Replacing or Upgrading to the Intel RS2BL040 or Intel RS2BL080 RAID Card

Background

The Intel RS2BL040 and RS2BL080 are 4 and 8 port controllers based on the LSI 2108 first generation 6G SAS chipset, and are Intel's branded version of the LSI 9260-4i and 9260-8i respectively. These cards have shipped in large numbers of Stone servers since 2012 to 2016. Therefore, it is useful to know how to replace failed cards and upgrade the controller firmware. The RS2BL080 is also a suitable replacement for the older SRCSASRB and SRCSATAWB controllers.

This article gives some more hints and tips specific to the RSB2L0x0 cards in addition to the Overview of the RAID Card Replacement Process.

Click on one of the links below for further instructions.

I'm Upgrading to the RS2BL040 or RS2BL040 from an older RAID card

If you are upgrading from an older card, you need to follow the process below:

I'm Replacing the same card like for like

Follow the process below:

Reminder: RAID Card firmware updates in the above process should in the EFI environment, as the firmware on the card should be upgraded before you can connect the drives, thus before you can boot Windows, in most situations. If you perform any updates using RAID Web Console from within Windows, do NOT use the option to perform an "online update". This feature enables the RAID firmware update to take immediate effect and is not recommended. The firmware update may be flashed whilst Windows is running, but the system should then be rebooted for it for take effect.

Firmware Flash Methods and Examples

Server Platform RAID Card Manufacturer Environment Tools, Methods When to Use
S5000 LSI or Intel EFI 1.x Not possible Cannot Use RAID Flash Tools in EFI 1.x Environment
S5000 LSI DOS DOS MegaCLI.EXE (seperate download)

Recommended Method when Windows isn't running.

MEGACLI /c0 download file=mrxxx.rom

(flashes adapter 0)

S5000 Intel DOS DOS CMDTool2.EXE (included with firmware)

Recommended Method when Windows isn't running.

CmdTool2.exe -adpfwflash -f mrxxx.rom -aall

(flashes all adapters)

Any Intel Windows RAID Web Console (seperate download)

Recommended method for flashing firmware within Windows. Can be used to flash LSI equivalent firmware onto Intel adapters in extreme situations.

Drivers and RWC should be updated first.

Any Intel Windows Windows CMDTool2.EXE (included with firmware)

CmdTool2.exe -adpfwflash -f mrxxx.rom -aall

(flashes all adapters; use an Administrative Command Prompt)

S5520 or newer LSI or Intel DOS MegaCLI.EXE or CMDTool2.EXE Flashing adapters from a DOS bootable pen drive is possible; however flashing from the EFI environment is preferred.
S5520 or newer Intel EFI 2.x EFI CMDTool2.EFI or Update.NSH (included with firmware)

Recommended method for flashing before connecting drives and importing a RAID configuration.

CmdTool2.efi -adpfwflash -f mrxxx.rom -aall

(flashes all adapters)

S5520 or newer LSI EFI 2.x EFI StorCLI.EFI (seperate download)

Recommended method for flashing before connecting drives and importing a RAID configuration.

StorCLI /c0 download file=mrxxx.rom

(flashes adapter 0)

Applies to:



Article ID: 527
Last updated: 03 Jun, 2016
Revision: 17
Stone Branded Products -> Servers and Workstations -> Troubleshooting -> Replacing or Upgrading to the Intel RS2BL040 or Intel RS2BL080 RAID Card
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