Can't get to install screen. Asus A55BM-K motherboard with IBM M1015 Card. mfi0: COMMAND 0xfffffe0000ed92a8

[Nas-dude]

I'm having problems installing true nas. I can't even get to the install screen.

I put in the usb and it loads fine . I see the usb light on and it's reading the data but then after 3 minutes i get this error screen and it never goes past that it just keeps adding seconds.

mfi0: COMMAND 0xfffffe0000ed92a8 TIMEOUT AFTER 30 SECONDS




My motherboard is:
Asus A55BM-K (AMD)

Memory: 32GB

Disks:
1 - 120GB for OS
1 - 4TB Storage

PCIE:
1 IBM ServePaid M1015 46M0861 SAS/SATA PCI-e Controller = LSI SAS9220-8i

I have the OS hard drive plugged into the motherboard and the storage hard drive plugged into the pcie card

I did a bit of troubleshooting and If i remove the M1015 pcie card i can get to the install screen and i dont see the mfi0: COMMAND error and i am able to install true nas. I thought the card was broken so i tried it on a different desktop (intel motherboard)and i was able to install truenas

So from my troubleshooting. It seems the pcie M1015 card and Asus A55BM-K motherboard are not compatible?

Also i am having problems when i try to access the web bios of the pcie M1015 card. If i have a hard drive plugged into the pcie card I can't go into the web bios. But if i unplug the hard drive i can go into the web bios of the card.

any advice??

 

[jgreco]

The mfi0 line indicates that you failed to crossflash your card to IT mode. This means you are using a RAID card with FreeNAS, which is a no-no.

Follow any of the various guides to crossflash your M1015 into an IT-mode HBA with firmware 20.00.07.00.

 

[Nas-dude]

I bought it off ebay couple years ago and it worked fine on my old desktop (intel motherboard). I have been using without problems on my old system for 2 years. But i changed desktops so i can have more memory

Why do i have to flash a new firmware. Is it because my new motherboard is AMD?

 

[ChrisRJ]

Why do i have to flash a new firmware. Is it because my new motherboard is AMD?

That is a requirement from ZFS to work properly.

 

[jgreco]

That is a requirement from ZFS to work properly.

No, it isn't, at least not without some context.

It's because the MFI firmware is crap, and the combination of the FreeBSD MFI driver and the MFI card firmware isn't particularly reliable. It joins others like CCISS in the class of "it sorta works a lot of the time".

https://www.truenas.com/community/r...bas-and-why-cant-i-use-a-raid-controller.139/

There's no reason that the MFI driver/firmware combo COULDN'T be made to work very well, if LSI put the effort in, but LSI no longer exists and it is unlikely that Broadcom is going to fix the firmware/driver on a card they never even sold.

It isn't that crossflashing is a ZFS requirement; all ZFS *requires* is a clear and reliable channel to all of its disks.

So @ChrisRJ is sorta right -- in a practical sense the crossflash is required for the card to work properly with ZFS, but there's nothing in ZFS that requires the card to be crossflashed, ZFS does not do any enforcement of underlying controller/drive/etc types.

 

[Nas-dude]

it worked!

I update the firmware on my card and it worked in my new system.

I followed these instructions

Where is the megarec Utility to Crossflash M1015 to IT Mode?

I am trying to cross flash the IBM Serveraid M1015 to IT mode, following this tutorial: (http://www.servethehome.com/ibm-serveraid-m1015-part-4/) but it looks like the link for the files in that article is currently down. (http://forums.laptopvideo2go.com/topic/29059-lsi-92xx-firmware-files/)...

www.truenas.com

and these files

SOLVED - IBM ServeRaid M1015 and "No LSI SAS adapters found!"

Yeah. Nope, those are LSI SAS 2108 cards. For the LSI SAS 2108, is there a link for crossflashing to IT mode.

www.truenas.com

Pretty much just make a bootable usb using rufus and download a zip file and unzip it on the usb and edit 1 file with your 16 digit card load the usb onto the desktop and type in a couple commands. Easier than i thought.

Card booted up afterwards and saw all my disks and pools


thanks to everyone who helped me in this thread. It is much appreciated.