Flash IBM ServeRAID M1015 to LSI9211-8i with UEFI mainboard.md

Flash IBM ServeRAID M1015 to LSI9211-8i with UEFI mainboard

(Largely based off of 0x00.to)

OG authors note: This is based on Pieter's post on servethehome.com and describe how I managed to flash my M1015 card with a UEFI based ASUS mainboard.

Step 1: Get the firmware and flash tool

Download this archive and keep it somewhere safe for now. (md5sum: b26ad98243f33bac92ac9be95bcd5035)

The firmware in this package is already the latest release P15 (November 2012) by LSI.
I also added Intel's Tianocore EFI Shell 1.0 (shellx64.efi) that we need later for flashing.

Step 2: Get the SAS address of your card

We need this address later for flashing and you can find it on a sticker on the backside of the card.
It should start with "500605B" followed by some hyphen separated groups of digits and letters.
Take a photo or write it down somewhere:

Step 3: Prepare the FreeDOS USB boot stick

Download the FreeDOS 1.1 USB Boot Image here from here and flash it onto a USB using your favorite tool.
If running Windows you can download Rufus and select FreeDOS from the menu.

When done copy all the file from the previously mentioned archive onto the root of the USB drive.

Step 4: Delete the existing firmware from the chip Restart you computer and boot from the USB drive (I have to press "F8" to enter the boot menu).
When started enter this two commands:

megarec -writesbr 0 sbrempty.bin
megarec -cleanflash 0

Step 5: Flash the new firmware

Now comes the tricky part.
When using the "sas2flash.exe" from FreeDOS you will get an error like "ERROR: Failed to initialise PAL. Exiting Program."
In order to flash with a UEFI mainboard we need to use the "sas2flash.efi" file that require to execute it from a EFI shell.
As I already said on the top the firmware archive contains a file named "shellx64.efi" this is such a shell.
My mainboard (ASUS Maximus V Extreme) want this "shellx64.efi" file on the root of the stick, however if you have another manufacturer you probably have to search how to start this shell.

In my case I need to enter the UEFI (pressing "Delete" on start up) click "Exit" and select "Launch EFI Shell from filesystem device":

When the shell has been loaded enter "fs0:" to switch to the USB root directory. Your screen should now look like this:

Now enter this to flash the card into the LSI9211-IT mode (pass through, no RAID):

sas2flsh.efi -o -f 2118it.bin -b mptsas2.rom
sas2flsh.efi -o -sasadd 500605b[THE REST OF YOU ADDRESS WITHOUT HYPHENS]

To flash other modes take a look at Pieter's post on the top.

You're done

When you now reboot you should see the new firmware on the card: