SOLVED Crossflashing a X11SSL-CF

[Celt]

Evening,

I'm not sure if it's the hours I'm working or if I'm naturally dense, but I will be damned if I can find a walkthrough or instructions on precisely how to flash the LSI SAS on this board to IT mode so I gets full use of the SATA Breakout cable I have.

I've searched through this site, and, as I've said, I can't locate one. (Funnily enough, I did find a post telling someone else asking roughly the same question to just use the search function, which I have).

So, if someone would be so kind as to drop me a link and point me in the right direction, I'd be grateful.

(I'll also admit, I might be limiting myself to only looking for posts that deal with only this board, but I want it to be as accurate as possible and I've already learned in my life not to assume anything. Bricked hardware before by "assuming".)

As another aside, I've noticed that the documentation is only online, or am I missing something. Looking for a PDF I can download and print for a 3 ring binder. (Yes, I'm old).

 

[wblock]

@gpsguy provides PDFs at http://freenas.2trux.com/

Asking questions unrelated to the thread title generally does not get a good response. The people that can answer the question skip the thread because it does not appear to be about something they can help with.

 

[Jailer]

Looking for a PDF I can download and print for a 3 ring binder. (Yes, I'm old).

See attached. The directions are the same for multiple Supermicro boards with on board SAS controllers, just make sure you have the correct firmware for our motherboard before you begin.

 

[Celt]

Thank you both.

 

[Celt]

Okay.

Ran SMC3008T.nsh from inside the EFI shell. Now I'm getting that there is no firmware. I take it I just blew off the firmware. It won't load any of the files that are on the thumbdrive currently, (the ones that I got from ftp://ftp.supermicro.com/driver/SAS/LSI/3008/Firmware/

It was unzipped and put in the thumbdrive.

What am I doing wrong, and please, be verbose on the steps.

 

[Ericloewe]

You don't crossflash an X11SSL-CF (or an X10SL7-F or an X11SSH-CTF, for that matter), it already is in IT mode. You just flash the SAS3008 to the latest version.

You should have an EFI executable called sas3flash.efi among the files. Run sas3flash.efi -listall and post the output in [CODE][/CODE] tags, please.

 

[Celt]

Code:

Adapter Selected is a Avago SAS: SAS3008(C0)

		   Controller is not operational. A firmware download is required. Enter firmware file name or quit to exit:

Get the same response to all.

 

[Ericloewe]

Ok, so pick up the manual for sas3flash and tell it to flash the firmware.

 

[Celt]

The closest "manual" I've found for sas3flash is this

https://www.broadcom.com/support/kn...44/flashing-firmware-and-bios-on-lsi-sas-hbas

Using these, this is what I got.

The USB thumbdrive is bootable, created using Rufus using the Freedos option. I can read it, as I can use the sas3flash.efi, but it won't read the other files.

 

[Redcoat]

The closest "manual" I've found for sas3flash is this

Maybe this will help: sas3Flash_quickRefGuide_rev1-0.pdf

 

[Celt]

Still not resolved. Am I not flashing the correct file? Is the file corrupt? Is the motherboard dead? I've been screwing with this with no resolution for almost a week. This should not be this hard.

So, a rundown:

I've been told that the chip was already in IT mode, which means this wasn't necessary. This information was not readily available, so poor documentation there.

I've apparently deleted the firmware off of the chip, yet having all the files listed under the "Firmware" heading on Supermicro's FTP unzipped and on the USB key does me no good as the one that the README.TXT says is the firmware...... isn't being recognized as the firmware. So I have no way that I can see to simply reflash the firmware. Everywhere I've looked, firmwares usually ends with .BIN, but screw me if I can find anything under the SAS3008 heading in the Supermicro FTP that says anything like that.

I'm currently sitting here with a system that does a lovely boot sequence, but that's it as I can't use it for anything else at this point. I'm reaching the point of frustration where a hammer is looking like a viable option.

 

[Jailer]

The document I attached has step by step instructions with pictures on how to flash the new firmware.

 

[Celt]

Got this working. I don't change more than one thing when trouble shooting, but a couple things changed that as out of my control.

1. The firmware underwent a revision.
2. I could not find the USB key that was being use before, so I made a new one.
3. A buddy of mine linked me to another resource. In that resource, instead of setting the boot order, I hit F11 to go to the boot menu and chose it from there.
4. On the remade USB key, instead of dumping all the loose files in there, I left it in the IT folder.

Not sure what, if any, this changed, as you can see from the attached, I believe I have it working (it detects it on boot, the heartbeat led in the motherboard is active, as it even shows as IT.

Any feedback on this?

 

[billhickok]

Got this working. I don't change more than one thing when trouble shooting, but a couple things changed that as out of my control.

1. The firmware underwent a revision.
2. I could not find the USB key that was being use before, so I made a new one.
3. A buddy of mine linked me to another resource. In that resource, instead of setting the boot order, I hit F11 to go to the boot menu and chose it from there.
4. On the remade USB key, instead of dumping all the loose files in there, I left it in the IT folder.

Not sure what, if any, this changed, as you can see from the attached, I believe I have it working (it detects it on boot, the heartbeat led in the motherboard is active, as it even shows as IT.

Any feedback on this?

I went through this thread and having the exact same issue as you. Motherboard is the same (X11SSL-CF). I tried all the commands you posted and getting the same error messages.

I figured that the LSI3008 adapter on this board is in IR mode by default? In the config, my adapter was listed as "LSI3008-IR." I never flashed to IT mode, and accidentally ran the SMC3008T.NSH script under 3008_FW_PH15.00.03.00.zip\IT\UEFI\. Now I'm stuck with that "Controller is not operational" message. I have the latest firmware (P15) extracted to a USB thumbdrive. What command did you execute which ended up fixing it?

Also, did you reboot your computer prior to the fix? I am fearful it might brick the adapter.