Looking for a way to reset Lenovo 930-24i to factory defaults

[Argadonis]

Hello,

I have a Lenovo 930-24i (this card is based on LSI SAS3508 + LSI SAS35x36R and is presented on Lenovo website as OEM MegaRaid 9460-24i card and the firmware on it is also for 9460-24i but I found that also the MegaRaid 9365-28i has the same design and chipsets with the exception of missing the 7th SAS connector) that gets the all the systems that I tested with stuck with the following screen :

The reason for this error is that one of my colleagues played around with storcli and set the directpdmapping option to on.

I've placed the card in a server that has Direct mode HDD backplane and got the same behavior and I belive that the issue is the expander chip present on this card is not Direct mode capable.

Only way to get the system to boot is by disabling OptRom for the PCIE slot where the card is placed and in this way I get to OS, the card is detected but because is not initialized it is not detected by storcli.

So my question is this - there is any way (software/firmware or hardware) bypass the error and get to OS or to reset the card (erase the NVRAM) to factory defaults ? Any suggestion is welcome and it dose not matter if it is software or direct hardware tinkering.

Best regards and thank you

 

[ari2asem]

maybe stupid suggestion...but try megacli

 

[Argadonis]

Hi @ari2asem and thank you for your sugestion.
With OptRom Enable I can't use any application as the system stop at the mentioned error and will not boot any OS.
With OptRom Disabled I can get into OS but any valid megacli (tried Windows and Linux versions) command (megacli is not complaining about wrong parameters) gives only "Exit Core: 0x01" if I use aALL and the parameter is not changed and if I use a0 it gives "ERROR: Could not detect controller. Failed to get ControllerId List. Failed to get CpController object. Exit Code: 0x01".

 

[ari2asem]

i dont have experience with this card.

but are you using the same computer as your colleague ??

if not, then try to use the same machine where the direct mapping is turned on....

 

[Argadonis]

I've used it in the same server and I've also placed in another one that has direct mapping. The problem is not related to the server but to the fact that this card has an embedded extender (concentrator) chip (LSI 35X36R) and the issue is that this extender chip is not Direct mapping capable and so the reason for this error.

 

[JFO]

Try uefi version storcli.

 

[Argadonis]

Hi @JFO,
I've attempted to use the uefi version of storcli but all the commands exit with failed status.

To get to uefi shell I had to disable the OptRom in BIOS. With OptRom enabled the system halts at the mentioned message.

 

[JFO]

Find on Supermicro FAQ's

Question
If Direct Mapping Mode were accidentally enabled on AOC-SAS2LP-H8iR and has caused the card to stop working, how can a user disable it?
Answer
Enabling Direct Mapping Mode allows the RAID controller assign drive numbers based how fan-out cables are attached to the backplane. If an expander backplane is in use, such an error will occur. To disable it, simply unplug all the cables and disable Direct Mapping (#MegaCLI DirectPdMapping -Dsbl -a0)

You try unplug all cables from raid controller and boot?

 

[Argadonis]

I have the cables disconnected from the card and also tested the card in servers that have Direct Mapping and servers that do not have that feature.

The issue is with the expander chip that resides on the card. This card model has a SAS3508 RAID chip and a SAS35X36R expander chip. It seems that the expander chip is not capable of Direct Mapping and this triggers the error.

 

[JFO]

If no jumper to disable enclosure, boot in DOS and try Megarec3 util if it see you raid card. Megarec can clean flash and reflash firmware, but i don't know if it work with sas3508 chip.

 

[Argadonis]

@JFO any idea from where I can get Megarec3 ? I've found a version of Megarec but I think it is an old one.

 

[JFO]

https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/lsi-megacli-preboot-cli-storecli-megascu-megarec-sas2flash-and-megaoem-commands.457/

In this thread, DOS archive