LSI SAS9211-8i sas2flsh error : "Failed to initialize PAL" and unable to boot sas2flsh.efi

[nicolas_thg]

I am trying to flash a SAS9211-8i card and in DOS using sas2flsh and I get the following error : "ERROR: Failed to initialize PAL. Exiting program"

After reading this documentation and other forum threads, I understood that I need an older motherboard or at least one that supports BIOS32 service directory feature. Otherwise, I have to try booting into the sas2flsh.efi file which I tried but without success. I see the efi boot entry on the motherboard but when I boot to it, nothing happens and it just takes me back to the boot menu.

Has anyone had more success with this? How do I know if a motherboard supports BIOS32 service directory feature?

Any help would be greatly appreaciated.

 

[ericloewe]

No, you don't boot sas2flash.efi. You boot into a UEFI shell and run the sas2flash.efi application.

 

[nicolas_thg]

Thanks, I clearly misunderstood how to do it and am currently reading this exhaustive forum post about crossflashing HBA cards on the TrueNAS forum which is going to help a lot and may be helpful to anyone stumbling upon this thread.

As for the efi shell, not having a US keyboard makes it very difficult to use (I couldn't even type "-" at all with a belgian keyboard but I may have to search further). So I went with a SuperMicro X8DTU-F motherboard and the DOS command sas2flsh worked fine.

We'll probably need to flash more cards in the future so perhaps we should get a US keyboard to be able to run that command on newer motherboards using the efi shell..

 

[ericloewe]

Or just print out the layout to reference. Slightly different key layouts between US and European keyboards, but nothing too major.

 

[nicolas_thg]

I had a layout next to me but the position of the "-" gave something else, I don't remember but no matter how hard I tried with the reference, it wouldn't work for that character.