Intel X540 10GBase-T EEPROM Checksum Is Not Valid

[david]

Dear Reader,

I have 4 UCS C240 M4S running BIOS C240M4.2.0.9b.
I upgraded one of them to C240M4.2.0.10e. But that also downgraded the Intel X540 network cards from 0x800004B5-1.446.2 to 0x800004B5-1.446.1
Now I get the following message when I load CentOS 7.2 and my cards are not working anymore.

 ixgbe: Intel(R) 10 Gigabit PCI Express Network Driver - version 4.0.1-k-rh7.2
 ixgbe: Copyright (c) 1999-2014 Intel Corporation.
 ixgbe 0000:02:00.0: The EEPROM Checksum Is Not Valid
 ixgbe: probe of 0000:02:00.0 failed with error -5
 ixgbe 0000:06:00.0: The EEPROM Checksum Is Not Valid
 ixgbe: probe of 0000:06:00.0 failed with error -5

Is there anything I can do to fix this ...?
Your help is greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards,
David van Vyfeyken

[Walter Dey]

David

Are this standalone, or UCSM managed servers ?

Anyway, check the interop matrix at 

http://www.cisco.com/web/techdoc/ucs/interoperability/matrix/matrix.html

Walter.

[david]

Dear Walter,

These are standalone server. And they came with the Intel X540 factory installed. But the X540 is not in the support matrix. I am running the 64 bits version.

I got the cards up by enabling the optionROM but they only show 1 port per card and not the 2 as before.
I didn't test if the one port is actually working. But I need all 4 of them anyway.

Thank you very much for your help

[Kirk J]

I have run into this before, except with VMware ESXi.

I opened a case with Intel, and they said the only difference between the two firmware has to do with an option rom setting, as apparently there is no actual code level difference between the two.

I will check with our developers that were previously looking at something similar to this.

Thanks,

Kirk...

[david]

Hi Kirk,

Thank you for your reply. I found something else.
Before the interfaces where named enp2s0f0, enp2s0f1, enp6s0f0 and enp6s0f1.
Now i only have enp2s0 and enp6s0.
They are working though but only as a single port.
I didn't change anything to Linux so the change in detecting the network cards has to come from either the BIOS upgrade or the firmware downgrade of the network card itself.
I also switch the BIOS to the backup ROM 2.0(9e) and the behavior is exactly the same.

Is there a way to get my hands on the 0x800004B5-1.446.2 firmware ..?

Thanks,
David van Vyfeyken

[smittycsi]

David,

I have the same issue after running the cisco uum i have a lower version of the firmware and only 1 port of the dual nics shows up in Vsphere . Did you ever resolve this??

[david]

Hi Smittycsi,

Yes I got it working.
I have 2 cards in my system so from the BOIS is disabled one.
Then I used the flash utility again and flashed the same ( lower ) version again.

After this the card start working normally .. then I enabled the second one and did the same.

Now I have them both fully working again with the lower firmware.
No issues after that.

[smittycsi]

thank you I will give it a try

[Kirk J]

 If you are hitting something similar, please check the option ROM settings in the BIOS Setup (F2), to make sure the option ROM is enabled for this particular PCI-E slot the card is in.

Thanks,

Kirk...

[ALFREDO STALLONE]

Hi David,

thanks a lot for your update, I have exactly the same problem  and I would like to be sure to understand your workaround.

1. "Disable the cards" (from the BIOS): do you disable the cards from the menu "Advanced->LOM & PCIe Slot Configuration" and disable the OptionROM for the specific slot ? 
2. "Flash utility": do you use the Cisco HUU iso image and "update" the firmware for the visible Intel X540 card, or do you use a different procedure ?

Thanks,

Alfredo