IBM ServeRAID M1015 Part 4: Cross flashing to a LSI9211-8i in IT or ... https://www.servethehome.

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IBM ServeRAID M1015

One of the most popular SAS 6.0gbps/ SATA III controllers for
enthusiasts is the IBM M1015. In its native form, it is a very
capable host bus adapter (HBA) based on the LSI SAS2008 chip.
With the low price on places such as ebay (see here for an ebay
search for the M1015) and an enthusiastic community that has
learned to unlock many features, it has quickly become a go-to
choice for low-cost SATA III connectivity. This series of articles
IBM ServeRAID M1015
was written by Pieter Schaar perhaps best known as the one
behind laptopvideo2go.com. He has been a regular contributor in
the STH forums and has been detailing his learning in threads such as these. I do want to note
that these modifications are not endorsed by this site, LSI, IBM or others and the information
herein is purely for educational purposes. If you do encounter problems, you are solely
responsible for those consequences.

There are now quite a few parts to this piece including:

IBM ServeRAID M1015 Part 1: Getting Started with the LSI 9220-8i
IBM ServeRAID M1015 Part 2: Performance of the LSI 9220-8i
IBM ServeRAID M1015 Part 3: SMART Passthrough on the LSI 9220-8i

Why crossflash?
In the previous 3 articles I’ve discussed the ins and outs of what the IBM M1015 is capable of in

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various modes. Now if you were to proceed and purchase an IBM M1015 and wanted to use it in
other than it’s default LSI9240/9220 mode you will need to crossflash the card to a LSI9211 HBA
6.0gbps SAS / SATA III adaptor.
To recap:
LSI9211-IT = Straight pass through no RAID, best for ZFS file system etc
LSI9211-IR = Pass through as in IT mode, but you also have RAID options (RAID 0, RAID 1,
RAID 1e and RAID 10), better for RAID 0 Windows boot SSDs etc, and possibly run Software
RAID 5 on the other drives.
LSI9240 = default mode, only really useful feature this mode has is RAID1/ RAID 10, drives have
to be set to JBOD (single) or RAID to be seen by OS, can be annoying when adding removing
drives often.

How to cross flash

First things first, we take no responsibility for anything going wrong.
Please read carefully, don’t take shortcuts, and BE CAREFUL.
If in doubt or you can’t afford a replacement should it go wrong then ‘walk a away’
Warnings are done, lets flash:

Make a bootable USB stick, needs to be DOS bootable for the flasher etc to work, there are
number ways to do it, ask Google
Download the files I have compressed over here
Self Extract the files somewhere, then place onto the USB stick
Turn machine off grab the SAS address of the card, it’s on the back on a green sticker (ie
500605B0xxxxxxxx)
Turn machine on (with card back in) choose USB stick at boot option, for all the below it is
assumed you are booted to USB stick in the directory with the files from download.

Convert LSI9240(IBM M1015) to a LSI9211-IT mode

Type in the following exactly:
megarec -writesbr 0 sbrempty.bin
megarec -cleanflash 0
<reboot, back to USB stick >
sas2flsh -o -f 2118it.bin -b mptsas2.rom (sas2flsh -o -f 2118it.bin if OptionROM is not needed)
sas2flsh -o -sasadd 500605bxxxxxxxxx (x= numbers for SAS address)
<reboot>
Done!

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Convert LSI9240(IBM M1015) to a LSI9211-IR mode

Type in the following exactly:
megarec -writesbr 0 sbrempty.bin
megarec -cleanflash 0
<reboot, back to USB stick>
sas2flsh -o -f 2118ir.bin -b mptsas2.rom
sas2flsh -o -sasadd 500605b0xxxxxxxx (x= numbers for SAS address)
<reboot>
Done!

Convert LSI9211-IT or IR to LSI9211 IR or IT

Type in the following exactly:
Megarec -cleanflash 0
<reboot, back to USB stick>
sas2flsh -o -f 2118ir.bin -b mptsas2.rom (2118it.bin = IT mode Firmware, change according to
which way to flash)
sas2flsh -o -sasadd 500605bxxxxxxxxx (x= numbers for SAS address)
<reboot>
Done!

Convert LSI9211-IT/IR back to LSI9240 (IBM M1015)

Type in the following exactly:
Megarec -cleanflash 0
Megarec -writesbr 0 sbrm1015.bin
<reboot, back to USB stick>
Megarec -m0flash 0 0061_lsi.rom (for latest LSI firmware, also included 2x IBM roms too, just
change name)
<reboot>
Done!

Tweaks
Of possible use to ZFS fanatics, when flashing the card to IT mode, do not flash the
mptsas2.rom, this then will not load the boot BIOS
Any SAS or SATA IIIdrives added will just passthrough as normal, as there is nothing to see or
do in the BIOS in IT mode, you may as well not load it. This makes boot and reboot time faster
as it doesn’t have to load the BIOS and wait for a key press. BUT you will need it if you are

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booting from one of the drives attached to the IBM M1015. You will also need it if you are
running IR mode to access to the BIOS to setup RAID functions. This might be of use to some
users.

Conclusion
I will probably run my 4x SSDs in LSI9211-IR mode to have the best of both worlds. It has great
performance with RAID 0 and my 4x SATA III SSD’s and add other drives at will. Any drive
added just shows to the OS no need to make it a Virtual Drive or JBOD first. ZFS folk seem to be
very happy with LSI9211-IT mode with no RAID functionality at all on the IBM ServeRAID
M1015. SMART passes through in either mode but NOT with RAID of course. Overall the IBM
M1015 is a great card, now will the IBM M5015 be just as satisfying it’s next on the block…

http://www.laptopvideo2go.com

Pieter is perhaps best known as the one behind laptopvideo2go.com. He has been a regular
contributor in the STH forums and has been detailing his learning, specifically in the area of LSI
controllers on STH. He is quickly becoming the resident LSI controller guru.

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