I needed to connect some SAS disks to my PC for testing and moving data, but my EVGA X299 DARK does not have any support for SAS interface storage. Generic SATA disks can run on SAS controllers, but not the other way around. SATA was a serialized evolution of old parallel ATA/IDE interface, while SAS is evolution of server-grade SCSI interface.

SAS today is mostly used in servers and high-end workstation machines since it’s more expensive due to additional functionality for hot-swap, reliability and manageability of the large disk pools. Consumer motherboards and chipsets do not have integrated SAS functionality, so you wouldn’t be installing SAS disk into your usual laptop or desktop any time soon without special SAS controller card in it. SAS-3 disks can have interfaces operating at 12 Gbps, SAS-4 at even faster 24 Gbps, but in last decade most of new server storage is built around NVMe inteface that is much closer to PCI-Express implementation with way more direct path to the CPU/memory.

Let’s buy one of the SAS cards from ebay and install to free PCIe slot to add this capability. Choice fallen on Fujitsu HBA with two SFF connectors, up to 4 disks each.

This PCI-express x8 Gen3 card arrived after a week in a well packed box, protected with plastic clam shell.

Not much to it hardware-wise, just DC-DC regulators, LSI SAS3008 controller hiding under the heatsink, FLASH chip with firmware and some glue logic in BGA. Connectors for disks are 2x SFF8643 (Mini-SAS HD).

On the back we find few more small chips and bunch of passives.

Sadly card is dead on arrival because fragile silicon chip has one of the corners cracked.

This caused short on internal power rail, and card was heating up real bad just after some seconds running.

Obviously it’s a paperweight at this point.

Close up on the issue:

This type of physical damage is not uncommon for bare die FCBGA chips, especially when heatsink mounted with spring-loaded plugs only on two corners. That makes tilting heatsink very easy and once lot of pressure applied to one of the corners – hard silicon cracks and chip is dead. Years ago I bought one of FPGA devboard and it was damaged same way too.

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Crossflashing into SAS HBA firmware.

Referenced from here

1. Preparation

Before you begin, you’ll need to create a bootable FreeDOS USB key and extract the FJTools folder (attached) to the root directory.
The folder structure is:
Cursor.png

I’ve also included several .BAT files in these folders to simplify the process, which you can use instead of typing commands.
Make sure to check for errors after each step and halt if something goes wrong.
Unfortunately, I won’t be able to provide support, but there’s plenty of content here to assist you in diagnosing any issues.
Ensure that you only have one SAS card in your system.

1. Phase 1

1. Boot into FreeDOS, selecting the 3rd option (use HIMEM), and run the following commands:
Code:

cd FJTools
cd DOS
sasflsh.exe -list

This “test” I mentioned earlier will determine if you need to proceed with EFI in Phase 2.
If you encounter an error related to “Failed to initialize PAL”, it means you’ll need to use EFI for Phase 2.

2. Next, execute the following commands:
Code:

GETINFO.BAT
GETSBR.BAT
LISTCARD.BAT

Check the content of the CP400I.txt file.
It should contain your Serial Number at line 18 (leave out the leading 0’s) and your SAS Address at line 120.
Write down this information and save the file for later use.
You should also back up the CP400iOG.sbr file, which is your original SBR in case you need to revert the flash (please don’t ask, I don’t know how to ^^).
The last command should display your card as MR Card 0.

3. If everything appears to be in order, proceed with the following commands:
Code:

WRITESBR.BAT
CLEANFSH.BAT

4. Reboot your system.

1. Phase 2

In Phase 2, you’ll either proceed with FreeDOS or EFI, depending on the result of the test performed at the beginning of Phase 1.
Please note that I haven’t tested the FreeDOS option personally, as I had to proceed with EFI on my system.
Instructions are from the post mentioned in the credits, and I am confident that they should work.

1. FreeDOS

1. After booting in FreeDOS with the same HIMEM option, run the following commands:
Code:

FSHBIN10.BAT
FSHBIN12.BAT
sas3flsh.exe -o -tracer XXXXXXXX -sasadd YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

The second flash operation is to upgrade the firmware to TrueNAS 16.00.12.00.
You can find more information on this process here: TrueNAS Firmware Update.
Make sure you apply “FSHBIN10.BAT” before applying the second update.
Replace XXXXXXX with your original Serial Number and YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY with your original SAS Address.

2. Reboot while still using HIMEM, and check your card’s information with `sas3flsh.exe -list`
You should get detailed information about your card.

1. EFI

For the EFI case, I did exactly as in the Austrian video.
Maybe there are some unnecessary steps, but I didn’t want to screw up my card, as it’s the only one I have.

1. As you found out EFI boot is required after the “test” in Phase 1, you have to create an EFI\BOOT\ folder at the root of the USB key and copy the FJTools\bootx64.efi file to this BOOT subfolder.
Then reboot to this shell.
Check out your UEFI/BIOS for how to proceed.

2. Once you are in EFI shell, run the following commands:
Code:

fs0:
cd FJTools
cd EFI
sas3flash.efi -list

This command should display a message indicating Adapter Selected is an Avago SAS: SAS3008.
Type quit to exit.

3. Then, continue with the following commands:
Code:

sas3flash.efi -f SAS9300_8i_IT_160010.bin -noreset
sas3flash.efi -f SAS9300_8i_IT_160010.bin -b mptsas3.rom -b mpt3×64.rom
sas3flash.efi -f SAS9300_8i_IT_160012.bin
sas3flash.efi -o -tracer XXXXXXXX -sasadd YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
sas3flash.efi -list

The third flash operation is to upgrade the firmware to TrueNAS 16.00.12.00.
You can find more information on this process here: TrueNAS Firmware Update.
Feel free to bypass if you don’t want it.
Replace XXXXXXXX with your original Serial Number, and YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY with your original SAS Address.
The last command should now give you detailed information about your card.

Congratulations, you’ve completed the crossflashing process! ;)