Guide: Flashing H310/H710/H810 Mini & full size to IT Mode

[rathwood]

So my Perc H310 (full-size) fails to write its SAS address. I've tried the process several times, both with and without restoring the original Dell firmware. I'm pretty sure I'm flashing the correct version of the card. I've documented the effort in the imgur album that I've linked here... for some reason the STH forums don't seem to like my photos.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[fohdeesha]

So my Perc H310 (full-size) fails to write its SAS address. I've tried the process several times, both with and without restoring the original Dell firmware. I'm pretty sure I'm flashing the correct version of the card. I've documented the effort in the imgur album that I've linked here... for some reason the STH forums don't seem to like my photos.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

after finishing all the linux flash steps, don't immediately try to write sas, first power the machine totally off - unplug it from the wall for a minute. then plug it back in, boot into the linux iso, and try the sas writing command

 

[TrumanHW]

330s should be able to be put into HBA/IT mode right from the stock firmware

Can you elaborate on that..? As in, I can just enter it's BIOS and tell it to work as an HBA..? No tricking it necessary..?

 

[fohdeesha]

Can you elaborate on that..? As in, I can just enter it's BIOS and tell it to work as an HBA..? No tricking it necessary..?

yes just configure the disks in non raid / hba in the bios

 

[rathwood]

after finishing all the linux flash steps, don't immediately try to write sas, first power the machine totally off - unplug it from the wall for a minute. then plug it back in, boot into the linux iso, and try the sas writing command

Welp, that worked! Thanks so much, fohdeesha! After reading your reply here I checked your guide again, and you definitely told me to reboot at this point. In fact, you said it twice, so that's a little embarrassing for me.

IDK how often you hear about this issue, but if I'm not the first idiot to come along, maybe put that part in bold or something? Just in the interest of idiot-proofing your guide.

I've asked for help with this in other forum posts, so I'll update them with your fix to do my part to help with that, too. Honestly, until you helped me figure out what I was doing wrong, I was super confused, and Google was much less helpful than I'd hoped it'd be.

Anyway, thanks again for your resources, guide, and ongoing support- you're seriously amazing!

 

[UltraHKR]

I can anybody help me out, I'm trying to convert 2x Dell H310 to a proper LSI 9211-8i (or as much as possible)
Note: It's going into a Supermicro X8DTH-iF & IBM X3650 M3, so Dell compatibility is not needed nor wanted

I started by doing all the steps in Fohdeesha Guides with the DOS, Linux song & dance (extremely nifty work), but the card ends up as RAID bus controller when doing lspci (the exact wording is different from a proper LSI 9211-8i)

So I wanted to properly flash it to a LSI 9211-8i... And it works somewhat...

1. Boot DOS, and run sas2flsh.exe -c xx -o -f FW6325A.rom (from SAS_RAID_H310A_20.13.3-0001_A11_ZPE.exe)
2. reboot
3. Boot DOS, megarec -writesbr xx sbrempty.bin
4. megarec -cleanflash xx (two times)
5. reboot
6. Boot DOS, and run s2f-p5.exe -c xx -o -f 6GBPSAS.FW (from SASHBA_6GBPS-SAS-HBA_07.03.05.00_A09_ZPE.exe)
7. Boot DOS, and run s2f-p20.exe -c xx -o -sbr -f 6GBPSAS.FW (from SASHBA_6GBPS-SAS-HBA_07.03.05.00_A09_ZPE.exe) [NVDATA gets properly updated]
8. reboot
9. Boot DOS, and run s2f-p20.exe -c xx -o -sbr -f LSI-P7-2118it.bin (from MINIMAL_USB_FOR_9211_v2.zip) [NVDATA gets properly updated]
10. reboot
11. Boot DOS, and run s2f-p20.exe -c xx -o -f 2118it.bin -f mptsas2.rom -f x64sas2.rom (from Official P20 Broadcom download) [It works fine everything gets updated]
12. reboot
13. Boot DOS, and run s2f-p20.exe -c xx -o -sasadd 500605b...whatever
14. reboot
15. Boot DOS, and run s2f-p20.exe -c xx -o -sbr
    
    I always get:
    
    Mismatch detected between Current and NVDATA MFG Page 2.
    Initiating the SBR update by writing Default Mfg Page2 data to NVRAM.
    Failed to update the SBR. Status 0x25, IOCLogInfo = 0
    Firmware Returned Exception. IOCStatus 0x25, IOCLogInfo = 0
    Due to error remaining commands will not be executed.

I also tried booting into Fodeesha Linux and doing:

1. sudo -s
2. cd /root/lsiutil
3. ./lsiutil
4. selecting option 61
5. exiting
   (But the changes it should do doesn't stick)

What I'm doing wrong?

 

[CanisDirus]

I'm following the guide to a T and cannot get my H810 flashed. I just end up with a card with no firmware. Anyone have some suggestions?

EDIT; Did some digging around this thread and disabled the options for virtualization in the BIOS and the other options under integrated devices. Also set the boot to BIOS. Erased the firmware no problem, tried to flash using the D1-H710 and it runs through a few things but just says 0 MPT ports at the bottom. Nothing actually happens.

 

[tinfoil3d]

I'll be flashing two H810s I got bundled with a server, wondering if I actually need to FLASH it inside a Dell server or any other machine would work(if done one card at a time)?
Maybe this note is something worthy of including in docs, thank you for your work!

 

[mrpasc]

Any machine works (done several H310, H330, H810 in Cisco UCS220 M4).

 

[bonox]

i used an ordinary pc, but had to use the 5/6 pin tape trick to avoid boot looping

 

[tinfoil3d]

Confirmed flashed 2 H810 D1 one by one in lenovo p320 tiny. And actually did one without turning vmx off and everything worked fine. Both cards needed two reboots before coming up and ready for sas_addr set.
One already deployed and works just fine.
Still think this should be added to the guide that all regular motherboards work.

 

[HunterCustom]

Hey yall, I need some help with flashing my H810 I have followed the guide exactly but get a few errors. My first error is when writing the IT Mode in FreeDOS. I am flashing the H810 in my R730

As you can see I get "Warning! IO Base address high. Currently not supported." than "Flash Signature error. Trying to clear it... chip is in FUSION mode" I'm pretty sure this is the root of all my errors is the fact that I cannot get this card into IT mode itself, my only guess has to be its because the S130 is still in the system (I don't know how to remove this) but continuing with the guide and booting into the Linux ISO.
using the root login and D1-H710 command bring me to this screen giving me a failure for "diag reset" again I believe I'm not in IT mode at this time. also the image below is the final screen I get once I attempt to add the sas number. Im going to attempt to put the H810 back to the dell firmware and try from scratch.

Updates:

So apparently FUSION mode is just another term for IT mode
Going back to the Dell OS and attempting again did not help... Will attempt more tomorrow
I am assuming that the issues are caused by me using a 13th gen server, at least from reading other comments

not sure how or high, but using my supermicro X10SAE I was able to flash it, also the IO address warning seems to be from the number of PCI port youve plugged into

 

[tinfoil3d]

@HunterCustom you sure only have single HBA installed? Try putting it into any desktop motherboard, I actually managed to flash two H810 (pcie 2.0 external sas 2 HBA) in lenovo p320 tiny pcie riser slot.

 

[HunterCustom]

@HunterCustom you sure only have single HBA installed? Try putting it into any desktop motherboard, I actually managed to flash two H810 (pcie 2.0 external sas 2 HBA) in lenovo p320 tiny pcie riser slot.

I still have the s130 install as I don't know how to remove it (pretty sure its built into the bored with lack of details on it) but ill give it a try on my desktop

 

[mikegldn]

Has anyone been able to get this to work on a r730? I keep getting stuck in linux, with it saying No LSI SAS adapters found.

Also, is it possible to download the 1.8 version of the isos and give those a try? Seems the links are gone.

root@debian:~# lspci -s 0000:0\5:00.0
05:00.0 Serial Attached SCSI controller: Broadcom / LSI SAS2308 PCI-Express Fusion-MPT SAS-2 (rev 05)

root@debian:~# D1-H710
rmmod: ERROR: Module megaraid_sas is not currently loaded
rmmod: ERROR: Module mptctl is not currently loaded
rmmod: ERROR: Module mptbase is not currently loaded
Errors above are normal!
Trying unlock in MPT mode...
Device in MPT mode
Device in MPT mode
Resetting adapter in HCB mode...
Trying unlock in MPT mode...
Device in MPT mode
IOC is RESET
Device in MPT mode
Resetting adapter in HCB mode...
Trying unlock in MPT mode...
Device in MPT mode
IOC is RESET
Setting up HCB...
HCDW virtual: 0x7fa018800000
HCDW physical: 0x141800000
Loading firmware...
Loaded 809436 bytes
Booting IOC...
IOC is READY
IOC Host Boot successful.
Device in MPT mode
Removing PCI device...
Rescanning PCI bus...
PCI bus rescan complete.
Pausing for 30 seconds to allow the card to boot

LSI Logic MPT Configuration Utility, Version 1.72, Sep 09, 2014

0 MPT Ports found

LSI Logic MPT Configuration Utility, Version 1.72, Sep 09, 2014

0 MPT Ports found

thanks,
craig

Were you able to get it to work on yours? I'm facing the exact same situation with the exact same output with a H710 D1 (full size) in a PowerEdge T430. I quadruple checked all 3 BIOS settings, removed all cards (even the iDRAC SD card), removed the H710 battery, reseated the card, unplugged all drives (SAS and SATA), powered off and waited a minute at each and every "reboot" step, the DOS "BIGD1CRS" completes without errors... but still:

LSI Logic MPT Configuration Utility, Version 1.72, Sep 09, 2014

0 MPT Ports found

 

[mikegldn]

Were you able to get it to work on yours? I'm facing the exact same situation with the exact same output with a H710 D1 (full size) in a PowerEdge T430. I quadruple checked all 3 BIOS settings, removed all cards (even the iDRAC SD card), removed the H710 battery, reseated the card, unplugged all drives (SAS and SATA), powered off and waited a minute at each and every "reboot" step, the DOS "BIGD1CRS" completes without errors... but still:

LSI Logic MPT Configuration Utility, Version 1.72, Sep 09, 2014

0 MPT Ports found

Just an update to my own post, I was never able to get the Dell T430 to write the firmware successfully. I put the card in an HP mini desktop (S01-PF1) and was able to do the D1-H710 after booting from the Linux image no problem! Not sure why but there's definitely something up with the 13th gen Dell servers - as @craigh had the exact same problem with his R730 as well.

Hope this helps someone else save hours of their life.

 

[mikegldn]

One final update - everything is working fine now. Spent a few hours chasing down the card not showing up at all in the Dell server when I put it back in. After I did a little RTFM'ing, I discovered I had the card in PCI slot 5 - which works with CPU2. And I only have a single CPU in it currently. Sigh. Once I swapped it over to PCI slot 3 it worked like a charm. Hope my stupidity can help someone else!

Thanks for the great guide @fohdeesha ! I really appreciate all of the time and work you put into it!

 

[nosar77]

Hello, I have an Issue with the instructions located at Introduction - Fohdeesha Docs.

As you can see i have chip revision C0 which isn't listed as an option. Does anyone know how can i flash my controller into IT mode. Is this even possible? and if not should i buy a different card.

The second issue which is why Im flashing this card is I purchased a 4 of ST1800MM0008 SEAGATE HDD, these drives are showing blocked in IDRAC and do not show in ESXI which I think is, is because I need to change the drives from a different sector size. IF i flash the controller into IT mode will i then be able to see these drives regularly and then then change the sector size?

Thanks!

 

[fohdeesha]

Hello, I have an Issue with the instructions located at Introduction - Fohdeesha Docs.

As you can see i have chip revision C0 which isn't listed as an option. Does anyone know how can i flash my controller into IT mode. Is this even possible? and if not should i buy a different card.

The second issue which is why Im flashing this card is I purchased a 4 of ST1800MM0008 SEAGATE HDD, these drives are showing blocked in IDRAC and do not show in ESXI which I think is, is because I need to change the drives from a different sector size. IF i flash the controller into IT mode will i then be able to see these drives regularly and then then change the sector size?

Thanks!

you have an H730P, which is not supported by the guide. this guide is for 12th generation dells, like the r620 / r720 cards - perc H710p

 

[nosar77]

you have an H730P, which is not supported by the guide. this guide is for 12th generation dells, like the r620 / r720 cards - perc H710p

I am so dumb, when bought the server i was told it was a H710P but yeah its a H730 Facepalm... Okay so I guess, i need to find a guide for the H730P or get a LSI card thats compatible with my Dell R630?