Error flashing IBM 1015 to IT mode

[pcmofo]

I am flashing an IBM 1015 card to IT mode for the first time. I have two identical cards to work with. I have tried using different USB drives and downloading different versions of the install files. In all cases I get the same error.

Exception: 0E, Error code: 0006

Causeway error 09 : Unrecoverable exception. Program terminated.

So I've got no idea what to do next... I can try flashing the card on another system but I feel like it's an error with DOS or the install files...

 

[nightshade00013]

Sounds like a media or file error.

Format the USB drive or get a different USB drive and install FreeDOS on it and then add your files again.

 

[pcmofo]

Sounds like a media or file error.

Format the USB drive or get a different USB drive and install FreeDOS on it and then add your files again.

Thanks for the reply. I just grabbed another USB drive (#3) and tried again with both MSDOS and FreeDOS with the same results. :-/

 

[nightshade00013]

Download a new copy of the files you are trying to use. Could be corrupted. If that doesn't work try a new computer.

Have you run Memtest on the one that is giving problems?

 

[cyberjock]

It may be your motherboard.. What is your MB?

 

[pcmofo]

Using a Supermicro X9DRi-LN4F+ motherboard. I got one LSI card that was DOA and due to some confusion they sent two replacements. When first booting I was able to see the LSI post and press Ctrl + H and navigate around the LSI system.

I was unable to follow ANY of the guides for flashing the card successfully due to the previously mentioned errors. I was able to follow this guide eventually. http://brycv.com/blog/2012/flashing-it-firmware-to-lsi-sas9211-8i/

I booted into UEFI mode and I was able to flash the card as well as see it respond back that it had been flashed successfully.

When I reboot I no longer see the boot option to Ctrl + H into the card during boot but I did NOT enable the OptionROM when I flashed the card... so it is possible that the card is flashed and working? How can I tell? I can reboot and flash it again and it responds... Not sure if I was successful or not....

I entered the following commands successfully
sas2flash.efi -o -e 6
sas2flash.efi -o -f 2118it.bin

I was unable to call sas2flash.efi -o sasadd 500605xxxxxx to set the SAS address.... not sure if this is important or an indication that the flash was successful or not...

Any idea where to go from here?

 

[danb35]

When I reboot I no longer see the boot option to Ctrl + H into the card during boot but I did NOT enable the OptionROM when I flashed the card

You don't see that option because you didn't flash the option ROM. What's the output of 'sas2flash -listall'?

 

[pcmofo]

You don't see that option because you didn't flash the option ROM. What's the output of 'sas2flash -listall'?

That returns sas2008(B1) FW 15.00.00 x86-BIOS No Image

 

[pcmofo]

I installed FreeNAS to see if the card works. FreeNAS installed fine, I get a warning "Firmware version 15 does not match driver version 20 for /dev/mps0" which makes me think that maybe I was successful in flashing the card but need to reflash with v20 and not the current v15? No drives are showing up in freenas currently.

 

[danb35]

Well, yes, the sas2flash output you posted indicates that it's on P15. Current 9.3 (i.e., 9.3.1) wants P20; earlier 9.3 and all 9.2 want P16.

 

[pcmofo]

Well, yes, the sas2flash output you posted indicates that it's on P15. Current 9.3 (i.e., 9.3.1) wants P20; earlier 9.3 and all 9.2 want P16.

Cool, thanks for the specific version info. I should be able to grab the p20 files from LSI and flash again using UEFI mode. I do have two concerns.

1. using the sasadd command did not work in UEFI mode
2. How do I know that the card is working? I have a single drive plugged into the backplane and a SAS cable connecting the card to the backplane. Clearly FreeNAS is upset about the current version, but once that is resolved... then the drives should just start showing up in FreeNAS?

 

[nightshade00013]

From my understanding even with the version 15 firmware installed on the card FreeNAS will still see the drives. It will work but it's not an ideal situation as the firmware and drivers are basically a matched set.

Should be no need to do ANYTHING in UEFI though as the drives are not going to be used to boot from.

I think one of the things you may have failed to do is you did not flash the bios for the card. That would have been the -b portion on the link you posted. This could be the reason why you're not actually seeing the option in the bootup anymore but unless you are actually trying to boot the drives or do something like raid the option really doesn't have much of a purpose.

 

[pcmofo]

From my understanding even with the version 15 firmware installed on the card FreeNAS will still see the drives. It will work but it's not an ideal situation as the firmware and drivers are basically a matched set.

Should be no need to do ANYTHING in UEFI though as the drives are not going to be used to boot from.

I think one of the things you may have failed to do is you did not flash the bios for the card. That would have been the -b portion on the link you posted. This could be the reason why you're not actually seeing the option in the bootup anymore but unless you are actually trying to boot the drives or do something like raid the option really doesn't have much of a purpose.

Yep, I removed the -b bios portion as I will be booting to a USB flash drive. The hard drives are all connected to a 24-bay SAS2 expander with a single mini-sas to mini-sas cable which connects it to the IBM/LSI card. So my goal is to flash the car in JBOD/IT mode so that the card acts as a HBA passthrough to the SAS2 backplane and FreeNAS can access the drives directly to perform smart tests on them etc.

I downloaded the P20 firmware and UEFI sas2flash.efi from LSI. Those are going onto a USB drive, booting into UEFI mode on the supermicro board, then I am re-running the -o -f install commands. From what I have read here and online this sounds like it will fix the situation.

It looks like because I am not installing the BIOS to the card I will see no card and no hard drives during the booting process. I should be able to hot swap hard drives while FreeNAS is running and FreeNAS should detect the drives proving that both the SAS backplane and the IBM/LSI card are working and in the correct JOBD/IT/HBA mode.

I'll be trying this in a few hours and report back with the results.

 

[nightshade00013]

Correct without the BIOS you will not get the option to boot from the drives nor any screens where it will wait for a input to enter a menu, which I think in your situation was ctrl-H. It wouldn't hurt to have it there but it should function fine.

I think the recommended way to deal with any drive in FreeNAS is to shut down to swap. It should support hot swap but there is a few things that are required for it to work correctly. https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/does-freenas-support-hotswap-drives.14546/

 

[pcmofo]

Good news, the card is updated to p20, I was able to assign it the correct SAS address, and the error went away in FreeNAS when I rebooted.

Bad news, none of the drives appear in FreeNAS....

Not sure if I'm not doing something right or if the SAS2 backplane isnt working etc.

Any thoughts on what to try next?

 

[nightshade00013]

Grab a breakout cable and plug a drive in directly and bypass the backplane would be my first stop.

 

[pcmofo]

Grab a breakout cable and plug a drive in directly and bypass the backplane would be my first stop.

Ok. I ordered one, it will be here Friday. Guess it would be good to have around for stuff like this. I'm willing to try whatever else in the mean time. I have another week or 2 before my 30-day DOA guarantee is up on my ebay stuff so I am hoping to get all the parts for my new server tested and working by then. Memory and motherboard check out so far. Just need to make sure that I can talk to all the drive bays and figure out how to stress test the processors...

 

[Fuganater]

What chassis and where did you get it from? (seller name if Ebay)

 

[pcmofo]

What chassis and where did you get it from? (seller name if Ebay)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/321903782481
Case: SC846E16-R1200B
Backplane: BPN-SAS2-846EL1
Motherboard: X9DRi-LN4F+

 

[Fuganater]

Ok real dumb question.... are you plugged into the correct port on the backplane?