Problems updating BIOS on a PE 860

[Michael E Brown]

On Mon, Aug 27, 2007 at 06:58:46PM +0200, Jens Vagelpohl wrote:
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> On 27 Aug 2007, at 18:33, <Michael_E_Brown at Dell.com> wrote:
> 
> > This is a relatively common and expected error message. You can do  
> > a couple things:
> >
> > 1) Shut down any unneeded programs and retry the update a few times  
> > (up to four or five).
> >
> > 2) reboot the computer and retry the update a few times.
> >
> > Basically, the update on your machine requires *physically*  
> > contiguous RAM, 1MB of it. This can sometimes be difficult to find  
> > and the update fails. Usually just retrying a few times and  
> > possibly rebooting will fix it.
> 
> Thanks, Michael, retrying it again and again did let me install the  
> BIOS update. However, the newer RAID controller firmware, which is  
> what I was mainly after, doesn't seem to grab. update_firmware seems  
> to succeed:
> 
> [root at rex ~]# update_firmware --yes
> 
> Searching storage directory for available BIOS updates...
> 
> Checking System BIOS for PowerEdge 860 - a04
>          Available: system_bios(ven_0x1028_dev_0x01e6) - a04
>          Did not find a newer package to install that meets all  
> installation checks.
> Checking Dell SAS 5/iR Adapter Controller 1 Firmware -  
> 00.06.50.00.06.06.00.02
>          Available: pci_firmware 
> (ven_0x1000_dev_0x0054_subven_0x1028_subdev_0x1f09) -  
> 00.10.49.00.06.12.02.00
>          Found Update: pci_firmware 
> (ven_0x1000_dev_0x0054_subven_0x1028_subdev_0x1f09) -  
> 00.10.49.00.06.12.02.00
> 
> Found firmware which needs to be updated.
> 
> Running updates...
> Installing pci_firmware 
> (ven_0x1000_dev_0x0054_subven_0x1028_subdev_0x1f09) -  
> 00.10.49.00.06.12.02.00
> 
> However, after rebooting I still have the old firmware:
> 
> [root at rex ~]# omreport storage controller
> Controller  SAS 5/iR Adapter (Slot 2)
> 
> Controllers
> ID                                : 0
> Status                            : Non-Critical
> Name                              : SAS 5/iR Adapter
> Slot ID                           : PCI Slot 2
> State                             : Degraded
> Firmware Version                  : 00.06.50.00.06.06.00.02
> Minimum Required Firmware Version : 00.10.49.00.06.12.02.00
> Driver Version                    : 3.02.73rh
> 
> Notice how the state is "degraded", which is probably due to the  
> outdated firmware.

Ok, so I dont have a SAS 5/iR controller to test with, so...

Lets try a manual upgrade. Change directories to
/usr/share/firmware/lsi/... (there should be only one here). You should
be in a directory with a package.ini, package.xml, and a .rom file.

Now, there are two SAS5 flash programs. I'm going to take a stab and
guess that you need "sas5iradapter", but if that doesnt work, also try
"sas5irint".

While you are in the directory with the .rom file, run this command:

LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/libexec/dell-lsiflash /usr/libexec/dell-lsiflash/sas5iradapter -a

This should flash the adapter. Note any wierd messages. I have done all
my dev/test with PERC5i and PERC5e. These have the same cmdline as the
sas flash utilities, so I'm pretty sure everything should work.
--
Michael