Intel XL710 40G not detected on DELL Poweredge servers

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Waterkippie

Member
Oct 12, 2017
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Hi,

We are having a strange issue where i have 4 dual port 40G NIC's with the Intel XL710 chipset which will not work properly on multiple dell poweredge systems.

The cards show up in the bios, but are not properly detected in the OS and the i40e drivers are not loaded.

Servers tried: poweredge R520, R230 and R540 (latest model), all with latest updates.
OS: CentOS 6 and 7, Ubuntu 16.04 and 18.04.

When i test the cards in a regular PC, they show up fine and work just fine, but in the poweredges they are detected as:
65:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Device 154b (rev 02)
66:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Device 154b (rev 02)


Instead of what it should be:
Intel Converged Network Adapter XL710-QA2
Intel Converged Network Adapter XL710-QA2

Also when running the NVM update tool from Intel, they show up as:

[root@vmx2 Linux_x64]# ./nvmupdate64e
Intel(R) Ethernet NVM Update Tool
NVMUpdate version 1.32.20.30
Copyright (C) 2013 - 2018 Intel Corporation.
WARNING: To avoid damage to your device, do not stop the update or reboot or power off the system during this update.
Inventory in progress. Please wait [*.........]
Num Description Ver.(hex) DevId S:B Status
=== ================================== ============ ===== ====== ==============
01) Intel(R) Ethernet Controller XL710 154B 00:101 Access error
Generic ID
02) Intel(R) Ethernet Controller XL710 154B 00:102 Access error
Generic ID


While in another system, they work fine and can be updated without problems via this tool.



What could this be? This is not a hardware issue. Some DELL vendor lock-in? Certain BIOS settings?

Any advice is appreciated.
 

marcoi

Well-Known Member
Apr 6, 2013
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Gotha Florida
Im not sure of the issue, but have you tried dell lifecycle to see if it needs to update inventory or see if it recommends any bios updates?
 

Waterkippie

Member
Oct 12, 2017
58
15
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This is how the dell lifecycle sees them. BIOS is the latest and it does not recommend other updates.

Also pics of how the OS sees them as sort of unidentified Intel network devices 154b?

Have also tried different PCI-E slots.

When booting it does not seem to show the PXE boot devices either so it really seems some incompatibility with the server?
 

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marcoi

Well-Known Member
Apr 6, 2013
1,532
288
83
Gotha Florida
curious if you bought these cards new from an intel approved vendor or used off ebay? I ask as I seen other intel cards sold on ebay that were knock-offs. I'm wondering if you got a used one that isnt a genuine intel card and the dell serer is catching that?

If they are new, then I'm not sure why they arent working in the dells.
 

Waterkippie

Member
Oct 12, 2017
58
15
8
53
They are brand new and sold from a reputable vendor, however they are OEM cards, not Intel cards. So OEM board with original Intel chipset.
 

Waterkippie

Member
Oct 12, 2017
58
15
8
53
We found out the cause of the problem, it had to do with the way the DELL servers manage power on the PCI-E card. Manufacturer supplied us with improved XL710 cards with a design update in the power supply IC's and they work great!