Guide: Flashing H310 & H710 Mini to IT Mode 2021-02-20

[oryxtookking]

Reviving this old thread...

I purchased a Dell R720XD with a PERC R710 mini already flashed to IT mode. when I attempted to use it I was unable to so I found this guide to re-flash assuming based on my symptoms that this card was flashed without the boot rom (No Avago Technologies message on boot).

When using this guide I follow all steps, disconnect all drives, removed the battery from the controller, disabled virtualization, SR-IOV, and I/OAT. I ran the FreeDOS ISO from a flash drive setup with Rufus, and have also tried by mounting the ISO as a disk through iDRAC. Both lead to the following outcome:

When running the "info" command after booting into the ISO, no product name, chip revision, or SAS address are returned. Ive re-downloaded the ISO a few times and tried again, but still no luck.

Can anyone provide some insight as to what I might be missing?

 

[fohdeesha]

Reviving this old thread...

I purchased a Dell R720XD with a PERC R710 mini already flashed to IT mode. when I attempted to use it I was unable to so I found this guide to re-flash assuming based on my symptoms that this card was flashed without the boot rom (No Avago Technologies message on boot).

When using this guide I follow all steps, disconnect all drives, removed the battery from the controller, disabled virtualization, SR-IOV, and I/OAT. I ran the FreeDOS ISO from a flash drive setup with Rufus, and have also tried by mounting the ISO as a disk through iDRAC. Both lead to the following outcome:

When running the "info" command after booting into the ISO, no product name, chip revision, or SAS address are returned. Ive re-downloaded the ISO a few times and tried again, but still no luck.

Can anyone provide some insight as to what I might be missing?

Hi, the "info" command in the freedos ISO can only find and display perc cards running the stock megaraid firmware, it's expected that an already crossflashed card will not show up here. If you're looking for the appropriate revert command and need to know the card model, you'll need to physically look at the back of the card to find the dell p/n and compare it to the matrix on the guide: https://fohdeesha.com/docs/perc.html#extra-revision-info-part-numbers

 

[oryxtookking]

Hi, the "info" command in the freedos ISO can only find and display perc cards running the stock megaraid firmware, it's expected that an already crossflashed card will not show up here. If you're looking for the appropriate revert command and need to know the card model, you'll need to physically look at the back of the card to find the dell p/n and compare it to the matrix on the guide: https://fohdeesha.com/docs/perc.html#extra-revision-info-part-numbers

Fantastic! I will be taking a look at the back of the card. Would you recommend flashing back to stock firmware, then running the tool to flash to IT mode again? Assuming it would then show up properly when running "info". Or would you just take a look at the physical card and then run the tool based on that info?

Thanks again!

 

[thatja]

When I type info, I don't get an output.

In bios, I can see that H710 is connected, but once FreeDOS is booted from the USB, info returns nothing

 

[Fishmanos]

As the thread has been already resurrected... I'll do some more necromancy here...

First of all, thank you very much for prerparing comprehencive and easy to follow guide! Was able to follow it and flash my H710P D1 without problems (although it threw an error during second flash erasing pass, which does not seem to affect anything, but was not mentioned in the docs).

After the flash,all looks like working fine, but I was wondering if anyone tried to run 4Kn disks off of flashed controllers?

The H710 does not support 4Kn disks afaik and also when I tried with (original) H310 it sees them as incorrect size and reporting some garbage.

Does the new firmware flashed allow to use native 4K drives? I purchased Exos X16 12TB disks which are 4Kn and already packed them and are waiting for courier to pick themn up on their return journey, but now that I flashed the controller was wondering if it makes sense to unpack them back and test?

Does anyone tested 4Kn drives (ideally the above mentioned :P ) on the flashed H710P?
Thanks!

 

[Fishmanos]

As the thread has been already resurrected... I'll do some more necromancy here...

First of all, thank you very much for prerparing comprehencive and easy to follow guide! Was able to follow it and flash my H710P D1 without problems (although it threw an error during second flash erasing pass, which does not seem to affect anything, but was not mentioned in the docs).

After the flash,all looks like working fine, but I was wondering if anyone tried to run 4Kn disks off of flashed controllers?

The H710 does not support 4Kn disks afaik and also when I tried with (original) H310 it sees them as incorrect size and reporting some garbage.

Does the new firmware flashed allow to use native 4K drives? I purchased Exos X16 12TB disks which are 4Kn and already packed them and are waiting for courier to pick themn up on their return journey, but now that I flashed the controller was wondering if it makes sense to unpack them back and test?

Does anyone tested 4Kn drives (ideally the above mentioned :P ) on the flashed H710P?
Thanks!

I guess it is only fitting that I'll respond myself after finding the answer :)

I've decided that this is the prime chance to test if it works and unpacking the already packed and sealed disk boxes, along with potential packing them up second time, is a small price to pay for the knowledge gained.

So.. I've done it and am happy to report that indeed flashing H710 with the firmware provided in this tutorial makes it compatible with 4Kn disks!

Hope this will be usefull for someone in the future.