[weblacky]

Hi All,
Well...another LSI firmware outing...we have to stop meeting like this...

Due to the recommendation of the old Neko Fuel Aggregator I bought a very cheap LSI 21320-IS SCSI card from eBay so my Fuel would have an external SCSI connector (GASP!!!).

Now it was recognized when I put in it but it said the firmware too old, use lsflash...blah blah, no help.  I didn't "try" a SCSI device on the card either so maybe it worked even though it complains, who cares, I don't like nag screens!

So this was vendor-specific SCSI card made by LSI, my case Dell (because the ROM screen says Dell, unmarked otherwise).  They warn you that it's specially modified so don't install LSI production firmware on it...I think that's crud...let's find out.

I downloaded the file "Fusion-MPT_IT_FW10334_BIOS_50703pt_FLASH_10304.zip" from the very hard to use Broadcom support site.

I also found this website that gave me a HUGE hint: http://www.michaelm.info/blog/?p=1455

To summarize the site above, this gentlemen needed to upgrade the firmware on a LSI22320-HP (same family) in 2017 (WAY AFTER last firmware was released) and I had found the same ZIP file he used independently.

He claimed he was able to FULLY pull the vendor modified card over to production firmware and BIOS which gave him what he needed and put the card on the retail production firmware track, on the DOS flasher.

Now the flashing instructions tell you: DO NOT USE THIS FLASH WITH AN LSI2x320-IS card...that's a vendor card...fear...fear...fear...BS.

This guy claimed he was instantly able to apply the higher-level firmware to the card...but the flasher stopped him from flashing the lower-level MPT BIOS (which he needed for a SCSI support fix).  He said he found a russian site via google cache (I checked cache is gone too) that said the flasher has a SECRET option /g to ignore all stops and just do the flash!

Also his syntax was using "-" but my flasher refused to work without doing "/".  So my options are the similar but with a syntax the flasher would take.

First I checked the firmware and MPT BIOS I had (interactively): 

MPT-IS-5.02.33
MPTFW-01.03.06.00-IS (IS)

The flashing instructions said you should do FW first, then BIOS.  So the firmware I did with: flsh1030 /a /f:it_1030.fw

/a  ALL SCSI ADAPTERS (this card has two ICs, doing both at the same time)
/f:it_1030.fw - firmware name

That worked and verified!

Next came the MPT BIOS: flsh1030 /a /g /b:mptps.rom

Did the operation and verified successfully, rechecked the firmware info through the flsh1030 tool:

MPTBIOS-5.07.03
MPTFW-01.03.52.00-IT

So the version jump wasn't huge, but it's there.  Rebooted and check that the Windows 7 OS I had running on the PC saw the two SCSI HBA controllers on the card and installed drivers...done...popped it back in the Fuel.

Fuel again sees the additional SCSI controllers and doesn't complain about firmware...recognized now as:
   

So there you go!  A vendor Dell LSI21320-IS pulled onto LSI Retail Production firmware, RAID removed (it only had like Raid 0 or some crud anyway...no loss at all)!

I hope this helps someone!

[jwhat]

Hi Weblacky,

just FYI from looking at SAS3442X-R:

>> As others have found there is no 1068 firmware in /usr/firmware/ls .
>> So is there a patch (other than patchSG0007209 which has firmware for LSI 1030 & 949) which has SGI / IRIX preferred firmware ?

I might just try to IRIX lsi flashing tool and see what that reports, just for the sake of it ...

EDIT: Which did not get very far as there is no flashing tool in the ls firmware directory...

Cheers from Oz,

jwhat/John

[jan-jaap]

>> So is there a patch (other than patchSG0007209 which has firmware for LSI 1030 & 949) which has SGI / IRIX preferred firmware ?

Actually, with all patches installed the 949 firmware is removed and replaced with a README that basically says: this firmware was outdated, go find your own on LSI.com...

lsflash is in /usr/bin or /usr/sbin. There's a manual pages as well. The IRIX 'scsiha' command can also dump some raw data (version info) of an LSI SCSI/FC/SATA HBA.

[weblacky]

Okay well this is anticlimactic but..I already updated my new LSI SAS3041X-R to IT firmware (same method above) and have placed an older 300GB SATA drive on Port 0...works fine...detected the first time...exactly what I THOUGHT I'd get with a LSI SAS3442X-R!!!! So I'll be selling that SAS controller.

But the known SATA controller worked, imagine that...case closed...man now I see the Fuel's appeal, it's the only SGI you can mod up enough to be very useful due to internal construction. Shocking that Tezro has no internal HDD bays! I'm sort of wondering if there's a good place to rivet in like side-ways 2.5" sleds into a Tezro to use laptop drives under an internal SATA controller.

[jan-jaap]

But the known SATA controller worked, imagine that...case closed...man now I see the Fuel's appeal, it's the only SGI you can mod up enough to be very useful due to internal construction.

Or the Origin 350. No riveting required.

Shocking that Tezro has no internal HDD bays!  I'm sort of wondering if there's a good place to rivet in like side-ways 2.5" sleds into a Tezro to use laptop drives under an internal SATA controller.

You can find those docks that add 4 hot-swap 2.5" SATA bays in a single 5.25" enclosure. You could use that to install 4 SSDs in a Tezro without any modifications to the chassis.

[weblacky]

While temping, I’d never touch the swap bays backplane. I’m a purest and just cannot do that. Adding is one thing, taking away by modification is another. If I could add two 90 degree 2.5” SATA bays somewhere, great, what’s original needs to stay. Unless I could boot from SATA, then I’d mod. Since I cannot, it needs to stay.

[jan-jaap]

The Origin 350 is all original. The base module has an IO9 and drive backplane, the compute module has neither. So I didn't take anything out.

I believe a (SAS? SATA?) drive backplane from an Altix 350 will fit in the Origin 350, but I never ran into one.

[weblacky]

Realistically in this realm it’s time for someone who actually knows how to design a PCB to create a replacement PCB with one SCSI and one SATA that aren’t connected to each other that are just a drop a replacement for the current back plane you connect cables to. Just have it use the exact same sleds that it uses now since those sleds did come without the need to choose the drive interface.

Which unfortunately disqualifies me.

[Geoman]

Okay well this is anticlimactic but..I already updated my new LSI SAS3041X-R to IT firmware (same method above) and have placed an older 300GB SATA drive on Port 0...works fine...detected the first time...exactly what I THOUGHT I'd get with a LSI SAS3442X-R!!!!  So I'll be selling that SAS controller.

But the known SATA controller worked, imagine that...case closed...man now I see the Fuel's appeal, it's the only SGI you can mod up enough to be very useful due to internal construction.  Shocking that Tezro has no internal HDD bays!  I'm sort of wondering if there's a good place to rivet in like side-ways 2.5" sleds into a Tezro to use laptop drives under an internal SATA controller.

Can you share the exact name of this "firmware.zip" for the LSI SAS3041X-R?
So I understand you right: LSI SAS3041X-R works with SATA-drives and SSDs?

[weblacky]

Okay well this is anticlimactic but..I already updated my new LSI SAS3041X-R to IT firmware (same method above) and have placed an older 300GB SATA drive on Port 0...works fine...detected the first time...exactly what I THOUGHT I'd get with a LSI SAS3442X-R!!!!  So I'll be selling that SAS controller.

But the known SATA controller worked, imagine that...case closed...man now I see the Fuel's appeal, it's the only SGI you can mod up enough to be very useful due to internal construction.  Shocking that Tezro has no internal HDD bays!  I'm sort of wondering if there's a good place to rivet in like side-ways 2.5" sleds into a Tezro to use laptop drives under an internal SATA controller.

Can you share the exact name of this "firmware.zip" for the LSI SAS3041X-R?
So I understand you right: LSI SAS3041X-R works with SATA-drives and SSDs?

I'm afraid I cannot be 100% certain, but I think it was SAS3041X.zip : https://docs.broadcom.com/docs/12351234

I did the same basic instructions with seeing the current firmware and chip type, then check the SAS ADDR (if exists), then the upgrade. DO NOT TRY TO UPGRADE YOUR FIRMWARE WITHOUT KNOWING YOUR CHIP-TYPE shown in: sasflash -listall

I used the HBAFLASH.BAT script for this as well under a booted USB DOS key on a PCI-X compatible mainboard...however it should be keyed to support a normal 32-bit PCI slot.

DOS (NOT DOS MODE) is the only OS you can do a full firmware change (migrate the entire 2MB image) from RAID to IT.  HBAFLASH.BAT asks a series of questions, you will be asked for firmware type (Raid vs IT), Chip family, Flash type (A3,B1, etc), PCI interface type, etc...  You cannot use Windows to do this type of firmware change.

In regards to your SATA question, I've not tried it with an SSD, I simply placed an old 300GB SATA drive on my fuel...worked the first time out, did a format and backup/file copy.  Worked great without error...YMMV.  It worked great for me...this card is also has NATIVE SATA ports, the others have SAS.

Be 100% sure you upgrade the firmware before SGI installation, they seem to really want like a 2004-2006 or new firmware to be happy.

Of course you cannot boot off this card, so secondary drives only.  I'm unsure about hot swap or software raid features.  I've been lead to believe the firmware should be IT and NOT RAID firmware as the RAID BIOS ROM cannot run under MIPS...so I assume it will act odd.