Supermicro A1SAi-2750F flash M1015 to p20 with 9.3.1

[Gonghua Dong]

Anyone has the same build already did the 9.3.1 stable and P20.00.04.00 firmware? appreciate any heads up & lesson learns before I doing this in two three days..

 

[SweetAndLow]

Did you read the huge thread on flashing p20?

 

[Gonghua Dong]

Thanks replying.

Yes I did, also downloaded all the necessary files. I plan to try in UEFI shell directly since I heard some issue with supermicro board when using dos shell. Just trying to see if anyone has the same c2750 board ran into any other surprises .. Seems a lot people useX9 or X10 board here instead of Avoton SoC.

Also assuming I can directly flash to p20 from IR mode, don't have to flash lower FW like p16 or something.

 

[SweetAndLow]

If you have it firmware you first need to clean/wipe the old firmware. Then flash the p20 it firmware. I think you will be fine just find a guide you like and follow it.

 

[Gonghua Dong]

thanks. will report back once I done flashing.

 

[Ericloewe]

Any catches? I expect the process to be uneventful on modern, recommended hardware, including Supermicro X9, X10 and Avoton boards.

 

[Gonghua Dong]

I just picked up my card from FedEx by myself so that I don't have to wait on Monday...

I installed the card to my mini-tower enclosure and flashed the bios in just few minutes, and it was successful. Below is how I did - of course based on a lot of great posts from this forum only :) especially the reply from GeekGoneOld in this thread: https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...id-m1015-and-no-lsi-sas-adapters-found.27445/

• prepare a DOS boot disk on thumb drive using rufus, then unpack "sas2008.zip" to it so it has "megarec" and empty SBR file "sbrempty.bin"
• prepare a UEFI thumb drive again using rufus, no need to be bootable, choose GPT table instead of MBR. then copy the 2118it.bin, sas2flash.efi, shellx64.efi on it (you can find in a lot of thread easily)
• remove power cable, then disconnec ted drives from board
• boot from DOS drive first, then

megarec -writesbr 0 sbrempty.bin
megarec -cleanflash 0

• Reboot
• boot into build-in EFI shell (F11 on supermicro board and to get boot menu)

• in EFI shell run below commands

shell> fs0:
shell> sas2flash.efi -o -f 2118it.bin
shell> sas2flash.efi -o -sasadd 500605bXXXXXXXXX (Greel label on the back of your M1015 card)
(some posts from google has -0 <zero> when writing address, it's should be -o <letter o> based on LSI document)

• then I shutdown, remove power cable, then hook up card and drives using the SFF-8087 1:4 splitter cable
• remove all thumb drives, then power back up to freeNAS again. it picks up all the zpool partition information automatically without any issue

 

[kraab]

I just picked up my card from FedEx by myself so that I don't have to wait on Monday...

I installed the card to my mini-tower enclosure and flashed the bios in just few minutes, and it was successful. Below is how I did - of course based on a lot of great posts from this forum only :) especially the reply from GeekGoneOld in this thread: https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...id-m1015-and-no-lsi-sas-adapters-found.27445/

• prepare a DOS boot disk on thumb drive using rufus, then unpack "sas2008.zip" to it so it has "megarec" and empty SBR file "sbrempty.bin"
• prepare a UEFI thumb drive again using rufus, no need to be bootable, choose GPT table instead of MBR. then copy the 2118it.bin, sas2flash.efi, shellx64.efi on it (you can find in a lot of thread easily)
• remove power cable, then disconnec ted drives from board
• boot from DOS drive first, then

megarec -writesbr 0 sbrempty.bin
megarec -cleanflash 0

• Reboot
• boot into build-in EFI shell (F11 on supermicro board and to get boot menu)

• in EFI shell run below commands

shell> fs0:
shell> sas2flash.efi -o -f 2118it.bin
shell> sas2flash.efi -o -sasadd 500605bXXXXXXXXX (Greel label on the back of your M1015 card)
(some posts from google has -0 <zero> when writing address, it's should be -o <letter o> based on LSI document)

• then I shutdown, remove power cable, then hook up card and drives using the SFF-8087 1:4 splitter cable
• remove all thumb drives, then power back up to freeNAS again. it picks up all the zpool partition information automatically without any issue

Extra info for anyone needing to complete this, I was able to complete my flash from p18 to p20 without the UEFI part most likely due to my older Supermicro X9

Make usb with 2008.zip, update with current driver 2118it.bin
Unplug power cables to drives, replace boot usb with this one, boot
megarec -writesbr 0 sbrempty.bin
megarec -cleanflash 0
reboot to same USB
sas2flsh -o -f 2118it.bin
sas2flsh -o -sasadd 500605b0xxxxxxxx
Plug drives back in, replace usb
Boot to freenas, nothing more is needed...

 

[paylesspizzaman]

Extra info for anyone needing to complete this, I was able to complete my flash from p18 to p20 without the UEFI part most likely due to my older Supermicro X9

Make usb with 2008.zip, update with current driver 2118it.bin
Unplug power cables to drives, replace boot usb with this one, boot
megarec -writesbr 0 sbrempty.bin
megarec -cleanflash 0
reboot to same USB
sas2flsh -o -f 2118it.bin
sas2flsh -o -sasadd 500605b0xxxxxxxx
Plug drives back in, replace usb
Boot to freenas, nothing more is needed...

When I flashed mine from IR mode to IT mode P20, I followed the guide on servethehome, but for whatever reason I thought writesbr 0 (zero) and cleanflash 0 (zero) was letter O. It seemed to flash fine and seems to work fine. Should I reflash as something might be screwed up?

 

[1kokies]

hi GD, i know this thread was long ago and yours has been the de facto guide it getting cards flashed, i have read like 30 sites and following your process was simple and easy. i am on FN11 with firmware P20 without issues. Thanks a lot man

I just picked up my card from FedEx by myself so that I don't have to wait on Monday...

I installed the card to my mini-tower enclosure and flashed the bios in just few minutes, and it was successful. Below is how I did - of course based on a lot of great posts from this forum only :) especially the reply from GeekGoneOld in this thread: https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...id-m1015-and-no-lsi-sas-adapters-found.27445/

• prepare a DOS boot disk on thumb drive using rufus, then unpack "sas2008.zip" to it so it has "megarec" and empty SBR file "sbrempty.bin"
• prepare a UEFI thumb drive again using rufus, no need to be bootable, choose GPT table instead of MBR. then copy the 2118it.bin, sas2flash.efi, shellx64.efi on it (you can find in a lot of thread easily)
• remove power cable, then disconnec ted drives from board
• boot from DOS drive first, then

megarec -writesbr 0 sbrempty.bin
megarec -cleanflash 0

• Reboot
• boot into build-in EFI shell (F11 on supermicro board and to get boot menu)

• in EFI shell run below commands

shell> fs0:
shell> sas2flash.efi -o -f 2118it.bin
shell> sas2flash.efi -o -sasadd 500605bXXXXXXXXX (Greel label on the back of your M1015 card)
(some posts from google has -0 <zero> when writing address, it's should be -o <letter o> based on LSI document)

• then I shutdown, remove power cable, then hook up card and drives using the SFF-8087 1:4 splitter cable
• remove all thumb drives, then power back up to freeNAS again. it picks up all the zpool partition information automatically without any issue

just want update here

1. card that was flashed is an IBM 1015/LSI SAS9220-8i
2. UEFI thumb drive use rufus to format to boot selection=non bootable, partition scheme=MBR will work/if not try GPT, target system=Bios or UEFI, file system=fat32 (if format under ntfs will not see fs)
3. Rest just follow steps by @Gonghua Dong

just flashed of couple of it and formatted UEFI thumb drive under ntfs which cannot see fs, so thought of updating it here, mobo must be UEFI and different manufacturer have different ways of going in to UEFI shell but it is basically from the bios then go into UEFI shell.