Has anyone used a Dell with a PERC H310?

[Andrzej Sochon]

Hello Sa¹o!

I found you here: http://mail.opensolaris.org/pipermail/zfs-discuss/2012-May/051546.html

"How about reflashing LSI firmware to the card? I read on Dell's spec
sheets that the card runs an LSISAS2008 chip, so chances are that
standard LSI firmware will work on it. I can send you all the required
bits to do the reflash, if you like."

I got Dell Perc H310 controller for do-it-yourself experiments, I tried to run it on non-Dell PC platforms like Asus P5Q and Foxconn G31MX. Without success.
I will appreciate very much any hint how to get LSI firmware and reflash Dell H310.

Best Regards,
Andrzej Sochon

[Tim Fletcher]

Hello *Sašo*!
http://mail.opensolaris.org/pipermail/zfs-discuss/2012-May/051546.html
“How about reflashing LSI firmware to the card? I read on Dell's spec
sheets that the card runs an LSISAS2008 chip, so chances are that
standard LSI firmware will work on it. I can send you all the required
bits to do the reflash, if you like.”
I got Dell Perc H310 controller for do-it-yourself experiments, I tried
to run it on non-Dell PC platforms like Asus P5Q and Foxconn G31MX.
Without success.
I will appreciate very much any hint how to get LSI firmware and reflash Dell H310.

I've successfully crossflashed Dell H200 cards with this method

http://forums.servethehome.com/showthread.php?467-DELL-H200-Flash-to-IT-firmware-Procedure-for-DELL-servers

[Sašo Kiselkov]

Post by Tim Fletcher

Hello *Sašo*!
http://mail.opensolaris.org/pipermail/zfs-discuss/2012-May/051546.html
“How about reflashing LSI firmware to the card? I read on Dell's spec
sheets that the card runs an LSISAS2008 chip, so chances are that
standard LSI firmware will work on it. I can send you all the required
bits to do the reflash, if you like.”
I got Dell Perc H310 controller for do-it-yourself experiments, I tried
to run it on non-Dell PC platforms like Asus P5Q and Foxconn G31MX.
Without success.
I will appreciate very much any hint how to get LSI firmware and reflash Dell H310.

I've successfully crossflashed Dell H200 cards with this method
http://forums.servethehome.com/showthread.php?467-DELL-H200-Flash-to-IT-firmware-Procedure-for-DELL-servers

PERC H200 are well behaved cards that are easy to reflash and work well
(even in JBOD mode) on Illumos - they are essentially a LSI SAS 9211. If
you can get them, they're one heck of a reliable beast, and cheap too!

--
Saso

[Tim Fletcher]

Post by Sašo Kiselkov

Post by Tim Fletcher

Hello *Sašo*!
http://mail.opensolaris.org/pipermail/zfs-discuss/2012-May/051546.html
“How about reflashing LSI firmware to the card? I read on Dell's spec
sheets that the card runs an LSISAS2008 chip, so chances are that
standard LSI firmware will work on it. I can send you all the required
bits to do the reflash, if you like.”
I got Dell Perc H310 controller for do-it-yourself experiments, I tried
to run it on non-Dell PC platforms like Asus P5Q and Foxconn G31MX.
Without success.
I will appreciate very much any hint how to get LSI firmware and reflash Dell H310.

I've successfully crossflashed Dell H200 cards with this method
http://forums.servethehome.com/showthread.php?467-DELL-H200-Flash-to-IT-firmware-Procedure-for-DELL-servers

PERC H200 are well behaved cards that are easy to reflash and work well
(even in JBOD mode) on Illumos - they are essentially a LSI SAS 9211. If
you can get them, they're one heck of a reliable beast, and cheap too!

The modular version of the card is often cheaper and takes 2 minutes
with a torx driver to take off the black plastic L.

I've bought one of these before and it worked well:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/170888398081

[Ray Arachelian]

Post by Sašo Kiselkov
PERC H200 are well behaved cards that are easy to reflash and work
well (even in JBOD mode) on Illumos - they are essentially a LSI SAS
9211. If you can get them, they're one heck of a reliable beast, and
cheap too!

I've had trouble with one of those (Dell PERC H200) in a Z68X-UD3H-B3
motherboard. When it was inserted in any slot, the machine wouldn't
power on. I put it in a Dell desktop I borrowed for a day and it worked
there. Any idea as to what might be the trouble? Couldn't even get it
working long enough to attempt to reflash its BIOS.

The machine would power on for a few seconds and immediately turn off.

[Pasi Kärkkäinen]

Post by Ray Arachelian

Post by Sašo Kiselkov
PERC H200 are well behaved cards that are easy to reflash and work
well (even in JBOD mode) on Illumos - they are essentially a LSI SAS
9211. If you can get them, they're one heck of a reliable beast, and
cheap too!

I've had trouble with one of those (Dell PERC H200) in a Z68X-UD3H-B3
motherboard. When it was inserted in any slot, the machine wouldn't
power on. I put it in a Dell desktop I borrowed for a day and it worked
there. Any idea as to what might be the trouble? Couldn't even get it
working long enough to attempt to reflash its BIOS.
The machine would power on for a few seconds and immediately turn off.

wild guess: Not enough available PCI option rom memory for the H200 card on that motherboard?

-- Pasi

[Andrzej Sochon]

Hi,

Thank you very much for hints,
I will try.

Best Regards,
a.

-----Original Message-----
From: Sašo Kiselkov [mailto:***@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, January 07, 2013 10:16 PM
To: Tim Fletcher
Cc: Andrzej Sochon; zfs-***@opensolaris.org
Subject: Re: [zfs-discuss] Has anyone used a Dell with a PERC H310?

Post by Tim Fletcher

Hello *Sašo*!
http://mail.opensolaris.org/pipermail/zfs-discuss/2012-May/051546.htm
l
"How about reflashing LSI firmware to the card? I read on Dell's spec
sheets that the card runs an LSISAS2008 chip, so chances are that
standard LSI firmware will work on it. I can send you all the
required
bits to do the reflash, if you like."
I got Dell Perc H310 controller for do-it-yourself experiments, I
tried to run it on non-Dell PC platforms like Asus P5Q and Foxconn G31MX.
Without success.
I will appreciate very much any hint how to get LSI firmware and reflash Dell H310.

I've successfully crossflashed Dell H200 cards with this method
http://forums.servethehome.com/showthread.php?467-DELL-H200-Flash-to-I
T-firmware-Procedure-for-DELL-servers

PERC H200 are well behaved cards that are easy to reflash and work well (even in JBOD mode) on Illumos - they are essentially a LSI SAS 9211. If you can get them, they're one heck of a reliable beast, and cheap too!

--
Saso

[Krunal Desai]

Post by Sašo Kiselkov
PERC H200 are well behaved cards that are easy to reflash and work well
(even in JBOD mode) on Illumos - they are essentially a LSI SAS 9211. If
you can get them, they're one heck of a reliable beast, and cheap too!

That method that was linked seemed very specific to Dell servers; from my
experience with reflashing various LSI cards, can't I just USB boot to a
FreeDOS environment in any system, and then run sasflash/sas2flsh with the
appropriate IT-mode firmware?

Seems like the M1015 has spiked in price again on eBay (US) whilst the H200
is still under $100.

--khd

[Tim Fletcher]

On Mon, Jan 7, 2013 at 4:16 PM, Sašo Kiselkov

Post by Sašo Kiselkov
PERC H200 are well behaved cards that are easy to reflash and work well
(even in JBOD mode) on Illumos - they are essentially a LSI SAS 9211. If
you can get them, they're one heck of a reliable beast, and cheap too!

That method that was linked seemed very specific to Dell servers;
from my experience with reflashing various LSI cards, can't I just
USB
boot to a FreeDOS environment in any system, and then run
sasflash/sas2flsh with the appropriate IT-mode firmware?

It is indeed very specific to Dell cards and I've actually tried to use
the generic instructions for the M1015 and it failed because it the card
didn't match the firmware version.

The normal method with an M1015 is wipe raid firmware with the megarec
(Megaraid recovery tool), reboot and flash on IT firmware.

The Dell method is more involved but it's the only why that I've
managed to got a Dell H200 cross flashed.

Seems like the M1015 has spiked in price again on eBay (US) whilst
the H200 is still under $100.