Hello, please help find an updated firmware version for this (beta/early/china) card version - it currently has 15.00.00.00 fw version.
I’ve purchased it from taobao and it looks exactly as original LSI 9305-16i card (long), but sas3flash -list gives controller SAS3216 instead of SAS3224.
It also says product ID Avago SAS3216 instead of SAS9305-16i
When I try to flash it with Broadcom 16.* firmware for 9305-16i-IT , there is ERROR: NVDATA Image does not match Controller Device ID! Device ID - NVDATA:0xc4 Controller:0xc9
(as it has another controller, not SAS3224) . Looking to another topic, “Is this HBA card legit?” , I’ve tried to flash fw from supermicro site - it flashes without errors, but don’t work at all. Red led on the board is on, and the card becomes very slow to respond, sas3flash -list says it is not operational, flashing is needed. Good that I’ve made a backup of original fw before flashing (15.0.0) - after reflashing it/rebooting, card works again.
So, is there a chance updated (16.*) firmware exist for this card? Is 15.0.0 firmware ok for Truenas?
It sounds like you have a variant of the LSI 9305-16i that’s not a standard SAS3224 controller but instead a SAS3216 (often found on early or China-market versions). That explains why flashing the official 16.x firmware fails—the controller IDs don’t match, and NVDATA is tied to the hardware.
For these cards, 15.00.00.00 firmware is the latest officially compatible version. Trying to force 16.x firmware isn’t recommended; it can brick the card or make it unstable, as you’ve seen.
For TrueNAS, the 15.0.0 firmware is stable and fully usable. Just make sure:
You keep the card in IT mode (for passthrough).
You don’t attempt to flash firmware from a SAS3224 card.
You have a backup of the original firmware before any experiment.
In short, stick with 15.0.0 for your card—it’s safe and supported for TrueNAS. The 16.x branch likely doesn’t exist for the SAS3216 variant.
