After getting the email regarding the available update to 9.3, I logged in to the GUI and first read the Train Descriptions
and not seeing anything of concern, went ahead with the update procedure. To my surprise the alert came up regarding
the mismatch of the m1015 driver/firmware. At first, I thought I must have missed something in the descriptions of
the pending changes, so I just went back to the previous boot environment and rebooted
I then went back into the System>Boot and deleted the bottom entry of STABLE-201508250051:D just like it never happened!!!
I then discovered the forum posts regarding the move to P20 driver and read all I could regarding what had occured
and how everyone was handling up on things. I have flashed the P20 firmware on my M1015 card and wanted to post
my steps in case someone could benefit, so here goes...
A couple of mentions here before beginning, first off my M1015 has been installed for a long while and has already
been cross flashed (without boot ROM) and has been running without issue with the P16 FW and IT mode and
because of this, my process is much easier and quicker than configuring a "new" card.
Thanks to
@cyberjock for his conservative method of protecting the pool from possible issues by unhooking the drives
before flashing the card.
I used my Windows 7 machine and rufus 2.2 to create a DOS boot USB 8GB thumb drive. I then placed two files
on the drive. sas2flash.efi and the 2118.bin which contains 2118it.bin ver: 20.00.04.00 Release date: 21-MAY-15.
I shut down my machine, turn off my power supply and pushed in the start button on the case to bleed any stored power.
I then unplugged the two mini SAS connectors from my card (taking all the drives out of the process) and plugged in
the flashdrive into the onboard USB port (my onboard USB port is empty cause I have an SSD for a boot drive).
Going back to my desktop, I logged in to IPMI and started the remote console.
First I went into the BIOS and made the UEFI the first boot option on my X9SLM -F Mobo.
THE COMMANDS BELOW DO NOT INCLUDE THE < AND THE > ;)
Then using the console I rebooted. Once in the UEFI shell, from the cursor I typed <mount fs0>
at that cursor I typed <sas2flash.efi>
sas2flash started and then allowed me to type <sas2flash -o -f 2118it.bin>
the program flashed the card, initialized it and that was it.(no frikin messin' with SAS address crap):p
I then typed <sas2flash -listall>
The output showed the card to now be on the new firmware.
Exit the shell and shut down your FreeNAS machine, remove the DOS boot drive and using the IPMI remote console,
boot back into your motherboads BIOS and change back the boot order to your regular FreeNAS boot drive.
Boot up your FreeNAS and enter the GUI. Perform the update.
If everything goes well you now have both the new driver (9.3.1) and the new firmware without a mismatch.
Shut down your machine, hook up your mini SAS cables and reboot. I hate mistakes and cause I make my living outside
of the computer world, I tend to tread very soft and slow when it comes to this kind of thing. But my experience was
stress free and I hope yours will be too (or WAS too)
Regards,
Dave
