HP Z800 Workstation : Update Firmware for LSI 1068E Controller

The LSI 1068E SAS/SATA RAID Controller is an embedded controller available in HP Z800 Workstation system. But the supported RAID level on this controller is RAID-0, RAID-1 and RAID-1E which is not suitable, due to the hardware designed you are not able to do RAID-5.

As such it makes sense to just update the firmware to IT Mode (Initiator-Target Mode) so that you can make use of ZFS that mostly found in TrueNAS, UnRaid, Proxmox VE etc.

The problems is that the LSI 1068E firmware are custom and specially made for HP Z series and there are no download available to change the controller to IT Mode. However someone on the Internet managed to find out that the 1068E chip is the same chip as 3081E (or compatible).

Pre-requisites :-

1. A 4GB or larger USB Flash drive.
2. LSI 3081E Firmware and MPT ROM files (https://www.broadcom.com/support/download-search?pg=Legacy+Products&pf=Legacy+Host+Bus+Adapters&pn=LSI+SAS+3081E-R&pa=Firmware&po=&dk=&pl=&l=false).
3. Rufus Utility (https://rufus.ie/en/).

Steps-By-Steps :-

1. Prepare the USB Flash drive with Rufus, at the "Boot Selection" dropdown, select --> FreeDOS option.

2. Once completed, extract the downloaded firmware file into the USB flash drive, you might want to create a simple and short folder name for it (eg. SAS3918E).

You need to copy "sasflash.exe" from "SASflash_DOS_rel" folder and replace the existing file in the main folder. This is because the existing file in the main folder is for Windows use and not for DOS use, thus replacing the file is IMPORTANT.

3. Then plugin the USB flash drive to HP Z800 Workstation and boot the computer via the USB flash drive. You might need to press --> [F9] key to invoke the "Boot menu selection".

4. Once booted up, type the following command --> sasflash.exe -list

You should see the result something similar as below screenshot. Take note on the "Controller" where the "(B3)" is the type of the controller version. And also the "SAS Address" displayed, you might need this info at a later stage. Write it down or take a screenshot of the information.

5. Next is to run the batch file to update it, type --> hbaFlash.bat

The batch file will prompt you multiple questions, just follow the on-screen instructions. Below are just an example of my run :-

Welcome to LSI Logic Integrated SAS Flash Utility      This Utility will upgrade your LSI SAS HBA              !!!             WARNING              !!!             !!! LSI strongly recommends you save !!!             !!!  the existing firmware and BIOS  !!!             !!!    currently installed on your   !!!             !!!          SAS Controller          !!!      Your existing firmware will be saved as Firmware.fw      Your existing BIOS will be saved as     BIOS.rom      in the current directory      press y or n     (yes or no) ? Y      Saving old firmware and BIOS sasflash -ufirmware Firmware.fw sasflash -ubios BIOS.rom

TO FLASH  3080     press  1 TO FLASH  3081     press  2 TO FLASH  3800     press  3 TO FLASH  3801     press  4 TO FLASH  3442     press  5 TO FLASH  3041     press  6 TO FLASH  3444     press  7 TO FLASH  31601    press  8 TO EXIT press 9 press 1 to 9 ? 2

The HBA is PCI-X or PCIe For PCI-X press  X or x For PCIe  press  E or e To Exit press    Q or q press X, E or Q ? E

IR or IT Firmware For Integrated RAID (IR) press   R or r For Initator-Target (IT) press   T or t TO EXIT press   q press R, T or q ? T

Which Chip Version? For A3  press  1 For A4  press  2 For B0  press  3 For B1  press  4 For B2  press  5 For B3  press  6 To Exit press  7 press 1 to 6 (or 7 to quit) ? 6

You have selected 3081PCI-e T firmware with chip B3 sasflash -f 3081ETB3.fw -b MPTSAS.ROM OK to Flash  press  F or f TO EXIT press       q TO EXIT press       q ? F sasflash -o -f 3081ETB3.fw -b MPTSAS.ROM

6. Once the Flash have completed, type --> sasflash.exe -list 
to confirm the results of the flash, it should have the results as per screenshot below.

7. If for some reasons, the "SAS Address" displaying an error or have a "xxxxxxx-x-xxxx-xxxx" as a results, then you will need to change the address manually.

Type --> sasflash.exe -o -sasadd [your SAS Address]

Example:

sasflash.exe -o -sasadd 5001458007d1e026

8. Type --> sasflash.exe -list to confirm the changes of the "SAS Address", if the results is the same as per mine then you are good to go.

9. Reboot the computer and unplug the USB flash drive. During the normal boot-up process, you should see the new firmware version, new BIOS version and the new Mode displayed during the initialization of the HDDs.

!!! HAPPY COMPUTING !!!

Proxmox : PCIe Passthrough

How to passthrough a PCIe or On-Board device/controller in Proxmox VE v.8.2.4.

At times you might want to passthrough certain devices or controller to a VM Guest for full access and control. This can be a GPU, RAID Controller, NIC etc. This is very useful in scenario such as testing a NAS (TrueNAS).

Pre-requisites :-

1. System CPU must support IOMMU (I/O Memory Management Unit) interrupt remapping. Usually this is called Intel VT-d or AMD-Vi or similar names. Most newer Mainboard and CPU already have such features.

2. This passthrough methods means the entire device or controller is no longer in use by Proxmox VE itself and only manage by the VM Guest. This means you cannot passthrough a controller where the "Boot-Pool" is connected. It must be a separate controller or device.

Scenario :-

My test system or home lab system is a HP Z800 WorkStation series with the following hardware configurations, if your system is newer than mine then most probably it will works too :-

• Dual Intel Xeon X5660 2.80Ghz, 6-Cores, 12-Threads, 12MB-Cache.
• 96GB DDR3 1333Mhz ECC RAM.
• Intel 5520 Chipset.
• On-board Intel Matrix 6-ports SATA/RAID Controller.
• On-board LSI 1068E 8-ports SAS/SATA Controller.
• LSI 9212-4i SAS/SATA 4-ports PCIe Controller.

The "LSI 9212-4i SAS/SATA 4-ports PCIe Controller" is where Proxmox VE is installed, thus I cannot passthrough this controller.

Let's Get Started :-

1. Login to the Proxmox VE's WebUI.

2. Select the Node, in this case I have only a single node.

3. Open --> Shell

4. Verify that your system have IOMMU enabled.

dmesg | grep -e DMAR -e IOMMU -e AMD-Vi

The results should shows "DMAR: IOMMU enabled" OR "DMAR: Intel(R) Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O". If either of these is missing then you need to check your BIOS/UEFI whether those virtualization technology are enabled.

5. Edit the "Kernel" file.

nano /etc/kernel/cmdline

Add the following line to the file.

root=ZFS=rpool/ROOT/pve-1 boot=zfs intel_iommu=on

If your CPU is and AMD type, then add "amd_iommu=on" to it.

6. Next is to edit the "Modules" file.

nano /etc/modules

Add the following into the file.

vfio vfio_iommu_type1 vfio_pci vfio_virqfd

7. Now we also need to edit the "GRUB" file.

nano /etc/default/grub

Look for the following line and append the line as shown.

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet intel_iommu=on"

If your CPU is and AMD type, then add "amd_iommu=on" to it.

8. Once all done, we need to refresh the "Proxmox" boot.

proxmox-boot-tool refresh

9. Update the "initfamfs" also.

update-initramfs -u -k all

10. Next is to update "GRUB" also.

update-grub

11. Finally, we need to REBOOT the Proxmox VE host server.

12. After reboot, verify the "IOMMU" configuration.

dmesg | grep -e DMAR -e IOMMU -e AMD-Vi

Results :-

DMAR: IOMMU enabled OR DMAR: Intel(R) Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O

13. Verify "vfio" configuration.

lsmod | grep vfio

Results :-

vfio_pci          49152    0

vfio_virqfd          16384    1 vfio_pci

irqbypass                  16384    2 vfio_pci,kvm

vfio_iommu_type1   32768    0

vfio                           32768    2 vfio_iommu_type1,vfio_pci

14. Verify "Interrupt Remapping" configuration.

dmesg | grep 'remapping'

Results :-

AMD-Vi: Interrupt remapping enabled OR DMAR-IR: Enabled IRQ remapping in 2xapic mode (only for older CPU model)

If you encounter an error message on the remapping interrupts, type the following command and reboot the Proxmox server again.

echo "options vfio_iommu_type1 allow_unsafe_interrupts=1" > /etc/modprobe.d/iommu_unsafe_interrupts.conf

15. Now you can create a VM and passthrough a PCIe device to that VM. Take note you need to ensure the "Machine = q35" else it will not work.

Also note that the device must not be in the same IOMMU Group, if the device is in the same group of another device then high chances it will not work or the entire group will also be passthrough to the VM.

For more information :-

• https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/PCI_Passthrough
• https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/PCI(e)_Passthrough
• https://www.thomas-krenn.com/en/wiki/Enable_Proxmox_PCIe_Passthrough

Edit, 28-Nov-2024 : Added video.

!!! HAPPY COMPUTING !!!

HP Z800 WorkStation : Disabled Option ROM Boot

This method is only required when you have added or upgraded with a SAS/SATA Controller (eg. LSI 9212-4i PCIe).

If this option is not disabled, you will get the following error :-

110-Out of memory space for option ROMs

This is because the BIOS was not able to decide which Boot Controller it should use thus causing system conflict during boot.

As recommended by HP, to solve this problems is to disable the option ROMs of the integrated Intel Matrix Storage Controller or the LSI 1068E SAS/SATA Controller.

1. During the System Boot, Press --> [F10] key to go into "Setup Mode".

2. Goto --> Advanced menu.

3. Select --> Device Options.

4. Look for either of these and "Disable" accordingly :-

    4.1 SAS Option ROM Download.

    4.2 SATA RAID Option ROM Download.

5. Next is to press --> [F10] key to accept the configuration changes.

6. Proceed to "Save & Exit" the BIOS and the system will reboot.

7. Upon reboot, the error will have been resolved and the newly added LSI 9212-4i PCIe Controller will now be detected along with its connected SSD/HDD.

!!! HAPPY COMPUTING !!!

Disassembly : HP Z800 Workstation

Recently I have bought a "Refurbished" HP Z800 Workstation from an online platform. The purpose of the purchase was to setup my first ever "Home Lab" server, this server will host a few services that I have in mind such as:

• JellyFin
• RustDesk
• WebDAV
• Windows Server
• Ubuntu Server

The server also serve as platform for me to perform all sorts of testing including new version release, new open source projects and many others. But as a start, I will sharing an overview of the system that I've bought and how to dismantle it for general servicing.

The system that I've bought comes with the following specifications:

• Dual processor of Intel Xeon X5660 2.80Ghz, 6-Cores, 12-Threads, 12MB Cache (LGA 1366).
• 48GB DDR3 1333Mhz ECC Registered DIMM (6 x 8GB), 12 DIMM slots [Kingston KTH-PL313/8G] with NUMA Technology.
• Intel 5520 Chipset.
• Intel Matrix 6-ports SATA-3 RAID Controller.
• LSI 1068E 8-ports SAS/SATA-3 RAID Controller.
• HP SAS Back Panel Connector Kit.
• nVidia Quadro FX-1800 768MB GDDR3, 30-bit, CUDA, 2 x DisplayPort, 1 x DVI port PCIe.
• Intel WG82574L Gigabit Ethernet.
• Broadcom 5764 LOM Gigabit Ethernet.
• Realtek HD ALC262 Audio.
• LSI 1394 OHCI Firewire.
• 850watts 85% (Bronze) Power Supply Unit.
• 4 Internal 3.5" HDD drive bays.
• 3 External 5.25" ODD/HDD drive bays.
• 3 Internal USB 2.0 Headers.
• Rear I/O :
• 1 x IEEE-1394a
• 6 x USB 2.0
• 1 x Serial (RS232)
• 1 x PS/2 Keyboard
• 1 x PS/2 Mouse
• 2 x RJ45 Gigabit LAN
• 1 x Audio In
• 1 x Audio Out
• 1 x Microphone In
• Front I/O :
• 3 x USB 2.0
• 1 x Headset Out
• 1 x Microphone In
• 1 x IEEE-1394a
• PCI Express Connectors :
• 2 x PCIe Gen2 x16 slots 75W [Slot #2, #5].
• 2 x PCIe Gen2 x16 (8) slots 25W [Slot #4, #7].
• 2 x PCIe Gen2 x8 (4) slots 25W [Slot #1, #3].
• 1 x PCI 32b, 33Mhz slot 25W [Slot #6].

Something to note that as this system is refurbished, there are some disadvantages :

• Warranty already expired.
• Tons of dust in the system.
• Tons of scratches on both side of the panels.
• Tons of small chips and dents.
• Missing 2 Internal drive bay caddies.
• Missing left-side feet trim.
• Missing 1 rear slot cover.
• Faulty DVDRW drive.

Under such "used" conditions, the system still able to POST and the seller also installed Windows 10 in a Kingston A400 240GB SSD (included as FREE) and I don't intend to use it. So far there are no issues with hardware side, only the appearance of the system is bad.

In order to clean this system properly, I have to dismantle almost everything and below are a video guide on how to dismantle it for cleaning purposes :

!!! HAPPY COMPUTING !!!

Notebook : HP Beats 15-p016AU (Disassembly)

This is another example of bad design of notebook, you need to disassemble almost all the parts just for a simple HDD and RAM upgrades.

Let's start shall we....

1. Remove all the screws as shown.

2. You need to remove the black cover to reveal another hidden screws.

3. Next turn over the notebook with the keyboard facing you and slowly open the entire bezel, becareful on the keyboard & touchpad's ribbon cables.

4. After removing the bezel, you can now see the mainboard as shown below. If you have noticed, the RAM slots are not visible.

5. Disconnect all ribbon cables and cables and remove the screws as shown below.

6. Slowly remove the mainboard, as always do not force it out. Once the mainboard is removed, turn it over and now you can see the RAM slots (as shown below).

You know I don't really understand by manufacturer decided not to grant easy access to these components... I really don't... anyway I hope these will help others.

!!! HAPPY COMPUTING !!!

Notebook : HP Pavilion x360 Convertible [P/N : 13-u113TU] (Disassembly)

A friend of mine recently found his laptop to be either very slow or will sometimes freezes, he asked my help to upgrade it or to make it fast (whatever it takes)...

Well you know me, I can't reject a friend :D

To be on the safe side, I need to ensure the part's number is correct and whether it supports any kind of upgrade such as RAM & SSD. Thus taking it apart is a must, well kinda as I also need to refresh the thermal compound of the CPU.... here it goes.

At first glance, the first thing that came into my mind was.... WOW! only 4 hidden screws ?? Then I realized there's more hidden beneath the rubber strip (as shown below).

As always, opening any plastic cover take patience, slow, steady and skills. After removing those rubbers it reveals all the screws.

Trying my best to remove the cover doesn't seems to work, after figuring out what went wrong then it just hit me that there's another hidden screw in the middle. Who would have thought that is a screw hidden in there.

Now after removing the middle screw, I thought this is simple but to my surprise I need to flip over to remove the keyboard instead. Carefully I removed the entire keyboard panel as not to damaged the keyboard & touchpad ribbon cables.

Flipping over the keyboard panel after its been removed. Nothing much here but just to shows you how it looks like.

The below picture is the mainboard revealed, just like normal the HDD, battery and other stuffs is visible, but I can't seems to find the RAM's slot(s). Now it hits me again, the RAM slot(s) might be underneath the mainboard and just to be sure I need to remove the mainboard.... ugghhh !! This have disassembly tasks have become from normal to extreme. 

There are 6 screws to remove the battery, be careful on the connectors as its directly connected to the mainboard thus you need to tilt it up abit before sliding out.

How it looks after removing the battery.

Now to remove the HDD, you need to first disconnect the ribbon cable then only remove the 4 screws.

This is how it looks like after removing the HDD.

Before removing the mainboard, you will need to first disconnect all those ribbon cables (as shown below).

Now its time to remove the screws, location as show below. Take note that there's CMOS battery attached to the mainboard and need a little bit of prying on the battery as its glued to the case.

After removing the mainboard, this is how it looks like.

This is the mainboard's view.

Now flip it over, you now able to see the RAM's slots. There are 2 DIMMs available.

Upon checking the RAM's specification, its a DDR4-2400 type. Now I have compared it with HP's PartSurfer website (just for double confirmation). It shows SPS-MEM 4GB 2133MHz 1.2v DDR4 SHARED (P/N : 820569-005).

Sadly upon checking with Kingston & Transcend website, they no longer supports or manufacturer RAM upgrade for this model. Hence I will need to look for an almost similar specifications but un-tested for this notebook thus I'm also not sure of the stability of it.

I've yet to check with HP for the parts availability but I'm doubtful they will have it too. Its kinda sucks for this model to have 2 DIMMs slots yet we need to remove almost everything just for a RAM upgrade.

I still like those models where its just as simple as removing part of the bottom cover to reveal on the RAM or HDD parts. Well I think those days are gone now for sure.

!!! HAPPY COMPUTING !!!

Notebook - HP EliteBook Folio 9470m UltraBook (Disassembly)

This is just a references for disassembling the HP EliteBook Folio 9470m UltraBook model. You may not need to go to the extend of dismantling to the "bare" for common upgrades like RAM and HDD or mSSD, but just in case some genius out there decided to have a go (its not for faint hearted, be warned).

1. Push side way to remove the notebook's battery as shown below.

2. Remove the screws as shown to disclose the storage's bays (2 screws).

3. Once the cover is removed, it will reveal the storage bays which consist of 1 x mSSD slot and 1 x SATA HDD bay. Depending on the country of purchase, some models may comes with mSSD or HDD only or maybe both.

Note : Some model comes with mSSD Cache 32GB.

mSSD Location.

HDD Bay Location.

4. Remove the screws as shown to reveal the RAM slots and other components.

5. Once the cover is removed, you can now view the keyboard's screws as shown below (3 screws).

6. Once the keyboard's screws have been removed, turn over and slowly and very carefully to remove the keyboard. Please take note that the keyboard have an interlocking mechanism (or notches), so removing it must be very slow, careful and a steady hand.



Remarks : Becareful not to damage any connectors and its ribbon cables shown below, it will affects keyboard's functionalities.

Remarks : Below picture is the exact location of the keyboard's notches location.

7. Once the keyboard is removed, turn back to the bottom. Now proceed to remove all screws as shown, becareful of the screws length where some is shorter than the normal. A total of 19 screws.

Note : You need to peel off the CMOS battery which is sticked onto the chassis and ensure also the antenna cables is disconnected before removing the mid chassis.

8. Once the "Mid Panel" is removed, it will disclose the mainboard of the notebook. Proceed to disconnect all the connectors as shown below (4 Connectors).

9. Once all the connectors is disconnected, now we need to remove the mainboard's screws first as shown below (2 screws).

10. Once the mainboard's screws is removed, now we need to remove the "CPU's Fan" as shown below (1 screw) and its connector.

11. Now once the "CPU's Fan" is removed, we can proceed to remove the mainboard slowly. Note that it will be a bit tricky as the "Audio/Headphone" port is stuck in between the base chassis. The below picture shows that the mainboard removed.

12. The "LCD Screen" is still attached to the chassis, to remove it you must remove the screws as show below (4 screws). But take note before removing the screws you may need to slightly open the screen at 90 degrees angle for an easier approach.

13. Now the "LCD Screen" is separated from the base chassis. This is how it looks like once the screen is separated.

14. Now I'm not going to show how to remove the LCD screen as this will be quite easy to perform, but be aware of the "LCD's Inverter" board which might cause some electrical shock. Also a mishandling of the screen will rendered it either crack or malfunction.


Also since I've successfully dismantled the notebook, I've took the liberty to label most or commonly known parts as shown below.

Now I will not recommend this procedures unless really necessary and will definitely void all warranty that applies. So do this at your own risks.

Happy Computing !

HP - iLO (Integrated Lights Out) Port Listing

If you want to access an iLO behind a firewall, there are some TCP ports that need to be opened on the firewall to allow all iLO traffic to flow through.  Here is a list of the default ports used by iLO, but these can be modified on iLO’s Administration… Access… Services… tab.

 

iLO Function	Socket Type	Port Number
Secure Shell (SSH)	TCP	22
Remote Console / Telnet	TCP	23
Web Server Non-SSL	TCP	80
Web Server SSL	TCP	443
Terminal Services	TCP	3389
Virtual Media	TCP	17988
Shared Remote Console	TCP	9300
Console Replay	TCP	17990
Raw Serial Data	TCP	3002