Trouble crossflashing a Fujitsu D3116 (LSI SAS2208) to 2308

[MiningPickaxe]

Hello,
I am having a lot of trouble flashing a Fujitsu D3116 which is based on the LSI SAS2208 to 2308 IT Mode.
What I'm currently stuck on is that the sas2flash utility wont detect my Card.

Already did a couple of different attempts which I want to lay out here:

1. Use megarec to write a 256B empty sbr and use megarec with -cleanflash to wipe the flash. Boot to the UEFI version of sas2flash and it wont get detected. megarec can still see it though, so not entirely bricked.
2. Use megarec to write a 512B empty sbr because I noticed that the sbr I backed up when starting was also 512B and there seems to be a revision with 512B of sbr. Aftewards -cleanflash again. no success.
3. Use the sbrtool from this project on github: GitHub - marcan/lsirec: LSI SAS2008/SAS2108 low-level recovery tool for Linux to analyze the original sbr and create my own (not empty) sbr. Vendor set to 0x1000 (LSI) and Product set to 0x0086 (SAS2308 PCI-Express Fusion-MPT SAS-2). Tried setting Subvendor IDs /Subproduct ID to Fujitsu ones and also Supermicro. Attached a config as reference. Also -cleanflashed it, no success. A good source for PCI IDs is this: The PCI ID Repository
4. Tried using different sas2flash versions, currently found P20, P14 and P5. None worked.

At this point I'm running out of ideas on what to try and why sas2flash won't detect my card.

Has someone managed to do this to a Fujitsu D3116 before or does someone have some more ideas?

 

[Rutahunter]

I have the same problem. Does anyone have any ideas?

 

[Dave Corder]

I would try using the lsirec utility to "host boot" the card using the firmware .bin you intend to flash to it, and then see if sas2flash or lsiutil will detect the card. I've had some success going this route with a proprietary SAS2308 card I've been tinkering around with.

An easy way to get all these utilities in one place is to use @fohdeesha's Dell PERC cross-flashing ISO from here: Introduction - Fohdeesha Docs

 

[Sleyk]

Hello,
I am having a lot of trouble flashing a Fujitsu D3116 which is based on the LSI SAS2208 to 2308 IT Mode.
What I'm currently stuck on is that the sas2flash utility wont detect my Card.

Already did a couple of different attempts which I want to lay out here:

1. Use megarec to write a 256B empty sbr and use megarec with -cleanflash to wipe the flash. Boot to the UEFI version of sas2flash and it wont get detected. megarec can still see it though, so not entirely bricked.
2. Use megarec to write a 512B empty sbr because I noticed that the sbr I backed up when starting was also 512B and there seems to be a revision with 512B of sbr. Aftewards -cleanflash again. no success.
3. Use the sbrtool from this project on github: GitHub - marcan/lsirec: LSI SAS2008/SAS2108 low-level recovery tool for Linux to analyze the original sbr and create my own (not empty) sbr. Vendor set to 0x1000 (LSI) and Product set to 0x0086 (SAS2308 PCI-Express Fusion-MPT SAS-2). Tried setting Subvendor IDs /Subproduct ID to Fujitsu ones and also Supermicro. Attached a config as reference. Also -cleanflashed it, no success. A good source for PCI IDs is this: The PCI ID Repository
4. Tried using different sas2flash versions, currently found P20, P14 and P5. None worked.

At this point I'm running out of ideas on what to try and why sas2flash won't detect my card.

Has someone managed to do this to a Fujitsu D3116 before or does someone have some more ideas?

Hi there!

Wanted to shed a little light on this.

So sadly, this particular card cannot flash to an SAS2308. I know most 2208 chipsets can, but there were two distinct 2208 chipsets manufactured. The first was the original 2208 chipset that was made just shortly after the SAS2108 RAID chipset by LSI. This older 2208 chipset closely resembled the 2108 RAID chipset feature-wise.

The newer 2208 chipsets, like the ones in an IBM M5110, or a LSI 9205/HP H220 etc., are from the newer set of 2208 chipsets that were made. These newer 2208 chips were made with IT Mode support built-in.

The 2308 chipset wasnt really planned until PCI-E 3.0 started becoming mainstream, and LSI wanted to update the 2nd 2208 chipset to support PCI-E 3.0. Thus the 2308 chipset was manufactured.

The SAS2308 chipset is just a PCI-E 3.0 version of this newer 2208 PCI-E 2.0 IT Mode chipset.

Sadly, the Fujitsu 3116 contains the older, RAID-like 2208 chipset, which was as mentioned above, extremely similar in architecture and features to a SAS2108 RAID chipset.

I can also attest to this, as I have personally tested and tried to crossflash this card as well.

The chipset simply wont take the IT Mode firmware, as none was originally made for it.

Sorry to tell you this my friend. I wish it could crossflash too, as they are abundant and cheap, but Fujitsu went with the older 2208 RAID-like chipset at the time, either to save money, or just bad timing as the newer 2208 chipsets might not have been manufactured as yet.

 

[MiningPickaxe]

@Sleyk Hi thank you for your thorough answer, thats annoying :/

Do you know if the PRAID CP400i can be flashed to IT mode? Fujitsu does offer that card as a PSAS variant (IT mode). I grabbed the fujitsu update installer for that and was able to extract roms from it, but I don't want to risk bricking it if you already know it wont work

 

[Sleyk]

@Sleyk Hi thank you for your thorough answer, thats annoying :/

Do you know if the PRAID CP400i can be flashed to IT mode? Fujitsu does offer that card as a PSAS variant (IT mode). I grabbed the fujitsu update installer for that and was able to extract roms from it, but I don't want to risk bricking it if you already know it wont work

Oh sure, and yes, the CP400i (D3307) can definitely crossflash to LSI IT Mode = 9300-8i.

Check out my post here, check post #22: Vendor Crossflashing Adventures

 

[MiningPickaxe]

Ok, that SBR saved me Thank you very much for your work, all flashed now and working beautifully! Saved me about 500€ there