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DineshReddy1205
Contributor
Contributor
‎05-16-2022 04:17 AM

Downgrade Intel Nic card firmware

Hi ,

 

Recently  we upgraded intel 700 series NIC card drivers and firmware  .After upgrading the drivers and firmware ,ESXi hosts are not working properly .We are planning to downgrade the firmware and driver to previous version .

 

Could you please help me ,How to downgrade NIC firmware  version ?

 

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4 Replies
compdigit44
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
‎05-16-2022 06:16 AM

Did you make sure the firmware version and network card driver version are compatible with one another?

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DineshReddy1205
Contributor
Contributor
‎05-16-2022 11:25 PM

Hi ,

 

 

Yes .Before upgrading the NIC drivers/firmware we verified compatibility .

 

i40en Device Driver version -2.2.4.0   ,Firmware Version - 8.5 .

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CLINZ
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
‎05-17-2022 12:33 AM

potentially it may come down to uninstalling the vib and re-installing the downgraded version, im not sure entirely the process but my guess would be in that order. there maybe a way to install the older vib first and then remove the higher level which means you only have to go through a reboot once which might save some time.

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pkvmw
VMware Employee
VMware Employee
‎05-18-2022 04:15 AM

Hi,

to downgrade the driver, as @CLINZ stated, you need to remove the newer driver (without reboot should be fine) and install the previous one. After a reboot the previous driver will be loaded then.

As the firmware is developed and flashed using tools from the hardware vendor, I'd recommend to discuss and confirm necessary steps with the hardware vendor. Some NICs have different software components on their physical NICs, so downgrades could be cause more issues than solve. Therefore, better verify with hardware vendor first.

Regards,
Patrik

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