NIC Down after reinstall of ESX 3.5 U4

[Ajay_Nabh]

Hi All

I recently reinstalled a ESX host running on BL460c G1 server and one of the NIC is showing as down. I downloaded 3.5 Update 4 ISO from VMware to install. All servers in the farm have same hardware and ESX version and update level and there is no issue with other servers.

I did not physically touch this blade which means cable cannot be loose. I found the kb article and not sure if this is still applicable

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=100718...

I ran esxcfg-nics -l and same NIC has Down status. After I turned on Beacon Probing, I am getting TX packets but no RX. HP OnBoard Administrator is not complaining either.

Any pointer will be helpful

Thanks in advance

Aj

[ronmanu07]

This has happened to me before and it was due to the vlan id being incorrect.

[IB_IT]

I did not physically touch this blade which means cable cannot be loose.

Well, all this means is that YOU didn't touch the cable...maybe someone or something did? I would check the basics 1st before moving on...make sure all cables are good to go from switchport to server NIC.

Found this also in esx 3.5 U4 release notes...I assume though that you are not booting in debug mode:

ESX Server 3.5 using the Broadcom bnx2x NIC might stop responding while booting up in debug mode

With ESX Server 3.5 in debug mode, while loading the Broadcom bnx2x driver, a message similar to the following is displayed:

VMware ESX Server

Spin count exceeded (portsetGlobalLock) - possible deadlock

Workaround:

While this workaround reduces the frequency of this issue, it does not eliminate the issue entirely.

This workaround (changing LinkStatePollTimeout configuration option) can adversely affect other features, such as NIC teaming. Therefore, this workaround should be used only if the system stops responding while being booted in debug mode.

Set the /Net/LinkStatePollTimeout configuration parameter to a value between 30000 and 60000.

For example, the following command sets this value to 30000:

& esxcfg-advcfg -s 30000 /Net/LinkStatePollTimeout

The exact value to use for this configuration option depends on the number of bnx2x NICs on the system. If a large number of bnx2x NICs are present on the system, choose a higher value.

Ensure that the value of this parameter has been set properly:

For example, the following command displays the current setting of this parameter:

$ esxcfg-advcfg -g /Net/LinkStatePollTimeout

A message such as the following is displayed: Value of LinkStatePollTimeout is 30000

Boot the system in debug mode.

After the reboot, revert the LinkStatePollTimeout configuration option to the default value of 5000.

Reverting the LinkStatePollTimeout configuration option back to the default value of 5000 is necessary for when the system is booted in normal mode.

[Ajay_Nabh]

Hi guys

thanks for your comments, NIC came up itself. no one claimed responsiblity yet. I am stil consfused as to what happen

thanks again

Aj