SOLVED 9.3-alpha and lsi 9211-8i: firmware - driver mismatch

[FreeNasNewbie]

Hi all,
I'm using debian for quite a while (no windows-based machine available), but i'm new to freenas (and freebsd). Please apologize for incomplete or unclear information.

Searching the web and the forum didn't solve my problem. Hopefully you can help.

I'm using an original LSI 9211-8i controller in IT-mode with latest firmware from LSI webpage (Stage 19). Flashing the card was no problem.
I installed 9.3-alpha (FreeNAS-9.3-ALPHA-33aacf0-x64) because the lan controller intel i218v is not supported in 9.2.1.7 (mb is asus sabertooth z97 mark 2).

Now the system boots up fine, LAN works well, also the login via WebGUI. However, an alert told me that "Firmware version 19 does not match driver version 16 for /dev/mps0".

On the lsi webpage I found mpslsi.ko-driver, however stage 9.3 is the only missing one (9.2 and 10.0 exist).
I suppose the use of a non-matching driver (either 9.2 or 10.o) in 9.3 is impossible or not recommended?

My idea then was to downgrade the firmware to P16. This failed, because Installer_P16_for_UEFI was available in the LSI archives. However the 2118it.bin-file for P16 is missing (found just a README-file on the lsi-webpage, not the binary; 9211-8i_Package_P16_IR_IT_Firmware_BIOS_for_MSDOS_Windows seems to be unavailabe).

What can I do? Can I ignore the warning? Suppose, I shouldn' t do. I didn't proceed with the installation. Disks contain no data.

Thanx a million for your advice. FreeNAS is great software and I'd be happy using it.

 

[dlavigne]

The alert only looks for a version mismatch. The Guide contains instructions for upgrading the driver if it is lower. In your case, you can safely ignore the alert.

 

[cyberjock]

I have to respectfully disagree with dlavigne. The reason for the warning is that the only "supported" configuration is a driver and firmware version that matches. While it may work, it's not recommended. There are multiple combinations of non-matching setups that will result in pools that don't work or throw tons of errors.

My advice (and the reason for the warning) is so that you know about this potentially serious problem and correct it. If you want to ignore it though, that's your choice. The forum has plenty of "examples" of users that have learned this lesson the hard way though. ;)

 

[diehard]

http://www.lsi.com/downloads/Public/Host Bus Adapters/Host Bus Adapters Common Files/SAS_SATA_6G_P16/9211_8i_Package_P16_IR_IT_Firmware_BIOS_for_MSDOS_Windows.zip

You will find the bin file in there."9211_8i_Package_P15_IR_IT_Firmware_BIOS_for_MSDOS_Windows" is the name of the package if the link doesnt work.

You will have to erase the newer one, it wont let you "downgrade".

 

[FreeNasNewbie]

Thanx a million for your quick replies!

@diehard: Great, I just downloaded the archive. Didn't found it using the site-search.....
I'll install it the way you adviced. Worked well when switching from IR- to IT-mode.

One of the drives (overall 8) does not report its serial in the GUI. Maybe the mismatch is the reason for this behaviour..... I'll see.

 

[Dmitry Nevozhay]

I have the same issue - one (of eight) drive does not report its serial number in the gui. Firmware P19 on 9211-8I in IT mode and freenas 9.2.1.7.

 

[FreeNasNewbie]

I haven't found time yet to flash the card with P16 firmware. If done, I'll let you know the result. Maybe it's the same reason. I'm unsure, but 9.2 doesn't use stage-19 drivers out of the box.

 

[9C1 Newbee]

I am also having this "no serial number" issue. I think I am using p15. I need to flash it but I know I am gonna have to pull the card from the server and put it in another computer that will do it.

 

[Ericloewe]

Why? Doesn't the UEFI flasher work?

 

[9C1 Newbee]

I am not sure what you mean by UEFI flasher. When I tried to perform the steps in http://www.servethehome.com/ibm-serveraid-m1015-part-4/
I had to swap the M1015 onto another motherboard. The X9SCM would not do it.

 

[Ericloewe]

I am not sure what you mean by UEFI flasher. When I tried to perform the steps in http://www.servethehome.com/ibm-serveraid-m1015-part-4/
I had to swap the M1015 onto another motherboard. The X9SCM would not do it.

That's because you can't follow that guide to the letter. The DOS flash tool doesn't work on many UEFI motherboards, so you need to use the EFI shell and the EFI flash tool.

 

[FreeNasNewbie]

Hi all,

now - after a long period of inactivity - I found time to flash the card with P16 to be compliant with the drivers in 9.3. The warning disappeard as expected.
I then installed the brand new 9.3 and all serials are shown.

Maybe it is an issue of the pre-releases.

 

[9C1 Newbee]

Ok, I am having one hell of a time. I have spent all day on this. I even tried the dos method but I am having a hard time finding all the applicable files and other chingas. I would like to make this UEFI thing work so I don't have to open the box in the future.

Can somebody break it down Barney style for me? First and foremost, I need to find the applicable files. I do believe I have the EFI flash tool. I know how to boot to the UEFI shell. Once there, I have no idea what to do.

Or hell, if that is a no-go, I have the old Dell with a dos thumb drive at the ready.

 

[9C1 Newbee]

Alright guys. I finally pieced all of the files together and did it the old DOS route. What a PITFA that was.

 

[mjws00]

Congrats. The good news is the next one will take you about 5 minutes.

 

[9C1 Newbee]

Thank you. I have flashed this very card before. After I had all the files I needed. It did take about 5 minutes. I didn't have to hunt at all for files last time.

 

[9C1 Newbee]

By the way, FreeNAS now supports the hard drive serial numbers on the M1015 properly after the firmware update.

 

[Dmitry Nevozhay]

I downgraded my firmware from P19 onto P16 to match the drivers (9.3 release). Now all hdd serials are reported in the GUI.

 

[dfsooner]

Should the BIOS always be updated to match the firmware level?

 

[FreeNasNewbie]

I'm sure you mean "firmware version should match driver version"? If so, yes, it's STRONGLY recommended as cyberjock wrote above (3rd Post).
Normally you do not need to update your mb bios. It's a controller issue.
If you encounter difficulties in flashing the controller firmware via EFI shell, try another mb (I needed an older mb to successfully launch the EFI shell).

Good luck!