Anyone have an LSI 9266-8i card?

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zach4485

New Member
Oct 20, 2020
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Does anyone have an add-on PCIe LSI 9266-8i (ideally the C1 revision) SAS card? If so could I trouble you to extract firmware/bios/SBR files and share with me?

Before anyone says so, I know that it's supposed to be possible to flash these with generic firmware/bios straight from LSI. I tried that. A hundred times. It fails. My best guess is that this may be because there is no actual 9266-8i firmware flash from LSI; the closest I can find is the 9205-8e. The 2208-16i "generic" flash that's been recommended for reverting bricked cards also doesn't do anything...

I have managed to accidentally partially brick my card when flashing firmware and I am hoping you could bail me out :)
  1. megarec can see my card and "successfully" apply flashes (using the "mode zero" -m0flash switch) but this has no effect after reboot
  2. sas2flash can see my card and successfully hostboot the 9205-8e firmware but the application of the bios/firmware fails
  3. I am stuck in this state; I can't revert to IMR/Megaraid mode nor can I complete the flash to IT mode
When using sas2flash the output looks something like this:

Code:
Advanced Mode Set

Adapter Selected is a LSI SAS: SAS2208(C1)   

Executing Operation: Flash Firmware Image

    Firmware Image has a Valid Checksum.
    Firmware Version 17.00.01.00
    Firmware Image compatible with Controller.

    Valid NVDATA Image found.
    NVDATA Version 11.00.00.00
    Checking for a compatible NVData image...

    NVDATA Device ID and Chip Revision match verified.
    Valid Initialization Image verified.
    Valid BootLoader Image verified.

    Chip is in RESET state. Attempting Host Boot...
    Firmware Host Boot Successful.

    Writing Current Mfg Page 2 Settings to NVRAM.
    Failed to Validate Mfg Page 2!
Thanks
Zach
 

zach4485

New Member
Oct 20, 2020
2
0
1
Thanks! Can you run the following commands and share the output files?

Code:
MegaRec -readspd 0 9266.spd
MegaRec -readsbr 0 9266-0.sbr
MegaRec -readsbr 0 9266-2.sbr 256
MegaRec -readsbr 0 9266-5.sbr 512
Can you also run the following commands (as documented at https://docs.broadcom.com/doc/12355769)?

Code:
sas2flash -ubios bios.rom
sas2flash -ufirmware firmware.fw
sas2flash -o -ufwbackup backup.fw
sas2flash -o -uflash flash.rom
sas2flash -o -unvdata nvdata.img
I really appreciate it :)
 

name stolen

Member
Feb 20, 2018
43
10
8
Just started working on putting the card in a spare system, will update in a little while. Glad to help when possible, and with this knowledgeable crowd, that's rare.

Quick update - first attempts on an Asus ROG Strix Z270G higher-end consumer mobo have failed to find controller in DOS and EFI shell. Win10 and MSM see it fine. No drives are attached. Hints? Options I have available - attach an SSD or two, try WinPE on this system, some Supermicro X9 boards, a Dell R230 (2018), a Dell T310 (2010), a Supermicro Skylake consumer board. Options you have available - as it so happens, MSM was already installed b/c I was taking some screenshots and pics of the card to go on ebay this week. It's not listed yet, just sayin'.

Second update: tried the Dell R230. Pulled out a working ESXi 7.0 USB boot drive. The 9266-4i is completely visible and manageable in Lifecycle Controller (same settings as MSM in Windows) but failed to boot to EFI shell. Switched system to BIOS-mode, Rufus'd the thumbdrive back to MBR/FreeDOS, copied the utils, changed the boot sequence, failed to boot. Noticed the Ctrl-Y prompt here though, tried that but it won't accept the megarec and sas2flsh switches.

Why can't I boot to an environment to even run the commands to help? I've flashed and cross-flashed LSI and Dell cards before; I'm familiar with the commands and getting the output to you.
 
Last edited:

Kim Bjoern

New Member
Feb 26, 2020
16
1
3
Denmark
Just started working on putting the card in a spare system, will update in a little while. Glad to help when possible, and with this knowledgeable crowd, that's rare.

Quick update - first attempts on an Asus ROG Strix Z270G higher-end consumer mobo have failed to find controller in DOS and EFI shell. Win10 and MSM see it fine. No drives are attached. Hints? Options I have available - attach an SSD or two, try WinPE on this system, some Supermicro X9 boards, a Dell R230 (2018), a Dell T310 (2010), a Supermicro Skylake consumer board. Options you have available - as it so happens, MSM was already installed b/c I was taking some screenshots and pics of the card to go on ebay this week. It's not listed yet, just sayin'.

Second update: tried the Dell R230. Pulled out a working ESXi 7.0 USB boot drive. The 9266-4i is completely visible and manageable in Lifecycle Controller (same settings as MSM in Windows) but failed to boot to EFI shell. Switched system to BIOS-mode, Rufus'd the thumbdrive back to MBR/FreeDOS, copied the utils, changed the boot sequence, failed to boot. Noticed the Ctrl-Y prompt here though, tried that but it won't accept the megarec and sas2flsh switches.

Why can't I boot to an environment to even run the commands to help? I've flashed and cross-flashed LSI and Dell cards before; I'm familiar with the commands and getting the output to you.
Many thanks for your willingness to help out, as Zach4485 I'm also partially bricked with a 9266-8i rev. c card.

Do you have enterprise iDRAC on your R230? I can recommend booting from mapped media in the virtual console, and copy the sbr files to a fat formatted usb.

I'm running DELL R520 and R720 servers: In various cross flashing guides, it is recommended to disable the I/OAT DMA Engine and SR-IOV Global Enable inside System BIOS Integrated Devices. Not sure if this is possible on a R230.

Best
 

name stolen

Member
Feb 20, 2018
43
10
8
The R230 does have Enterprise iDRAC. I was booting from USB, both UEFI and DOS/BIOS, and to EFI shell with LSI support. The card works fine and is seen fine in Lifecycle Controller, and in operating systems. No, I haven't disabled the card BIOS - I just haven't found the right settings combination this time, and honestly I'd rather give the card away than spend more time on it. Sorry! I mean, i was already done with RAID controllers a few years ago; just didn't get around to selling it until now. FYI, I have also tried on the Skylake board mentioned above. No luck with sas2flash finding a controller.

Last time I had good luck flashing LSI cards, it was in an Asus 990FX board and I just sold the last of three.
 

Kim Bjoern

New Member
Feb 26, 2020
16
1
3
Denmark
The R230 does have Enterprise iDRAC. I was booting from USB, both UEFI and DOS/BIOS, and to EFI shell with LSI support. The card works fine and is seen fine in Lifecycle Controller, and in operating systems. No, I haven't disabled the card BIOS - I just haven't found the right settings combination this time, and honestly I'd rather give the card away than spend more time on it. Sorry! I mean, i was already done with RAID controllers a few years ago; just didn't get around to selling it until now. FYI, I have also tried on the Skylake board mentioned above. No luck with sas2flash finding a controller.

Last time I had good luck flashing LSI cards, it was in an Asus 990FX board and I just sold the last of three.
Again, thank you so much for helping out. Maybe you've already helped us:

As I understand it: sas2flash is used on LSI HBA's in IT mode - not for LSI RAID controllers in iMR/IR mode. Or, LSI RAID cards with a modded (or cleared) .sbr. What you are experiencing is expected.

You may already have helped; if you've managed to read the sbr's from DOS with megarec.exe as Zach4445 outlined:

MegaRec -readspd 0 9266.spd
MegaRec -readsbr 0 9266-0.sbr
MegaRec -readsbr 0 9266-2.sbr 256
MegaRec -readsbr 0 9266-5.sbr 512

I'm confident those files alone can un-brick my card.

Thanks again in advance - Kim
 

name stolen

Member
Feb 20, 2018
43
10
8
I've spent over 8 hours trying to help, and obviously failing so far, so that ship has sailed. I will give the card away if someone covers USPS Priority Mail shipping (it has CV and BBU). I have achieved no condition that allows MegaRec to run successfully. I believe you are correct - last time i was flashing LSI, it wasn't this card, it was HBAs. This card updates fine with MSM. That may explain why sas2flash won't work. Doesn't seem to matter - MegaRec doesn't see a controller either.
 

Kim Bjoern

New Member
Feb 26, 2020
16
1
3
Denmark
I've spent over 8 hours trying to help, and obviously failing so far, so that ship has sailed. I will give the card away if someone covers USPS Priority Mail shipping (it has CV and BBU). I have achieved no condition that allows MegaRec to run successfully. I believe you are correct - last time i was flashing LSI, it wasn't this card, it was HBAs. This card updates fine with MSM. That may explain why sas2flash won't work. Doesn't seem to matter - MegaRec doesn't see a controller either.
Thanks again name stolen, I envy you being rational. I am not; I'm rationalizing that all the hours spent on trying to salvage a card, I have no use for, is extremely developing and entertaining.

I'm in Denmark, so mobilizing USPS would require even more rationalization.

Hopefully someone else would pick up on your offer (zach4485 ;-)

All the best.