Was thinking of buying a LSI 9305-16I.
On ebay I came across this one:
https://ebay.us/m/kcT9do
Which I have never seen before its less than half the prize and has a SAS3216 instead of a SAS3224 like the “normal” one:
https://ebay.us/m/8bTcJz
It’s the same seller with more than 50 000 reviews, but ships from china. And I just can’t find the first card anywhere else.
Not sure if I am missing something that’s wrong
Should I buy the first one?
While I can’t tell you if the cards are legit, I can say be warned when someone advertises “ZFS TrueNAS Unraid”.
I highly recommend that you use PayPal or similar service to purchase anything off of ebay. Read the reviews, it looks like this seller has been here a while, which is a good sign. Many places on ebay resell old computer hardware, possibly specifically made for a specific computer manufacturer, such as Dell.
Let me ask you this question… Do you need the HBA or just want the HBA? If it is just a want, take your time to research HBAs out there. Maybe message someone here who has purchased a similar card and where they got it from. If it is an ebay reseller, maybe that would help you out.
Here is another option: 9305-i16
Lots of good seller ratings. And just an example.
If I were you, I’d go to Art of Sever at LSI 9300-16i 12Gbps SAS-3 PCIe x8 HBA P16 IT mode ZFS TrueNAS UNRAID | eBay and buy that one while it’s still there.
He is a most excellent seller and very well regarded here.
That’s 9300-16i. Not 9305-16i
LSI 3216 => 9305-16i (or e)
LSI 3224 => 9305-24i
It’s not urgent, just want to build another backup system, that said I am tempted to test my luck.
Yeah saw one of his videos where he showed a fake card. Was quiet informative.
Looks indeed more like a 9300 but the chip is different and misses the 8pin power.
Apparently many 9305 use the 3224 even if they only have 4 sas ports (2 solder points are free on those cards like in the example I linked)
That said I have found official broadcom docs where the 16I is listed with the 3216 chip but a different heatsink than the card in question. Maybe the ebay listings are just false if they list the 16I with the 3224 chipset.
Here is the 16I also listed with the 3224 instead of 3216 Broadcom 9305-16i Host Bus Adapter
Free spots on the PCB do not mean that there’s a 3224 under the heatsink (and that you’ll get 8 extra ports if you play with a soldering iron).
I would not trust each and every listing out there to be error-free…
I recommend not drawing any conclusions based on the included pictures, it’s just an example reused in all their listings.
For what it’s worth, I bought a Dell H310 and Lenovo 430-16i from the same seller. Both have been working for a few months. The H310 was advertised as “open box” but the pcb is noticeably warped.
Some of the seller’s listings ship from Kentucky instead of China and if you are in the US that may be preferable.
Okay I kinda regret it now. Received the card and disks are recognized.
But I am unable to flash 16.00.12.00. I get the error that the Controller ID (not subsystem ID ) is not correct.
That is for the 16i version but I am able to flash 16.00.12.00 for the 16e version but after which no disks are recognized.
The card is not entirely e-waste I was able find a supermicro version (16i) 16.00.11.00 which is able to flash and work correctly.
https://www.supermicro.com/wdl/driver/SAS/Broadcom/3216/Firmware/AOC/
https://docs.broadcom.com/docs/9305_16i_Pkg_P16.12_IT_FW_BIOS_for_MSDOS_Windows.zip
https://docs.broadcom.com/docs/9305_16e_Pkg_P16.12_IT_FW_BIOS_for_MSDOS_Windows.zip
Could somebody pls help…? I need the xx.12 for truenas
New link to the card OEM 9305-16i LSI SAS3216 12Gbps 4P SAS-3 PCIe x8 HBA IT mode ZFS TrueNAS Unraid | eBay
It’s definitely not a supermicro card it’s sugon.
Guess I had to learn the hard way to not touch weird cards. I cannot send it back.
Anyway here is the error with the 16i firmware:
Avago Technologies SAS3 Flash Utility
Version 17.00.00.00 (2018.04.02)
Copyright 2008-2018 Avago Technologies. All rights reserved.
Advanced Mode Set
Adapter Selected is a Avago SAS: SAS3216(A1)
Executing Operation: Flash Firmware Image
Firmware Image has a Valid Checksum.
Firmware Version 16.00.12.00
Firmware Image compatible with Controller.
Valid NVDATA Image found.
NVDATA Major Version 10.00
Checking for a compatible NVData image...
ERROR: NVDATA Image does not match Controller Device ID!
Device ID - NVDATA:0xc4 Controller:0xc9
ERROR: No compatible NVDATA Image(s) found!
Firmware Image Validation Failed!
Due to error remaining commands will not be executed.
Unable to Process Commands.
Exiting SAS3Flash.
My only hope would be playing with a hex editor but I doubt I could get it to work.
I did some extensive read/write tests with 8 disks simultaneous, split on all 4 sas ports on a fedora box with kernel 6.15.
So far it’s working smoothly.
Does anybody know in which log the supposed error of the 9300 series before firmware version 16.00.12.00 appears? journactl -b 0 | grep -i sas does not print anything.
Or will that only be an issue if I put this card into a truenas box (bsd)?