Help flashing Fujitsu D3307-A12 to IT mode

[MrMeeb]

Hi all,

I have a Fujitsu D3307-A12 CP400i MegaRAID card that I'd like to act as an HBA. The card supports JBOD mode which seems to passthrough drives to the OS, but I'd rather go all the way. Since it's based on the SAS3008 chipset, it should be fine.

I found this video guide which details the process for crossflashing the LSI9300-8i firmware onto the card, however he says the SBR for a SAS3008 card in IT mode is required for a succesful flash. Unfortunately he doesn't provide this file, maybe because he's selling these preflashed cards on his eBay store. Anyways.

Trying to find an SBR file has only got me to now missing STH forum threads (https://forums.servethehome.com/ind...avago-broadcom-sbr-download-megathread.33607/, https://forums.servethehome.com/ind...-vendor-crossflashing-adventures.28297/page-2). The only thread I found was this one. An SBR file that allegedly works is provided, however I noticed it's 256bytes whereas the video guide makes a point of the fact that SAS3008 SBRs should be 448 bytes. So I'm not sure what to make of it. I am especially wanting to minimise the risk of getting this wrong as, from that thread, flashing the wrong SBR will brick the card and require the SBR to be reflashed by hand. This isn't a process I'm really familiar or comfortable with.

I'm hoping that someone can chime in either with an SBR file from a SAS3008 device that's 448bytes (or assurance that this isn't accurate), or information from their expereince flashing the same card.

Thanks!

 

[Datamonkeh]

Did you get any further forward with this? I'm literally just putting my USB together to do my first D3307-A12 GS2, previously the 2xxx series were sufficient, but a new chassis means 24 drives hit the cap a PCIe 2 bus rather than the controller - got to love the 20% overhead. Finding a recent enough version of MegaRec which I had foolishly assumed would be the easy part as it's a legitimate tool published by LSI/Broadcom and AOS says 'you can download them from Broadcom' proved way more difficult that in should be, either my search-fu has failed me, or you can't. I also grabbed the Sleyk SBR from another thread and had the same concern about size, but most of the historic threads seem to have been removed and are only accessible via web cache now. which is unfortunate, but presumably wouldn't have been done without good reason.

If not i'll probably have a go in the next day or two.

Thanks

 

[MrMeeb]

Did you get any further forward with this? I'm literally just putting my USB together to do my first D3307-A12 GS2, previously the 2xxx series were sufficient, but a new chassis means 24 drives hit the cap a PCIe 2 bus rather than the controller - got to love the 20% overhead. Finding a recent enough version of MegaRec which I had foolishly assumed would be the easy part as it's a legitimate tool published by LSI/Broadcom and AOS says 'you can download them from Broadcom' proved way more difficult that in should be, either my search-fu has failed me, or you can't. I also grabbed the Sleyk SBR from another thread and had the same concern about size, but most of the historic threads seem to have been removed and are only accessible via web cache now. which is unfortunate, but presumably wouldn't have been done without good reason.

If not i'll probably have a go in the next day or two.

Thanks

Hi Datamonkeh, I tried the SBR file provided in this thread without success. I used the megarec tool and the file seemed to load correctly, but after reboot the sas3flash util doesn't recognise it. Thankfully megarec still sees it, so it isn't bricked. I've PMed zorpat who also popped up in that thread for their SBR file to try that. External flashing may be necessary, we'll see.

 

[Datamonkeh]

Hi Datamonkeh, I tried the SBR file provided in this thread without success. I used the megarec tool and the file seemed to load correctly, but after reboot the sas3flash util doesn't recognise it. Thankfully megarec still sees it, so it isn't bricked. I've PMed zorpat who also popped up in that thread for their SBR file to try that. External flashing may be necessary, we'll see.

Appreciate the reply - I was going to do exactly that before I read it. Guessing you've saved the existing SBR dump to re-write? I'm thinking ordering a programmer may be a long overdue investment, but when I went to have a look for one - ideally domestically - I stumbled across a Supermicro AOC-S3008L-L8E only a short drive away, that particular card wasn't sold as a RAID card afaik, only a plain HBA/IT mode card, sure enough it dropped in and worked perfectly, though I do need to update the firmware. I'll order the programmer and come back to this later in the week.

 

[MrMeeb]

Appreciate the reply - I was going to do exactly that before I read it. Guessing you've saved the existing SBR dump to re-write? I'm thinking ordering a programmer may be a long overdue investment, but when I went to have a look for one - ideally domestically - I stumbled across a Supermicro AOC-S3008L-L8E only a short drive away, that particular card wasn't sold as a RAID card afaik, only a plain HBA/IT mode card, sure enough it dropped in and worked perfectly, though I do need to update the firmware. I'll order the programmer and come back to this later in the week.

Yes, I dumped the existing SBR before doing anything. Haven't tried to reapply it. Besides, having cleaned the flash, I'd need more than just the SBR to recover (something that's only just occuring to me now tbh, thankfully looks like Fujitsu make it easily downloadable. Flashing might be another matter).

And yes it's not surprising that a purpose-made HBA is an easier route, but I was looking to save some cash and maybe didn't do enough research beyond 'oh, this card has a SAS3008 controller, it'll be fine'. Now it's biting me! Not giving up yet though

 

[Djeross]

Hi @MrMeeb,

I just posted about this right here.
Hope it helps.