ML310 G5 Integrated NIC Not On

[Bernard Luksich]

We are in the process of installing Windows SBS 2011 on a ML310 G5.

Everything is working except the install process is not finding a NIC. We have checked the "Device Manager" including hidden devices. All the other devices are there and working. But the NIC is nowhere to be found. So we cannot load a driver for it.

Any ideas on what is going on here? Is there someway the embedded NIC is turned off?

This machine was in production and had SBS 2008 running on it just fine. We power cycled the machine to start the new install.

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Johan Guldmyr · Accepted solution]

Hey!

If you go into BIOS - can you see the MAC address of the NIC there? Maybe there is an option to disable/enable it in there?

[Bernard Luksich]

Johan, thanks for the quick response.

We have looked all over the BIOS and there is nothing to indicate a MAC address. Both the iLO2 and the normal Ethernet ports have not lights on them.

We tried to enable the PXE boot on the embedded NIC. However during the boot process it complains about that.

We also made an attempt to boot from the firmware CD and load/check firmware information. But it did not indicate there was a NIC on the machine.

Do you think an NVRAM reset via the motherboard DIP switch would be in order?

Any help is appreciated.

[Johan Guldmyr]

Hello!

Yes, definitely do try that.

If possible, I would try to re-flash the BIOS on the server. Maybe go down a level, go up a level.

On some other servers you can see the NIC's MAC address on the first screen of the BIOS

If neither of these work out and you're still in warranty I'd contact HP, maybe they have something else or maybe it's time to replace the system board.
If you're out of warranty, buying a PCI NIC might be worth checking out.

[Bernard Luksich]

Johna, thanks again for you quick response.

We have just downgraded the firmware in the iLO2 controller as something to try. The iLO2 port now has a green light on the Ethernet port. However, it is not send/receiving any data. Even with a fixed IP address there is no response.

We can see the NIC's MAC address in the iLO2 setup. But that is only one port and as indicated, there is no response when attempting to access.

We are out of warranty and have thought of getting a PCI-express NIC for the machine. However, that means we have lost the key functionality of the iLO2 which we use to re-boot servers after power failures and such.

As you mentioned perhaps we need to replace the system board since this NIC is on the board.

Our HP servers have been very reliable so we find it hard to believe the NIC on the system board just went away.

We will try the NVRAM reset and see about loading/down grading firmware on the machine.

Thanks again. Any other ideas are welcomed.

[Johan Guldmyr]

I understand :/

Well, you can try to downgrade the BIOS as well, not just the iLO. That's all I got :/

[Bernard Luksich]

Johan, again thanks for the quick response.

Nothing is making much difference to this problem. So we have ordered a new System Board for this machine.

Since the NIC, and iLO are all on the System Board, this will have the effect of replacing all of those parts.

Hopefully that should fix it.

Thanks again for the help.

[Johan Guldmyr]

No problem!

Hope so and good luck :)

[Bernard Luksich]

The new system board worked great.

[RobertMcHenry]

Thanks for the update!

[Johan Guldmyr]

Glad to hear it worked it for you.