Zero MAC Address in PXE boot

[wazzaworld]

Hit return by accident on last post!!!

Anyway, I have a dl360 g3 booting to PXE. It is reporting a MAC address of all zeros (00 00 00 00 00 00) when attempting to obtain a DHCP lease however!

Obviously this means that bootworks isn't working correctly the and the server cannot report in to the deployment server to do any jobs.

I have seen this before on a dl380g3 as well. Anyone any ideas?? Full details of error as follows:

CLIENT MAC ADDR: 00 00 00 00 00 00
PXE-E11: ARP timeout

There's no KB article I can find on this!


Any help appreciated - Darren

[Victor Pendlebury]

Hi

Which server are you running ?

I know there is a Firwmare issue with the NICS on the G3 machines which is resolved with the latest NIC Firmware

Check the HP Support and Drivers site : you should find the latest firmware for your NIC ( Probably an NC77xx )

Regards

Victor

[wazzaworld]

Thanks Victor. Updated firmware yesterday on some machines - haven't seen the issue since so I'm keeping fingers crossed!!

Spotted a few articles relating to this on the hp support too so it looks to be the issue.


Darren

[Victor Pendlebury]

Hi Darren,

Here is a copy of the Customer Advisory

Regards

Victor

-------------------------------------

CUSTOMER ADVISORY


CO030310_CW02 REVISION: 0

Embedded NC7760, NC7780 and NC7781 Gigabit Server Adapters May Initialize With An Unknown Link State And An Invalid MAC Address Containing All Zeroes


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RELEASE DATE:
May 2003


DESCRIPTION
A ProLiant server with an embedded NC7760 Gigabit Server Adapter, NC7780 Gigabit Server Adapter, or NC7781 Gigabit Server Adapter and running certain distributions of Red Hat Linux will report an "Unknown" status on the NIC and have an invalid MAC Address containing all zeroes after a reboot. In addition, the bonding driver will not report the corresponding ethX interface in /proc/net/bond0/info.

This issue has been observed in systems configured in one or more of the following combinations:

Systems configured with or without the NIC Teaming (bonding) driver
Systems running Red Hat Linux 7.3 or Red Hat Linux 8.0
Systems configured with or without errata kernel
The embedded NC7760 Gigabit Server Adapter, NC7780 Gigabit Server Adapter, and NC7781 Gigabit Server Adapter are used in the following ProLiant servers:

NC7760 Gigabit Server Adapter

ProLiant DL320 G2
ProLiant ML310
ProLiant ML350 G3

NC7780 Gigabit Server Adapter

ProLiant DL360 G2
NC7781 Gigabit Server Adapter

ProLiant BL20p Server Blade
ProLiant DL360 G3
ProLiant DL380 G3
ProLiant DL380 G3 Packaged Cluster
ProLiant DL560
ProLiant ML370 G3

SCOPE
Any ProLiant server with an embedded NC7760 Gigabit Server Adapter, NC7780 Gigabit Server Adapter, or NC7781 Gigabit Server Adapter and running the following distributions of Red Hat Linux:

Red Hat Linux 7.3
Red Hat Linux 8.0
The embedded NC7760 Gigabit Server Adapter, NC7780 Gigabit Server Adapter, and NC7781 Gigabit Server Adapter are used in the following ProLiant servers:

NC7760 Gigabit Server Adapter

ProLiant DL320 G2
ProLiant ML310
ProLiant ML350 G3

NC7780 Gigabit Server Adapter

ProLiant DL360 G2
NC7781 Gigabit Server Adapter

ProLiant BL20p Server Blade
ProLiant DL360 G3
ProLiant DL380 G3
ProLiant DL380 G3 Packaged Cluster
ProLiant DL560
ProLiant ML370 G3

RESOLUTION
In order for the embedded NC7760 Gigabit Server Adapter, NC7780 Gigabit Server Adapter, or NC7781 Gigabit Server Adapter to initialize without an "Unknown" status on the NIC and an invalid MAC Address containing all zeroes, HP is providing updated Boot Code Firmware for these adapters. Update the Boot Code Firmware to the following versions by downloading the NCx7xx Firmware Update And Flash Utility from HP:

NC7760 Gigabit Server Adapter - Boot Code Firmware Version 2.28 (or later)
NC7780 Gigabit Server Adapter - Boot Code Firmware Version 2.25 (or later)
NC7781 Gigabit Server Adapter - Boot Code Firmware Version 2.25 (or later)

The NCx7xx Firmware Update and Flash Utility is available from HP for download as SoftPaq SP22000 at the following URL:

ftp://ftp.compaq.com/pub/softpaq/sp21501-22000/SP22000.EXE

Additional information about the NCx7xx Firmware Update and Flash Utility is available in the SoftPaq text file (SP22000.txt) at the following URL:

ftp://ftp.compaq.com/pub/softpaq/sp21501-22000/SP22000.txt

After the Boot Code Firmware is updated and the system is rebooted, verify from the /proc/net/nicinfo/ethX.info (where ethX corresponds to the NIC Interface) proc file that the NIC displays the proper boot code version. In addition, verify that the MAC Address Field in this file indicates the proper MAC address and the link status is "UP."

HP recommends the use of the following versions of "HP Tested and Approved" Linux drivers:

Bonding Driver Version 1.0.2-6HP (or later)
http://h18023.www1.hp.com/support/files/server/us/download/17566.html
bcm5700 Linux NIC Driver Version 6.0.2A-1 (or later)
http://h18023.www1.hp.com/support/files/server/us/download/17447.html
e1000 Linux NIC Driver Version 4.4.19C-1 (or later)
http://h18023.www1.hp.com/support/files/server/us/download/17446.html
e100 Linux NIC Driver Version 2.1.29B-1 (or later)
http://h18023.www1.hp.com/support/files/server/us/download/17445.html
Note: These driver versions are also available on SmartStart Release 6.30.

HARDWARE PLATFORMS AFFECTED: ProLiant BL p-Class (BL20p Server Blade), ProLiant DL320 G2, ProLiant DL360 G2, ProLiant DL360 G3, ProLiant DL380 G3, ProLiant DL380 G3 Packaged Cluster, ProLiant DL560, ProLiant ML310, ProLiant ML350 G3, ProLiant ML370 G3
COMPONENTS AFFECTED: Networking and Wireless Accessories Gigabit Ethernet (NC7780)
OPERATING SYSTEMS AFFECTED: Red Hat (Linux 7.x 7.3, Linux 8.x 8.0)
SOFTWARE AFFECTED: Non-software specific
THIRD PARTY PRODUCTS AFFECTED: None
DOWNLOADABLE FILES: bcm5700 Linux NIC Driver, Bonding Driver, e100 Linux NIC Driver, e1000 Linux NIC Driver, SoftPaq SP22000, SoftPaq SP22000 Text File
NOTICE: The information in this document, including products and software versions, is current as of the Release Date. This document is subject to change without notice.


©Copyright 2003 Hewlett-Packard Company
Hewlett-Packard Company shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein. The information provided is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind. To the extent permitted by law, neither HP or its affiliates, subcontractors or suppliers will be liable for incidental, special or consequential damages including downtime cost; lost profits; damages relating to the procurement of substitute products or services; or damages for loss of data, or software restoration. The information in this document is subject to change without notice. Hewlett-Packard Company and the names of Hewlett-Packard products referenced herein are trademarks of Hewlett-Packard Company in the United States and other countries. Other product and company names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.