Info on LSI SAS3408? Got myself a 530-8i on eBay...

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nezach

Active Member
Oct 14, 2012
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and it spit out 5 files, that show commands failed, or were passed invalid arguments- see below
@james23 can you post content of those files if there is anything interesting. Create ini file in the Lenovo folder and run .bat again. Maybe something interesting will get logged.
 

james23

Active Member
Nov 18, 2014
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damit! i wish i would have read your message before and added the .ini file before i ran the upgrade! (i should have though of that also!). i just ran the install.bat again with the .ini file added, but it doesnt even try to update the FW, and nothing is outputted.

Im going to try downgrading to 5.3.0 and then upgrading again. Both times i'll have the .ini in place and will post output if it works.

below are the files it spit out prior, when it actually did update from 5.3.0 to 5.5.0

also worth noting, that there is what i would call a bug (for a HW raid card), even with the current lenovo FW, where if your disks are all gone (or maybe even if 1 disk from a VD/raid is gone), it will wait at the POST screen (during reboot/startup) for you to press a key. (it stayed at this screen all night, one night). I realize i just need to do the normal LSI Clear Config, but i wonder what will happen in future if i have a disk fail, most LSI cards have a countdown timer on this type of message.... annoying.

upload_2019-3-4_20-9-0.png

(nothing too useful)
Code:
5 %  Download Completed
10 %  Download Completed
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30 %  Download Completed
35 %  Download Completed
40 %  Download Completed
45 %  Download Completed
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Download Completed.    
Flashing image to adapter...
CLI Version = 007.0524.0000.0000 Jul 23, 2018
Operating system = Windows Server 2012 R2
Controller = 0
Status = Success
Description = F/W Flash Completed. Please reboot the system for the changes to take effect

Current FW version = 5.030.01-1558
New FW version = 5.050.01-1638

Code:
CLI Version = 007.0524.0000.0000 Jul 23, 2018
Operating system = Windows Server 2012 R2
Controller = 0
Status = Success
Description = Get VPD Succeeded.

Code:
Controller Count: 1.

Exit Code: 0x01

Code:
‚) ThinkSystem RAID 530-8i PCIe 12Gb Adapter› UU 7A427792921447599307F70E98143F98SHRAID 530-8iMNLenovoS1L1ST84LS009S2SP81525076      PN
SR17A04555MOSAS3408FN01KN505FON/AMD08CL22PT09OPN/ARV”x

Code:
Generating detailed summary of the adapter, it may take a while to complete.

CLI Version = 007.0524.0000.0000 Jul 23, 2018
Operating system = Windows Server 2012 R2
Controller = 0
Status = Success
Description = None

Product Name = RAID 530-8i
Serial Number = SP81525076
SAS Address =  500605b00dd32b10
PCI Address = 00:04:00:00
System Time = 03/04/2019 17:37:28
Mfg. Date = 04/21/18
Controller Time = 03/04/2019 17:37:26
FW Package Build =
BIOS Version = 7.03.02.0_4.17.08.00_0x07030400
FW Version = 5.030.01-1558
Driver Name = megasas35.sys
Driver Version = 7.708.12.00
Current Personality = RAID-Mode
Vendor Id = 0x1000
Device Id = 0x17
SubVendor Id = 0x1D49
SubDevice Id = 0x500
Host Interface = PCI-E
Device Interface = SAS-12G
Bus Number = 4
Device Number = 0
Function Number = 0
Physical Drives = 2

PD LIST :
=======

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EID:Slt DID State DG      Size Intf Med SED PI SeSz Model               Sp Type
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
69:0     11 UGood -  73.574 GB SATA SSD N   N  512B INTEL SSDSC2BB080G4 U  -  
69:1     12 UGood -  73.574 GB SATA SSD N   N  512B INTEL SSDSC2BB080G4 U  -  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EID-Enclosure Device ID|Slt-Slot No.|DID-Device ID|DG-DriveGroup
DHS-Dedicated Hot Spare|UGood-Unconfigured Good|GHS-Global Hotspare
UBad-Unconfigured Bad|Onln-Online|Offln-Offline|Intf-Interface
Med-Media Type|SED-Self Encryptive Drive|PI-Protection Info
SeSz-Sector Size|Sp-Spun|U-Up|D-Down/PowerSave|T-Transition|F-Foreign
UGUnsp-Unsupported|UGShld-UnConfigured shielded|HSPShld-Hotspare shielded
CFShld-Configured shielded|Cpybck-CopyBack|CBShld-Copyback Shielded

Code:
Controller Count: 1.

Exit Code: 0x01
 

nezach

Active Member
Oct 14, 2012
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@james23 now you can try that -f command. I think it might force storcli to flash card even if version you are trying to flash is the same as what is on the card.
 

james23

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Nov 18, 2014
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well thats weird.. i just downgraded my FW to the lenovo Dec 2018 FW (i had to add -f or FORCED to the install.bat else it failed saying fw on card is more recent), and even with the storcliconf.ini file in place, it didnot output a storcli.log , will try flashing from dec 2018 to current jan2019 but i doubt it will be any different.
 

james23

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Nov 18, 2014
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ok, same result, but good news! - i did the down / up process AGAIN, but this time i swapped out the storcli.exe with one from LSI (incase lenovo has a modified version that prevents debug logging) , and i got a storcli.log!. (and the FW updated)

i looked through this quickly and didnt see anything that stood out, but will look at more.

Mon Mar 4 18:30:43.452 2019 : CRITICAL : WindowsMfiDataProvider::fireIoctl DCM - Pastebin.com

(i prefer to keep all images and data posted to the forum so they dont get dead link/deleted in future, but forum said too big of post, even with spoiler/code tags)

i now have to wait until thursday for this a-hole cable to come in, so if u want me to try anything else lmk, im ok with bricking the card , but would rather not ofcouse.

edit:
i wonder if this line from the debug log is what generally keeps us from crossflashing different FWs on this card (and maybe other LSI cards too):
Code:
Mon Mar  4 18:30:43.748 2019 : EVERYTHING: CtFlshCp::process - Current firmware Image's Checkword=0x36313533
Mon Mar  4 18:30:43.748 2019 : EVERYTHING: CtFlshCp::process - New firmware Image's Checkword=0x36313533
 

james23

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Nov 18, 2014
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Also, one of the bugs fixed in the Jan-2019 release
- Legacy BIOS Prints "This firmware is a TEST version".(SCGCQ01825992)
has this is true, but they have just swapped the word TEST with BETA, all else is the exact same.

it weird that i still dont have the UEFI HII menu showing up in my x10 SRL-F bios (is set to UEFI only boot), and ppl with ASUS boards have it show up (even a guy with a SM x9 board had it show up)

i know someone else said that you must have atleaste 1x drive connected to the 530-8i for the HII interface to show up (and i have 2x connected and showing up). not a big deal currently, but will be if i can use nvme rd1 as i'll then start using these cards with esxi (and woudl rather a uefi / bios config, than dealing with cifs providers and guest LSA mgmt).

im refering to this / HII mgmt, for most ppl there would be an entry here to manage the card:

upload_2019-3-4_21-7-5.png
 
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nezach

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Oct 14, 2012
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@james23 thanks for posting that output. All the interesting lines will have "CtFlshCp::" so you can just search for that string. Couple interesting things:

Code:
Mon Mar  4 18:30:43.743 2019 : EVERYTHING: CtFlshCp::process - FW Type=0
I wonder what IT firmware shows for FW type.

Code:
Mon Mar  4 18:30:43.745 2019 : EVERYTHING: CtFlshCp::process - Finding flash headers
Mon Mar  4 18:30:43.748 2019 : EVERYTHING: CtFlshCp::process - Current firmware Image's Checkword=0x36313533
Mon Mar  4 18:30:43.748 2019 : EVERYTHING: CtFlshCp::process - New firmware Image's Checkword=0x36313533
Mon Mar  4 18:30:43.748 2019 : EVERYTHING: CtFlshCp::process - Image component count=5
Mon Mar  4 18:30:43.748 2019 : EVERYTHING: CtFlshCp::process - APP image found
Mon Mar  4 18:30:43.748 2019 : EVERYTHING: CtFlshCp::process - PACKAGE string found in the firmware environment variable
Components is what I talked about couple posts back and APP or firmware being one of them. Checkword is interesting it seems like it is checking to make sure new fw matches with what is already flashed.
 
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james23

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i agree on the Checkword log lines (i had posted that a few lines up as well).

something more related to the 530-8i itself, (as i said above ive never gotten the HII / uefi setup screen management interface). but also if i set the cards PCIe slot to UEFI vs LEGACY or Disabled (in SM bios), then it does not show up at all (neither in the POST screen, nor in windows / LSA manager).

if i set to LEGACY, then it does show up everywhere.

if i set it to DISABLED, then it does not show up at all.

im guessing this is related to why im not seeing the HII mgmt screen? (either way that does not seem right that i cant manage the card, nor woudl be able to boot from it in UEFI it would seem). maybe this is a lenovo fw issue (as i think BIOS / UEFI / UEFI w CSM is all related to those extra .rom files you can flash onto a normal LSI card maybe?)

(im on a sm x10 SRL-F w e5-2620 v3 , w latest SM bios 3.1 , and in bios its set to UEFI only).

this is the setting im referring to above:

upload_2019-3-4_21-13-22.png
 

nezach

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Oct 14, 2012
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This Aptio data sheet https://ami.com/ami_downloads/Aptio_TSE_Data_Sheet.pdf from AMI also states that it supports HII browser.

as i think BIOS / UEFI / UEFI w CSM is all related to those extra .rom files you can flash onto a normal LSI card maybe?
Those extra files only apply to IT firmware. For whatever reason MR firmware comes in firmware package (rom) file where all components are already included.

Do you have latest SM UEFI on your board? Maybe there is some kind of incompatibility between UEFI and the card. You could also try different PCIe port and see if that makes a difference.
 

james23

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Nov 18, 2014
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This Aptio data sheet https://ami.com/ami_downloads/Aptio_TSE_Data_Sheet.pdf from AMI also states that it supports HII browser.
Those extra files only apply to IT firmware. For whatever reason MR firmware comes in firmware package (rom) file where all components are already included.
Do you have latest SM UEFI on your board? Maybe there is some kind of incompatibility between UEFI and the card. You could also try different PCIe port and see if that makes a difference.
I do have the latest SM UEFI on the x10 SRL-F board, also i just now tried moving card to a sm Xeon-D board i have (also with latest SM "BIOS" , and set to UEFI only boot mode) , same result. (also the xeond is showing HII for a nvme i have connected in the slot next to the 530-8i, see image, that HII for the nvme only shows up if i have the nvme's pcie slot set to UEFI and not legacy, which is as expected)

also setting the PCIe slot to disabled (from the 3x choices, Legacy, UEFI, Disabled)- then the card does not show up either (neither in win OS nor bios/post screen)

Correct me if im wrong, but we have yet to see or have anyone confirm that these 530-8i cards, with the lenovo fw, does show up in the HII menus. (the only HII screenshot is from earlier in thread, with an asus mb, but the guy has already flashed to HBA 9400, as you can see in his HII screen shot).

If this no-HII stuff is accurate on the 530-8i, this may end up being important for ppl to consider b4 buying - *if* it ends up that the only way to get IR mode on these low$ 530-8i cards is by running lenovo FW.
(ie lenovo may have HII disabled, in favor of using some tool they provide on their own servers. or they have it somehow locked to only show up on their servers?). Important, as this would mean on non-lenovo boards, you can only config the card via an OS tool (like LSA/MegaRaid app), and also that you *maybe* cant boot from VDs/RAIDs created on card. we already know they pull some funny stuff re: thier own storcli not putting out debug logs until i swapped the exe with a LSI one. (but granted it is nice they have not vendor locked the 530-8i to only lenovo MBs)

(unrelated- but im about to try running some benchmarks on this card, with raid, and 7 or 8x sas3 hgst ssds. will be in a new thread but ill link to it)

on the xeonD board:

upload_2019-3-4_22-24-22.png upload_2019-3-4_22-24-47.png upload_2019-3-4_22-25-9.png
 
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james23

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Nov 18, 2014
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also worth noting, that there is what i would call a bug (for a HW raid card), even with the current lenovo FW, where if your disks are all gone (or maybe even if 1 disk from a VD/raid is gone), it will wait at the POST screen (during reboot/startup) for you to press a key. (it stayed at this screen all night, one night). I realize i just need to do the normal LSI Clear Config, but i wonder what will happen in future if i have a disk fail, most LSI cards have a countdown timer on this type of message.... annoying.
(this is unrealted to flashing the FW, but is related to this card)-

What a poor design on this FW, ive now cleared the old disk configuration via LSA, and still it gives that message where you must press a key during POST / bootup to proceed if you dont have any disks connected to the Card. Thats pretty annoying, as you have to vKVM into it after any reboot if no disks are attached (not sure if its lenovo FW specific, or if the LSI 9440-8i FW does this too, i do have the latest Jan2019 Lenovo FW on card). Think about this if server is at a remote facility and if you dont have vKVM ability! you may think the server is hung or HW damage bc its stuck in bios, but you wont know that.

will update if this changes, or once i test how this message applies if you loose One of X drives of a raid.

these are problems that HW raid cards had 10 or 15 yrs ago, and i haven't seen this since!
 

james23

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Nov 18, 2014
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just to add some more info, the same issue i came across about 2 post up (where you need to set the pcie slot's OPROM (slot w card) to LEGACY, else w either UEFI or disabled oprom the card wont show up in post nor in any OS (nor lspci), (this only applies to Lenovo FW, as far as i know)... another user randomly posted this over in my benchmark thread:
https://forums.servethehome.com/ind...raid-benchmark-results-ssd.23726/#post-220940

>>Dumb question, but isn't this supposed to show something during post? I got one off eBay, and I don't see anytgian during post on either of my >>desktops. I was trying to cross flash it, but it doesn't show up on windows and I don't see anything in post like I would an LSI card
 

nezach

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Oct 14, 2012
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Turns out Intel also has a similar adapter called Intel RAID Adapter RSP3WD080E

Intels user guide is worth reading, it contains a lot of info not present anywhere else, like UART pinout, etc.
https://www.intel.com/content/dam/s...ducts/TriMode_Adapter_Hardware_User_Guide.pdf

Intel also has their own cable for connecting NVMe drives AXXCBL700HDCV, I haven't checked if it is the same as LSI cable. Maybe it can be had for cheaper than the LSI cable.
 

nthu9280

Well-Known Member
Feb 3, 2016
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@nezach

Good find on the equivalent Intel cards. Hopefully, these are not locked to only Intel Server boards like the 2308 based controllers. HDCV in the cable name indicates that it's a HD SAS to Oculink.

Also, the Intel readme file for the Linux driver has the following to improve MR performance. Not sure if it's applicable to IT mode also.

Code:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
How to set SMP affinity manually to get better performance under Linux
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Check for the output of "dmesg | grep MSI" to findout total number of MR controller
and its associated MSI-x vectors.
See below example of one MR controller and  current MSIX supported by driver is 24 vector.

e.g:
megaraid_sas 0000:07:00.0: irq 136 for MSI/MSI-X
megaraid_sas 0000:07:00.0: irq 137 for MSI/MSI-X
megaraid_sas 0000:07:00.0: irq 138 for MSI/MSI-X
megaraid_sas 0000:07:00.0: irq 139 for MSI/MSI-X
megaraid_sas 0000:07:00.0: irq 140 for MSI/MSI-X
megaraid_sas 0000:07:00.0: irq 141 for MSI/MSI-X
megaraid_sas 0000:07:00.0: irq 142 for MSI/MSI-X
megaraid_sas 0000:07:00.0: irq 143 for MSI/MSI-X
megaraid_sas 0000:07:00.0: irq 144 for MSI/MSI-X
megaraid_sas 0000:07:00.0: irq 145 for MSI/MSI-X
megaraid_sas 0000:07:00.0: irq 146 for MSI/MSI-X
megaraid_sas 0000:07:00.0: irq 147 for MSI/MSI-X
megaraid_sas 0000:07:00.0: irq 148 for MSI/MSI-X
megaraid_sas 0000:07:00.0: irq 149 for MSI/MSI-X
megaraid_sas 0000:07:00.0: irq 150 for MSI/MSI-X
megaraid_sas 0000:07:00.0: irq 151 for MSI/MSI-X
megaraid_sas 0000:07:00.0: irq 152 for MSI/MSI-X
megaraid_sas 0000:07:00.0: irq 153 for MSI/MSI-X
megaraid_sas 0000:07:00.0: irq 154 for MSI/MSI-X
megaraid_sas 0000:07:00.0: irq 155 for MSI/MSI-X
megaraid_sas 0000:07:00.0: irq 156 for MSI/MSI-X
megaraid_sas 0000:07:00.0: irq 157 for MSI/MSI-X
megaraid_sas 0000:07:00.0: irq 158 for MSI/MSI-X
megaraid_sas 0000:07:00.0: irq 159 for MSI/MSI-X
[scsi20]: FW supports <96> MSIX vector, OnlineCPUs: <24>, Current MSIX <24>

2. Set SMP affinity manually as shown below:
Actual command syntax is
echo "<value>" > /proc/irq/<irq_number>/smp_affinity

e.g:
echo "1" > /proc/irq/136/smp_affinity (mask 1 for cpu 0)
echo "2" > /proc/irq/137/smp_affinity (mask 10 for cpu 1)
echo "4" > /proc/irq/138/smp_affinity (mask 100 for cpu 2)
echo "8" > /proc/irq/139/smp_affinity (mask 1000 for cpu3)
echo "10" > /proc/irq/140/smp_affinity (mask 10000 for cpu4)
echo "20" > /proc/irq/141/smp_affinity (mask 100000 for cpu5)
echo "40" > /proc/irq/142/smp_affinity (mask 1000000 for cpu6)
echo "80" > /proc/irq/143/smp_affinity (mask 10000000 for cpu7)
.
.
.
.
.
echo "400000" > /proc/irq/158/smp_affinity (mask 10000000000000000000000 for cpu22)
echo "800000" > /proc/irq/159/smp_affinity (mask 100000000000000000000000 for cpu23)

3. By default Irq balancer will be ON,Stop Irq balancer temporarily via below command:
        "chkconfig irqbalance off"
   Verify Irq balancer is stopped via below command:
        "service irqbalance status"
 
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james23

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Nov 18, 2014
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just to update, my LSI nvme cable should be here tuesday now (in 3 days) , not sure why the tracking # keeps showing it later and later (should have already got it). but will updated on if i can run NVMe rd1 with the 530-8i and Lenovo stock FW (as it looks like there is no way so far to flash these cards to LSI 9440-8i IR fw , only LSI IT FW is possible)
 

nezach

Active Member
Oct 14, 2012
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@james23 as I mentioned before there is no such thing as IR firmware for these cards. There are only IT and iMR firmwares

Lenovo 530-8i comes flashed with Lenovo iMR firmware. Lenovo iMR firmware should really be the same as Avago firmware, just older version, Intel actually has firmware newer than Avago, but at the end of the day they all come from the same source.

Your problem is that NVMe is disabled on these cards and you want that to be enabled. We do not know how disabling NVMe is achieved, it could be something in the firmware, but it could also be some kind of flag in the EEPROM. If it is a flag in the EEPROM then re-flashing Avago firmware might not solve your issue.

I received my new card and will look into it as time allows.
 

111alan

Active Member
Mar 11, 2019
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Haerbing Institution of Technology
Any progress in flashing the 530-8i to LSI 9440-8i original IR or MR FW? I have a 930-16i to flash too, it didn't come with NVMe support, the profile is locked, the only hope seems to be flashing it to 9460-16i IR/MR.

Also I found this. It contains the firmware for intel version of 9460-16i(RSP3TD160F) and 9440-8i(RSP3WD080E):
Download Trimode RAID Firmware

Still no luck with LSA or storcli. The later reports "image corrupted" for everything that's not Lenovo, even with nosigchk and noverchk.