[gentoo-user] How to flash an LSI SAS controller from IR to IT mode on linux with sas2flsh

[gentoo-user] How to flash an LSI SAS controller from IR to IT mode on linux with sas2flsh

[Taiidan]

I am told to create a DOS usb flash drive with windows but I am un-able 
to do that.
I have tried getting the required files in to a VM FreeDOS installation 
but I haven't been able to figure out how to do that, there is no actual 
way to load the cdrom drivers.

Jesus christ it is 2018 and they still want us to use dos to flash 
hardware >:'[

Re: [gentoo-user] How to flash an LSI SAS controller from IR to IT mode on linux with sas2flsh

[mad.scientist.at.large]

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A virtual machine is useful largely because it isolates the VM from the real hardware, therefore it's not likely you can update firmware from a VM (you really shouldn't be able to).

The reason they still want us to upgrade with dos is it's a lowest common denominator, i.e. every one has it or can get it (freedos).  it also helps that it's a minimal enviroment.

In any case, I suggest you run a REAL freedos on a Real machine, so that you can update real not virtual firmware.  i.e. no Virtual Machine.

mad.scientist.at.large (a good madscientist)
--
God bless the rich, the greedy and the corrupt politicians they have put into office.   God bless them for helping me do the right thing by giving the rich my little pile of cash.  After all, the rich know what to do with money.


19. Mar 2018 17:21 by Taiidan@gmx.com <mailto:Taiidan@gmx.com>:


> I am told to create a DOS usb flash drive with windows but I am un-able to do that.
> I have tried getting the required files in to a VM FreeDOS installation but I haven't been able to figure out how to do that, there is no actual way to load the cdrom drivers.
>
> Jesus christ it is 2018 and they still want us to use dos to flash hardware >:'[

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Re: [gentoo-user] How to flash an LSI SAS controller from IR to IT mode on linux with sas2flsh

[Corbin Bird]

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On 03/19/2018 07:02 PM, mad.scientist.at.large@tutanota.com wrote:
>
> A virtual machine is useful largely because it isolates the VM from
> the real hardware, therefore it's not likely you can update firmware
> from a VM (you really shouldn't be able to).
>
> The reason they still want us to upgrade with dos is it's a lowest
> common denominator, i.e. every one has it or can get it (freedos).  it
> also helps that it's a minimal enviroment.
>
> In any case, I suggest you run a REAL freedos on a Real machine, so
> that you can update real not virtual firmware.  i.e. no Virtual Machine.
>
> mad.scientist.at.large (a good madscientist)
> -- 
> God bless the rich, the greedy and the corrupt politicians they have
> put into office.   God bless them for helping me do the right thing by
> giving the rich my little pile of cash.  After all, the rich know what
> to do with money.
>
>
> 19. Mar 2018 17:21 by Taiidan@gmx.com <mailto:Taiidan@gmx.com>:
>
>     I am told to create a DOS usb flash drive with windows but I am
>     un-able to do that.
>     I have tried getting the required files in to a VM FreeDOS
>     installation but I haven't been able to figure out how to do that,
>     there is no actual way to load the cdrom drivers.
>
>     Jesus christ it is 2018 and they still want us to use dos to flash
>     hardware >:'[
>
.
If you are using a UEFI system, use the EFI shell.

HBA successfully updated : LSI 2004 / 9211-4i

Downloads from LSI / Avago / Broadcom :
---- Installer_P20_for_UEFI
---- firmware for your HBA

Use the EFI Shell Installer ( sas2flash.efi ) and follow its directions.

Corbin

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Re: [gentoo-user] How to flash an LSI SAS controller from IR to IT mode on linux with sas2flsh

[Taiidan]

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On 03/19/2018 08:02 PM, mad.scientist.at.large@tutanota.com wrote:
> A virtual machine is useful largely because it isolates the VM from the real hardware, therefore it's not likely you can update firmware from a VM (you really shouldn't be able to).
Actually you can update firmware from a VM, I have done it many times on 
many different PCI-e cards and I already updated the IR mode firmware to 
the latest version in a linux VM (but you need DOS to go IR>IT)

It is part of the reason as to why SR-IOV was created besides the 
performance benefits you also get security benefits with restricted 
registers and the inability to flash a malicious firmware from a guest 
if you attach a VF to the VM instead of the PF.

I don't have any UEFI machines as I hate UEFI (all my machines run 
coreboot with the grub payload)
> The reason they still want us to upgrade with dos is it's a lowest common denominator, i.e. every one has it or can get it (freedos).  it also helps that it's a minimal enviroment.
>
> In any case, I suggest you run a REAL freedos on a Real machine, so that you can update real not virtual firmware.  i.e. no Virtual Machine.
The issue is not being able to use linux as well and having a bare metal 
freedos won't help my disk driver issue there still won't be a way to 
load the files.

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Re: [gentoo-user] How to flash an LSI SAS controller from IR to IT mode on linux with sas2flsh

[mad.scientist.at.large]

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Surprising that you can do that on a VM, clearly they don't provide much security if you can do such powerful things as flashing firmware, pretty easy to write a VM virus that flashes all the flash memory to random, 1, or 0 values that would totally brick a server and add in cards as well as hard drives.  it may be hard to reverse engineer most firmware, but that doesn't mean it's hard to corrupt.

In any case, sorry for your' problems.  thumb drives of 32G and less are really cheap now that the huge ones are available  (got a 16GB for <$7).  I'm ridiculously poor by american standards (still fighting SS...., thank god i got public housing!) and i bought a couple in the last 6 months.

manufacturers are starting to make firmware upgrades for linux, and i believe there is a program that can be used to install dos firmware upgrades from linux.  I Actually have 2 machines with both windows and linux firmware updates available, but they are servers (13 yr old, not surprisingly they were free!).  i've become interested in servers as they depreciate quickly and tend to be built like tanks (though they are equally heavy).


mad.scientist.at.large (a good madscientist)
--
God bless the rich, the greedy and the corrupt politicians they have put into office.   God bless them for helping me do the right thing by giving the rich my little pile of cash.  After all, the rich know what to do with money.

Regarding uefi, i never believed in it, long before an asian asus manufacturer was kind enough to leave their ftp server open, and someone found the master key there and let the world know.   besides which, it's pretty hard to produce an encryption algorithm that will still be hard to break in 5-10 years due to ever increasing processing power, especially if people find some flaws in the algorithm or implementation. 

I suppose that since it's a card you want to flash you might be able to do it on a friends machine, possibly.  Good luck.


20. Mar 2018 13:02 by Taiidan@gmx.com <mailto:Taiidan@gmx.com>:


>         On 03/19/2018 08:02 PM, > mad.scientist.at.large@tutanota.com <mailto:mad.scientist.at.large@tutanota.com>>     wrote:    
>>       >> A virtual machine is useful largely because it isolates the VM from the real hardware, therefore it's not likely you can update firmware from a VM (you really shouldn't be able to).>>     
>     Actually you can update firmware from a VM, I have done it many    times on many different PCI-e cards and I already updated the IR    mode firmware to the latest version in a linux VM (but you need DOS    to go IR>IT)
>     
>     It is part of the reason as to why SR-IOV was created besides the    performance benefits you also get security benefits with restricted    registers and the inability to flash a malicious firmware from a    guest if you attach a VF to the VM instead of the PF.
>     
>     I don't have any UEFI machines as I hate UEFI (all my machines run    coreboot with the grub payload)
>     
>>       >> The reason they still want us to upgrade with dos is it's a lowest common denominator, i.e. every one has it or can get it (freedos).  it also helps that it's a minimal enviroment.In any case, I suggest you run a REAL freedos on a Real machine, so that you can update real not virtual firmware.  i.e. no Virtual Machine.>>     
>     The issue is not being able to use linux as well and having a bare    metal freedos won't help my disk driver issue there still won't be a    way to load the files.
>

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Re: [gentoo-user] How to flash an LSI SAS controller from IR to IT mode on linux with sas2flsh

[Taiidan]

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On 03/21/2018 04:44 PM, Corbin Bird wrote:

> Curious ... you cannot use 'FreeDOS' even as a bootable cdrom?
> Its very easy to open the image, tuck in two files and one new
> directory, then close and burn the image.
I have not figured out where to place them on the iso so that they are
accessible nor alternatively how to load the drivers and mount a cdrom.
Do you know how?

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Re: [gentoo-user] How to flash an LSI SAS controller from IR to IT mode on linux with sas2flsh

[Corbin Bird]

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On 03/20/2018 02:02 PM, Taiidan@gmx.com wrote:
> On 03/19/2018 08:02 PM, mad.scientist.at.large@tutanota.com wrote:
>> A virtual machine is useful largely because it isolates the VM from the real hardware, therefore it's not likely you can update firmware from a VM (you really shouldn't be able to).
> Actually you can update firmware from a VM, I have done it many times
> on many different PCI-e cards and I already updated the IR mode
> firmware to the latest version in a linux VM (but you need DOS to go
> IR>IT)
>
> It is part of the reason as to why SR-IOV was created besides the
> performance benefits you also get security benefits with restricted
> registers and the inability to flash a malicious firmware from a guest
> if you attach a VF to the VM instead of the PF.
>
> I don't have any UEFI machines as I hate UEFI (all my machines run
> coreboot with the grub payload)
>> The reason they still want us to upgrade with dos is it's a lowest common denominator, i.e. every one has it or can get it (freedos).  it also helps that it's a minimal enviroment.
>>
>> In any case, I suggest you run a REAL freedos on a Real machine, so that you can update real not virtual firmware.  i.e. no Virtual Machine.
> The issue is not being able to use linux as well and having a bare
> metal freedos won't help my disk driver issue there still won't be a
> way to load the files.
.
Curious ... you cannot use 'FreeDOS' even as a bootable cdrom?
Its very easy to open the image, tuck in two files and one new
directory, then close and burn the image.

FreeDOS comes with a 'generic' PATA / SATA driver for cdrom drives.

Correction :
(but you need DOS to go IR>IT) ---> the EFI Shell also can do it.

Corbin

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Re: [gentoo-user] How to flash an LSI SAS controller from IR to IT mode on linux with sas2flsh

[Andrea Conti]

> Jesus christ it is 2018 and they still want us to use dos to flash
> hardware >:'[

While DOS is usually the recommended environment for flashing hardware,
in my experience the most reliable option for (cross)flashing LSI SAS2
controllers is the EFI version of sas2flash. Specifically, on some
recent motherboards the DOS version of sas2flash will simply refuse to
start with obscure hardware initialization errors.

If you can build a FreeDOS image with little effort, it might be worth a
try; just be warned that it's not a guaranteed way to success and that
your time might be better spent by looking for a board with UEFI
firmware that you can borrow for the ten minutes needed to flash the card.

And no, I don't like UEFI either, but I do think it's a useful tool for
the job at hand.

HTH,
Andrea

Re: [gentoo-user] How to flash an LSI SAS controller from IR to IT mode on linux with sas2flsh

[Corbin Bird]

On 03/21/2018 03:20 PM, Taiidan@gmx.com wrote:

> On 03/21/2018 04:44 PM, Corbin Bird wrote:
>
>> Curious ... you cannot use 'FreeDOS' even as a bootable cdrom?
>> Its very easy to open the image, tuck in two files and one new
>> directory, then close and burn the image.
> I have not figured out where to place them on the iso so that they are
> accessible nor alternatively how to load the drivers and mount a cdrom.
> Do you know how?
>
.
I've done it in the past.
Give me an hour to refresh the memory / retest the process / write the
process down.

Corbin

Re: [gentoo-user] How to flash an LSI SAS controller from IR to IT mode on linux with sas2flsh

[Corbin Bird]

On 03/21/2018 03:20 PM, Taiidan@gmx.com wrote:

> On 03/21/2018 04:44 PM, Corbin Bird wrote:
>
>> Curious ... you cannot use 'FreeDOS' even as a bootable cdrom?
>> Its very easy to open the image, tuck in two files and one new
>> directory, then close and burn the image.
> I have not figured out where to place them on the iso so that they are
> accessible nor alternatively how to load the drivers and mount a cdrom.
> Do you know how?
.
Okay. Refresh complete.

This should work if 16bit support / BIOS PAL is in good order on the
target system.

The 'FreeDOS' install cd is bootable.
It loads a 'generic' cdrom driver automatically.

Write down the flash commands EXACTLY as spec'd in the LSI docs.

Use 'isomaster' for a GUI ISO image utility. Very convenient. It's in
the Gentoo repository.

Get this file ( FreeDOS v1.1 source )
http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/distributions/1.1/fd11src.iso

create a directory on your HD, call it 'firmware'
place all the needed LSI files in it.
Example HBA && files ( LSI 2004 / 9211-41 )
-- 2114IR.BIN
-- 2114IT.BIN
-- MPTSAS2.ROM
-- SAS2FLSH.EXE


Open the image ( fd11src.iso ) with ISO Master.
Bottom Widow of ISO Master. 2 dirs showing. double-click FREEDOS.
Top Window, find your firmware dir, highlight it, click the 'add to the
ISO' button
Save (as) the ISO to 'lsiboot' somewhere on you HD.
Exit ISO Master.
burn 'lisboot.iso' to cd.
boot the cdrom

choose the following options ( in order ) :
Install to C: Drive
C
2
English
press the [Enter] key
Run FreeDOS from CD-ROM

Command Prompt will show [ F:\ ]
cd firmware [Enter]

let the sas2flsh'ing commence.

Corbin