Sun LSI SAS3081E-S and sasflash: The »-o« magic won't work !

Notice: Page may contain affiliate links for which we may earn a small commission through services like Amazon Affiliates or Skimlinks.

SebastianMWS

New Member
May 7, 2011
26
7
3
Hello guys,

Another long pause since my last post, a force of habit I suppose, dictated by urgency of task at I hand that I fail to resolve by myself.

Question: Has anyone successfully flashed the Sun/Oracle re-branded LSI SAS3081E-R card ?

Some additional info:

- Model designation: SG-XPCIE8SAS-I-Z

- P/N: 371-3255 (also 371-3255-02)

- Chip revision, as displayed in LSI Config Utility: 02


The card is currently flashed to IR-Mode, Firmware Revision 1.15.00.00-IR, while BIOS version is v6.08.00.00. I wanted to flash it with IT-Mode Firmware, but ever since Oracle locked their vault of downloads for us the commons, I cannot get this Firmware from Sun anymore.

So I downloaded the files from LSI website (FW 1.30.00.00 and mptsas.rom), hoping they would work on this card. One of the caveats, with the rebranded 3081E-R cards, is that you can't verify the chip revision (to match the appropriate FW/BIOS files), as the SAS chip is covered with the heat sink. I didn't feel like doing the extra work, removing an re-seating the sink, so I reckoned I'd try blindly, and see what sasflash utility would report.

I followed the exact the same recipe as Patrick described in his article - »Flashing Intel SASUC8I to LSI IT Firmware Guide« (using the »-o« switch magic to outsmart the vendor check), but guess what … the magic won't work !!

I suppose I'm getting either a similar, or even identical error messages, as Patrick did prior »-o« switch revelation. Just o be sure, here's the snapshot (revealing many attempts with different FW versions – for B3, B2 and B1 chip revision):

upload_2016-2-2_17-7-37.png

Any kind of help or suggestions would be most appreciated. Thank you in advance !

Kind regards,

Sebastian

P.S.: I'm not sure if snapshot image will show properly ... sorry guys, I'm still clumsy with inserting images into the text.
 

SebastianMWS

New Member
May 7, 2011
26
7
3
OK guys, I do feel a bit stupid, not being proud of it .. at all !

All it required to even see the card ('sasflash -listall'), using the 'sasflash' in Windows 7, was to run the 'cmd' command as Admin.

So off I went cheerfully, feeling confident as happy camper that this time I should succeed with flashing. The -listall command revealed the B1 chip revision, which is what I used for the sasflash -f command.

It started beautifully - utility complained at first, about the Product and Vendor ID not matching, but I dismissed it by confirming the "Would you anyway" question. But then .. another complaint, saying this:

"Firmware Download Boot Required to get Flash Size1MB to 2MB. Migration of Firmware is not supported on this platform".

What a ... ??? See for yourselves ...

upload_2016-2-2_21-26-12.png


I googled long and hard, to see what's this all about ... nothing ... not a word, a fragment of forum post ... nothing !

Before I forget, 'cause this might be important and it didn't occur to me before - the computer I'm working on is a Sun Ultra 40 M2, with fresh install of Windows 64-bit Home Premium.

Anyone ?

Thank you in advance !

Sebastian
 

SebastianMWS

New Member
May 7, 2011
26
7
3
OK guys, I know that LSI 3081E-R is an ancient card, and how I might have missed the answer to my troubles by not searching the STH forums thoroughly enough, but still ... it gets a bit lonely, if no one answers the call of the loner :)

Finally a break - I found all the answers on "Haikos Blog" website. To sum up:

- Flashing, or just seen the card with 'sasflash' utility, requires a bootable FreeDOS USB drive, populated with DOS version of 'sasflash', along with the FW and BIOS files that you intend to flash on the card.

- Given the sudden change of heart, as I decided to consult the new owner-to-be of this machine - to RAID or not to RAID, I'm gonna postpone my decision to actually flash the card with IT-FW.

Once again I learned something new .... Cheers ! :)

Sebastian