[Request] Mod Adaptec ARCCONF to allow x-flash of HPWS SmartHBA 2100-4i4e

[Teetrinker]

Hi guys,

I have several HP OEM Adaptec SmartHBA 2100-4i4e 8-Port SAS 12Gbps host bus adapter cards and need some help to get them to the latest firmware.

The SmartHBA 2100 is made by Adaptec/Microsemi/Microchip but years ago HP has sold the same card as a HP branded option for some of its workstations (the HP pn is 858096-001). The HP card is physically identical to the original Adaptec SmartHBA 2100-4i4e, however the HP card (often called the HPWS variant because of the two large stickers on both sides of the card) uses a modified version of the Adaptec firmware which lacks RAID5 support and which seems to have a different ID than the original Adaptec firmware as trying to flash the latter into a HPWS variant of that controller using the flash tool (ARCCONF) results in a firmware mismatch error.

The HPSW firmware is also stuck on version 1.98 from 2018 while the firmware for the original Adaptec version has been subsequently updated to now version 7.81, and between 1.98 and the later versions there have been a long list of changes which massively improved the performance of the controller, and its reliability. But with being stuck on the HP specific firmware, the HPWS version of the SmartHBA 2100 is unable to benefit from these improvements (and HP has already forgotten it ever offered this controller).

Being able to cross-flash the HPWS cards to stock Adaptec firmware would be great. For making this work, I suppose there are only two options:

1. Modify a new Adaptec FW file to match the ID of the HPSW FW so it can be flashed - but this would require having to do the modification again when a new FW comes out
   
2. Modify the Adaptec ARCCONF tool (which is used to flash the firmware of these controllers) so it can be used to force-flash the Adaptec FW into a HPWS card
   

The second option (modifying the flash tool to allow cross-flashing ) is the better option as a single flash with the Adaptec firmware should be enough to make the HPSW variant into a regular Adaptec variant.

I'm not a software developer so I can't do this on my own, hence the request here. But I'm far from the only person with this problem, there are lots of folks with these HPWS cards and which are stuck on the ancient firmware. The HPWS cards are also a lot cheaper on the 2nd hand market which would make them a great option if they could be cross-flashed.


The last HP firmware for the HPWS variant can be downloaded here:
https://support.hp.com/hk-en/drivers/swd...c-228537-2

The older v3.00 Adaptec firmware can be downloaded here:
https://fichiers.touslesdrivers.com/6571..._00_b0.zip

The current v7.81 firmware can be downloaded here:
https://fichiers.touslesdrivers.com/8267....81_b0.zip

ARCCONF for SmartHBA 2100 controllers can be found here:
https://fichiers.touslesdrivers.com/8160...B27449.zip