HP XW4600 Workstation - Network card error whilst imaging

[george1421]

Just to add some info to this thread.

If you don’t have a live linux distribution in mind, the Ubuntu 15 desktop version has a live boot option.

http://releases.ubuntu.com/15.04/

Once booted into the desktop use the search function to find terminal. That will open a console window for you.

[Robx64]

@george1421
I don’t think it have to be linux
Windows will tell you all those details as well right ?
So it is: Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet
PCI\VEN_14E4 & DEV_167B & SUBSYS_1308103C & REV_02\4 & 103B7ECA …

[george1421]

@Robx64 Yes, I guess if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail Windows will work for that, but it would be way cooler with linux.

So to translate the device ID is 14e4:167b which is different than what @Sebastian-Roth expected.

Is this an add in card or something built into the motherboard?

For a bit more details, that is listed as
BCM5755 NetXtreme Desktop/Mobile

on the broadcom page: https://www.broadcom.com/application/ethernet_nic.php

[Sebastian Roth]

@george1421 said:

So to translate the device ID is 14e4:167b which is different than what @Sebastian-Roth expected.

Seams like I have caused some confusion when saying ‘14e4:16xy’. I actually meant ‘xy’ to be a placeholder.

@Robx64 Is the broadcom the built in card? Any other errors you see? Which kernel version do you use right now (file /var/www/fog/service/ipxe/bzImage)?

[Robx64]

@Sebastian-Roth Version: 5566

You are not running the most current version of FOG!
You are currently running version: 5566

Latest stable version is 1.2.0

Latest git version is 5676

Kernel Versions
GNG-Images
bzImage Version: 4.3.0
bzImage32 Version: 4.3.0
I’ll check tomorrow with linux just to make sure is it exactly what it is

[Sebastian Roth]

@Tom-Elliott CONFIG_TIGON3 is in the current kernel and has always been there, right? Just checking.

@Robx64 Could you try a live linux with 4.3.0 kernel to see if it recognizes the NIC?!

[Robx64]

@Sebastian-Roth
I’ve checked under the linux, PCI ID is as We already know 14E4:167B

[Sebastian Roth]

Have you had this XW4600 successfully running with an older version of FOG? I am a bit lost with how to debug this issue. TG3 driver should be in the kernel and this is not a very new piece of hardware so it should work!

Which kernel version did you have in this ubuntu live system? uname -a

[george1421]

@Sebastian-Roth (I meant to check this before I left the office today, so I’ll have to ask)

If we boot into the debug console, can we get a list of 'in memory" drivers, and/or are the drivers built into the kernel or are they loaded at boot time “modular” drivers. If they are modular drivers we should be able to navigate to the network drivers directory and see the tg3 driver.

I know back in the day when I was building the 2.4.x series kernels for that embedded device company, they had the tg3 network drivers in their build. SO those drivers have been around for a while.

[Tom Elliott]

Is there a way we can find out what Firmware is expected for this particular nic?

I have added tigon information to the kernels and what not, but I’ve also had to add firmware to the kernels to get some things to operate.

[Sebastian Roth]

I am fairly sure this (old) NIC does not need any firmware but only the tg3 driver in the kernel. As you can see in the second screen shot the ethernet controller is using it (‘Kernel driver in use: tg3’).

@Robx64 Can you please run a debug session (Host -> Basic Tasks -> Debug) on this client, wait till you get to the shell and then see what you have in dmesg about ethernet. Command dmesg | less (you can scroll up & down and also search using ‘/’ - without the quotes) or dmesg | grep -i eth

[Robx64]

@Sebastian-Roth
Hehehe really ?
I know that, it’s quiet old and it should work but somehow unfortunately it won’t

[Robx64]

@Sebastian-Roth
I’m not sure since I left tech department many things changed. I’ll ask techs since when we have this particular model and was there any problem before.

Apparently there was no problem on Fog 0.32 at all and XW4600 worked beautifully

[Robx64]

@Sebastian-Roth said:

dmesg | grep -i eth

Is that enough ?

[Tom Elliott]

@Sebastian-Roth I think I may have figured it out.

The current drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom had the vendor ID (14e4) but it lacked the Device ID. I just added the DEVICE under TG3PCI_DEVICE_TIGON3_4 I added the line: #define TG3PCI_DEVICE_TIGON3_5755 0x167b in hopes that it would be found. I don’t know what else may be broke, but hopefully we’re kind of on to something?

[Tom Elliott]

@Robx64 I created a kernel with the patch I ‘Hope’ will work. I’m not publishing it to the normal kernel’s directory, but please download and try it.

https://mastacontrola.com/bzImageTG3

[Robx64]

@Tom-Elliott
Thank you Tom,
I’ll check and give you an answer shortly

[Robx64]

@Tom-Elliott

Once downloaded you’ll need to unpack the bz2 file using the command:
tar -xjf fog_trunk.tar.bz2
Then go into the **unextracted ** file. Follow these steps:
cd fog_trunk/bin
./installfog.sh

Then follow the onscreen prompts. After a little while, you should have a successfully installed FOG server.

[Tom Elliott]

@Robx64 ???

[Sebastian Roth]

Wow! I really wonder why those machines/NICs never had any problem in the past?!? Tom, you are right 14e4:167b does not seam to be in the code. I checked earlier versions and non of them had this ID included. How can that be??

@Robx64 I didn’t ask for the output of dmesg from the live CD but from a FOG debug session. Would be interesting to see if FOG can actually see the device. Could you please do Host -> Basic Tasks -> Debug. Then run dmesg | grep -i eth and lspci (full output of Ethernet controller so we might see if it is really using tg3). Thanks!