If someone would like to take pictures and screenshots of the process for me that I can put into the guide, that would be great. Since I do not have a running Windows computer at the moment I can’t make them myself. (post a comment and I will contact you). This line will be removed once I have the pictures i need.
Some guys a reddit.com requested that I made a quick guide on how to flash a LSI Megaraid M1015 SAS/SATA controller for pass-through firmware.
This guide will be on how to flash it for pass-through OR raid functions, since it’s the same method but with two different files.
I will supply you with the files needed as well.

What you need to flash the Megaraid M1015

You will need the following:

• A Windows XP/vista/7 computer (I have only tested on Windows 7)
• Package containing the firmware and tools for flashing, you can download it here
• A USB stick (I Think 256MB is more than enough), it should not contain any data, since we need to format it!
• This program (hp flashing utility, easy way to make bootable usb DOS usb stick)
• Win98 boot files, you can download that here

That’s all you need except for the raid controller itself and a computer/server to install it in!

Prepare needed files

You need to extract some of the packages and install the HP flash utility program. Do the following on your windows computer:

1. Create a folder called C:\flashfolder\
2. Extract the file sas2008.rar to C:\flashfolder\sas2008\
3. Extract the file win98boot.zip to C:\flashfolder\win98boot\
4. Extract the file hpflash1.zip to C:\flashfolder\hpflash\
5. Install the HP flash utility by running the following installer: C:\flashfolder\hpflash\hpflash1.exe

Prepare the bootable USB stick

We need a DOS bootable usb stick, with firmware and flashing software on. This is how you make it:

1. Insert USB stick into your Windows computer
2. Run the HP flash utility program you installed earlier and choose to flash your USB drive with the folder C:\flashfolder\win98boot\ BEWARE, THIS WILL FORMAT THE USB DRIVE!
3. Copy the folder C:\flashfolder\sas2008 to the newly created bootable USB drive

Finding the SAS number on the controller

We need something called the SAS number from the raid controller. You can find it on the controller itself. It should be a sticker or printed into the board (I can’t remember which)
It will be something like “500605bxxxxxxxx”
Write this number down.

Flashing the Megaraid M1015 SAS/SATA controller

Time to flash!

1. Plug the bootable USB drive into the server that has the Megaraid M1015 installed.
2. Power on the server and boot from USB (you might have to change the boot order in bios)
3. When you see the dos console. Navigate into the folder sas2008 you put on there, by executing the following command:

   cd sas2008

4. Run the following commands one after the other:

   megarec -writesbr 0 sbrempty.bin

   megarec -cleanflash 0

5. Reboot the server. This i very important so don’t skip this step! Boot it back up into the USB drive again, like in step 2
6. Once you are back in the DOS console, navigate to the folder sas2008 again like you did in step 3 (cd sas2008)
7. execute the following commands, one after the other:
   If you want the controller to work as pass-through and just present the hard drives to the OS like if you connect them directly to the motherboard, the firmware you want is called “IT”. This is what you should use for ZFS or software raid.
   If you want the raid functions, the firmware you want is called “IR”. This is what you should use for hardware raid, and is not recommended for software raid.
   Replace the filename in the next command, with what you want.
   IT = 2118it.bin
   IR = 2118ir.bin

   sas2flsh -o -f 2118it.bin -b mptsas2.rom

   In the next command, replace “500605bxxxxxxxx” with the SAS number you found on the controller earlier and wrote down.
   Type it in, without any “-“, “:” or other special characters, only letters and numbers in one string.

   sas2flsh -o -sasadd 500605bxxxxxxxx

8. Reboot the server, your Megaraid M1015 SAS/SATA controller is now successfully flashed to the firmware of your choice!

Was this helpful?

If yes, feel free to share and comment this post below, and rate it at the top.