LSI SAS 2008 flash update stuck

[Ori G]

Hi,

I have a SuperMicro server with an X8DTN+ and the above LSI SAS 2008 adapter. I used to have NexentaStor OS on it but since they do not support this old hardware I decided to install FreeNAS 9.3 on it.

FreeNAS 9.3 does not support the adapter's firmware (version 5) so I booted from a DOK and ran the sas2flash utility to update the firmware. What I didn't know was that it is not recommended to do this from a windows OS (I used WinPE 3). So my update seems to be stuck for a few hours at the "Verifying download..." stage (Attached an image with an arrow of the exact stage I'm stuck at).

Is it safe to stop it? I assume it's not doing the update since WinPE has some sort of hold on the hardware.

Any help and advice will be appreciated.

Ori.

 

[whitey]

Looks like a successful flash to me.

'sas2flsh -list' will show the goods.

 

[Ori G]

Looks like a successful flash to me.

'sas2flsh -list' will show the goods.

The image above is just for illustration, I found it on another thread. I am stuck where the RED ARROW is.

 

[pricklypunter]

If it hasn't verified within a minute or two, it ain't going to, so stopping it now is not going to do any more harm, than perhaps has already happened. I suspect though that the i/o was locked by windows. If you're lucky, the card probably wasn't updated at all. I would follow one of the many threads here and build a bootable USB with the latest firmware and perform an erase cycle before re-flashing. Fingers crossed you'll be back in business

 

[whitey]

Try this, make a bootable freedos usb via the directions here: (rufus tool based)

Create a bootable USB thumb drive

Download LSI P20 IT mode firmware from here: (click firmware, then top link for P20 MSDOS/Windows)

SAS 9211-8i Host Bus Adapter

Place P20 LSI IT mode firmware on usb stick, boot PC off it (if EFI mobo/BIOS use EFI based sas2flsh.efi not sas2flsh.exe) then use these cmds to revive.

sas2flsh.exe -o -e 6
sas2flsh.exe -o -f 2118it.bin (explicitly left off '-b mptsas2.rom' switch as I desire a fast boot and do not need LSI BIOS HBA boot menu for ZFS based boxes).

Done deal.

This link has been helpful to me in the past but I covered it highlevel and to restore your 9211-8i to working order I believe.

SAS HBA crossflashing or flashing to IT mode, Dell Perc H200 and H310

 

[Ori G]

Try this, make a bootable freedos usb via the directions here: (rufus tool based)

Create a bootable USB thumb drive

Thanks for he reply guys.

Whitey, I have tried numerous times, created several bootable USB drives but I am unable to boot from it. That was my original problem and why I used the windows DVD. My board doesn't have built-in EFI BIOS and whenever I choose to boot from the USB drive I always get straight to the FreeNAS boot menu.

I have no idea why I can't boot from the USB drive.

 

[canta]

Thanks for he reply guys.

Whitey, I have tried numerous times, created several bootable USB drives but I am unable to boot from it. That was my original problem and why I used the windows DVD. My board doesn't have built-in EFI BIOS and whenever I choose to boot from the USB drive I always get straight to the FreeNAS boot menu.

I have no idea why I can't boot from the USB drive.

I had 100% luck using rufus to create dos usb key.

try rufus -> Rufus - Create bootable USB drives the easy way

just to double check...
make sure on your bios to set "hybrid boot" and set priority to legacy/non-uefi.
or if you can select boot order, usually pressing F1X on keyboard during booting to select device to boot.

if you bios suport uefi. you can use sas2flash.uefi that can be copied from previous lsi firmware package..

 

[Ori G]

I had 100% luck using rufus to create dos usb key.

try rufus -> Rufus - Create bootable USB drives the easy way

just to double check...
make sure on your bios to set "hybrid boot" and set priority to legacy/non-uefi.
or if you can select boot order, usually pressing F1X on keyboard during booting to select device to boot.

if you bios suport uefi. you can use sas2flash.uefi that can be copied from previous lsi firmware package..

I created the bootable USB drive with Rufus and I verified it works on a laptop I have here.

The SuperMicro just refuses to boot from it. The USB drive is recognized in the BIOS. I've put it as the first boot device and also tried to use F11 for the boot menu pop-up and chose it - still no go.

I don't' see anything related to hybrid boot in the BIOS and legacy USB support is enabled.

 

[whitey]

Put that dang card in an older system (desktop may even work) and flash there. I keep an OLD Dell workstation around as my 'flasher helper'. In fact I JUST flashed all 7 of my cards (various LSI 9211-8i, 9210-8i, and H310's to LSI P20 IT mode firmware) w/ 100% success rate a day or two ago.

 

[canta]

Get another USB key.

 

[pricklypunter]

I think you most likely still have a bios setting that is needing changed. Look for things like secure boot, or CSM settings, those are the kinds of settings that will trip you up. If all else fails, you can also put efi boot files an EFI shell and the IT firmware on the USB drive and use the bios to directly launch the EFI shell on the USB drive, then you can run the sas2flash.efi from within the shell. It's a little convoluted at first, but it works perfectly. I had to do exactly that on my mainboard as it will boot uefi and I couldn't get dos to boot on it. I think I posted a link to the site I found the information on in my build thread in the DIY forum. It might be worth a try

 

[whitey]

I think you most likely still have a bios setting that is needing changed. Look for things like secure boot, or CSM settings, those are the kinds of settings that will trip you up. If all else fails, you can also put efi boot files an EFI shell and the IT firmware on the USB drive and use the bios to directly launch the EFI shell on the USB drive, then you can run the sas2flash.efi from within the shell. It's a little convoluted at first, but it works perfectly. I had to do exactly that on my mainboard as it will boot uefi and I couldn't get dos to boot on it. I think I posted a link to the site I found the information on in my build thread in the DIY forum. It might be worth a try

Yessir, as suggested in initial post sas2flsh.efi is another option. If memory serves me correct it is something along the lines of :

Boot EFI shell w/ USB attached
mount fs0: or fs1:
then ascend into dir w/ sas2flsh.efi and LSI FW 2118it.bin, execute previous mentioned cmds, good day!

 

[pricklypunter]

Yup, that looks about right. I remember the shell threw me initially until I figured out how to mount the filesystem

 

[Ori G]

So nothing was working for me, I decided to try again from WinPE (bad idea I know) this time with the firmware from whitey's link (I had a different version I found in the FreeNAS forums).

It worked! Quick and easy, no more alerts in FreeNAS.

Thanks for all the help guys!

 

[whitey]

Congrats, easy-peasy right? Still perplexed as to why you had soo many issues w/ flash to begin with. I've initially had to overcome hurdles of getting familiar w/ efi based flashing compared to bios flashing in an older system/mobo but once you understand how to make a flasher usb disk and perform either method it is pretty simple. Like i said earlier in the thread, I found a system that worked well w/ the old dos based flasher sas2flsh.exe and stuck that in my crawlspace for flashing duties.

 

[pricklypunter]

I'm glad you finally managed to get it flashed. As whitey said, it's usually easy peasy, but on the odd occasion it becomes a mix of learning curve and picky mainboard issues to work through. The good news is you have overcome the learning curve bit now, doing this again in the future should be plain sailing for you now