MSI Z77A-G41 Realtek 8111e Problem

[Seilong]

This has may already been answered in another post and if so just direct me there because I have been searching for the solution to my problem, where when I try to install ESXi 5.1 its tells me that there are no available network adapters found. I have done the following:

Use Dell and HP Custom Version of ESXi 5.1

Another NIC Card that was Intel Base.

Use ESXi Customizer to add the Drivers – Maybe I didn’t do it right

Check to see if I had the latest Bios

I found post with other having the same issue. But there was no answer or it was not clear what they did to fix it.

I know the NIC works because it works on the Live Linux Distro.

Any help would be nice. If push comes to shove I may have to try Xen but I really don’t want to.

If there any infomation i left out that can be usefull tell me what you need.

[Seilong]

Well, looks like a MSI Z77A-G41 is not going to work with ESXi 5.1. I better start learning how to use XenServer.

[smanet]

I have the same motherboard and I found out that is working fine with 2.4 bios version.

Could you please state to me which one you're using and try to downgrade to 2.4 or 2.5?

In fact, on 2.6 they upgraded the network driver at the UEFI level.

I'm helping out a friend that bought the same mainboard and running the latest bios.

Thank you.

Update:

I confirm that both MSI Z77A-G41 and MSI Z77A-G43 works perfectly with V2.4 of the BIOS.

I flashed last night V2.8 and V2.6 and they didn't work (in fact since 2.6 they have changed the UEFI driver inside the BIOS).

I'm testing V2.5 to confirm that it's safe to use it.

[ej400]

Hi - this solves another issue:

MSI Z77A G45 with bios version 2.70 has a non working Realtek 8111 NIC in ESXi 5.1, patched to build 1021289.

I downflashed the bios with the builtin M-flash utility to bios version 2.60 and now the Realtek 8111 NIC shows up as working and available in ESXi.

It shows as Realtek 8169.

Maybe adding "UEFI" to the NIC breaks ESXi support of the Realtek 8111 NIC.

According to the MSI Bios documentation this UEFI NIC feature is added in bios version 2.80, but this could be an error in the documentation, since bios 2.60 works and 2.70 NOT.

Thanks.

[smanet]

This sounds strange to me. I tested specifically 2.8 and 2.6 and in both occasion I didn't see the network on my ESXi.

I'm currently running 2.5 without any issue.

Could you please confirm the file name of your bios? Just checking if it's the same used in G41 and G43.

According to the change log, the driver for our motherboard was changed in 2.6.

Thank you and happy that I helped you

[ej400]

Hi

MSI Z77A G45 Bios filename 7752v

MSI Z77A G41 Bios filename 7758v

This is according to the MSI website. The mainboards are close related, but of course still different.

For the G41 the NIC could be broken with 2.60, it is the first bios with "updated onboard Realtek LAN UEFI driver" accoriding to the bios feature list.

For my G45 the onboard NIC not working with 7752v270, and it is working 7752v260.

Go figure..:smileysilly:

By the way, no need to install difficult drivers, it works with ESXi 5.1 out of the box.

[smanet]

Hi,

that's more strange than before.

G43 and G41 share the same bios but have a different audio card.

According to MSI website, G45 is the same as G43 plus the fast charge for usb devices.

Anyway, let's make a list for anyone that will arrive to this post:

MSI Z77A G41 and MSI MSI Z77A G43 works with ESXi 5.1 (first build and latest patch) with bios version until V2.5

MSI Z77A G45 works with bios until V2.6

So, basically, as you said, no additional driver, no customization needed to be done on the ESXi.

I will add, if you want to use DirectPath, it's better to disable audio card and integrated graphic card (if any in the cpu).

I didn't test yet if with the latest patch, the USB pass trought is working now

[ej400]

Hi, yes I guess strange things happen.

I bought the G45 a year ago because of

- low price, clean no thrill setup

- nice and clean PCI-Express only layout, G43 and G41 have some PCI slots.

- VT-D support

- ESXi supported Realtek 8111 NIC.

Only recently I noticed that the 8111 NIC was not working anymore, sloppy testing after the bios update I guess :smileylaugh:

And disabling built in audio and video is key to getting graphics passthru to work with ESXi 5.0,  with the latest ESXi 5.0 799xxx build it was almost perfect.

I am still working on getting a stable setup with ESXi 5.1, so I am not sure yet if the PCI device pass thru issues are resolved. It is better than before, because passthru of a NEC USB 3.0 PCIE card is working again, but I am not finished testing yet and I am having some stability issues ... :smileysilly:

[smanet]

Hi guys,

I have some updates regarding this post.

Yesterday I upgraded from 5.1 to 5.5 and I also updated the bios from 2.5 to 2.11 (latest).

I made a custom 5.5 ISO including the 8168 and 8169 drivers (they're now deprecated and not included) (thank for who posted here and for the guy that provided the VIB links: Adding Realtek R8168 Driver to ESXi 5.5.0 ISO | Erik Bussink Re: ESXi 5.5 installer does not detect network adaptor

The surprise is that network card is recognized and works perfectly with the new BIOS.

In addition, the PCI passthru is working for any other device that didn't work for me, like a Broadcom gigabit network card and a generic USB3 Renasas PCIe card.

Everything looks in order.. apart that from now, we must use a vCenter to manager hardware version 10.

[jackychu1119]

Hi all,

I recently bought the MSI-Z77A-G45 too. But I found the network adaptor Realtk8111e is not stable after the ESXI successfully boot up for a few minutes. I will not be able to PING or learn ARP unless I reboot the VM server. I tried to install ESXi 5.1 and ESXI 5.5 (with the 8168 .vib file). Apart from that, I also downgrade the BIOS to 2.6 and disable the power safe feature. Unfortunately, it still does not help. Anybody has similar issue about this? Thanks.

Rgds,

Jacky