DELL H200 in bad state after failed flash to IT

[FuriousGeorge]

I followed docs for the LSI SAS9211-8i without realizing that DELL branded cards require intermediary flashing steps.

https://nguvu.org/freenas/Convert-LSI-HBA-card-to-IT-mode/

Attempting to add USB storage with the missing firmware and utilities has failed. Eventually, I tried putting the files on the root memstick and reinserting but now current utilities on the disk may not work.

Someone on the FreeDOS list suggested trying to exhaust FreeDOS' cache so it would rescan root.

Short of that, which may not work, I'll need to reboot my system, which will complete the brick of the card.

I noticed there are pins for UART on the top, and some docs describe using a megarec utility that may work on bticked cards (not sure).

However, there are a lot of bad and outdated docs out there, so I was hoping for a recommendation about what to follow to get the card in IT mode, assuming it is still possible.

Thanks.

 

[Chris Moore]

We have a guide in the resources section of the Forum.
What makes you think that a reboot will brick the card?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Tapatalk

 

[FuriousGeorge]

The howto referenced in OP states:

Its CRITICAL at this stage you do not reboot the machine or you will leave the HBA card in a unrecoverable state.

I was able to complete the step that deletes the bios, but not the step that adds a new one. It seems entirely possible that upon booting with no bios I will not be able to interface normally with the card, in any respect.

 

[Chris Moore]

The howto referenced in OP states:

Its CRITICAL at this stage you do not reboot the machine or you will leave the HBA card in a unrecoverable state.

I was able to complete the step that deletes the bios, but not the step that adds a new one. It seems entirely possible that upon booting with no bios I will not be able to interface normally with the card, in any respect.

I don't think that is right because I recall having to reboot several times when I did it the first time and I messed it up and had to do it again but never bricked the card. I am not even sure you can brick them. It isn't like you are booting from it. Take a look at the guide here:

Detailed newcomers' guide to crossflashing LSI 9211 HBA and variants
https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...o-crossflashing-lsi-9211-hba-and-variants.54/

 

[FuriousGeorge]

Thanks. I'll give it a shot and report back.

 

[David Henrickson]

....and are we going to report back? I'm running into the same issue.

 

[Chris Moore]

Here is the "step by step" where someone else did it. If it goes wrong, you can always do a clean and start again from there. I have done about six of these cards and I have made mistakes, but they are forgiving.

https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...dell-h200-with-a-dell-r610.32919/#post-204839