Broadcom 9500-8i

[the-last-englishman]

Hi All,

I'm in the process of setting up a new home server.
Most of the parts I already have, just waiting for the Jonsbo N3 to arrive.



Yesterday I receive the Broadcom 9500-i HBA card and after plugging it in to my desktop PC to check it works I saw it was running older firmware.
With StorCLI I upgraded the card to the latest available on the Broadcom website 9500_8i_Pkg_P27_MIXED_FW_BIOS_UEFI

One thing I notice after flashing is that there is "Package Stamp Mismatch = Yes" and I have some new entries "PSOC FW Version / PSOC Part Number", is this anything to worry about?



Also, is their an IT Mode firmware for this card ?

The update zip downloaded from Broadcom contained 3 different firmware:

1. HBA_9500-8i_Mixed_Profile.bin - I upgraded the card to this one
2. IT_HBA_ARM_UEFI_PKG_E6.rom
3. IT_HBA_X64_BIOS_PKG_E6.rom - This does not flash, mismatch error

Anyway, as a new user to HBA cards any help would be appreciated

Here is the storcli64.exe /c0 show all output :

CLI Version = 007.2610.0000.0000 April 14, 2023
Operating system = Windows 11
Controller = 0
Status = Success
Description = None


Basics :
======
Controller = 0
Adapter Type =   SAS3808(A0)
Model = HBA 9500-8i
Serial Number = SKC2218546
Current System Date/time = 09/10/2023 09:57:54
Concurrent commands supported = 4992
SAS Address =  500062b20ee69c80
PCI Address = 00:4f:00:00


Version :
=======
Firmware Package Build = 27.00.00.00
Firmware Version = 27.00.00.00
Bios Version = 09.27.00.00_14.00.00.00
NVDATA Version = 27.01.00.09
PSOC FW Version = 0x003D
PSOC Part Number = 14790
Driver Name = ItSas35
Driver Version = 2.61.59.00


PCI Version :
===========
Vendor Id = 0x1000
Device Id = 0xE6
SubVendor Id = 0x1000
SubDevice Id = 0x4060
Host Interface = PCIE
Device Interface = SAS-12G
Bus Number = 79
Device Number = 0
Function Number = 0
Domain ID = 0


Pending Images in Flash :
=======================
Image name = No pending images


Status :
======
Controller Status = OK
Memory Correctable Errors = 0
Memory Uncorrectable Errors = 0
Bios was not detected during boot = No
Controller has booted into safe mode = No
Controller has booted into certificate provision mode = No
Package Stamp Mismatch = Yes


Supported Adapter Operations :
============================
Alarm Control = No
Cluster Support = No
Self Diagnostic = No
Deny SCSI Passthrough = No
Deny SMP Passthrough = No
Deny STP Passthrough = No
Support more than 8 Phys = Yes
FW and Event Time in GMT = No
Support Enclosure Enumeration = Yes
Support Allowed Operations = Yes
Support Multipath = Yes
Support Security = Yes
Support Config Page Model = No
Support the OCE without adding drives = No
support EKM = No
Snapshot Enabled = No
Support PFK = No
Support PI = No
Support Shield State = No
Support Set Link Speed = No
Support JBOD = No
Disable Online PFK Change = No
Real Time Scheduler = No
Support Reset Now = No
Support Emulated Drives = No
Support Secure Boot = Yes
Support Platform Security = No
Support Package Stamp Mismatch Reporting = Yes
Support PSOC Update = Yes
Support PSOC Part Information = Yes
Support PSOC Version Information = Yes


HwCfg :
=====
ChipRevision =  A0
BatteryFRU = N/A
Front End Port Count = 1
Backend Port Count = 11
Serial Debugger = Absent
NVRAM Size = 0KB
Flash Size = 16MB
On Board Memory Size = 0MB
On Board Expander = Absent
Temperature Sensor for ROC = Present
Temperature Sensor for Controller = Absent
Current Size of CacheCade (GB) = 0
Current Size of FW Cache (MB) = 0
ROC temperature(Degree Celsius) = 36


Policies :
========

Policies Table :
==============

------------------------------------------------
Policy                          Current Default
------------------------------------------------
Predictive Fail Poll Interval   0 sec
Interrupt Throttle Active Count 0
Interrupt Throttle Completion   0 us
Rebuild Rate                    0 %     30%
PR Rate                         0 %     30%
BGI Rate                        0 %     30%
Check Consistency Rate          0 %     30%
Reconstruction Rate             0 %     30%
Cache Flush Interval            0s
------------------------------------------------

Flush Time(Default) = 4s
Drive Coercion Mode = none
Auto Rebuild = Off
Battery Warning = Off
ECC Bucket Size = 0
ECC Bucket Leak Rate (hrs) = 0
Restore HotSpare on Insertion = Off
Expose Enclosure Devices = Off
Maintain PD Fail History = Off
Reorder Host Requests = On
Auto detect BackPlane = SGPIO/i2c SEP
Load Balance Mode = None
Security Key Assigned = Off
Disable Online Controller Reset = Off
Use drive activity for locate = Off


Boot :
====
Max Drives to Spinup at One Time = 2
Maximum number of direct attached drives to spin up in 1 min = 60
Delay Among Spinup Groups (sec) = 2
Allow Boot with Preserved Cache = On


Defaults :
========
Phy Polarity = 0
Phy PolaritySplit = 0
Cached IO = Off
Default spin down time (mins) = 0
Coercion Mode = None
ZCR Config = Unknown
Max Chained Enclosures = 0
Direct PD Mapping = No
Restore Hot Spare on Insertion = No
Expose Enclosure Devices = No
Maintain PD Fail History = No
Zero Based Enclosure Enumeration = No
Disable Puncturing = No
Un-Certified Hard Disk Drives = Block
SMART Mode = Mode 6
Enable LED Header = No
LED Show Drive Activity = No
Dirty LED Shows Drive Activity = No
EnableCrashDump = No
Disable Online Controller Reset = No
Treat Single span R1E as R10 = No
Power Saving option = Enable
TTY Log In Flash = No
Auto Enhanced Import = No
Enable Shield State = No
Time taken to detect CME = 60 sec


Capabilities :
============
Supported Drives = SAS, SATA, NVMe
Enable JBOD = Yes
Max Parallel Commands = 4992
Max SGE Count = 128
Max Data Transfer Size = 32 sectors
Max Strips PerIO = 0
Max Configurable CacheCade Size = 0
Min Strip Size = 512Bytes
Max Strip Size = 512Bytes

Scheduled Tasks = NA

Secure Boot :
===========
Secure Boot Enabled = Yes
Controller in Soft Secure Mode = No
Controller in Hard Secure Mode = Yes
Key Update Pending = No
Remaining Secure Boot Key Slots = 7


Security Protocol properties :
============================
Security Protocol = Non

 

[Sean Ho]

I'm pretty sure the 9500-8i is HBA/IT-only, no hardware RAID, yes?

The file that didn't flash is just a BIOS option ROM, only for booting off the card in legacy BIOS mode.

 

[the-last-englishman]

Any idea for the Package stamp mismatch and the PSOC which is now showing in the controller ?

 

[chromecut]

the psoc firmware is a separate file-go back to your download link and look for PSOC-there are two additional files as you have already discovered, one is for arm processors and the other for computers running in bios mode-I think you have to be in bios mode to flash it but either way its a good thing it didnt take because unless you are running bios mode (highly unlikely with the sweet hardware you will be running)then uefi firmware (which appears to be installed) leaves the psoc which unlocks features that off the top of my head that are not special-so I recommend re flashing both the main rom and psoc in uefi mode to get rid of the error and then installing LSA-its much easier to work with than storcli-typing storcli -help IT reveals only commands
for our cards which are HBA so officially only IT firmware with these models
I have mine connected to $20 dual nvme m.2 carrier rated for intel VROC only(but I took a chance and it worked)connected with a $20 8654-8i(the 3rd cable I tried worked which pure luck as it was not what I ordered and was 6inches long total-8654-8i full size cable only 6 inches lol-I have it flipped over and zipped tied to the 9500-8i with carrier almost the same size-Im trying to flash it over to IR mode but im missing storcliO and sasflsh 3-Ive hex edited the rom to 9540-8i megaraid(same fing card) but I cant even flash it without those tools which magically has disappeared
Im getting 13,500mb/s using passthru and storage spaces-linux raid0 gets me 13,800 and its bootable but id like to try bootable raid0 by flashing over
I have another dual carrier thats pcie 4,bootable,13,700mb/s,supports non bifurcation and has the same chip as the 9500-8i-I got a sweet deal but its pricey
9500-8i going for $300 plus $40 for cable/adapter,$80 for 2 m.2 pcie 4 with $420 getting you pcie 5.0 speeds in my target platform aurora r12 with x8 electrical slots-your rig is sweet but you have room and enough lanes to swap out those p3 for p5pluses and another 9500-8i down the road
im sure someone will figure out switching it to imr or ir profile eventually