ESXi 6.5 u2 does not recognize Intel 82573 NICs

[rtangwai1]

I have a Supermicro X8DAi server that has onboard Intell 82573L and 82573E NICs.

They work fine in 6.5 u1, but when I upgrade to 6.5 u2 ESXi no longer sees them.

6.5 u2 does see another Intel NIC (Gigabit CT Desktop Adapter).

I checked the HCL, the 82573 is listed as compatible for 6.5 u2:

VMware Compatibility Guide - I/O Device Search

Any suggestions?  It is an old server using dual X5650 CPUs so it isn't compatible with ESXi 6.7.

Thanks in advance!

[iopsGent]

I'm pretty sure that card hasn't been supported since ESXi 5.5

[rtangwai1]

Strange - if that is true why is it listed in the HCL?

[Lalegre]

Which version of the ne1000 driver do you have installed?

Can you see the card connected using the IPMI?

[iopsGent]

Not sure, but it's strange 5.0 isn't listed on the HCL.

Could try loading in the driver 6.5 was using?

[vanzod]

I am also trying to run ESXi 6.7 on a server with that same motherboard but I have been unsuccessful despite the network controller being reported as supported by Compatibility Guide. I have also tried to run an image with the net-e1000e-3.1.0.2-glr2 driver in it but still no luck.

Davide

[Gavis4569]

Hi,

I have seen such behavior when your ESXi installation image does not contain necessary drivers for your physical network interface card.

You can get inspiration in my blog post how to create custom ESXi image

https://learnvmware.online/2018/02/17/how-to-build-custom-esxi-installation-image/

Have you tried to install the following drivers?

This one according to HCL:

https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/details?downloadGroup=DT-ESXI55-INTEL-IGB-42168&productId=353

Or even this one (work for me on my Supermicro, different model per description)

https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/details?productId=491&downloadGroup=DT-ESXI60-INTEL-IXGBE-441

[vanzod]

Martin,

Thank you for the hint.

I have tried to create custom images for ESXi 6.7 with the drivers you suggested by following the steps in your tutorial. However I get the following error:

PS C:\Users\Davide Vanzo\Downloads> Add-EsxSoftwareDepot ixgbe-4.4.1-2159203-3848296.zip

Add-EsxSoftwareDepot : Could not download from depot at zip:C:\Users\Davide

Vanzo\Downloads\ixgbe-4.4.1-2159203-3848596.zip?index.xml, skipping (('zip:C:\\Users\\Davide

Vanzo\\Downloads\\ixgbe-4.4.1-2159203-3848596.zip?index.xml', '', 'Error extracting index.xml from C:\\Users\\Davide

Vanzo\\Downloads\\ixgbe-4.4.1-2159203-3848596.zip: "There is no item named \'index.xml\' in the archive"'))

At line:1 char:1

+ Add-EsxSoftwareDepot .\ixgbe-4.4.1-2159203-3848596.zip

+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    + CategoryInfo          : ReadError: (System.String[]:String[]) [Add-EsxSoftwareDepot], Exception

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : ConnectDepotError,VMware.ImageBuilder.Commands.AddDepot

Suggestions?

[Gavis4569]

Did you extract the ZIP file from VMware? There should be another ZIP file inside, the actual offline bundle (ixgbe-4.4.1-2159203-offline_bundle-3848596.zip)

This one should work.

Let me know if you have succeeded or I can try to build the custom image in my LAB.

[vanzod]

Martin,

Thanks for the hint. I managed to create both ESXi 6.7 and 6.5u2 images with the ixgbe driver but still it could not recognize the network controller.

As for the igb driver, when I try to add the software package I get a message saying that the driver is already in ImageProfile. I have also tried to add it to a ESXi 5.5 image (since the driver targeted that version) but I still get the same message.

[Stulander]

Don't suppose you ever got this to work? I've tried a bunch of different vibs, offline bundles and still can't get 82573V/L working. Using a PCI card as a workaround at the moment.

[GriffEffectiveC]

I'm a bit late to the game but I have hit this bug too, and this solution works for me on an old SuperMicro box (but is probably not supported by VMware). I am running 6.5 build 14320405 from August 2019 like this.

You can roll back to the ne1000 driver from 6.5U1 using the esxcli command. If the box still has network connectivity:

esxcli network firewall ruleset set -e true -r httpClient

cd /tmp

wget https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/esx/vmw/vib20/ne1000/VMW_bootbank_ne1000_...

esxcli software vib remove -n ne1000

esxcli software vib install -v /tmp/VMW_bootbank_ne1000_0.8.0-16vmw.650.1.26.5969303.vib

esxcli network firewall ruleset set -e false -r httpClient

If you have already lost network connectivity then this also seems to affect ESXi's ability to mount datastores (the USB arbitrator doesn't start, or similar) so you can't put the VIB on a USB stick (or remote virtual media) to load it locally. The easiest fix is to reboot and hit Shift-R on the bootloader, and load the recovery ESXi image. This will roll back to the update that removed your network connectivity, and then you can reapply the update. Then follow the above steps to downgrade the NIC driver before you reboot and lose your network connection.

You will need to rerun the above commands every time you do an update to ESXi that could replace the ne1000 driver with a newer one.

[EOCJason]

You can roll back to the ne1000 driver from 6.5U1 using the esxcli command. If the box still has network connectivity:

I realize this is probably a little old, but man your post saved me a LOT of headache! I have an old Supermicro X7DCL with the Intel 82573E/V/L series NICs... I *finally* got around to upgrading from 5.5 (which was using an older custom driver). First time I updated to the latest 6.5 I got the dreaded no nic found... So I started doing a TON of digging and found lots of others with the same issue. Don't know what happened as the driver code shows the NIC should function just fine, and also they are listed in the HCL...

Anyhow, did the cli update from 5.5 to 6.5, then deleted / added driver as you posted, rebooted and working great! Thanks again!

[michaeldaly]

thanks for this
Minor comment is:
esxcli software vib install -no-sig-check -v /tmp/VMW_bootbank_ne1000_0.8.0-16vmw.650.1.26.5969303.vib
(I found you have to use the -no-sig-check flag or you get the error message 'Could not find a trusted signer: certificate is not yet valid')
HTH

MD