Upgrading firmware on LSI 9211-8i

[David Dyer-Bennet]

And, on the actual issue -- LSI-9211 (now known as Avago) firmware and bios successfully flashed using UEFI tools.

I did a simpler procedure than outlined here, but the one outlined most places, just clearing with "sas2flash.efi -o -e 6" and burning with "sas2flash.efi -o -f 2118it.bin -b mptsas2.rom" (plus using -listall before and after to verify).

Note that if there were more than one controller in the box these commands might not be exactly right!

 

[cyberjock]

And, on the actual issue -- LSI-9211 (now known as Avago) firmware and bios successfully flashed using UEFI tools.

I did a simpler procedure than outlined here, but the one outlined most places, just clearing with "sas2flash.efi -o -e 6" and burning with "sas2flash.efi -o -f 2118it.bin -b mptsas2.rom" (plus using -listall before and after to verify).

Note that if there were more than one controller in the box these commands might not be exactly right!

That way is also more dangerous. If the writing process can't finish (or doesn't finish) then your LSI card is permanently trashed. Without firmware the card doesn't know how to do anything.

 

[David Dyer-Bennet]

Well, got away with it this time. :) (why is there no "relieved" emoticon?)

The big difference was skipping a previous erase step and a reboot--and all the other sources I could find had dire warnings against rebooting during the process, saying it would leave you with a bricked card. It seemed like the lesser risk at the time.

 

[ajschot]

somebody know where to find the frimware??
Broadcomsite does not show the 9211-8i anymore....

 

[Spearfoot]

somebody know where to find the frimware??
Broadcomsite does not show the 9211-8i anymore....

The 9211 and 9210 are identical (except for the port locations), and the 9210 firmware is still available at "www.broadcom.com/products/storage/host-bus-adapters/sas-9210-8i#downloads"

 

[ajschot]

The 9211 and 9210 are identical (except for the port locations), and the 9210 firmware is still available at "www.broadcom.com/products/storage/host-bus-adapters/sas-9210-8i#downloads"

Thanks I did not know that!

 

[Black Ninja]

The posted thread is a long one.

Here is what I did:

Code:

Use Rufus to make a FreeDOS USB boot volume

Copy:

sas2flsh.exe
2118it.bin

to the root of the USB

Boot from USB

execute sas2flsh -listall

note the numbers of the 2 cards (should be 0 and 1)

execute:

sas2flsh -c 0 -o -e 6 (erases the firmware ROM, do not reboot until new firmware is loaded)
sas2flsh -c 0 -f 2118it.bin

sas2flsh -c 1 -o -e 6 (erases the firmware ROM, do not reboot until new firmware is loaded)
sas2flsh -c 1 -f 2118it.bin

sas2flsh -listall (verify the firmware is loaded properly)

There is no need to load the mptsas2.rom unless you want to boot from a disk connected to the HBA cards (just use the SATA ports for boot, or USB).

The above is all true too if you use the UEFI installer which is recommended.  The command is sas2flash.efi instead.  The command map lists all drives in the EFI shell.  Change drives in UEFI like dos "DirveName:" to change dir.

I have done it in both DOS and UEFI. I have not tried this from within FreeNAS itself although I think it can be done. My reason for this is I would rather not have the pools attached during a firmware upgrade (I am paranoid, I actually detach the drives during a firmware upgrade). Prefer the UEFI method as I do not need to make a bootable USB disk. I personally do not install the mptsas2.rom as I do not plan on ever booting from the SAS controller.

Cheers,

This is very old but I came across it and just wanted to to mention that this "erases the firmware ROM, do not reboot until new firmware is loaded" is not correct also this: "I personally do not install the mptsas2.rom"

Here is the correct(official) procedure: https://www.broadcom.com/support/kn...mware-on-lsi-sas-hbas-upgraded-firmware-on-92

 

[Spearfoot]

This is very old but I came across it and just wanted to to mention that this "erases the firmware ROM, do not reboot until new firmware is loaded" is not correct also this: "I personally do not install the mptsas2.rom"

It's okay not to install the option ROM (mptsas2.rom) provided you don't plan on booting your system from the HBA. This also has the added benefit of the system booting up faster, too.

 

[Black Ninja]

It's okay not to install the option ROM (mptsas2.rom) provided you don't plan on booting your system from the HBA. This also has the added benefit of the system booting up faster, too.

Drives are detected on boot and you have the ability to enter the controller menu and change it's settings (stagger spin-up and etc.) which will disappear otherwise , for what ? save a 1-2 seconds that bios will take much longer.

Respectfully I disagree with you 100%. I think this ghetto-hack to save few seconds on boot is not how the controller should be flashed. Unless is documented anywhere, it just personal opinion.

 

[Ericloewe]

The extension ROM has long been known to cause trouble in many different situations. Even having two of them installed on different cards has been known to cause problems!

The features available in the extension ROM are minimal.

Drives are detected on boot

Basically useless on any system with a functioning LSI SAS2 driver. The topology is readily available via sas2ircu in the OS.

save a 1-2 seconds that bios will take much longer.

Actually, significantly longer than that in some systems.

I think this ghetto-hack

It is not a hack. It is implicitly supported by the fact that sas2flash has separate commands for BIOS extension ROM and firmware flashing.

 

[Black Ninja]

All I am saying is that: this is not the official way to flash a card and no documentation will advice that.

I, personally would never ever do that a card and loose the ability to boot from it if need it to. Even if it takes a minute longer to boot. A server shouldn't be rebooted so often to matter the boot time, if so something is wrong with it. My FreeNAS server has not been rebooted for more than a year.

This is just my opinion, people have different goals and different methods of achieving them.

 

[Ericloewe]

this is not the official way to flash a card

Says who? It's as official as the variant with the extension ROM. There's nothing in the documentation either way.

 

[Black Ninja]

Says who? It's as official as the variant with the extension ROM. There's nothing in the documentation either way.

The manufacturer I guess. I have not seen in any documentation that is ok to clear the card of both bios and rom (cause they should be there on any new card you buy) and then add just one of them and running like that.

https://www.broadcom.com/support/kn...mware-on-lsi-sas-hbas-upgraded-firmware-on-92

and again, even if it was written somewhere that's ok to use it like that. To make the card un-bootable , so you can reduce the boot time on server is soooooo.... don't make sense to me. This is just my opinion.

 

[Ericloewe]

To make the card un-bootable

It's not like they're very reliable boot devices anyway. There's a quote from Josh Paetzel to that effect, too.

 

[danb35]

I have not seen in any documentation that is ok to clear the card of both bios and rom (cause they should be there on any new card you buy) and then add just one of them and running like that.

...and there's nothing in there saying it isn't OK either. You prefer to flash the boot ROM, good for you--it's your server, and you can run it however you want. But to say it's wrong to skip flashing the boot ROM is, well, wrong.

 

[Black Ninja]

I just prefer to follow the manufacturer instructions, in hope to minimize troubles that will occur even if you do it right, so I don't want to ask for more.

I don't know if after erasing the card with "sas2flash.efi -o -e 6" should pull the power out or not. I am not the one who made the card.

In the documentation is said that you should pull the power off ,but the user above said quite the opposite :"do not reboot until new firmware is loaded". Who you think I should listen ?

I don't want to brick my card, and since I was not the one wrote the code I would trust the manufacturer over somebody else. Especially when one side says "make sure you don't..." and the other say "make sure you do the opposite..."



P.S. Maybe it wont brick the card if you pull the power at any time, I don't know. I just point out that instructions are quite the opposite of what user suggest, so people wont brick their card. I remember how many guides I had to go through to find one that actually works. I was surprised how many people wrote guides that they haven't try themselves, at best commands are typed wrong so it's impossible to work and for newbie to just follow steps and get it done.

 

[Scharbag]

This is very old but I came across it and just wanted to to mention that this "erases the firmware ROM, do not reboot until new firmware is loaded" is not correct also this: "I personally do not install the mptsas2.rom"

Here is the correct(official) procedure: https://www.broadcom.com/support/kn...mware-on-lsi-sas-hbas-upgraded-firmware-on-92

What the deuce? I included the "do not reboot" advice from here. If it is not required, fine. As for the instructions, they work for me and are clear and concise. I have flashed 3 9211-8i based cards from V15 to V16 to V19 and finally to V20 using the instructions that I provided.

The ROM takes way to freaking long to boot when you have 2 9211-8i cards and 30 hard drives.

Regardless, I use ESXi and will never want to boot from the SAS controllers within a VM. So, I made the personal choice to delete the ROM.

So, if it is your opinion that you need the ROM, then install the ROM.

Regards,

 

[Black Ninja]

What the deuce? I included the "do not reboot" advice from here. If it is not required, fine. As for the instructions, they work for me and are clear and concise. I have flashed 3 9211-8i based cards from V15 to V16 to V19 and finally to V20 using the instructions that I provided.

The ROM takes way to freaking long to boot when you have 2 9211-8i cards and 30 hard drives.

Regardless, I use ESXi and will never want to boot from the SAS controllers within a VM. So, I made the personal choice to delete the ROM.

So, if it is your opinion that you need the ROM, then install the ROM.

Regards,

I see where you got it from. A random guy who claim

"DO NOT REBOOT. If you do reboot, or if you attempt to flash the firmware and/or BIOS image and it does not flash correctly, you will have to RMA the controller."

I just wanted to point out that is quite the opposite according to the documentation, so you don't get your card bricked (RMA). I don't know how important is it really and what are the chances or bricking the card, but I wanted to correct it cause it might be very important.


P.S. My esxi boot from raid card (9271-8i) so if it's not bootable, hypervisor won't boot. But that's different topic.

 

[Scharbag]

I see where you got it from. A random guy who claim

"DO NOT REBOOT. If you do reboot, or if you attempt to flash the firmware and/or BIOS image and it does not flash correctly, you will have to RMA the controller."

I just wanted to point out that is quite the opposite according to the documentation, so you don't get your card bricked (RMA). I don't know how important is it really and what are the chances or bricking the card, but I wanted to correct it cause it might be very important.


P.S. My esxi boot from raid card (9271-8i) so if it's not bootable, hypervisor won't boot. But that's different topic.

I work in the automation industry. It is NEVER a good idea to power cycle anything when upgrading firmware from my experience. So, I choose to not power cycle half way through an upgrade. Since it works fine, I am unsure as to why Broadcom would recommend that you power cycle.

 

[Black Ninja]

I work in the automation industry. It is NEVER a good idea to power cycle anything when upgrading firmware from my experience. So, I choose to not power cycle half way through an upgrade. Since it works fine, I am unsure as to why Broadcom would recommend that you power cycle.

I don't know for sure. But I am thinking: since your first command is to erase the controller, then you power off (i guess to flush it out whatever residual might be) and then write new software on it.
You don't power cycle while is upgrading (writing) you do that after erase, to flush everything before go to the next (writing) stage. That's my 2 cents