OCZ Velodrive (LSI 9211-4i) stuck at Mfg Page 2 error

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Terry Kennedy

Well-Known Member
Jun 25, 2015
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I have a number of OCZ Velodrive PCIe SSD's. These have an LSI SAS 9211-4i controller with 4MB flash on the same board as 4 SATA SSDs. They run an older version of IR firmware:
Code:
LSI Corporation SAS2 Flash Utility
Version 20.00.00.00 (2014.09.18)
Copyright (c) 2008-2014 LSI Corporation. All rights reserved

  Adapter Selected is a LSI SAS: SAS2004(B2)

  Controller Number  : 0
  Controller  : SAS2004(B2)
  PCI Address  : 00:05:00:00
  SAS Address  : 5e83a97-0-0000-2f0c
  NVDATA Version (Default)  : 0a.02.00.02
  NVDATA Version (Persistent)  : 0a.02.00.02
  Firmware Product ID  : 0x2713 (IR)
  Firmware Version  : 10.00.00.00
  NVDATA Vendor  : OCZ
  NVDATA Product ID  : OCZ-VELO
  BIOS Version  : 07.17.00.00
  UEFI BSD Version  : N/A
  FCODE Version  : N/A
  Board Name  : OCZ-VELO
  Board Assembly  : N/A
  Board Tracer Number  : N/A

  Finished Processing Commands Successfully.
  Exiting SAS2Flash.
I have a number of these which have been successfully updated to P20 and the latest BIOS. However, one card was dead when I got it. It is detected by both sas2flash and megarec, but any attempt to flash it will error out either with "Failed to Validate Mfg Page 2" or "Invalid firmware", depending on what firmware image I try to load. I've tried with various versions of sas2flsh from P4 to P20 and the corresponding 2114ir images.

If I do a "sas2flsh -list" and feed the card 2114ir firmware when it asks, the card will initialize (heartbeat LED starts flashing green) but it still claims that there is no firmware on the card:
Code:
LSI Corporation SAS2 Flash Utility
Version 20.00.00.00 (2014.09.18)
Copyright (c) 2008-2014 LSI Corporation. All rights reserved

  Adapter Selected is a LSI SAS: SAS2004(B2)

  Controller Number  : 0
  Controller  : SAS2004(B2)
  PCI Address  : 00:05:00:00
  SAS Address  : Undetermined
  NVDATA Version (Default)  : 14.01.00.07
  NVDATA Version (Persistent)  : 00.00.00.00
  ERROR: Failed to Upload Image!
  Firmware information could not be retrieved
  BIOS Version  : 07.39.00.00
  UEFI BSD Version  : 07.27.01.00
  FCODE Version  : N/A

  Firmware Returned Exception. IOCStatus=0x20, IOCLogInfo=0x0
  Due to error remaining commands will not be executed.
  Unable to Process Commands.
  Exiting SAS2Flash.
[I had tried flashing the BIOS before this output, as you can see. That doesn't make a difference either way.]

Using the "sas2flsh -sbr" command also returns an error:
Code:
LSI Corporation SAS2 Flash Utility
Version 20.00.00.00 (2014.09.18)
Copyright (c) 2008-2014 LSI Corporation. All rights reserved

  Adapter Selected is a LSI SAS: SAS2004(B2)

  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=0x0
  Due to error remaining commands will not be executed.
  Unable to Process Commands.
  Exiting SAS2Flash.
I tried reading the sbr and spd from a known good card of the same model and writing them to the bad card with megarec. That didn't make any difference.

"megarec -cleanflash 0" errors out at exactly 50%. I think that is because this card has 4MB and not the 8MB the utility is expecting. "megarec -m0flash 0 imr_fw.rom" (latest LSI firmware for a 9240-4i) reports success, but the card is still unresponsive and rebooting does not detect a BIOS on the card (nor does sas2flash -list). I don't know if that is also due to the 4MB/8MB issue.

Any suggestions for a way to recover this card? I do have saved firmware and nvdata from another card of the same model, if that helps.
 

Lance Joseph

Member
Oct 5, 2014
82
40
18
Hi Terry,
Any luck recovering from this yet? Is your Velodrive the 1.2T variety?

I've one of these that recently started misbehaving.
Moving through the hardware RAID configuration in the LSI BIOS is _incredibly_ slow.
I may need to reflash mine as well.

Lance

I have a number of OCZ Velodrive PCIe SSD's. These have an LSI SAS 9211-4i controller with 4MB flash on the same board as 4 SATA SSDs. They run an older version of IR firmware:
Code:
LSI Corporation SAS2 Flash Utility
Version 20.00.00.00 (2014.09.18)
Copyright (c) 2008-2014 LSI Corporation. All rights reserved

  Adapter Selected is a LSI SAS: SAS2004(B2)

  Controller Number  : 0
  Controller  : SAS2004(B2)
  PCI Address  : 00:05:00:00
  SAS Address  : 5e83a97-0-0000-2f0c
  NVDATA Version (Default)  : 0a.02.00.02
  NVDATA Version (Persistent)  : 0a.02.00.02
  Firmware Product ID  : 0x2713 (IR)
  Firmware Version  : 10.00.00.00
  NVDATA Vendor  : OCZ
  NVDATA Product ID  : OCZ-VELO
  BIOS Version  : 07.17.00.00
  UEFI BSD Version  : N/A
  FCODE Version  : N/A
  Board Name  : OCZ-VELO
  Board Assembly  : N/A
  Board Tracer Number  : N/A

  Finished Processing Commands Successfully.
  Exiting SAS2Flash.
I have a number of these which have been successfully updated to P20 and the latest BIOS. However, one card was dead when I got it. It is detected by both sas2flash and megarec, but any attempt to flash it will error out either with "Failed to Validate Mfg Page 2" or "Invalid firmware", depending on what firmware image I try to load. I've tried with various versions of sas2flsh from P4 to P20 and the corresponding 2114ir images.

If I do a "sas2flsh -list" and feed the card 2114ir firmware when it asks, the card will initialize (heartbeat LED starts flashing green) but it still claims that there is no firmware on the card:
Code:
LSI Corporation SAS2 Flash Utility
Version 20.00.00.00 (2014.09.18)
Copyright (c) 2008-2014 LSI Corporation. All rights reserved

  Adapter Selected is a LSI SAS: SAS2004(B2)

  Controller Number  : 0
  Controller  : SAS2004(B2)
  PCI Address  : 00:05:00:00
  SAS Address  : Undetermined
  NVDATA Version (Default)  : 14.01.00.07
  NVDATA Version (Persistent)  : 00.00.00.00
  ERROR: Failed to Upload Image!
  Firmware information could not be retrieved
  BIOS Version  : 07.39.00.00
  UEFI BSD Version  : 07.27.01.00
  FCODE Version  : N/A

  Firmware Returned Exception. IOCStatus=0x20, IOCLogInfo=0x0
  Due to error remaining commands will not be executed.
  Unable to Process Commands.
  Exiting SAS2Flash.
[I had tried flashing the BIOS before this output, as you can see. That doesn't make a difference either way.]

Using the "sas2flsh -sbr" command also returns an error:
Code:
LSI Corporation SAS2 Flash Utility
Version 20.00.00.00 (2014.09.18)
Copyright (c) 2008-2014 LSI Corporation. All rights reserved

  Adapter Selected is a LSI SAS: SAS2004(B2)

  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=0x0
  Due to error remaining commands will not be executed.
  Unable to Process Commands.
  Exiting SAS2Flash.
I tried reading the sbr and spd from a known good card of the same model and writing them to the bad card with megarec. That didn't make any difference.

"megarec -cleanflash 0" errors out at exactly 50%. I think that is because this card has 4MB and not the 8MB the utility is expecting. "megarec -m0flash 0 imr_fw.rom" (latest LSI firmware for a 9240-4i) reports success, but the card is still unresponsive and rebooting does not detect a BIOS on the card (nor does sas2flash -list). I don't know if that is also due to the 4MB/8MB issue.

Any suggestions for a way to recover this card? I do have saved firmware and nvdata from another card of the same model, if that helps.
 

Terry Kennedy

Well-Known Member
Jun 25, 2015
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New York City
www.glaver.org
Any luck recovering from this yet?
Unfortunately, no. I exhausted my "bag of tricks" and yours is the first response I've received.

Is your Velodrive the 1.2T variety?
No, it is a lowly capacitor-less 160GB model, so no great loss. If it was a 1.2T, I'd desolder the flash from a cheap model and swap it (I have surface-mount rework tools). But at this point it's just annoying that I have a unit which would work fine if I could get past the Mfg Page 2 business.

I've one of these that recently started misbehaving.
Moving through the hardware RAID configuration in the LSI BIOS is _incredibly_ slow.
I may need to reflash mine as well.
OCZ is still doing warranty support on these (if the unit is in warranty). They just scrap it and send another unit (which may not be a Velodrive), though.

I've found that simply flashing the latest P20 (20.00.04.00) firmware and latest BIOS / UEFI to the drive works - no need to do the erase with -o -e 6 (and, in fact, if you do you end up where I am). However, I haven't seen the slow BIOS issue on mine - yours may have something else wrong with it. There are 4 SandForce SATA controllers sitting behind the LSI chip, but there doesn't seem to be a way to update those other than via the diagnostic pads on the board. All of mine claim to be version 1.35 (from the drive list in the LSI setup menu).
 

Lance Joseph

Member
Oct 5, 2014
82
40
18
Yeah I meant to post a while back. I'm currently suffering from 1000 tabs syndrome.

Which version of sas2flsh are you using?
You said you have a number of these cards that appear identical?
Does they all say "Controller : SAS2004(B2)" in sas2flsh?
Have you tried erasing with '-o -e 7'

I've only had to invoke the 'megarec' utility when crossflashing.
Which reminds me, when flashing a Dell H310 with LSI firmware, I had to use megarec to write out an "sbrempty.bin" file to the card first.
I never did find out exactly what that file did or from where it originated.
Did manage to unbrick a card with these utilities which I'd previously thought to be impossible.

Regarding the Sandforce controllers, you may be able to update them if you flash the 9211-4i to IT mode.
I'd be curious to know whether the OCZ firmware update utility detects the SSDs without RAID firmware in the way.
You can pick apart the tinycore ISO that it generates and make the firmware updater do some neat things.
I had to do this when rolling an automated PXE bootable Deneva2 updater.

Thanks
Lance


Unfortunately, no. I exhausted my "bag of tricks" and yours is the first response I've received.


No, it is a lowly capacitor-less 160GB model, so no great loss. If it was a 1.2T, I'd desolder the flash from a cheap model and swap it (I have surface-mount rework tools). But at this point it's just annoying that I have a unit which would work fine if I could get past the Mfg Page 2 business.


OCZ is still doing warranty support on these (if the unit is in warranty). They just scrap it and send another unit (which may not be a Velodrive), though.

I've found that simply flashing the latest P20 (20.00.04.00) firmware and latest BIOS / UEFI to the drive works - no need to do the erase with -o -e 6 (and, in fact, if you do you end up where I am). However, I haven't seen the slow BIOS issue on mine - yours may have something else wrong with it. There are 4 SandForce SATA controllers sitting behind the LSI chip, but there doesn't seem to be a way to update those other than via the diagnostic pads on the board. All of mine claim to be version 1.35 (from the drive list in the LSI setup menu).
 

Terry Kennedy

Well-Known Member
Jun 25, 2015
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Which version of sas2flsh are you using?
P4 through P7 (too old to recognize the B2 chip), P12, P14, P19, P20 and the OEM version that Dell ships with their flavor of 9200-8e. With both the corresponding IT/IR firmware files and the newest ones on each attempt.

You said you have a number of these cards that appear identical?
Does they all say "Controller : SAS2004(B2)" in sas2flsh?
Yes, they are all B2's. The cards are a mix of 160/300/320GB.

Have you tried erasing with '-o -e 7'
Yes.

I've only had to invoke the 'megarec' utility when crossflashing.
Which reminds me, when flashing a Dell H310 with LSI firmware, I had to use megarec to write out an "sbrempty.bin" file to the card first.
I never did find out exactly what that file did or from where it originated.
I have a complete ROM image for a 9211-4i and megarec -m0flash writes it out and claims success (various items with erasing / writing / verifying 100%) but the card doesn't do anything useful after that - even after a power cycle, the heartbeat LED doesn't blink and sas2flash -list just shows it as a card with no firmware. I think this is due to the 4MB/8MB flash difference (as megarec -cleanflash errors out at exactly 50%).

I have the SBR/SPD files from a working card, but that still doesn't get me past the Mfg Page 2 error when trying to load firmware.

Did manage to unbrick a card with these utilities which I'd previously thought to be impossible.
Yup - it is rather annoying to have sas2flash -listflash say "feed me a firmware", give it the 2114it, have the heartbeat LED start blinking, yet not be able to get past the Mfg Page 2 error.

Regarding the Sandforce controllers, you may be able to update them if you flash the 9211-4i to IT mode.
I'd be curious to know whether the OCZ firmware update utility detects the SSDs without RAID firmware in the way.
You can pick apart the tinycore ISO that it generates and make the firmware updater do some neat things.
I had to do this when rolling an automated PXE bootable Deneva2 updater.
I'd probably leave those alone. OCZ (the "old" OCZ, not the "new" one) told me that the firmware in there is different from the simple SATA drive firmware as it implements background block erasure since the IR firmware doesn't pass TRIM requests through.

And I'd rather not try switching from IR to IT on my working cards. If I do get this card re-flashed successfully, I will try the SSD updater for you, at least to the point where it detects (or not) the flash controllers.
 

Terry Kennedy

Well-Known Member
Jun 25, 2015
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594
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A quick update...

The Velodrive flash chip is a BGA, so "simply" unsoldering one from a good card and copying the whole flash image to a blank chip is not really practical. I say "simply" because I have a hot air rework station and a programmer that has adapters to read/write these chips. But I don't have a re-balling system for BGA chips, nor a programming adapter for them.

However, I picked up another 160G Velodrive on eBay for $5.50 and updated it to P20 successfully. There's no way I could economically justify continuing to futz with the bad card given that price.

At this point I'll probably leave it in my pile of bad cards. If LSI releases a P21 version of sas2flash that fixes the problem with "-o -sbr" not working, I'll try that again. I might also look to see if the lsiutil source indicates a way to read/write the whole flash chip, since what is happening is that all of the utilities are "too smart for their own good" and deciding that they should bail out instead of doing the best they can.

If there's an expert on these forums with a US mailing address, I'd be glad to send them the card for free as long as they agree to post the recovery procedure once they figure out how to do it. Drop me a PM if interested...
 

neo

Well-Known Member
Mar 18, 2015
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If there's an expert on these forums with a US mailing address, I'd be glad to send them the card for free as long as they agree to post the recovery procedure once they figure out how to do it. Drop me a PM if interested...
At this point, I would suggest running SpinRite on it as it can't hurt anything and might fix it.

I have saved some drives with it before.
 

Terry Kennedy

Well-Known Member
Jun 25, 2015
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At this point, I would suggest running SpinRite on it as it can't hurt anything and might fix it.
[Looks around, checks calendar to see if it is April 1st... Nope.]

Err, what? SpinRite is a piece of cargo cult technology that hasn't been updated in over 11 years, relies on the obsolete INT 13 interface, etc. Since the LSI controller chip is never left in run mode (heartbeat flashing) across a reboot (sas2flash -list just downloads a temporary copy of the firmware image to the controller which is lost on reboot) there is "nothing there" for SpinRite to talk to, not that it would do any good anyway.
 

neo

Well-Known Member
Mar 18, 2015
672
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Sorry, you are right - I skimmed over your thread and apparently became confused from your interchanging references to controllers and SSDs. My fault.
 
Last edited:

Terry Kennedy

Well-Known Member
Jun 25, 2015
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Sorry, you are right - I skimmed over your thread and apparently became confused from your interchanging references to controllers and SSDs. My fault.
Yes, the terminology is a bit confusing. The Velodrive is a PCIe SSD card with a LSI SAS2008 chip front-ending 4 Sandforce flash controllers. The issue here is that there is an issue preventing me from flashing the SAS2008, so I can't use the card.
 

Sush

New Member
May 10, 2018
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Can you guys please share the firmware for OCZ-VELO drive? I accidentally deleted the firmware and I spent almost 3 days googling and don't seem to find the right firmware anywhere. I have OCZ VeloDrive 600GB

Adapter Selected is a LSI SAS: SAS2004(B2)

Controller Number : 0
Controller : SAS2004(B2)
PCI Address : 00:01:00:00
NVDATA Version (Default) : 0a.02.00.02
NVDATA Version (Persistent) : 0a.02.00.02
Firmware Product ID : 0x2713 (IR)
Firmware Version : 10.00.00.00
NVDATA Vendor : OCZ
NVDATA Product ID : OCZ-VELO
BIOS Version : 07.17.00.00
UEFI BSD Version : N/A
FCODE Version : N/A
Board Name : OCZ-VELO
Board Assembly : N/A
Board Tracer Number : N/A

Any help would be appreciated guys. Thanks
 

Terry Kennedy

Well-Known Member
Jun 25, 2015
1,140
594
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New York City
www.glaver.org
Can you guys please share the firmware for OCZ-VELO drive? I accidentally deleted the firmware and I spent almost 3 days googling and don't seem to find the right firmware anywhere. I have OCZ VeloDrive 600GB

Adapter Selected is a LSI SAS: SAS2004(B2)

Controller Number : 0
Controller : SAS2004(B2)
PCI Address : 00:01:00:00
NVDATA Version (Default) : 0a.02.00.02
NVDATA Version (Persistent) : 0a.02.00.02
Firmware Product ID : 0x2713 (IR)
Firmware Version : 10.00.00.00
NVDATA Vendor : OCZ
NVDATA Product ID : OCZ-VELO
BIOS Version : 07.17.00.00
UEFI BSD Version : N/A
FCODE Version : N/A
Board Name : OCZ-VELO
Board Assembly : N/A
Board Tracer Number : N/A

Any help would be appreciated guys. Thanks
That looks like you have the original P10 firmware that OCZ shipped on that card. What are you trying to accomplish by updating the firmware? You can just download the firmware from lsi.com (or whatever they call themselves this week) for a SAS9211-4i card and flash it to the OCZ drive. You end up with this:
Code:
        Adapter Selected is a LSI SAS: SAS2004(B2)   

        Controller Number              : 0
        Controller                     : SAS2004(B2)   
        PCI Address                    : 00:06:00:00
        SAS Address                    : 5e83a97-0-0000-xxxx
        NVDATA Version (Default)       : 14.01.00.07
        NVDATA Version (Persistent)    : 14.01.00.07
        Firmware Product ID            : 0x2713 (IR)
        Firmware Version               : 20.00.07.00
        NVDATA Vendor                  : LSI
        NVDATA Product ID              : SAS9211-4i
        BIOS Version                   : 07.39.02.00
        UEFI BSD Version               : 07.27.01.01
        FCODE Version                  : N/A
        Board Name                     : SAS9211-4i
        Board Assembly                 : N/A
        Board Tracer Number            : N/A
I don't know of any way to update the individual Sandforce controllers that are behind the SAS2004 chip. Every Velodrive I've seen has firmware 1.35, like this:
Code:
Device is a Hard disk
  Enclosure #                             : 1
  Slot #                                  : 0
  SAS Address                             : 4433221-1-0300-0000
  State                                   : Optimal (OPT)
  Size (in MB)/(in sectors)               : 71549/146533967
  Manufacturer                            : ATA     
  Model Number                            : OCZ-VELO DRIVE 
  Firmware Revision                       : 1.35
  Serial No                               : OCZK0B274xxxxxxxxxx
  GUID                                    : 5e83a9xxxxxxxxxx
  Protocol                                : SATA
  Drive Type                              : SATA_SSD
 

Sush

New Member
May 10, 2018
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That looks like you have the original P10 firmware that OCZ shipped on that card. What are you trying to accomplish by updating the firmware? You can just download the firmware from lsi.com (or whatever they call themselves this week) for a SAS9211-4i card and flash it to the OCZ drive. You end up with this:
Code:
        Adapter Selected is a LSI SAS: SAS2004(B2) 

        Controller Number              : 0
        Controller                     : SAS2004(B2) 
        PCI Address                    : 00:06:00:00
        SAS Address                    : 5e83a97-0-0000-xxxx
        NVDATA Version (Default)       : 14.01.00.07
        NVDATA Version (Persistent)    : 14.01.00.07
        Firmware Product ID            : 0x2713 (IR)
        Firmware Version               : 20.00.07.00
        NVDATA Vendor                  : LSI
        NVDATA Product ID              : SAS9211-4i
        BIOS Version                   : 07.39.02.00
        UEFI BSD Version               : 07.27.01.01
        FCODE Version                  : N/A
        Board Name                     : SAS9211-4i
        Board Assembly                 : N/A
        Board Tracer Number            : N/A
I don't know of any way to update the individual Sandforce controllers that are behind the SAS2004 chip. Every Velodrive I've seen has firmware 1.35, like this:
Code:
Device is a Hard disk
  Enclosure #                             : 1
  Slot #                                  : 0
  SAS Address                             : 4433221-1-0300-0000
  State                                   : Optimal (OPT)
  Size (in MB)/(in sectors)               : 71549/146533967
  Manufacturer                            : ATA   
  Model Number                            : OCZ-VELO DRIVE
  Firmware Revision                       : 1.35
  Serial No                               : OCZK0B274xxxxxxxxxx
  GUID                                    : 5e83a9xxxxxxxxxx
  Protocol                                : SATA
  Drive Type                              : SATA_SSD
Thanks for the quick response Terry.
I accidentally deleted the firmware and the BIOS and currently unable to flash any firmware. I get the following error.
Error: Failed to Upload Image!
Firmware Image validation Failed

The earlier output I posted was of my original firmware which I no longer have. I do not mind going back to the original firmware. Below is the output from the current state of the card
LSI Corporation SAS2 Flash Utility
Version 17.00.00.00 (2013.07.19)
Copyright (c) 2008-2013 LSI Corporation. All rights reserved

Adapter Selected is a LSI SAS: SAS2004(B2)

Controller Number : 0
Controller : SAS2004(B2)
PCI Address : 00:01:00:00
SAS Address : Undetermined
NVDATA Version (Default) : 14.01.00.07
NVDATA Version (Persistent) : 00.00.00.00
ERROR: Failed to Upload Image!
Firmware information could not be retrieved
BIOS Version : N/A
UEFI BSD Version : N/A
FCODE Version : N/A

Firmware Returned Exception. IOCStatus=0x20, IOCLogInfo=0x0
Due to error remaining commands will not be executed.
Unable to Process Commands.
Exiting SAS2Flash.

Could you please guide me to a link where I can download the original firmware or any firmware that will give life to my OCZ-VELO drive?

Thank you
 

Terry Kennedy

Well-Known Member
Jun 25, 2015
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New York City
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I accidentally deleted the firmware and the BIOS and currently unable to flash any firmware.
Hopefully you didn't erase the manufacturing data or you'll get into the same problem I had.
Below is the output from the current state of the card
NVDATA Version (Default) : 14.01.00.07
That looks like the card had P20 firmware (20.00.07.00) at some point?
Could you please guide me to a link where I can download the original firmware or any firmware that will give life to my OCZ-VELO drive?
Go here, wait for the search spinner to stop, then click on "Firmware" and select "9211-4i_Package_P20_IR_IT_Firmware_BIOS_for_MSDOS_Windows" (that's the firmware) and the appropriate "Installer_P20_for_xxx" for your operating system (if not flashing under MS-DOS). Flash the "2114ir.bin" file and the "mptsas2.rom" file from that firmware kit. That should get you going. sas2flash may tell you the controller wants firmware before it can be flashed - just give it the same 2114ir.bin file.

If you can't get it going and you're in the US, I can try to recover it for you if you cover the postage both ways. If you're outside the US, some other member (more local) can probably help you.
 

Sush

New Member
May 10, 2018
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0
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Hopefully you didn't erase the manufacturing data or you'll get into the same problem I had.

That looks like the card had P20 firmware (20.00.07.00) at some point?

Go here, wait for the search spinner to stop, then click on "Firmware" and select "9211-4i_Package_P20_IR_IT_Firmware_BIOS_for_MSDOS_Windows" (that's the firmware) and the appropriate "Installer_P20_for_xxx" for your operating system (if not flashing under MS-DOS). Flash the "2114ir.bin" file and the "mptsas2.rom" file from that firmware kit. That should get you going. sas2flash may tell you the controller wants firmware before it can be flashed - just give it the same 2114ir.bin file.

If you can't get it going and you're in the US, I can try to recover it for you if you cover the postage both ways. If you're outside the US, some other member (more local) can probably help you.
Thank you I really appreciate your help Terry.

I just tried everything just like you suggested but no luck.

LSI Corporation SAS2 Flash Utility
Version 20.00.00.00 (2014.09.18)
Copyright (c) 2008-2014 LSI Corporation. All rights reserved

Adapter Selected is a LSI SAS: SAS2004(B2)

Controller Number : 0
Controller : SAS2004(B2)
PCI Address : 00:01:00:00
SAS Address : Undetermined
NVDATA Version (Default) : 14.01.00.07
NVDATA Version (Persistent) : 00.00.00.00
ERROR: Failed to Upload Image!
Firmware information could not be retrieved
BIOS Version : N/A
UEFI BSD Version : N/A
FCODE Version : N/A

Firmware Returned Exception. IOCStatus=0x20, IOCLogInfo=0x0
Due to error remaining commands will not be executed.
Unable to Process Commands.
Exiting SAS2Flash.

I'm pretty sure I erased the manufacturer data.
I believe I ran one or both of the below commands
sas2flash.exe -o -e 6
sas2flash.exe -o -e 7

Were you able to recover your VELO drive after you deleted the manufacturer data?
Is there anyway to transfer the manufacture data from another VELO drive? Like a backup from another card?
Is there anything you would suggest that I can try?
I'm in Canada. I guess if I cannot fix it then its probably easier to just buy one off eBay or something. Again, thank you very much for offering to help out.

Cheers,
 

Terry Kennedy

Well-Known Member
Jun 25, 2015
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594
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New York City
www.glaver.org
Were you able to recover your VELO drive after you deleted the manufacturer data?
Eventually, after trying things, putting it aside for months, trying other things, etc. I don't remember what the trick eventually was - I threw a bunch of stuff at it and it happened to start working after all that.

Note that your problem is at a much earlier state - the controller isn't even in run mode (flashing heartbeat LED) yet. So you may not run into the Mfg page 2 issue at all.
Is there anyway to transfer the manufacture data from another VELO drive? Like a backup from another card?
Not that I found - A big problem is the non-standard flash size.
Is there anything you would suggest that I can try?
Not offhand - let's see if anyone else has suggestions. Based on the responses I got here to my original query, probably not.
I'm in Canada. I guess if I cannot fix it then its probably easier to just buy one off eBay or something. Again, thank you very much for offering to help out.
If it is the capacitor-backup version it is probably worth trying to recover. If you can't find someone in Canada, see if there's a shipping method for "return for repair" that will let you avoid the customs duties both ways and I'll look at it for you.
 
Last edited:

Sush

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May 10, 2018
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Eventually, after trying things, putting it aside for months, trying other things, etc. I don't remember what the trick eventually was - I threw a bunch of stuff at it and it happened to start working after all that.

Note that your problem is at a much earlier state - the controller isn't even in run mode (flashing heartbeat LED) yet. So you may not run into the Mfg page 2 issue at all.

Not that I found - A big problem is the non-standard flash size.

Not offhand - let's see if anyone else has suggestions. Based on the responses I got here to my original query, probably not.

If it is the capacitor-backup version it is probably worth trying to recover. If you can't find someone in Canada, see if there's a shipping method for "return for repair" that will let you avoid the customs duties both ways and I'll look at it for you.
I think I'm out of luck and there is not many articles online for VELO drives specifically. I guess those drives were not that popular after all. All I can do for now is just wait for someone to suggest something.
Meanwhile, would it be possible for you to take a backup of your original VELO drive firmware and BIOS and send it to me?
I believe the commands are
sas2flash_x64.exe -ufirmware FW-Backup.fw
sas2flash_x64.exe -ubios BIOS-Backup.rom
 

Terry Kennedy

Well-Known Member
Jun 25, 2015
1,140
594
113
New York City
www.glaver.org
I think I'm out of luck and there is not many articles online for VELO drives specifically. I guess those drives were not that popular after all. All I can do for now is just wait for someone to suggest something.
Everything you're dealing with is generic LSI design, just with an odd-sized flash chip. The LSI tools should be capable of dealing with it - you just need the exact steps / utilities / versions, which I don't remember offhand.
Meanwhile, would it be possible for you to take a backup of your original VELO drive firmware and BIOS and send it to me?
I believe the commands are
sas2flash_x64.exe -ufirmware FW-Backup.fw
sas2flash_x64.exe -ubios BIOS-Backup.rom
I've never found the uploaded firmware to work on anything - the utility claims it is in the wrong format for re-flashing. Here are my notes-to-myself about flashing the cards:
Code:
The files in this directory can be placed on a bootable MS-DOS USB stick
and used to update OCZ Velodrives to the latest version.

Here are the files in this directory, along with what they are:

        0-readme.txt    - This file
        2114ir.bin      - LSI P20 IR firmware, "9211-4i" branding
        mptsas2.rom     - LSI P20 "classic" BIOS
        x64sas2.rom     - LSI P20 UEFI BIOS
        sas2flnu.exe    - LSI P20 flash utility

The following are the steps needed. These may be excessive, but they are
known to work, which is a lot more than can be said for some of the in-
structions out there.

        !
        ! Make a backup copy of everything
        !
        sas2flnu -ubios bios.old
        sas2flnu -ufirmware fw.old
        sas2flnu -o -ufwbackup fwbak.old
        sas2flnu -o -uflash flash.old
        sas2flnu -o -unvdata nvdata.old
        sas2flnu -list > list.old
        !
        ! DO NOT erase anything or you will end up with a borked card!
        !
        ! Flash the new firmware
        !
        ! You can do this all on one line...
        !
        sas2flnu -o -f 2114ir.bin -b mptsas2.rom -b x64sas2.rom
        !
        ! ... or one at a time
        !
        sas2flnu -o -f 2114ir.bin
        sas2flnu -o -b mptsas2.rom
        sas2flnu -o -b x64sas2.rom
        !
        ! Make sure everything worked
        !
        sas2flnu -list > list.new
        fc list.old list.new
You can get a zip file with everything mentioned in that note here. That is what I have flashed to my cards and am running.
 
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Sush

New Member
May 10, 2018
6
0
1
34
Everything you're dealing with is generic LSI design, just with an odd-sized flash chip. The LSI tools should be capable of dealing with it - you just need the exact steps / utilities / versions, which I don't remember offhand.

I've never found the uploaded firmware to work on anything - the utility claims it is in the wrong format for re-flashing. Here are my notes-to-myself about flashing the cards:
Code:
The files in this directory can be placed on a bootable MS-DOS USB stick
and used to update OCZ Velodrives to the latest version.

Here are the files in this directory, along with what they are:

        0-readme.txt    - This file
        2114ir.bin      - LSI P20 IR firmware, "9211-4i" branding
        mptsas2.rom     - LSI P20 "classic" BIOS
        x64sas2.rom     - LSI P20 UEFI BIOS
        sas2flnu.exe    - LSI P20 flash utility

The following are the steps needed. These may be excessive, but they are
known to work, which is a lot more than can be said for some of the in-
structions out there.

        !
        ! Make a backup copy of everything
        !
        sas2flnu -ubios bios.old
        sas2flnu -ufirmware fw.old
        sas2flnu -o -ufwbackup fwbak.old
        sas2flnu -o -uflash flash.old
        sas2flnu -o -unvdata nvdata.old
        sas2flnu -list > list.old
        !
        ! DO NOT erase anything or you will end up with a borked card!
        !
        ! Flash the new firmware
        !
        ! You can do this all on one line...
        !
        sas2flnu -o -f 2114ir.bin -b mptsas2.rom -b x64sas2.rom
        !
        ! ... or one at a time
        !
        sas2flnu -o -f 2114ir.bin
        sas2flnu -o -b mptsas2.rom
        sas2flnu -o -b x64sas2.rom
        !
        ! Make sure everything worked
        !
        sas2flnu -list > list.new
        fc list.old list.new
You can get a zip file with everything mentioned in that note here. That is what I have flashed to my cards and am running.

I can't thank you enough for all your help Terry. I wish I found your guide before I was stupid enough to erase the firmware :)
Unfortunately in my case I have already erased everything from the card. So I believe I do not have manufacturer details on the card any longer.

When I flash the firmware from the link you sent, I get the following error
Writing Current Mfg Page 2 Settings to NVRAM.
Failed to Validate Mfg Page 2!

I'm guessing I have bricked my Velo Card! There doesn't seem to be a way to install Manufacturer data unless there is a way to take a backup from another similar device and install it. Just a guess!
 

Terry Kennedy

Well-Known Member
Jun 25, 2015
1,140
594
113
New York City
www.glaver.org
When I flash the firmware from the link you sent, I get the following error
Writing Current Mfg Page 2 Settings to NVRAM.
Failed to Validate Mfg Page 2!
Well, that's where I ended up stuck for a long time,too.
I'm guessing I have bricked my Velo Card! There doesn't seem to be a way to install Manufacturer data unless there is a way to take a backup from another similar device and install it. Just a guess!
Fortunately, nothing that you can erase with the LSI tools is specific to the Velodrive. Mine think they're 9211-4i controllers now, with 4 SATA SSDs made by OCZ attached.

Here is a big (150MB or so) ZIP file with the LSI stuff I was playing with when the drive magically started working again. As I mentioned, I don't remember what I did to get it going, but I'm almost positive it was something in that package.