Ethernet Products Release 30.6 and 31.0 / 700 Series 9.56: nvmupdate.cfg broken?

[shuber]

Hi all,

it seems, the distributed NVM update tool in Release 30.6 for 700 series network cards (NVM 9.56) is broken: linux as well as efi tool report "The configuration file could not be opened/read, or a syntax error was discovered in the file. (tested on multiple machines and network cards, and 9.55 works fine).

Same is true for the 9.56 package in Release 30.1 (which, btw, has differing sha checksums, so something seems to be off...)

Can anyone confirm this, or is there an official statement regarding this? How / when will we be able to get 9.56 on my X710 network cards?

regards,
Stefan

[pujeeth]

Hi Stefan,

Greetings!

Thank you for reaching out and for sharing the details regarding the NVM 9.56 update issue observed on the Intel® X710 network adapters.

To further investigate this behavior and validate the issue, we kindly request you to share the following information:

1) Kindly share us the SSU logs.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000008563/ethernet-products.html

2) Clear photograph of the NIC adapter, including the physical markings and labels visible on the card.

3) Could you confirm if this adapter came with the system or was purchased separately.

Regards

Pujeeth_Intel

[shuber]

Hi,

1) No, I don't want to share the SSU logs right now, since I'm pretty sure the problem is not my machines, and I don't see why the output of the linux- or windows tool will help in debugging this.

2) It's valid, brady-id'd intel NICs, that work with every other version up to 9.55, only 9.56 misbehaving. So I don't see a point in removing the machine from the rack, removing one random NIC, making a photo and resetting it.

3) The NICs were purchased separately from the servers they are in and work fine on linux, FreeBSD and OpenBSD. Only the Firmware upgrade seems to fail.

As I stated earlier, I have the Tools (EFI, FreeBSD, Linux) tested on multiple machines on multiple cards, each working with every NVM update tool up to version 9.55, with only 9.56 not working. (I even tried several downgrade packages, also working.)

Attached, you can find the log of 9.55 nvmupdate64e.efi -i -l and the upgrade, as well as the same with 9.56 (from the complete package 31.0). For simplicity's sake, I used the EFI tool this time, booting the integrated EFI shell of an ASRockRack SPC621D8-2L2T with the NVM tool on the first partition (EFI system partition) of the first SATA Disk. Also, you will find the nvmupdate.cfg files (disguised as txt files) from each update Package.

in update_956.log you can clearly see the problem, last line:
> Error: PHY IMAGE entry in config is not supported for device XL710.

The tool then terminates with the error "The configuration file could not be opened/read, or a syntax error was discovered in the file.".

Since there are "PHY IMAGE" Lines in th 9.55 config file, I guess that something changed in either the rest of the config file or the nvmupdate64e.efi tool (and Linux, FreeBSD tool as well).

Regards

[Dineshbabu]

Hello Stefan,

Greetings!

Thank you for your response. Please allow us some time to review the details and we will get back with an update shortly.

Regards,

Dinesh

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Sazirah]

Hi shuber,

Greetings.

Thank you for patiently waiting for us and we would like to apology for taking some time while checking on this issue. 

We are still continue with further investigation on other possibilities or root cause and will get back to you at earliest. We appreciate your cooperation on this.

Regards,

Sazzy_Intel

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Dineshbabu]

Hi shuber,

Greetings!

We have sent an email with the test results. Kindly review it at your convenience. We will continue further communication through email.

Regards,

Dinesh

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Steve_Jerome22]

Hi shuber,

Greetings for the day!

We request you to perform incremental NVM update and share us the outcome:

Incremental NVM Update:

9.20 to 9.30

9.30 to 9.50

9.50 to 9.56

Looking forward to your response.

Regards

Jerome

Intel Customer Support Technician

[pujeeth]

Hi shuber,

Greetings for the day!

This is the first follow-up regarding the issue you reported to us.

We wanted to inquire whether you had the opportunity to review the plan of action we provided.

Regards

Pujeeth_Intel

[vish1]

Hello shuber,

Greetings for the day!!

This is the follow-up regarding the reported issue. We're committed to ensuring a swift resolution and would greatly appreciate any updates or additional information you can provide.

If we don't hear back from you soon, we'll assume the issue has been resolved and will proceed to close the case.

Best Regards,

Vishal Shet P

Intel Customer Support Technician

[palglowr]

Hello, shuber.

Here I got same result of you.

My log says, It may be incompatible with current OPROM set?

Thanks.

[shuber]

Hi,

it seems, the problem on my side is always the same:

> Error: PHY IMAGE entry in config is not supported for device XL710.

It also seems, the problem only exists in devices with E810 nics, but I'm not sure about this yet. Maybe, I have some very strange artifact XL710 NIC.