LSI 9211 8i Latest Firmware

[RemyZ]

I have ordered an LSI SAS9211-8i Card. I have crossflashed it to IT Mode for use with FreeNas.
I thought all i needed was to crossflash it and move on but reading some posts seems like I need to upgrade to P16 firmware to make Freenas happy. Couldnt find a detailed post on this. I used this guide for the most part http://www.servethehome.com/ibm-serveraid-m1015-part-4/ and havent installed Freenas as of yet.
All I did was crossflash the HBA Card, update Bios and Firmware and just want to make sure nothing was overlooked before I install Freenas.

Please let me know if that post has the latest drivers or if I should be upgrading
Is there a 2TB limit which the firmware I am using currently

 

[Fuganater]

You need to upgrade to P20.

 

[RemyZ]

You need to upgrade to P20.

Thanks is there a direct link you can point me to?

Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk

 

[ser_rhaegar]

You can find the files at: Avagotech

 

[RemyZ]

i am familiar with creating an ms-dos bootable image but what specific commands do i need to run to upgrade the firmware ???
What version of the P20 should I be downloading (I am assuming the MSDos or FreeBSD) ?

Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk

 

[danb35]

It's a pity there aren't any other threads on the first page of this very forum that would answer your question.

 

[Dice]

that would answer your question.

I hate when that happens :P

 

[RemyZ]

Haha read the post and cleared up some questions and will be upgrading when i get home

Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk

 

[RemyZ]

Got it taken care of and its now updated. Chasing more gremlins

 

[eengineer]

i am familiar with creating an ms-dos bootable image but what specific commands do i need to run to upgrade the firmware ???
What version of the P20 should I be downloading (I am assuming the MSDos or FreeBSD) ?

Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk

I also bought a 9211-8i. This is how I upgraded it to P20
Used an old HP computer Pavilion P6310f
I had it from an upgrade so no operating system or hard drive. Probably no UEFI BIOS.
Made a USB DOS boot drive with HP_USB_Format_Tool
downloaded “HP Disk Storage Format Tool and MS-DOS/FreeDOS File” from
https://www.raymond.cc/blog/download/did/1812/

Unzipped the file which gave HPUSBDisk, MSDOS folder & FreeDOS folder
Made the boot USB with MSDOS

downloaded “9211-8i_Package_P20_IR_IT_FW_BIOS_for_MSDOS_Windows” from
http://www.avagotech.com/products/server-storage/host-bus-adapters/sas-9211-8i#downloads
from the current Firmware packages

copied: 2118it.bin from 9211-8i_Package_P20_IR_IT_FW_BIOS_for_MSDOS_Windows\Firmware\HBA_9211_8i_IT
to the USB stick

Copied: sas2flsh from
9211-8i_Package_P20_IR_IT_FW_BIOS_for_MSDOS_Windows\sas2flash_dos_rel
to the USB stick

Copied: mptsas2.rom from
9211-8i_Package_P20_IR_IT_FW_BIOS_for_MSDOS_Windows\sasbios_rel
to USB stick

Correctly removed USB stick from My main Windows 10 computer and put it into the old HP.
Installed the LSI 9211-8i card in the PCI-e slot. Started the old computer up and it booted into DOS.

I then typed in the following commands and waited untill each was done.


sas2flsh.exe -listall

This will give the PCI Address:
the adapter number:
and show that your card is connected.

Sas2flsh -o -e 6
wait until done

sas2flsh -o -f 2118it.bin -b mptsas2.rom
wait until done

test with
sas2flsh.exe -listall
wait until done

Turn off old computer and removed USB and LSI 9211-8i

 

[Bill Cowger]

I also bought a 9211-8i. This is how I upgraded it to P20
Used an old HP computer Pavilion P6310f
I had it from an upgrade so no operating system or hard drive. Probably no UEFI BIOS.
Made a USB DOS boot drive with HP_USB_Format_Tool
downloaded “HP Disk Storage Format Tool and MS-DOS/FreeDOS File” from
https://www.raymond.cc/blog/download/did/1812/

Unzipped the file which gave HPUSBDisk, MSDOS folder & FreeDOS folder
Made the boot USB with MSDOS

downloaded “9211-8i_Package_P20_IR_IT_FW_BIOS_for_MSDOS_Windows” from
http://www.avagotech.com/products/server-storage/host-bus-adapters/sas-9211-8i#downloads
from the current Firmware packages

copied: 2118it.bin from 9211-8i_Package_P20_IR_IT_FW_BIOS_for_MSDOS_Windows\Firmware\HBA_9211_8i_IT
to the USB stick

Copied: sas2flsh from
9211-8i_Package_P20_IR_IT_FW_BIOS_for_MSDOS_Windows\sas2flash_dos_rel
to the USB stick

Copied: mptsas2.rom from
9211-8i_Package_P20_IR_IT_FW_BIOS_for_MSDOS_Windows\sasbios_rel
to USB stick

Correctly removed USB stick from My main Windows 10 computer and put it into the old HP.
Installed the LSI 9211-8i card in the PCI-e slot. Started the old computer up and it booted into DOS.

I then typed in the following commands and waited untill each was done.


sas2flsh.exe -listall

This will give the PCI Address:
the adapter number:
and show that your card is connected.

Sas2flsh -o -e 6
wait until done

sas2flsh -o -f 2118it.bin -b mptsas2.rom
wait until done

test with
sas2flsh.exe -listall
wait until done

Turn off old computer and removed USB and LSI 9211-8i

:)I cannot thank you enough for this post. Not only was I able to flash the firmware but I was able to understand what was going on somewhat.

 

[Skynet3020]

Hi at all
i have 2 lsi 9211-8i, now i serach the latest firmware, i have flashed with howto in post#10
but the file i found was not from the manufacturer. now he working but in the boot screen i got:

6Gbps SAS Controller

MPT2BIOS-7.11.10.00 (2011.06.02)
Copyright 2000-20111 LSI Corporation

Updating Adatper List!

PCI ENCL LUN VENDOR PRODUCT
SLOT SLOT NUM NAME IDENTIFIER
10 LSI Corp SAS2008-IT

i think this is a old version !?

can anyone give me a download link, or upload he's latest ?
I'm Running on FreeNAS-11.0-RC2 (a4687be8c)

Thx

 

[Redcoat]

Latest is linked in this document.

 

[Skynet3020]

thx but i found only the sas2flash.efi
i can't find a mpt2sas.rom and 2118it.bin package ?

 

[Mlovelace]

thx but i found only the sas2flash.efi
i can't find a mpt2sas.rom and 2118it.bin package ?

Here's a link.

 

[Redcoat]

thx but i found only the sas2flash.efi
i can't find a mpt2sas.rom and 2118it.bin package ?

Try here

 

[Skynet3020]

great thx
the broadcast page is a little bit confusing. i search for 9211 but the results was only for 9210 and 9217 !

 

[twf85]

This page is one of the top search results for "lsi 9211-8i firmware", so I'd like to chime in that the following tutorial worked flawlessly:

Convert LSI 9211-8i HBA card to IT mode

If you didn't want to convert the card to IT mode, you could still use the method described in the tutorial (just use the "IR" file instead of "IT").

 

[Mastakilla]

I am a little confused...

I'm here at the LSI 9211-8i download page:
https://www.broadcom.com/support/do...n=SAS+9211-8i+Host+Bus+Adapter&pa=All&po=&dk=

And I can indeed find the "9211_8i_Package_P20_IR_IT_FW_BIOS_for_MSDOS_Windows" firmware mentioned above. This one seems applicable for me, as I currently see the following in the "LSI Corp Config Utility":
FW Revision: 16.00.01.00-IT
While the firmware mentioned above has "Version: 20.00.07.00".

So far so good... But then I also see a section for "BIOS" on the website, which has "UEFI_BSD_P20" as the latest BIOS and as Version "7.27.01.01". And here comes the confusing thing: In my "LSI Corp Config Utility", it says "v7.31.00.00 (2013.02.28)". I'm not sure if this is the version of "LSI Corp Config Utility" itself or if this is the BIOS version. But the version I have is a later version than what is on the website, but with an older date...

So should I install the latest BIOS from the website too? Or only the IT firmware mentioned above?

EDIT:
Aha! I just found the following in the "README_9211_8i_Package_P20_IR_IT_Firmware_BIOS_for_MSDOS_Windows.txt"
BIOS : \sasbios_rel\mptsas2.rom Version no: 7.39.02.00 Release date: 03-AUG-14

So it seems like an even later BIOS version than the one I currently have is included in the firmware...

So I guess I just need to update the firmware and that will also update the BIOS then?

Anyway: I'm getting that "Failed to initialize PAL" error when I try to update... Investigating...

 

[Mastakilla]

Ok, I read that error has to do with my BIOS being UEFI and then I read about another way of doing it using sas2flash.efi:
https://www.ixsystems.com/community/threads/how-to-flash-lsi-9211-8i-using-efi-shell.50902/

However, the link to a file required for this procedure "Shell_Full.efi" no longer exists and when googling for it, I can only find the faulty version that throws the “InitShellApp: Application not started from Shell” error. Can anyone please send me the correct file?

Thanks!

EDIT:
I just tried to follow this guide:
https://github.com/bsodmike/s5clouds8-lsi9211-8i-IR-to-IT-EFI-bootable-usb

This includes the actual "bootX64.efi" that worked for him. But I'm still getting the “InitShellApp: Application not started from Shell” error :(

I'm starting to become clueless now...

EDIT2:
Thinking about installing Windows just for the firmware... That should work when using the below, right?
9211_8i_Package_P20_IR_IT_FW_BIOS_for_MSDOS_Windows\sas2flash_win_x64_rel\sas2flash.exe

EDIT3:
It worked from Windows!!