HP NC523SFP 10GbE network cards not seen after reboot

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• HP NC523SFP 10GbE network cards may not be visible after a reboot
• Fresh installation of NICs does not show all of the NICs
• After a reboot, some NICs may be visible
• Issue can also occur on Dell PowerEdge R720 with QLogic Corp Qlogic Pci Express 1GbE/10GbE Ethernet/CNA Adapter.
• lspci shows that the NICs are visible:
  
  000:005:00.0 Network controller: QLogic Corp HP NC523SFP 10GbE 2-port Ethernet Server Adapter [vmnic4]
  000:005:00.1 Network controller: QLogic Corp HP NC523SFP 10GbE 2-port Ethernet Server Adapter [vmnic5]
  000:008:00.0 Network controller: QLogic Corp HP NC523SFP 10GbE 2-port Ethernet Server Adapter [vmnic6]
  000:008:00.1 Network controller: QLogic Corp HP NC523SFP 10GbE 2-port Ethernet Server Adapter [vmnic7]
   
• The output of esxcfg-nics -l shows only two NICs:
  
  vmnic6 0000:08:00.00 qlcnic Down 0Mbps Half xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xy 1500 QLogic Corp HP NC523SFP 10GbE 2-port Ethernet Server Adapter
  vmnic7 0000:08:00.01 qlcnic Down 0Mbps Half xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xz 1500 QLogic Corp HP NC523SFP 10GbE 2-port Ethernet Server Adapter

Environment

VMware ESX 4.1.x
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Installable
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Embedded
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0

Cause

This issue occurs when the adapter does not reset properly due to a timing issue in the network controller initialization sequence.

Resolution

If you experience this issue, you need to perform an ISO firmware update because the online tools require a driver that does not load.

 

You can download the ISO, available at HP NC-Series QLogic P3P Flash Update Kit . The ISO in this update ensures that the firmware is updated.

 

Note: The preceding link was correct as of November 24, 2015. If you find the link is broken, provide a feedback and a VMware employee will update the link.

 

Note: HP firmware must be at highest version possible to ensure compatibility with latest drivers.