LSI 9207-8i BIOS question

road hazard · 02-28-2024, 01:43 PM

I have two servers, both running Debian 12. Server 1 has a single LSI 9207-8i HBA and server 2 has 2, 9207-8i HBAs. All 3 HBAs are flashed to IT mode with the P20 firmware. What I can't figure out is how to delete the BIOS for the HBAs in server 2 (showing 07.39.02.00 for BIOS).

Code:

Server 1: dmesg|grep -i lsi
[    1.029433] mpt2sas_cm0: LSISAS2308: FWVersion(20.00.07.00), ChipRevision(0x05), BiosVersion(00.00.00.00)

Code:

Server 2: dmesg|grep -i lsi
[    1.065084] mpt2sas_cm0: LSISAS2308: FWVersion(20.00.07.00), ChipRevision(0x05), BiosVersion(07.39.02.00)
[    1.325985] mpt2sas_cm1: LSISAS2308: FWVersion(20.00.07.00), ChipRevision(0x05), BiosVersion(07.39.02.00)

Wanting to erase the BIOS for the 2 cards in server 2, I booted into the UEFI shell and issued this command for both cards: (using -c 0 and -c 1 to select the cards one at a time)

Code:

sas2flash -o -c 0 -e 5
sas2flash -o -c 1 -e 5

But after power cycling the system, the 2 HBAs in server 2 still show 07.39.02.00 for the BIOS. Why? Is that command not right? When the PC boots, I don't see any BIOS screen for either card but I'd like to erase the BIOS anyway.

Any ideas?

business_kid · 03-01-2024, 03:59 AM

Deleting BIOS is not done. You reprogram with a new BIOS. Otherwise you end up in Catch-22 powering up with no BIOS.

road hazard · 03-01-2024, 11:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by business_kid

Deleting BIOS is not done. You reprogram with a new BIOS. Otherwise you end up in Catch-22 powering up with no BIOS.

Not sure I follow. On server 1, I was able to (somehow) put the P20 firmware on there without the BIOS. Wondering if I should just erase everything on the card and reflash it but just the firmware file.

business_kid · 03-01-2024, 01:13 PM

Right. Talk.

Exactly what have you got? Full details, links specs. You're asking a "How do I..." type question, using the word BIOS. The BIOS is the bit of the motherboard that starts a pc, but your model number seems to be talking about network cards.

road hazard · 03-01-2024, 02:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by business_kid

Right. Talk.

Exactly what have you got? Full details, links specs. You're asking a "How do I..." type question, using the word BIOS. The BIOS is the bit of the motherboard that starts a pc, but your model number seems to be talking about network cards.

The cards in questions are all LSI 9207-8i's. They are HBAs and don't need a BIOS to be utilized by the system. They're quite capable of being used with just the firmware on the card. They are being plugged into generic ATX motherboards, into the PCIe x16 slots.

Link to the cards:

https://docs.broadcom.com/doc/12353331

I'm thinking it might be best if I post this on a storage specific forum (maybe over in the TrueNAS community) because it's not really a Linux issue, more so a HBA BIOS problem.

Eh, you can safely ignore me

..... I appreciate the replies though!

business_kid · 03-02-2024, 04:49 AM

If you're working on the network cards, it's no BIOS you're trying to replace, it's firmware. And it is replaced on every boot. There should be a copy in /lib/firmware.

So grab the latest6 kernel firmware & reboo0t. If that doesn't work, join the specialist forum.

road hazard · 03-02-2024, 10:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by business_kid

If you're working on the network cards, it's no BIOS you're trying to replace, it's firmware. And it is replaced on every boot. There should be a copy in /lib/firmware.

So grab the latest6 kernel firmware & reboo0t. If that doesn't work, join the specialist forum.

Thanks for the reply but these aren't network cards, they're HBAs.

I posted over in the TrueNAS forum and somebody replied with a possible solution. Just need set aside the time to try it.