Problem with NC375i and NC375T on RedHat Linux5

[Mauro Biagi]

Hi,
I have a Proliant DL370 G6 with 2 nics
- one nic HP NC375i (firmware 4.0.520)
- one nix HP NC375T (firmware 4.0.520)

I installed RedHat Linux 5 kernel version 2.6.18-194.17.4.el5

On linux has been automatically loaded netxen_nic drivers but these are not the right drivers.
Right drivers are nx_nic
Infact, both nics works correctly but
- ethtool command doesn't work. If I use command
ethtool -s eth0 speed 100
I receive error:
Cannot set new settings: Input/output error

also I cannot update the firmware
If I execute CP013658.scexe I receive this error:
Please install nx_nic rpm.Need nx_xport driver to continue)

If I install nx_nic drivers (I try by installing PSP 8.60 and also I try manually with with hp-nx_nic-4.0.534-2.src.rpm ) interfaces from eth4 to eth7 (on nic NC375T) works correctly while interfaces from eth0 to eth3 (on nic NC375i) don't work and I receive error messages :
Device eth0 has different MAC address than expected
Device eth1 has different MAC address than expected
Device eth2 has different MAC address than expected
Device eth3 has different MAC address than expected

but MAC address, in every ifcfg-ethX file, is correct.

Uninstalling hp-nx_nic driver and using again netxen_nic interfaces work correctly (but I cannot use ethtool command and I cannot update firmware).

Any idea?

[Stoyan Tsalev]

Hi Mauro,
pretty much same thing here... Link is up @100 HD, need to set it to 100FD - no luck so far. Will let you know if I figure this out.

[Mauro Biagi]

HP suggest me to install new drivers .
I did it but I have same problem.
I don't know if upgrading NIC's firmware from firmware DVD will solve the problem (I cannot try because servers are in production environment...)

Please try upgrading firmware and let me know

[rick jones]

Without meaning to suggest there is no possibility of a bug/error on the 375 side, if the "other side" of the link is old enough that it cannot correctly autonegotiate (perhaps the reason the 375 is getting HD), it might be time to replace it. http://www.hp.com/go/networking GbE specs pretty much "require" autoneg, and while the 375 isn't "just" a GbE NIC, it does not seem surprising that it would have GbE-style behaviour. All the more so as the NC375 is based on the same chip as the 10GbE NC522.

[Mauro Biagi]

My problem was that switch I connected my server was not mine and the default port configuration was 100MB Full Duplex.

When I asked to change port configuration all works correctly but the problem on the HP NIC still remains because I cannot upgrade my nic firmware and I cannot set speed and duplex with ethtool.

[rick jones]

I'm having trouble parsing "all works fine" when the switch port was changed (set to autoneg I presume) and you saying there are still problems.

[Mauro Biagi]

When switch ports are configured in "auto" mode nic cards works in 1Gb full duplex.
But, as I wrote before, I cannot:
- use ethtool command
- upgrade my firmware
because the driver loaded is not the correct driver.
I post again the problem:
"I installed RedHat Linux 5 kernel version 2.6.18-194.17.4.el5

On linux has been automatically loaded netxen_nic drivers but these are not the right drivers.
Right drivers are nx_nic
Infact, both nics works correctly but
- ethtool command doesn't work. If I use command
ethtool -s eth0 speed 100
I receive error:
Cannot set new settings: Input/output error

also I cannot update the firmware
If I execute CP013658.scexe I receive this error:
Please install nx_nic rpm.Need nx_xport driver to continue)

If I install nx_nic drivers (I try by installing PSP 8.60 and also I try manually with with hp-nx_nic-4.0.534-2.src.rpm ) interfaces from eth4 to eth7 (on nic NC375T) works correctly while interfaces from eth0 to eth3 (on nic NC375i) don't work and I receive error messages :
Device eth0 has different MAC address than expected
Device eth1 has different MAC address than expected
Device eth2 has different MAC address than expected
Device eth3 has different MAC address than expected

but MAC address, in every ifcfg-ethX file, is correct.

Uninstalling hp-nx_nic driver and using again netxen_nic interfaces work correctly (but I cannot use ethtool command and I cannot update firmware)."

[rick jones]

OK, I think I have it - two issues. One you want, for some reason, to force the device to talk at only 100Mbit/s. That is the ethtool issue yes? Second is you want to update the firmware.

Alas, I'm afraid I cannot help with the firmware issue, and will suggest that you definitely fire-up the support contract and get a defect logged via the response center.

As to the forcing 100Mbit/s issue, if the NIC works fine at 1Gbit/s why do you want to cripple it to 100 Mbit/s? If you have applications which are broken and so cannot control their rates, and if setting specific, smaller socket buffer sizes does not or cannot bring their rates down, you might look into using tc/netem to throttle them.

[Mauro Biagi]

Problem was I cannot manage the switch and if the port will be reset to its default parameters (in the past this happened) my nic card will stop to work correctly.
Also I need to have full control of my nic card and I want to use the right drivers.

[sunilskinternal]

Hi Mauro,
I have the same issue, Did u got any fix for this issue,
i have new server and both the server are having same issue,
please help me
Thanks
Sunil