SOLVED X10SL7-F SAS Controller is not operational

[tc9999]

Hello,

my old X10SL7-F stopped working so bought a replacement on eBay. When I connect my SATA drives to the SAS ports none of them are being detected so figured I needed to flash the LSI 2308 controller into IT mode, but I am unable to get into the LSI config utility (no option comes up during boot) and when I try to update the firmware it says: "Controller is not operational. A firmware Hostboot is required."


I am quite new to this so any idea what I'm doing wrong or is the controller faulty?


JPS1 has a jumper installed on the mobo and "Load Onboard SAS Option ROM" in the BIOS is enabled. My system:

Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E3-1246 v3 @ 3.50GHz
Supermicro X10SL7-F
32GB RAM
7 WD Red 6 TB
FreeNAS-11.2-U5

Thanks for the help

EDIT: Motherboard was faulty, received a replacement and working now.

 

[Nick2253]

Are you sure that it was the old card that stopped working, and not something on the motherboard?

I would try the card in a couple different PCIe slots to be sure.

 

[joeschmuck]

I would try the card in a couple different PCIe slots to be sure.

The SAS controller is built on the motherboard.

I think you are using an old IT flash, but read this thread and it may offer you some needed help.

 

[Nick2253]

The SAS controller is built on the motherboard.

Ahh... Then you should ignore me.

 

[tc9999]

Ahh... Then you should ignore me.

Thanks anyway

The SAS controller is built on the motherboard.

I think you are using an old IT flash, but read this thread and it may offer you some needed help.

Thanks, that's the one I downloaded (20.00.07.00), so not sure what's wrong.

 

[joeschmuck]

Thanks, that's the one I downloaded (20.00.07.00), so not sure what's wrong.

Your screen shot looks like the firmware didn't actually update and was still showing 20.00.00.00. Can you confirm that when you boot the machine, the screen now says the proper version?

Looks like you flashed it using the UEFI files, try the DOS version. If you can't get the SAS address then maybe you could contact someone who has this motherboard and ask for advice. I'm pretty sure it's a firmware issue. And is this the same issue on your original motherboard? (I'm assuming you are using the second motherboard you bought).

 

[joeschmuck]

Have you read this thread on how to flash your motherboard? It may have a way to reprogram it without knowing the SAS address, at least it says it works. I hope it helps.

Flashing the LSI2308 firmware on a Supermicro X10SL7-F motherboard.

I appreciate that there are a lot of examples of this in the forums and may be I'm heaping coals onto an already burning fire, but I've written this as an aid to myself and to help me if I have to do it again at some point in the future. First things first don’t use the DOS prompt instructions...

www.truenas.com

 

[tc9999]

@joeschmuck

Thanks again for your help!

It fails to update the firmware so it still shows version 20.00.00.00. I have the SAS address (it's listed on the mobo itself), but entering sas2flash.efi -o –sasadd mySASaddress doesn't work either.

When I enter the firmware filename it starts executing but then fails and says "Error: Firmware Host Boot Failed! Due to error remaining commands will not be executed" and exits SAS2Flash. I also tried an older version (20.00.04.00) but it also fails.

The guide you linked is the first one I followed. I will try to do the DOS version tomorrow when I have access to a PC and can install Rufus.

Thanks again

 

[joeschmuck]

Maybe you should try to reach out and contact someone who has your motherboard, maybe they could provide some advice.

In the meantime let's try a few other things that you probably have already tried but I'll at least ask.

Is your BIOS up to version 3.3?
Is your BMC/IPMI updated to version 3.88?
Have you verified your motherboard jumper JPS1 is set correctly? I would assume so or the SAS port probably wouldn't work at all, but maybe you could disable the SAS ports and then try to flash again.

I'm thinking outside the box here, hopefully something works.

 

[tc9999]

Maybe you should try to reach out and contact someone who has your motherboard, maybe they could provide some advice.

In the meantime let's try a few other things that you probably have already tried but I'll at least ask.

Is your BIOS up to version 3.3?
Is your BMC/IPMI updated to version 3.88?
Have you verified your motherboard jumper JPS1 is set correctly? I would assume so or the SAS port probably wouldn't work at all, but maybe you could disable the SAS ports and then try to flash again.

I'm thinking outside the box here, hopefully something works.

Latest BIOS, IPM, swapped the jumper just in case, tried DOS version... nothing worked. Found another poster that had a similar issue and turned out to be faulty controller.

Just going to return the mobo at this point, thanks a lot for all your help!

 

[joeschmuck]

Just going to return the mobo at this point, thanks a lot for all your help!

Sorry for your loss. I hope you are able to obtain a working unit.

 

[tc9999]

Sorry for your loss. I hope you are able to obtain a working unit.

Received a replacement mobo today and was able to flash the controller into IT mode without any problems. Didn't completely waste my time trying to troubleshoot the problem as I learned a lot. Thanks for your help along the way!

 

[joeschmuck]

Glad the new MB worked out for you. Yes, you can learn a lot troubleshooting a problem and good to you for trying. Some folks do not try very hard and expect everything handed to them. As for the old MB, maybe you could set it back to factory settings and make it work. Yea, you would need a CPU, RAM, basically everything to play with it but if you have that kind of stuff laying around then you cold play. If not, you could sell it with the notion that it has the SAS controller will not accept reprogramming. It may not matter to someone else.