp site and reflash.

 

[Rivest]

Thanks vangoose. I had my suspicions when I saw an undocumented jumper JPSAS1 right beside JPS1. It turns out I had to remove it to get power to the SAS3008-IT. However that was not sufficient to get it to boot reliably.

Once that was done, I did 2 other steps and it seems ok now:

1. Install the 4-pin power plug to the 8-pin socket on the motherboard.
2. I reflashed the firmware using DOS. (1st time i did it using UEFI)

Will monitor and report back.

This will become my Solaris ZFS NAS build.

 

[Rivest]

Edit: The board is working now.

 

[Rivest]

This is what happened: When securing the motherboard to a NAS chassis, I naturally aligned it with the standoffs so I can screws them in. It turns out that the case has additional standoffs that do not have corresponding holes and they were SHORTING some circuits on the mb, and coincidentally those that control the signals and power of the on-board SAS3008. So I taped those extra standoffs and the cause of my misery for weeks were finally gone.

I don't know why it took me such a long time to realize it but I hope it will help others to avoid mistake.