ESXi host experiences the purple diagnostic screen error: netxen_nic_detach_all_ports

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• ESXi host experiences a purple diagnostic screen
• In the purple diagnostic screen, you see back traces similar to:
  
  cpu8:8928)ESC[45mESC[33;1mVMware ESXi 5.0.0 [Releasebuild-474610 x86_64]ESC[0m
  #GP Exception 13 in world 8928:helper31-26 @ 0x41800ac28ec4
  cpu8:8928)cr0=0x80010039 cr2=0x0 cr3=0xbf428000 cr4=0x216c
  cpu8:8928)frame=0x41220b807c88 ip=0x41800ac28ec4 err=0 rflags=0x10083
  cpu8:8928)rax=0x410011000e90 rbx=0x5030 rcx=0x410011021f70
  cpu8:8928)rdx=0x410011021f98 rbp=0x41220b807d50 rsi=0x410011017ff0
  cpu8:8928)rdi=0x410011000c40 r8=0x410011017fd0 r9=0x410011000c30
  cpu8:8928)r10=0x41001101d000 r11=0x410011017fd0 r12=0x1120001fb00f2020
  cpu8:8928)r13=0x200 r14=0x410011000000 r15=0x1
  cpu8:8928)0x41220b807d50:[0x41800ac28ec4]DLM_free@vmkernel#nover+0x16b stack: 0x110ce0a0, 0x410011054bb8, 0x0
  cpu8:8928)0x41220b807d90:[0x41800ac3b2bd]Heap_Free@vmkernel#nover+0x164 stack: 0x410011054b60, 0x4100102005a0
  cpu8:8928)0x41220b807dc0:[0x41800b238647][email protected]_nic#9.2.0.0+0x5a stack: 0x
  cpu8:8928)0x41220b807df0:[0x41800b23a4d4][email protected]_nic#9.2.0.0+0x14f stack: 0x4
  cpu8:8928)0x41220b807e30:[0x41800b23a800][email protected]_nic#9.2.0.0+0x24b stack: 0xb807e70, 0x0
  cpu8:8928)0x41220b807e70:[0x41800b23bfd2][email protected]_nic#9.2.0.0+0x151 stack: 0
  cpu8:8928)0x41220b807eb0:[0x41800b242b0d][email protected]_nic#9.2.0.0+0x570 stack: 0x
  cpu8:8928)0x41220b807f60:[0x41800b0e85a7][email protected]#9.2+0x11a stack: 0x0,
  cpu8:8928)0x41220b807ff0:[0x41800ac3dfd9]helpFunc@vmkernel#nover+0x568 stack: 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0
  cpu8:8928)0x41220b807ff8:[0x0]<unknown> stack: 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0
  
  Note: This log excerpt is an example. Date, time, and environmental variables may vary depending on your environment.

Cause

This issue occurs due to frequent IRQ allocations by the QLogic card nx_nic driver.

Resolution

To resolve this issue:

• In ESXi 5.x, upgrade the QLogic network card driver to version 5.0.601 and later version
• In ESX/ESXi 4.1, upgrade driver version to 4.0.618 or later version

You can download the driver from the VMware Downloads.

For more information on installing async drivers, see Installing async drivers on ESXi 5.0, 5.1, and 5.5 (2005205) or Installing async drivers on ESXi 4.x and ESX 4.x (1032936).

Note: After upgrading the driver, you must reboot the ESXi host.

Additional Information

Installing async drivers on ESXi 4.x and ESX 4.x
How to download and install async drivers in ESXi 5.x/6.x

Impact/Risks: