SAS Controllers w/ EFI for Mac OS X / OSx86 Solutions

[nerdalertdk]

Anyone has any exp with HP Smart Array P400/P800 ?

The chipset on the card say LSI 1078 but apparently it does not use mpt-fusion driver but cciss instead.

 

i just tried with the p400 and no luck

put i found out that freebsd supports the p400 so if some one can take the driver from freebsa above v6.2 and make an kext it might work

[Vovique]

To ximu (or who knows):

What is the Device ID should I prescribe in AppleLSIFusionMPT.kext?

Device ID LSI 1068? (I have built into the motherboard LSI 1068 controller)

(In Hardware Info I found this: 1000-0054)

Where can I find the Device ID?

In what place info.plist, and what to prescribe?

You can more details, please?

[simkard]

Hi all !

 

I'm looking for a cheap RAID SAS controller that can be able too boot a RAID0 on the OSX Installation.

 

After reading all of your posts, i came to a conclusion that the only SAS RAID CONTROLLERS able to do it are the ones equiped with the IOP348 chipset from intel.

 

What made me came to this idea is that "xhala_debru" (on page 3) said :

Yes, it does appear as an installable disk (tried with jas 10.5.4) and I can see the drivers are loaded at startup

 

So i made a search and found out that the only point that was changing from other controllers was the chipset.

 

As the ARECA 1222 256MB is very expensive, i searched for others based on the same chipset/memory architecture and finally came on these points :

- SuperMicro AOC-USASLP-S8iR (2 internals SFF-8087 connectors // 8 drives ; 128/256 MB DDR2 on-board cache)

- Areca ARC-1212 (only 1 internal SFF-8087 connector // 4 drives ; 256 MB on-board cache DDR2-533 SDRAM with ECC protection)

- HighPoint RocketRAID 4320 (2 internals SFF-8087 connectors // 8 drives ; Upto 256MB DDR2 Memory)

 

The prices varies like this on ebay.com :

- SuperMicro AOC-USASLP-S8iR :

340 USD

- Areca ARC-1212 :

385 USD

- HighPoint RocketRAID 4320 :

426 USD

- Areca ARC-1222 :

525 USD

 

I'm really interested in buying the Areca ARC-1212, the little daughter of the big ARC-1222, but it appears that it doesn't support all the RAID modes that the other. Take a look at the link i put on the Areca ARC-1212 upper in this post.

 

So finally ... i don't know what to do ?! Does someone got one of these, already tried and got luck ?

[xhala_debru]

Hi,

 

I'm still pleased with my Areca 1222.

My experience:

- Drivers are buit-in in Leopard and SL, so drives are accessible from a vanilla installation DVD.

- Areca sometimes delivers new drivers, but they are often following the release of the update.

So once ( I think after 10.5.6), my system was not bootable anymore as a kext had been updated by apple, fortunately, I had a backup system and put the kext from 10.5.5 back and it was Ok.

Areca delivered the new driver a few weeks later

- You have to be carefull as now there are 32 and 64bits drivers, so if you upgrade you driver, you'll have to take the driver matching your kernel. Otherwise you'll have the "Still waiting for root device" problem.

 

As a rule of a thumb, keep a clone of your installed system on a cheap sata/esata or usb drive just in case.

 

I think all those problems are not hackintosh related.

 

But still, I'm pleased with it and don't regret it.

 

One final note: If you ever get one, don't flash it with an Efi firmware or it will not be bootable anymore.

I tried it and had to boot on the Areca cd (which is a live linux distrib with drivers) to flash it back with pc firmware.

[simkard]

Hi,

 

I'm still pleased with my Areca 1222.

My experience:

- Drivers are buit-in in Leopard and SL, so drives are accessible from a vanilla installation DVD.

- Areca sometimes delivers new drivers, but they are often following the release of the update.

So once ( I think after 10.5.6), my system was not bootable anymore as a kext had been updated by apple, fortunately, I had a backup system and put the kext from 10.5.5 back and it was Ok.

Areca delivered the new driver a few weeks later

- You have to be carefull as now there are 32 and 64bits drivers, so if you upgrade you driver, you'll have to take the driver matching your kernel. Otherwise you'll have the "Still waiting for root device" problem.

 

As a rule of a thumb, keep a clone of your installed system on a cheap sata/esata or usb drive just in case.

 

I think all those problems are not hackintosh related.

 

But still, I'm pleased with it and don't regret it.

 

One final note: If you ever get one, don't flash it with an Efi firmware or it will not be bootable anymore.

I tried it and had to boot on the Areca cd (which is a live linux distrib with drivers) to flash it back with pc firmware.

 

 

Ok, so, do you think the Areca 1212 will work fine like your 1222 out-of-box as it is the same architecture (IOP348 & 256MB RAM) ?

 

thanks !

[xhala_debru]

Ok, so, do you think the Areca 1212 will work fine like your 1222 out-of-box as it is the same architecture (IOP348 & 256MB RAM) ?

 

thanks !

Well, I think so.

[vlad1966]

xhala_debru,

 

Can you tell me if your are running SL in 64-bit mode? 10.6.2?

I am considering the Areca 1222, but I only run in 64-bit mode.

 

Thanks!

 

Hi,

 

I'm still pleased with my Areca 1222.

My experience:

- Drivers are buit-in in Leopard and SL, so drives are accessible from a vanilla installation DVD.

- Areca sometimes delivers new drivers, but they are often following the release of the update.

So once ( I think after 10.5.6), my system was not bootable anymore as a kext had been updated by apple, fortunately, I had a backup system and put the kext from 10.5.5 back and it was Ok.

Areca delivered the new driver a few weeks later

- You have to be carefull as now there are 32 and 64bits drivers, so if you upgrade you driver, you'll have to take the driver matching your kernel. Otherwise you'll have the "Still waiting for root device" problem.

 

As a rule of a thumb, keep a clone of your installed system on a cheap sata/esata or usb drive just in case.

 

I think all those problems are not hackintosh related.

 

But still, I'm pleased with it and don't regret it.

 

One final note: If you ever get one, don't flash it with an Efi firmware or it will not be bootable anymore.

I tried it and had to boot on the Areca cd (which is a live linux distrib with drivers) to flash it back with pc firmware.

[vpvl66]

Maybe someone can shed some light on this SAS-related problem:

 

I have a Dell Precision T7400 with an on-board LSI1068E. I have two SATA drives on this controller (no raid) + two drives on plain SATA controller.

 

10.6.2 runs (mostly) fine (w/ RC4 and modified dsdt).

 

However, every once in a while I get this error:

 

12/20/09 10:44:31 PM kernel FusionMPT: WaitForInterrupt - maxWait = 30000 for SCSI Domain = 0

12/20/09 10:44:31 PM kernel ==================== Register Dump ====================

12/20/09 10:44:31 PM kernel Doorbell = 0x40004202

12/20/09 10:44:31 PM kernel Diagnostics = 0x00000100

12/20/09 10:44:31 PM kernel InterruptStatus = 0x80000000

12/20/09 10:44:31 PM kernel InterruptMask = 0x00000001

12/20/09 10:44:31 PM kernel RequestFIFO = 0xffffffff

12/20/09 10:44:31 PM kernel ReplyFIFO = 0xffffffff

 

After that strange things begin to happen. It seems all drive access starts to slow down and the system eventually becomes unresponsive, to the point where I need to reboot it. But there are no other console errors.

 

Also, odd enough, the SAS drives do not show up in the System Profiler (they did in 10.5.8). But they are usable nevertheless.

 

Any clues or suggestions?

[Generic George]

I'm in the process of trying to set up an Areca 1230 with an 8 drive array of Raptor150s.

 

I can see all the drives and create the raid in the browser interface, but after I do that, I am not seeing any sort of volume in the Finder, Disk Utility or the System Profiler. I've tried configuring the volume as both a RAID 10 and a JBOD. Neither makes any volume(s) show up.

 

There is an entry for the Areca card in System Profiler, but there is nothing under it like in some of the other screen shots. It only says "SCSI Parallel Domain 0". The little window below shows the firmware version. and basic info.

 

i'm running SL 10.6.1, I in 32 bit mode. The firmware on the card is 1.47 and I've installed the latest mac drivers (1.32).

 

Any suggestions?

[vlad1966]

I'm using 10.6.2 and the ArcMSR.kext shows built-in support for the ARC-1230 in S/L/E.

Not sure if 10.6.1 has it also.

Did you try using the card without drivers from Areca?

Also, if your using the card in a Hack, you should be able to use the card's BIOS to set up your RAID arrays. Have you tried that?

I'm personally considering an ARC-1222, but it's so damn expensive.

 

I'm in the process of trying to set up an Areca 1230 with an 8 drive array of Raptor150s.

 

I can see all the drives and create the raid in the browser interface, but after I do that, I am not seeing any sort of volume in the Finder, Disk Utility or the System Profiler. I've tried configuring the volume as both a RAID 10 and a JBOD. Neither makes any volume(s) show up.

 

There is an entry for the Areca card in System Profiler, but there is nothing under it like in some of the other screen shots. It only says "SCSI Parallel Domain 0". The little window below shows the firmware version. and basic info.

 

i'm running SL 10.6.1, I in 32 bit mode. The firmware on the card is 1.47 and I've installed the latest mac drivers (1.32).

 

Any suggestions?

[Generic George]

I'm using 10.6.2 and the ArcMSR.kext shows built-in support for the ARC-1230 in S/L/E.

Not sure if 10.6.1 has it also.

Did you try using the card without drivers from Areca?

Also, if your using the card in a Hack, you should be able to use the card's BIOS to set up your RAID arrays. Have you tried that?

I'm personally considering an ARC-1222, but it's so damn expensive.

 

Yes I tried it with the built in SL drivers first, with the same results as after I updated the drivers.

 

I can create the array using the web interface, I just can't see it in my mac or format it once I have created it. I am currently using the EFI bios, so I can't use the bios set up and I'm dubious that would change anything. Since the card functions are fine, the problem is the Mac not seeing things. I have also tried changing it from the third x16 PCIe slot to the second. No difference.

 

Personally, I've not been wowed by Areca's products, the 1230 has been problematic from day one. I mean what in god's name lead them to make a card with 12 Sata ports that DOESN'T support locking SATA connectors. I finally had to hot glue the cables onto the connectors to get a reliable connection. The 1222 does use the SFF-8087 connectors which do avoid that issue at least.

[tj_jackson]

I have a supermicro motherboards and monitors the X8DA6

chip LSISAS2008 (sas2 6gb / s).

 

http://www.lsi.com/storage_home/products_h...2008/index.html

 

http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherb.../5500/X8DA6.cfm

 

I installed the Snow Leopard update to 10.6.2, just do

sata controller that worked, which can be set

it, changing some code or something file

LSIFusionMPT.kext I activate?

 

chip network intel82574L changed some code and scripts

File IONetworkingFamily and it worked.

 

Does have a solution for this chip LSI also

are 8 satas / sas, it would be great to make

work here in the snow this chip

[vladthebad]

tj_jackson, good to have you aboard....

 

I've got supermicro X8DTH-6F with LSI2008 also.... no dice. Requires different set of drivers than the 1068e.

 

When apple updates the mobo on the xserve, we'll likely see 6Gb/s SAS2 using the LSI2008...... but that might be a while.... Haven't seen any BSD drivers available for it yet either.

[tj_jackson]

tj_jackson, good to have you aboard....

 

I've got supermicro X8DTH-6F with LSI2008 also.... no dice. Requires different set of drivers than the 1068e.

 

When apple updates the mobo on the xserve, we'll likely see 6Gb/s SAS2 using the LSI2008...... but that might be a while.... Haven't seen any BSD drivers available for it yet either.

 

 

 

is a pity does not have the drivers for it, I hope to soon, after all they are 8 or satas sas unusable because of this

[podarok]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

podarok, for a bootable raid, this link might able to help you, but u have to modify some scripts from terminal:-

 

http://aquamac.proboards.com/index.cgi?boa...&thread=613

 

i have never thry this but it worth a shot

 

pls let us know your results cause i am also interested in a cost effective sas raid system in my hack'tosh

 

regards

 

Bosica

it is "software raid" how-to

It can be done at any type of pata, sata, sas, scsi board 8)))

But I want to make it possible for boot from LSI hardware raid

[ergot]

is a pity does not have the drivers for it, I hope to soon, after all they are 8 or satas sas unusable because of this

 

hi I am planing to buy LSO SAS9260-4I Kit Raid 4PORT Int 6GB Sas/sata Pcie 2.0 512MB

 

Is this card works under SL? I have 4 SAS 300GB 15K 6g/s HD that I want to use in my system, the drives will not be OS drive

 

A 6g/s HD works under SL?

 

Thanks

[Macs4All]

I hope my request is not OT.

 

I'm looking for advice about a PCI-X SATA II Raid (needed just for striping - e.g. RAID 0) controller, which is not only bootable, but "installable" too (e.g. seen from install DVD as a disk good for installing OS).

 

I would like to build a RAID 0 system volume with two SSD drives. Given the high throughput of such devices, would a RAID 0 saturate the PCI-X controller?

 

Thanks for your help.

 

DAX

[ergot]

Vladd1966 hope you read this...

i remember you had trouble booting your LSi card with raid configuration, you booted only when you choose a single disk, I am facing the same issue with my LSI SAS3041X-R card now...

BTW, SL can boot and its working but in system profile i cannot see any controller listed...

did you find any solution??

[barnum]

Anyone has any exp with HP Smart Array P400/P800 ?

The chipset on the card say LSI 1078 but apparently it does not use mpt-fusion driver but cciss instead.

 

Hi Tommy,

 

do you try to use HP Smart Array P400 with snow leopard ?

Deos it work ?

 

regards,

Barnum

[jaymonkey]

Hey Guys,

 

I Know this thread is quite old, but this is where I'm at:

 

I have OSX Lion 10.7.3 running on my Abit IP35 Pro, all is great, no problems except for the LSI3041E-R which is a 4 port sas/sata controller with PCIe x4.

My Abit IP35 Pro has spare x4 PCIe slot so i'd thought i'd give it a go. I'm pretty much where everybody else is with LSI Chipset based hardware raid controller is.

 

OSX see's the card hardware ok and loads AppleLSIFusionMPT.kext.

 

Drives work fine in single/jbod mode but if i use them in a hardware raid mode (stripe) Disk Utility wont see the drives.

The card is still there in system report, just with no drives in the sas domain.

 

 

I've flashed the card with latest firmware and MPT BIOS, makes no difference.

 

Updates for this card can be found here

 

Ok, now the technical bit.

 

LSI provides an EFI BSD (Boot Services Driver) for the card, which i've downloaded, the contents of which look like this

 

 

 

I've figured out how to flash the card with the efi bsd, but havent done it yet as i have no idea whats going to happen,

I just have no experience with efi hardware/software interaction.

 

The EFI BSD for the card are the .rom files, however what are the other files ? ( efi & .lbf )

I assume that they are some sort of driver, how would you use them which Chameleon ?

Do i really need them ? I would think that they need to linked to Chameleon somehow.

 

Unfortunately there is no readme or helpfile with the efi update, just a mention in the flashing guide on how to the pass the efi.rom file name.

 

I'm willing to give this a go as i read some other people where in the same situation but didn't want to go first.

As i understand it, chameleon is effectively a simulated efi system for our hardware platforms,

Does it suport PCIe device's that have native efi bsd's or does it only emulate recognise non efi hardware ?

 

So many questions,...

Any advice would be welcomed

Jay

[Klonkrieger2]

Hi!

 

I also have a 3041E-R. ipf means "itanium processor family". ebc means "EFI byte code" and x64 is of course 64bit. For me hardware RAID also doesn't work. And with my latest mainboard bios update, sleep wakeup is broken. The HDDs don't spin up.

Maybe i trie flashing the "integrator" firmware instead of the "raid" firmware, since raid doesn't work anyway.

[ARMAGEDDON]

I have a SAS MPT Family Controller: IBM BR10i (rebranded LSI 3082E-R):

 

 

Working from 10.4 to 10.8.3 OOB. Not bootable on my Mac Pro because of 64-bit EFI (i have 32-bit) but fully bootable at PCs.

 

[Rampage Dev]

I have a SAS MPT Family Controller: IBM BR10i (rebranded LSI 3082E-R):

 

 

Working from 10.4 to 10.8.3 OOB. Not bootable on my Mac Pro because of 64-bit EFI (i have 32-bit) but fully bootable at PCs.

 

 

Rebranded as in flashed?

[ARMAGEDDON]

Rebranded as in flashed?

 

Yes. And i must correct myself! NOW This HBA is fully bootable under any Mac Pro! I just flashed lsisasebc.rom (v.3.22.00.00) from EFI BSD package for LSI SAS 3081E-R from LSI page.

[dukzcry]

hi guys,

 

i am very new to this (which will probably show ;P) and was going through the forums searching for a way to install and boot osx off a r0 volume on a dell perc 5i controller - which in reality is a LSI 8480e card

 

any info would be much appreciated!

You need this kext: http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/285197-driver-for-lsi-megaraid-sas-family/