HBA IT Mode Instructions

My hardware used: USB stick + Desktop PC (not the server board) with a motherboard Asus P9X79 WS
(hosting i7-3930K + 16GB RAM but it doesn’t matter). The motherboard shall support UEFI version >=1.0
and be able to access USB from BIOS/EFI shell.
Step-by-step procedure:
1. Insert the controller card in a PCIe slot. (I’ve used the slot No. 3. In case of troubles recognizing
the card on your desktop PC, try different slots.)
2. Boot the PC and prepare the USB stick:
3. On the USB stick, create and format a FAT or FAT32 partition >= 10 MB. (I’ve created 500 MB
FAT32 partition. I wouldn't recommend larger partitions, the EFI shell may not read every big
partition.)
4. Create the sub-folders for EFI boot. On the web there are two different
structures: /boot/efi and /efi/boot. To save time I’ve created both groups, it works.
5. Download from Broadcom the following packages: Installer_P20_for_UEFI and 9211-

8i_Package_P20_IR_IT_Firmware_BIOS_for_MSDOS_Windows and extract them to your PC’s
HDD.
6. Copy from the downloaded packages, the three files to the USB stick root folder:
7. From the first package the file sas2flash.efi (it is in sub-folder /sas2flash_efi_ebc_rel/);
8. From the second package: 2118it.bin (it is in sub-folder /Firmware/HBA_9211_8i_IT/)

and mptsas2.rom (it is in sub-folder /sasbios_rel/).
9. Download from Github Tianocore the precompiled UEFI version 1 Shell: Shell_Full.efi. (Only v1
is applicable, later versions are not compatible with the flash tool and end up with the
message: “InitShellApp: Application not started from Shell”.)
10. Rename the Shell_Full.efi to ShellX64.efi and copy this file to following three USB stick
destinations: root folder, /boot/efi/, /efi/boot/. (There are different methods but it is safer
and easier to just copy it to all three areas.)
11. The creative part is completed, it's time for action. Restart the PC and enter the BIOS. If you use
ASUS UEFI BIOS Utility in advanced mode, mouse click on the Exit (not by using keyboard “Esc”),
in the next dialog select “Launch EFI Shell from filesystem device”. Other BIOS should behave
similarly.
12. Next you should see starting shell execution, ending with a prompt: "Shell>" (not the "2.0
Shell>"!).
13. Type the command: map –b (+Enter) for listing of available disks. Locate which one is your USB
stick. In my case it is the fs6:
"fs6 :Removable HardDisk - … USB(…)"
14. You can exit out of the map command by typing q.

15. Switch to the USB stick by command fsN: (+Enter) (N=6 – in my example = "fs6:", set N to your
USB stick ID).
16. Dir shows the file list:

2118IT.BIN
MPTSAS2.ROM
sas2flash.efi
<DIR> BOOT
<DIR> EFI
ShellX64.efi
17. Now you can begin flashing the Firmware. DURING THE FLASH, DO NOT TURN POWER OFF!
18. Erase the controller flash memory: sas2flash.efi -o -e 6.
19. Write the new firmware to the flash: sas2flash.efi -o -f 2118it.bin -b mptsas2.rom.
20. After a while, you'll see the success message. You can restart the PC and check if the controller
BIOS reports the new “IT”-firmware.
21. The card is ready to use.
Some additional information
Building my first FreeNAS home server I’ve taken a Delock PCIe controller 89395. It’s chipset Marvell
88SE9230 provided no errors in FreeNAS 9.10, but the S.M.A.R.T. tests on the connected disks failed
regularly. Swapping the HDDs between the controller and motherboard SATA demonstrated that the
HDDs were healthy, pointing to the controller as a cause of problem.
Looking for a better controller, I’ve learned of the popular LSI 9211-8i, which is optimal for my setup as
well (8xHDD). The only disadvantage of the card is the IR firmware, which will be overwritten at home
by the IT version. People out there claimed with a lot of frustration attempting to overwrite the
firmware. My experience has confirmed this and after a week of try-and-error, ending in success, I've
thought to share my experience.
To the question why I haven’t used my server board for flashing – I’ve tried and failed. My current
server is built with some exotic industrial mini-ITX. I've issued troubles and couldn't find any
information in the web.
My current configuration: motherboard DFI HR100-CRM, i5-2510E 2.5GHz, 16 Gb RAM, FreeNAS 9.10 on
8 Gb CF card, 8 x 4Tb Seagate ST4000DM000 HDD.15, RAIDZ2, case Silverstone DS-380, Power Supply
450W Silverstone ST45SF-G.
The FreeNAS 9.10 runs without any problems.
The used motherboard is only temporal solution for the first experience. It will be replaced next time
by: ASUS P10S-I + Xeon E3-1240 + 32 Gb ECC RAM –currently the best CPU Mark/$ on the DIY home
server market. The Atom C2xxx boards (Supermicro, Asrock) are NoGo due to the known CPU bug and
pure performance/$ (compare the CPU Mark and prices on the market). Secondly the passive cooled
Atom boards overheat according to user experience and require active cooling as well.
Some useful sources:
1. Flashing IT Firmware to the LSI SAS9211-8i HBA
2. Obtaining UEFI Shell

HBA IT Mode Instructions

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HBA IT Mode Instructions

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My hardware used: USB stick + Desktop PC (not the server board) with a motherboard Asus P9X79 WS

2. Boot the PC and prepare the USB stick:

5. Download from Broadcom the following packages: Installer_P20_for_UEFI and 9211-

7. From the first package the file sas2flash.efi (it is in sub-folder /sas2flash_efi_ebc_rel/);

8. From the second package: 2118it.bin (it is in sub-folder /Firmware/HBA_9211_8i_IT/)

14. You can exit out of the map command by typing q.

16. Dir shows the file list:

18. Erase the controller flash memory: sas2flash.efi -o -e 6.

19. Write the new firmware to the flash: sas2flash.efi -o -f 2118it.bin -b mptsas2.rom.

21. The card is ready to use.

Some additional information

Some useful sources:

1. Flashing IT Firmware to the LSI SAS9211-8i HBA

2. Obtaining UEFI Shell

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