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Apple Raid Firmware update - not working?

I have an Apple Raid card in my 12core Mac Pro and I cannot firmware update the card.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3831# says use Software update (no new updates) and the download link works but when I try to install it says 'computer needs no update'.


http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3831# I've downloaded this.


this is my raidcard info.


Mac Pro RAID Card:


PCI Slot: Slot-4

Hardware Version: 2,00

Firmware Version: E-1.2.2.6

Expansion ROM Version: 18

Shutdown Status: Normal shutdown

Write Cache Enabled: No

Battery Info:

Firmware Revision: 1.0d19

First Installed: 23/06/09 10:15

Last Date Conditioned: 09/01/12 17:14

State: Working battery

Fault: Normal battery operation

Status:


This is not the latest firmware so an upgrade should be possible.

What is wrong? Could it be the 'battery' is still charing on the raidcard because I just put it into the computer?

Posted on Jul 30, 2012 5:00 PM

Reply
12 replies

Jul 30, 2012 6:09 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

I will later. The battery is reconditioning and a reboot was not allowed.

It takes about 12hours, so I will let it finish first.


Is it true there are a lot of problems with the appleraid cards?

Failing batteries (is your raid broken then?) or can you just use force write and continue.


For me its not that important when the power goes out, the thing in cache is writen after the power gets on. its useless info to me cause I mostly do video and the file it writes is already broken because the renderer cannot resume a render.

Jul 30, 2012 6:54 PM in response to AppleLuverr

The Apple RAID card is needed for reasonable speed for RAID schemes such as RAID 5 that calculate checksums on the fly, and use those cheksums for data re-creation after a drive failure.


When the battery is not available, it changes to write-through mode and the speed drops slightly.


Drive size is limited to 2.2TB maximum, even if you provide a 3TB drive.


If all you need is striped RAID or Mirrored RAID, those can be set up and maintained by Disk Utility, or with a fairly inexpensive utility such as SoftRAID.

Jul 31, 2012 12:36 PM in response to AppleLuverr

More than 48GB was a deal breaker for Apple RAID under Lion.


External was more what I was thinking and use internal for system and a couple drives, maybe the system on a mirror of 2-3 (too many people use 2 as if they don't realize more can be better and that is just the minimum).


Yours has 1.2.2.6 and those links are old 1.1 version so why worry about that.

Aug 1, 2012 8:06 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Firmware updates work completely differently from software updates.


For a firmware update, you need exclusive access to the components involved, so these updates must be applied BEFORE the system is operational and in-use. That is very awkward to do in a running system. So the Updater can not actually perform the update "live".


Instead, the Updater program sets up a modified boot-up sequence, pre-positioning the Firmware Update to be performed at the next Boot-up sequence, well before the File System is operational.


At next reboot, the actual Firmware Update will be attempted very early on in the start-up sequence. Once the Firmware Update has been attempted, it will often reset to the standard boot-up sequence and just do a Restart.


It helps if you understand how this process works. Running the Updater will "set up" but not yet perform the update. Your mission is then do an orderly shutdown and "hands-off" Shutdown and Restart to give the pre-positioned Firmware Updater a chance to do its job.


If you are still not successful after Several tries, a trip to the Genius Bar will be needed.

Apple Raid Firmware update - not working?

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