We are running an ASUS RS720-E11 server (Z13PP-D32 motherboard, pure UEFI mode) with a Broadcom MegaRAID 9580-8i8e controller. The OS (Rocky Linux 8.10, kernel 4.18.0) is installed on an internal RAID1 VD consisting of two Intel SATA SSDs managed by the controller.
Two Supermicro JBOD shelves containing 82x 18TB Toshiba SAS HDDs are connected via the external 8e port.
9580-8i8e
├── Cable 1 → Input port, JBOD shelf 1
└── Cable 2 → Input port, JBOD shelf 1
└── Output port → Input port, JBOD shelf 2
Problem
After updating the MegaRAID 9580-8i8e firmware package from 7.36 (52.36.0-6528) to 7.37 (52.37.0-6663) and the ASUS RS720-E11 server BIOS, the server no longer boots when both SAS cables are attached. The system hangs at UEFI POST Q-code 0xAD (Ready to Boot) indefinitely.
Observations
- With both SAS cables attached → hangs at 0xAD, never boots, black screen
- With one SAS cable attached → boots successfully, both JBOD shelves visible via daisy-chain (drives show as UBad initially but controller sees them)
- With no SAS cables attached → boots normally
- Boot override directly to Rocky in BIOS → still hangs at 0xAD with both cables
- The UEFI boot entry for Rocky references the boot partition by GPT UUID — should be stable regardless of attached drives
- IPMI SEL shows watchdog expiry events during earlier boot attempts
efibootmgr -vconfirms Rocky boot entry is correctly registered- The controller itself works perfectly once the OS is running — BGI, RAID operations, all normal
- This configuration booted correctly on firmware 7.36
Controller details
Product Name = MegaRAID 9580-8i8e
FW Package Build = 52.37.0-6663
FW Version = 5.370.02-4276
UEFI Driver = 0x07250000
BIOS Version = 7.37.00.0
Question
Is this a known regression in the MegaRAID 7.37 UEFI driver (0x07250000) with dual-path SAS expander topologies? Is there a workaround other than booting with a single cable, or should we downgrade to 7.36? Any other ideas that could help?