USB Bootable EFI Shell for Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P

[toy4x4]

I'm sorry if this is the wrong forum, but I could not figure out a better one to post in.

I have Googled, Searched and am just as confused as when i started. I am trying to figure out how to create a USB flash drive with a EFI shell so I can upgrade firmware on a LSI 9211-8I storage card. I find all sorts of info, but I can't seem to figure out the sure fire way to do this. Anyone have any good info on how to do this? I will have to create it from a Windows system.

 

[RGone]

I would make sure that you know exactly what and why...

...what and why you want to flash.

http://www.rootedconsulting.com/2013/05/20/lsi-ir-firmware-update/
Author of post gives instructions like this:
DOS Instructions:

and then he writes this:
Now for the problem I encountered today. I attempted the steps above, but on a UEFI enabled BIOS for the first time today. I received the error “UEFI not supported” from the sas2flsh utility. To resolve this issue, follow these steps:

Then he writes the :
UEFI Instructions:


He did all this because >> I decided to cover a topic today mainly because I ran into a minor issue building a new Nexenta ZFS appliance on an UEFI BIOS for one of our clients.

If you do not have Nexenta ZFS appliance then you should have zero problems using DOS flash from Usb stick and he even gives link in article to download the Usb stick format tool to flash from DOS using his seemingly well written instructions.

There is NOT a single word about UEFI based format of a Usb stick which I doubt is even real.

RGone...

 

[toy4x4]

I have multiple reasons why.

But from those instructions, here is the part causing problems:

Boot your server into UEFI Shell (F11 on my SuperMicro Server and select UEFI: Built-in EFI Shell).

There is no built in EFI Shell on the Gigabyte board (not the first time I went down this road). So I need to create a Bootable USB Flash drive that will boot to a EFI Shell.

 

[RGone]

There is no built in EFI Shell on the Gigabyte board (not the first time I went down this road). So I need to create a Bootable USB Flash drive that will boot to a EFI Shell.

IF your motherboard has NO EFI then you certainly do not need to try and boot to EFI. You would flash from DOS as his first instructions were at the link. The motherboard is what has EFI and if your board does not have it then you do not need it. The RAID card does not have the EFI. That author only gave EFI instructions because the board he had did have EFI and if it had not had EFI...he had no intention of worrying about EFI.

RGone...

 

[toy4x4]

This is a Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P which is a UEFI motherboard. I am trying to flash the same card that the author on the link you gave tried to flash. When I try to flash via DOS, I get the same message he had:

"UEFI not supported"

For that reason, I need to boot into a EFI Shell in order to upgrade just like he did. So seeing how the Gigabyte motherboard does not give a option to boot into a EFI Shell, I'm trying to figure out how to do this from a USB flash drive or another method.

So the real question is how do you get a EFI Shell when the MB does not provide a option?

I have a ASUS Maximus VI Hero on another system that does have the option to launch into a EFI Shell. No, they are not located together to simply swap the card into the other system to flash the firmware/bios

 

[RGone]

My CHV-z has most often shown the boot to UEFI when I have Usb stick in but sometimes not. The link below describes the various modes you can have the mobo set to and that may get your mobo in UEFI mode. I know this though. The board will have to support UEFI boot mode or nothing will force it into that mode.


GA-970A-DS3P No boot device found
Read down to "Tiger" user where he describes how to set the mobo to UEFI mode.

 

[toy4x4]

Thanks for helping. This is not the first time I've been frustrated with this board.

 

[RGone]

Thanks for helping. This is not the first time I've been frustrated with this board.

Well it is only trying to 'help' I guess if it is not working yet. Did you manage to get the mobo into UEFI mode?

RGone...

 

[toy4x4]

Well it is only trying to 'help' I guess if it is not working yet. Did you manage to get the mobo into UEFI mode?

RGone...

Thanks for the help RGone. This got me thinking in the right direction and has me where I need to be. I did not realize that I could simple boot from a "UEFI" Flash Drive and not have to find some option in the overall UEFI/BIOS to boot to it. Yes, when i placed the rEFInd image on my FAT32 USB drive, the boot option automatically indicated UEFI boot. I now have the shell I need and am good to go.

Thanks again!

 

[RGone]

Good man. Glad you got going in the right direction. I kept reading to put the flash files on a purely formatted FAT 32 drive and use the command line to run the application to flash the firmware. So not making the flash drive bootable caused the motherboard bios to ask if you wanted to open the files on the flash drive in UEFI mode. Well gave that option at least. Good to know.

I found others trying to do the same thing with an Intel type raid card and they even bought other motherboards to try and fix their issue with that motherboard.

Really glad you got it going to the point you can update the firmware on your LSI card. Thanks for replying back so that others and myself now know more than we did a day or two ago.

Again thanks for giving us a shout back.

RGone...

Thanks for the help RGone. This got me thinking in the right direction and has me where I need to be. I did not realize that I could simple boot from a "UEFI" Flash Drive and not have to find some option in the overall UEFI/BIOS to boot to it. Yes, when i placed the rEFInd image on my FAT32 USB drive, the boot option automatically indicated UEFI boot. I now have the shell I need and am good to go.

Thanks again!