[GUIDE] Crossflashing Fujitsu PRAID CP400i (D3307-A12) to IT mode

[Djeross]

Hello everyone!

I recently acquired a Fujitsu PRAID CP400i at a very attractive price, but I quickly realized that crossflashing it can be a challenging process.
The original instructions that were available have disappeared from this forum.
Side note : If anyone has information on why this happened or the removal of other useful posts, please share your insights.

Fortunately, I've managed to gather the necessary information, and I hope it can help others.
I typically rely heavily on various communities and seldom give back, so this time, I'm sharing my experience.
Please tell me if you spot any mistake.

## Credits

To start, I mainly relied on a YouTube video, which I couldn't understand due to its Austrian language.
However, the video is self-explanatory despite poorly auto-translated subtitles.
I also located the original STH post mentioned in the video using the amazing Wayback Machine.
The post can be found at the following link: Original STH Post

You'll find crucial information in the second post of that page.
Unfortunately, the attached files aren't archived, so I had to gather them myself.
Credit to user @filedotzip for the SBR file.

YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THE FILES HERE.

I also recommend checking out Truenas 'Detailed newcomers' guide to crossflashing' for additional background information, even though it mainly focuses on crossflashing previous-generation cards.

## Preparation

Before you begin, you'll need to create a bootable FreeDOS USB key and extract the FJTools folder (attached) to the root directory.
The folder structure is:


I've also included several .BAT files in these folders to simplify the process, which you can use instead of typing commands.
Make sure to check for errors after each step and halt if something goes wrong.
Unfortunately, I won't be able to provide support, but there's plenty of content here to assist you in diagnosing any issues.
Ensure that you only have one SAS card in your system.

## Phase 1

1. Boot into FreeDOS, selecting the 3rd option (use HIMEM), and run the following commands:

cd FJTools
cd DOS
sasflsh.exe -list

This "test" I mentioned earlier will determine if you need to proceed with EFI in Phase 2.
If you encounter an error related to "Failed to initialize PAL", it means you'll need to use EFI for Phase 2.

2. Next, execute the following commands:

GETINFO.BAT
GETSBR.BAT
LISTCARD.TXT

Check the content of the CP400I.txt file.
It should contain your Serial Number at line 18 (leave out the leading 0's) and your SAS Address at line 120.
Write down this information and save the file for later use.
You should also back up the CP400iOG.sbr file, which is your original SBR in case you need to revert the flash (please don't ask, I don't know how to ^^).
The last command should display your card as MR Card 0.

3. If everything appears to be in order, proceed with the following commands:

WRITESBR.BAT
CLEANFSH.BAT

4. Reboot your system.

## Phase 2

In Phase 2, you'll either proceed with FreeDOS or EFI, depending on the result of the test performed at the beginning of Phase 1.
Please note that I haven't tested the FreeDOS option personally, as I had to proceed with EFI on my system.
Instructions are from the post mentioned in the credits, and I am confident that they should work.

### FreeDOS

1. After booting in FreeDOS with the same HIMEM option, run the following commands:

FSHBIN10.BAT
FSHBIN12.BAT
sas3flsh.exe -o -tracer XXXXXXXX -sasadd YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

The second flash operation is to upgrade the firmware to TrueNAS 16.00.12.00.
You can find more information on this process here: TrueNAS Firmware Update.
Make sure you apply "FSHBIN10.BAT" before applying the second update.
Replace XXXXXXX with your original Serial Number and YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY with your original SAS Address.

2. Reboot while still using HIMEM, and check your card's information with `sas3flsh.exe -list`
You should get detailed information about your card.

### EFI

For the EFI case, I did exactly as in the Austrian video.
Maybe there are some unnecessary steps, but I didn't want to screw up my card, as it's the only one I have.

1. As you found out EFI boot is required after the "test" in Phase 1, you have to create an EFI\BOOT\ folder at the root of the USB key and copy the FJTools\bootx64.efi file to this BOOT subfolder.
Then reboot to this shell.
Check out your UEFI/BIOS for how to proceed.

2. Once you are in EFI shell, run the following commands:

fs0:
cd FJTools
cd EFI
sas3flash.efi -list

This command should display a message indicating Adapter Selected is an Avago SAS: SAS3008(C0).
Type quit to exit.

3. Then, continue with the following commands:

sas3flash.efi -f SAS9300_8i_IT_160010.bin -noreset
sas3flash.efi -f SAS9300_8i_IT_160010.bin -b mptsas3.rom -b mpt3x64.rom
sas3flash.efi -f SAS9300_8i_IT_160012.bin
sas3flash.efi -o -tracer XXXXXXXX -sasadd YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
sas3flash.efi -list

The third flash operation is to upgrade the firmware to TrueNAS 16.00.12.00.
You can find more information on this process here: TrueNAS Firmware Update.
Feel free to bypass if you don't want it.
Replace XXXXXXXX with your original Serial Number, and YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY with your original SAS Address.
The last command should now give you detailed information about your card.

Congratulations, you've completed the crossflashing process!

 

[PierreBjarnfelt]

Just followed your guide and it works great
Thank you very much !!!

 

[javimoros]

Thanks I have followed your guide and it is really brilliant, easy and I would say perfect.

Thanks. Really, thanks.

 

[yetanotheradmin]

Dear Djeross,
i just registered to this great forum to say thank you for that wonderful guide. I used it to flash three RAID Controllers.
The only mistake I did on one was not removing the leading zeros in serial number but I don't think this will be a problem in use.
Thanks a lot! Great work!

 

[Manp]

just subscribed to thank you for this guide and the work you did to create the bat files to make it easy.

i was able to succesfully flash my Fujitsu D3327-A13 (PSAS CP400i) to IT mode so i can confirm it works on this model too.
seems to be quite a bit rarer than the more popular D3307 but if someone is looking to flash it to IT mode i can confirm it works.

in my case i was not able to get MegaCLI.exe to work despite everything i tried. it always failed to locate the controller. thankfully all the info about serial number and sas address were provided by the sas3flsh.exe -list command so in the end i was able to write both infos back to the controller after flashing.

thank you again!!!

 

[CHARLYE42]

Hello, Djeross.
I was also left halfway in the forum and without being able to finish the flashing for a D3307, since I had problems.
I have tested your files and in phase 1 freedos mode I had to start with phase 2 in efi, and with the 1st command described in the tutorial it tells me that it cannot find Avago sas adapters, nor does this pcb flash any LEDs.

Thank you very much for the tutorial.

 

[Djeross]

Hello, Djeross.
I was also left halfway in the forum and without being able to finish the flashing for a D3307, since I had problems.
I have tested your files and in phase 1 freedos mode I had to start with phase 2 in efi, and with the 1st command described in the tutorial it tells me that it cannot find Avago sas adapters, nor does this pcb flash any LEDs.

Thank you very much for the tutorial.

Sorry to hear it didn't work for you.
You mean it cannot find any adapter when using the sas3flash.efi -list command ?
Maybe your card is faulty ?
I'm sorry but I don't think I can offer you much more help with this...
Please try describing in details every step you did, maybe someone else will be able to help you.

Regards.

 

[CHARLYE42]

Sorry to hear it didn't work for you.
You mean it cannot find any adapter when using the sas3flash.efi -list command ?
Maybe your card is faulty ?
I'm sorry but I don't think I can offer you much more help with this...
Please try describing in details every step you did, maybe someone else will be able to help you.

Regards.

Hello.
I have tried various command combinations in freedos and uefi, and nothing, it does not recognize that there is physically a device.
And I don't see the upper left LED next to the heatsink turn on at any time.
It may be defective.
I did tests a while ago and once it stopped halfway through the process, I don't know if it was due to this error and I was bricked.
The last thing I have tried is to use a ch341a programmer to delete the 24c64 eeprom that is behind the pcb and save the sleysbr.bin file, and nothing continues without flashing the green LED on the pcb or recognizing mr.
Thank you.