'WARNING: ixgben: ixgben_CheckTxHang:XXX: 0000:##:00.0: TX hang detected on TX queue: 0' ESXi 8.0 nic warning

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• Drivers ixgben 1.19.3 and 1.20.2.0 for Intel Ethernet 10G 2P X540-t Adapter getting following error in the ESXi host log /var/run/log/vmkernel.log: 

        YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS Wa(180)vmkwarning: cpu48:2098318)WARNING: ixgben: ixgben_CheckTxHang:2181:0000:63:00.0: TX hang detected on TX queue: 0

• The drivers ixgben 1.15.1.0 and 1.13.1.0 which are showing under ESXi 7.x, works fine, with no error.

Note: The bus number above '0000:63:00.0' indicates the nic which the error is coming from, use 'esxcfg-nics -l' to list the nic and bus.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0.x 

Cause

'Tx hang' is a NIC HW problem, driver software cannot fix it but with a reset to workaround it.

Resolution

• The installed drivers for Intel Ethernet 10G 2P X540-t Adapter is not compatible with ESXI 8.x as per below Broadcom hardware COMPATIBILITY GUIDE
• Engage Hardware Vendor to investigate the NIC driver version's compatibility with ESXI 8.x.
• The error is related with the Native Async Driver which is provided by the Hardware Vendor.