The Versatile SAS3008 Chipset: My Vendor Crossflashing Adventures

[Sleyk]

Hello @Sleyk I'm having some problems with my couple of p400i on it mode (flashed them using your files and instructions with no issues)

I have them with 28x ST4000NM0043 (12+16) connected, and they worked flawlessly when the cards was on ir mode, but after flashing to it mode all the drives are detected and shown, but have access issues.

I'm thinking about to reflash them back to ir mode, but would love to keep them on it mode, what do you think is the matter here?

(thanks for all your help)

Edit:
I did try to flash it back to ir with

sas3flash.efi -o -e 6
sas3flash.efi -o -f SAS9311_8i_IR.bin -b mptsas3.ROM

but it gives an Id error
View attachment 23083

"megarec3 -cleanflash 0" doesn't work anymore (stuck in "chip is in fusion mode")

Hey there, so when going from IT to IR mode, I always suggest doing a full complete erase.

I would use the complete erase command to clear the nvram, exposing the raw chipset. Then try to flash to IR mode again.

So: sas3flash.efi -o -e 7

Then reflash the 9311-8i IR mode firmware

 

[nabsltd]

@Sleyk I have a Fujitsu CP400i, and grabbed all the files from your download, used Rufus to create a FreeDOS disk, copied everything over, and started following the instructions.

As expected, sas3flsh can't see the adapter at all, but megacli -adpallinfo lists the details about the adapter. Whenever I try to do anything with megarec3, I get the following message and the system hangs, with only rebooting getting out of it (Ctrl-Alt-Del works):

Chip is in FUSION mode

Note that to get megarec3 to do anything at all, I had to download DOS4GW.EXE and put it on the USB boot disk. Are there other files in your "standard flash USB" that I am missing that megarec3 needs to run correctly? Or, is it something else?

 

[Sleyk]

@Sleyk I have a Fujitsu CP400i, and grabbed all the files from your download, used Rufus to create a FreeDOS disk, copied everything over, and started following the instructions.

As expected, sas3flsh can't see the adapter at all, but megacli -adpallinfo lists the details about the adapter. Whenever I try to do anything with megarec3, I get the following message and the system hangs, with only rebooting getting out of it (Ctrl-Alt-Del works):

Chip is in FUSION mode

Note that to get megarec3 to do anything at all, I had to download DOS4GW.EXE and put it on the USB boot disk. Are there other files in your "standard flash USB" that I am missing that megarec3 needs to run correctly? Or, is it something else?

Hmm, I think should be all the files you need. When I get a moment, I will update the flash drive. I have that file in my own USB, and that is what I used to upload the files here, so not sure how it didn't upload to the flash folder. But no worries, I think you should be good.

However, if you run into a system locking issue, then it means that your system probably doesn't like Megarec3. Sometimes it can happen with newer boards. Can you try the flash on an older system if you have a spare? Usually that does the trick.

 

[nabsltd]

However, if you run into a system locking issue, then it means that your system probably doesn't like Megarec3. Sometimes it can happen with newer boards. Can you try the flash on an older system if you have a spare?

That was the issue.

megarec3 failed on an X11 board, even with everything in the BIOS set to "Legacy", but an X9 board worked fine.

 

[jackydany]

Just want to say thank you!
Flashed a D3307 CP400i card to IT-Mode with your files.
Rufus with freedos and just your files, executed your commands, thats it.
I didnt even have to use my own brain which was nice because of the hot temperatures LOL

So just another card in it-mode and confirmation your files work as intended!

 

[keys_keeper]

So I could execute option 3 in my post above?

Why would I choose 7 and add the need to re-add the sas address when I can just use 6?

Before crossflash IR to IT or IT to IR firmware you need erase all flash with:
sas3flash.efi -o -e 7 (after flash new firmware need add sas address, so keep it somewhere before do this command)
or
sas3flash.efi -o -e 6 (keep sad address, tracert number and board name)

Hey This is simplest explanation I ever seen on -e 6 and -e 7 difference! Cheers! It it really all?

Also what is tracer and why one may want to keep it?
Also I saw in sas3flash quickRefGuide the –assem flag to program the assembly, what it is?

For card I work with now (expected to be brand new) sas3flash -list shows N/A for both
Board Name LSI3008-IR
Board Assembly N/A
Board Tracer Number N/A

Also, could we just flash whatever text we like into Board Name?

 

[keys_keeper]

That was the issue.

megarec3 failed on an X11 board, even with everything in the BIOS set to "Legacy", but an X9 board worked fine.

I ran into same problem with megarec3 on X11 mobo
However in my case there is no simple way to put it into another mobo, I have to work with what I have...
Did anyone figured a way to deal with "Chip is in FUSION mode" issue on X11?
I cannot even readsbr to back it up, and haven't yet attempted to cleanflash...

 

[Sleyk]

Hey This is simplest explanation I ever seen on -e 6 and -e 7 difference! Cheers! It it really all?

Also what is tracer and why one may want to keep it?
Also I saw in sas3flash quickRefGuide the –assem flag to program the assembly, what it is?

For card I work with now (expected to be brand new) sas3flash -list shows N/A for both
Board Name LSI3008-IR
Board Assembly N/A
Board Tracer Number N/A

Also, could we just flash whatever text we like into Board Name?

I ran into same problem with megarec3 on X11 mobo
However in my case there is no simple way to put it into another mobo, I have to work with what I have...
Did anyone figured a way to deal with "Chip is in FUSION mode" issue on X11?
I cannot even readsbr to back it up, and haven't yet attempted to cleanflash...

Hey there, so:

1. assem (Assembly Name) You can type whatever you want here. Like for instance, you can put your company name, or the name of your server, or just call it card 1, card 2, etc. Whatever you like. (Example: sas3flsh -o -assem SLEYK ENTERPRISES)

2. tracer (Tracer Name) Card manufacturers usually add the card's serial number here for reference, but again, you can add whatever you like here as well. Your company name, or date of manufacturing, etc. Anything you like. I usually add the serial number to my cards using the tracer command (Example: sas3flsh -o -tracer VA15700012345)

3. FCODE: Currently, there's no way to flash this onto the board. It usually is written with firmware programmed to insert a name or label here. Don't worry about doing anything here. It is only usually changed depending on the manufacturer or OEM.

4. Board Name: This name only changes depending on firmware flashed as well. It will be changed by the firmware itself, but only after doing a full erase of the flash, then depending on the firmware you flash, it will change to represent that firmware's labeling. So you can't individually flash it to a specific name, but it will represent the firmware and card name after flashing.

As for your X11 board, if you cant use another board, you could try efi flashing to see if it works better. Your X11 should also have a built in EFI shell. Just put the firmware flash files in a small flash drive, then when you boot, select the boot menu, and load the built-in EFI shell.

Once booted, then select the flash drive with the firmware files by typing: fs0: or fs1: etc, and then try the flashing process.

That might work for you :.)

 

[keys_keeper]

Hey there, so:

1. assem (Assembly Name) You can type whatever you want here. Like for instance, you can put your company name, or the name of your server, or just call it card 1, card 2, etc. Whatever you like. (Example: sas3flsh -o -assem SLEYK ENTERPRISES)

2. tracer (Tracer Name) Card manufacturers usually add the card's serial number here for reference, but again, you can add whatever you like here as well. Your company name, or date of manufacturing, etc. Anything you like. I usually add the serial number to my cards using the tracer command (Example: sas3flsh -o -tracer VA15700012345)

3. FCODE: Currently, there's no way to flash this onto the board. It usually is written with firmware programmed to insert a name or label here. Don't worry about doing anything here. It is only usually changed depending on the manufacturer or OEM.

4. Board Name: This name only changes depending on firmware flashed as well. It will be changed by the firmware itself, but only after doing a full erase of the flash, then depending on the firmware you flash, it will change to represent that firmware's labeling. So you can't individually flash it to a specific name, but it will represent the firmware and card name after flashing.

As for your X11 board, if you cant use another board, you could try efi flashing to see if it works better. Your X11 should also have a built in EFI shell. Just put the firmware flash files in a small flash drive, then when you boot, select the boot menu, and load the built-in EFI shell.

Once booted, then select the flash drive with the firmware files by typing: fs0: or fs1: etc, and then try the flashing process.

That might work for you :.)

Thanks!


I was able to sas3flsh -o -e 7 it from DOS, and sas3flsh -o -f -b -b it afterwards. It _seem_ to have crossflashed OK. It does see all the disks too, in Avago Ctrl-C utility and in the OS.
And I subsequently disabled loading its opcode to speed up boot.

Does sas3flsh -o -e 7 rewrite SBR?

If I'll have to flash specific SBR, is there EFI shell alternative to megarec3.exe ? Are there at all any alternatives to megarec3.exe for SAS3008 SBR operations?

Or possibly someone found Supermicro X11 BIOS setup option switch that would unblock megarec3

 

[Sleyk]

Thanks!


I was able to sas3flsh -o -e 7 it from DOS, and sas3flsh -o -f -b -b it afterwards. It _seem_ to have crossflashed OK. It does see all the disks too, in Avago Ctrl-C utility and in the OS.
And I subsequently disabled loading its opcode to speed up boot.

Does sas3flsh -o -e 7 rewrite SBR?

If I'll have to flash specific SBR, is there EFI shell alternative to megarec3.exe ? Are there at all any alternatives to megarec3.exe for SAS3008 SBR operations?

Or possibly someone found Supermicro X11 BIOS setup option switch that would unblock megarec3

So the -o -e 7 syntax will erase the full flash, but it doesn't erase the SBR, so you're fine.

As for Megarec, there isn't currently any EFI version, only DOS. SAS3flsh has an SBR feature, but I believe it is only for repairing the SBR in the flash. In any case, you won't need it for anything other than SBR flashing, so your ok.

 

[RedX1]

Unusual Behaviour. SM LSI-3008 Controller.


Hello, I hope you can help.


We just obtained a new to us, SM X10SRH-CF system with a E5-1620 CPU. The Bios was updated to 3.4 and the BMC firmware to 3.93, both are the latest versions.

We changed the firmware on the embedded LSI 3008 SAS Controller to 3008T16 using the UEFI SMC 3008T.NSH method from the SM WFTP site. All appeared to flash successfully.

The controller description in Windows device manger changed to SAS3 Fury -StorePort.

We installed a Windows 10 NVME boot drive in slot 7 and bifurcated slot 4 for two access two more NVME drives on a SM AOC-SLG3-2M2 card.

All appeared to work as expected and is installed in a SM CSE-743 chassis with a TQ backplane.

The LSI SAS controller is connected to the Backplane using SM CBL-SAST-0616 MiniSAS HD to 4x SATA 50/50cm Cables.

On booting the server and entering the LSI Config utility the device info shows 4 drive connected to slots 28-31, the other 4 are all connected to slot 55 (Actually Slot 255).




When booting into Windows 10 the device manager only shows 4 Drives connected.





Accessing the LSI MSM interface reveals 5 drives connected.




We swopped the drives with others from a known good server and tried other SM SAS Cables, all with no effect.

At this point we re-flashed the firmware back to 3008-IR mode. But the behaviour did not change.

We tried updating the Windows drivers to 2.51.26.0 (Latest 2019) and back again to 2.51.26.80 (2018). With no effect.





At this point we wanted to eliminate the Drives, Backplane and Cables, so we installed another AOC, an LSI SAS 9341-8i, which behaved perfectly normal and could access all 8 drives successfully. It would appear that the Drives, Cables Backplane are all working as expected.

From curiosity we booted into Linux (Mint 20), which could see and access all the drives as normal.




I did some deeper searching to see if anyone had encountered a similar problem. I did not find much information, but I did find this.

“I believe the 3008s can run two different firmwares, one that provides the mpt2 interface and the other than provides the megaraid sas fusion interface. you have to flash them to switch though, you can’t just point a driver at it and hope for the best.

each fw presents different pci ids. eg, in http://pciids.sourceforge.net/v2.2/pci.ids you can see:

005f MegaRAID SAS-3 3008 [Fury]
0097 SAS3008 PCI-Express Fusion-MPT SAS-3”


Perhaps someone which much more knowledge and experience can offer some explanation or perhaps a remedy.



Thanks for your interest in this puzzle.





RedX1

 

[Sleyk]

Unusual Behaviour. SM LSI-3008 Controller.


Hello, I hope you can help.


We just obtained a new to us, SM X10SRH-CF system with a E5-1620 CPU. The Bios was updated to 3.4 and the BMC firmware to 3.93, both are the latest versions.

We changed the firmware on the embedded LSI 3008 SAS Controller to 3008T16 using the UEFI SMC 3008T.NSH method from the SM WFTP site. All appeared to flash successfully.

The controller description in Windows device manger changed to SAS3 Fury -StorePort.

We installed a Windows 10 NVME boot drive in slot 7 and bifurcated slot 4 for two access two more NVME drives on a SM AOC-SLG3-2M2 card.

All appeared to work as expected and is installed in a SM CSE-743 chassis with a TQ backplane.

The LSI SAS controller is connected to the Backplane using SM CBL-SAST-0616 MiniSAS HD to 4x SATA 50/50cm Cables.

On booting the server and entering the LSI Config utility the device info shows 4 drive connected to slots 28-31, the other 4 are all connected to slot 55 (Actually Slot 255).

View attachment 24116


When booting into Windows 10 the device manager only shows 4 Drives connected.


View attachment 24117


Accessing the LSI MSM interface reveals 5 drives connected.


View attachment 24118

We swopped the drives with others from a known good server and tried other SM SAS Cables, all with no effect.

At this point we re-flashed the firmware back to 3008-IR mode. But the behaviour did not change.

We tried updating the Windows drivers to 2.51.26.0 (Latest 2019) and back again to 2.51.26.80 (2018). With no effect.


View attachment 24119View attachment 24120


At this point we wanted to eliminate the Drives, Backplane and Cables, so we installed another AOC, an LSI SAS 9341-8i, which behaved perfectly normal and could access all 8 drives successfully. It would appear that the Drives, Cables Backplane are all working as expected.

From curiosity we booted into Linux (Mint 20), which could see and access all the drives as normal.


View attachment 24122

I did some deeper searching to see if anyone had encountered a similar problem. I did not find much information, but I did find this.

“I believe the 3008s can run two different firmwares, one that provides the mpt2 interface and the other than provides the megaraid sas fusion interface. you have to flash them to switch though, you can’t just point a driver at it and hope for the best.

each fw presents different pci ids. eg, in http://pciids.sourceforge.net/v2.2/pci.ids you can see:

005f MegaRAID SAS-3 3008 [Fury]
0097 SAS3008 PCI-Express Fusion-MPT SAS-3”

Perhaps someone which much more knowledge and experience can offer some explanation or perhaps a remedy.

Thanks for your interest in this puzzle.

RedX1

Hi there!

So for your case, you flashed a custom Supermicro Megaraid image similar to an IR firmware rom. Remember, the SAS3008 chipset is a very versatile chipset, and will take any 3008 rom image, as long as its compatible with the SAS3008 chipset.

I usually suggest that people use the official LSI IT mode or IR mode firmware when getting a supermicro card unless specifically needed. Supermicro is actually a great OEM, as they will sometimes even build a custom IT or IR image for server clients at their request, which is awesome. Not alot of companies will do this. However, this specific firmware you downloaded will cause the card to operate in a different way not compatible with your use case.

For your situation and drives, you need either the LSI IT or IR mode firmware. What happened, is that once you flashed that IR mode firmware, it most likely caused your OS install to engage specific drivers for it, and it seems now whenever it sees that card's PCI info (embedded in the flash) it loads that other driver.

Beware however, the SAS3008 chipset isn't meant for Tri-mode, which I think is what you wanted to do? I could be wrong though. In any case, at least the drive will register, but I don't think it will have full NVME features, unless you are using a SATA NVME and not M.2.

At last, to solve it, you can flash the card back to LSI SAS3008 IR mode, and also uninstall/delete/disable that driver on your Linux distro. I don't have much experience in Linux so can't help you through that step, but once you remove/disable that driver, and have the card in original LSI IR/IT mode, it should then load the correct drivers for it and you should then see all your drives.

 

[RedX1]

Hello

Thanks for your help and pointers.

I did a lot more digging and found this FAQ on the SM site. It was regarding a Chenbro Chassis, but I think this solution works for the BPN SAS743-TQ as well.





I just disconnected the sideband cables from the Backplane and the Server instantly recognised all the disk drives.

I will re-flash it back to IT mode tomorrow and report back.


Thanks again for all your help and interest.


Take Care.



RedX1

 

[JFO]

Check jumper configuration on your backplane for correct SGPIO settings. And correct connection both sideband cables.

Answer in SM FAQ this is for different pinout on SM and Avago sideband cables, here I describe this.

 

[yinzicong]

Ok, here you go my friends. Use this zip with all the files I use. These are the exact files I use to flash my cards.

Also, of note, once you reboot after writing the sbr and cleaning the flash, just flash the firmware by itself before flashing the MPT3 and X64 bios roms.

Hope this helps you guys! Let me know if you still get any problems and will help you.

Flash Fujitsu CP400i (D3307)

Hi,

This is the first post since I came here, sorry for my poor English. I have a Fujitsu card and I think I just brick it, I flashed the sbr but I can't go to the next step, in the sas3flash program both DOS and UEFI versions, I got a PAL error under dos and got no Avago adapter detected under UEFI. Can you please share the file again and let me see if I can get my card working?

Thanks

 

[Sleyk]

Hi,

This is the first post since I came here, sorry for my poor English. I have a Fujitsu card and I think I just brick it, I flashed the sbr but I can't go to the next step, in the sas3flash program both DOS and UEFI versions, I got a PAL error under dos and got no Avago adapter detected under UEFI. Can you please share the file again and let me see if I can get my card working?

Thanks

Hi my friend, which file do you need? the original Fujitsu SBR, or the process to recover?

I can tell you now though, that you haven't bricked your card. Most likely, you just need to restart over and reflash the correct SBR to turn it into an LSI 9300-8i.

Just do a full flash erase in Megarec3. Type: megarec3 -cleanflash 0

Then reflash the SBR file (you can use the Supermicro 3008L8E sbr) found in the SBR download thread: SBR Download Thread

This should allow the card to be found by SAS3flash and then you should be good

 

[JuanIsOnline]

Hi my friend, which file do you need? the original Fujitsu SBR, or the process to recover?

I can tell you now though, that you haven't bricked your card. Most likely, you just need to restart over and reflash the correct SBR to turn it into an LSI 9300-8i.

Just do a full flash erase in Megarec3. Type: megarec3 -cleanflash 0

Then reflash the SBR file (you can use the Supermicro 3008L8E sbr) found in the SBR download thread: SBR Download Thread

This should allow the card to be found by SAS3flash and then you should be good

Good day, Sleyk, seems you have been helping a lot of people here, that's awesome. I need some help :/. I just got the LSI 9300-16i and after reading several posts and sites, I can't seem to find the files to flash it into IT Mode, any chance you can help with the files? I think there are instructions on the first few thread pages here that I am going to follow unless you have some type of video I can follow better. Any help would be appreciated, I am freaking out to destroy this card.

 

[Sleyk]

Good day, Sleyk, seems you have been helping a lot of people here, that's awesome. I need some help :/. I just got the LSI 9300-16i and after reading several posts and sites, I can't seem to find the files to flash it into IT Mode, any chance you can help with the files? I think there are instructions on the first few thread pages here that I am going to follow unless you have some type of video I can follow better. Any help would be appreciated, I am freaking out to destroy this card.

Hello!

So the 9300-16i is already in IT mode my friend, so no need to flash on your part. The card simply uses two SAS3008 chipsets in connection with a PLX switching chip to give you 16 drive connections.

So you are all good. Maybe just update the firmware to the latest firmware (P16) from Avago/Broadcom's site

Edit: Ok, ok, I feel sorry for you, so I wont make you go find the files yourself. I uploaded it here below for you.

Instructions:
sas3flsh -o -fwall 9300-16it.bin
sas3flsh -o -b mptsas3.rom -b x64sas3.rom

Youre welcome

 

[JuanIsOnline]

Hello!

So the 9300-16i is already in IT mode my friend, so no need to flash on your part. The card simply uses two SAS3008 chipsets in connection with a PLX switching chip to give you 16 drive connections.

So you are all good. Maybe just update the firmware to the latest firmware (P16) from Avago/Broadcom's site

Edit: Ok, ok, I feel sorry for you, so I wont make you go find the files yourself. I uploaded it here below for you.

Instructions:
sas3flsh -o -fwall 9300-16it.bin
sas3flsh -o -b mptsas3.rom -b x64sas3.rom

Youre welcome

Dude, you are awesome!. Thanks so so much. I am going to do that and update the FW. Thanks so so much!

 

[laufenderkeiler]

Ok, here you go my friends. Use this zip with all the files I use. These are the exact files I use to flash my cards.

Also, of note, once you reboot after writing the sbr and cleaning the flash, just flash the firmware by itself before flashing the MPT3 and X64 bios roms.

Hope this helps you guys! Let me know if you still get any problems and will help you.

Flash Fujitsu CP400i (D3307)

I need you help because i have also the porblem that i can not find the Adpter

The Zip you uploded(Attached Flash Fujitsu CP400i (D3307)) ( is gone can you load it again?)
Thanks

Its that possible to do in only in efl schell ? if yes can you tell me the command and how to do it ?


mein FW is16.00.00.00-IR.