Can not update the Flash of MIC to the latest version

[Dale_Wang]

Hello everybody~

I got the MIC card in January,2013, but I finally set up a server to use the MIC card just a few days ago. However, when I try to install the latest MPSS(mpss_gold_update_3-2.1.6720-16), I met a problem. It is required to update the SMC & Flash of MIC to finish the installation of MPSS. However, if you want to update the SMC & Flash, you should meet the requirements:

    o PREREQUISITES:(Section 7.2 in readme-en.txt)
        - Uninstall prior version of MPSS and install new version
        - Starting version of Flash must be >= 375, if not, contact your
          Intel support representative

The version of Flash on my MIC is 2.1.01.0372(acquired by running `miccheck`), which doesn't meet the requirement. It seems that I need to update the Flash  via a previous version of MPSS first and then install the new MPSS.
I try to find the previous version of MPSS in MPSS Archive(MPSS Archive). The most previous version it provides is the N-2 version, in which it is still required the version of Flash must be >= 375 to update the Flash.

Could someone tell me how to update the too old Flash in my MIC? Thank you very much! Maybe an old version of MPSS is what I need?

Another thing comes to my mind: Well, the old version of MPSS was compiled on the old release of RHEL & SUSE Linux. Unfortunately, my server runs RHEL 6.4. Is there a way to update the Flash on the new OS platform avoiding downgrading the OS version on my server?

Thank you very much again for all your concern. Waiting for a good solution :-)

PS:The attachment isthe output of micinfo & miccheck.

[Loc_N_Intel]

Hi Dale,

I don't have an older version of flash, but I would try to update the flash anyway. Can you follow the instructions in Section 7.2 in readme-en.txt and see if it works for your case? Thanks.

[Victor_L_2]

I would actually advice against updating flash. I did it and bricked my Phi card. Intel had to send a replacement. The new replacement card also have an outdated flash version, but it runs without problem with the latest MPSS Gold 3 Update on RedHat 6.4.

[Dale_Wang]

Victor L. wrote:

I would actually advice against updating flash. I did it and bricked my Phi card. Intel had to send a replacement. The new replacement card also have an outdated flash version, but it runs without problem with the latest MPSS Gold 3 Update on RedHat 6.4.

Thank you very much for your timely response! I was just to update the Flash by force. Thank you again~

[Frances_R_Intel]

For some reason, there seem to be a number of people at the moment who have flash versions that are way out of date. While some people, like Victor have just gone ahead and used the old version of flash with the new version of MPSS, this is not guaranteed to continue working. Actually, I'm surprised Victor hasn't run into any (potentially subtle) problems. The MPSS group here is looking at what the best solution is to get all these cards up to the current level safely and reliably. As Victor pointed out, trying to update your flash if your current version does not meet the minimum requirements is not a good idea.

[Dale_Wang]

Frances Roth (Intel) wrote:

For some reason, there seem to be a number of people at the moment who have flash versions that are way out of date. While some people, like Victor have just gone ahead and used the old version of flash with the new version of MPSS, this is not guaranteed to continue working. Actually, I'm surprised Victor hasn't run into any (potentially subtle) problems. The MPSS group here is looking at what the best solution is to get all these cards up to the current level safely and reliably. As Victor pointed out, trying to update your flash if your current version does not meet the minimum requirements is not a good idea.

Hi Frances~

 Is there any news about the solution of updating the Flash that is way out of date? I am looking forward to the solution to get the `micsmc` program to work correctly. Thank you very much :-)

[Frances_R_Intel]

The closest thing I have to good news on this is that the person who is troubleshooting this problem has laid his hands on a board with this old version of flash and is going to work though the upgrade himself.

[Victor_L_2]

Frances,

Those are encouraging news. I'm too intrested in the upgrade procedure. Do you know what kind of problems I might encounter when working with the older Flash version?

[Frances_R_Intel]

For more information about updating old flash, see: https://software.intel.com/en-us/forums/topic/534424