IBM Support

LAN connections to the BMC may fail with downlevel BIOS - Servers

Troubleshooting


Problem

LAN connections to the Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) may fail; connections to the normal Ethernet ports are successful. BIOS update is required.

Resolving The Problem

Source

RETAIN tip: H182841

Symptom

Ethernet connections to the Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) will fail while connections to the normal Ethernet ports are successful. You can tell if your system is affected by this problem by looking at the BMC MAC address. If this address is all zeros or all FFs, then the BIOS update is required. The BMC MAC Address can be seen by pressing F1 during bootup to access the Configuration/Setup utility. When the menu is presented select Advanced Setup, then select BMC Settings, then select BMC Network Configuration.

Affected configurations

The system may be any of the following IBM eServer servers:  

  • IBM eServer BladeCenter HS20, type 8843, any model
  • IBM eServer xSeries 346, type 8840, any model
  • IBM eServer xSeries 336, type 8837, any model
  • IBM eServer xSeries 236, type 8841, any model

The system's diagnostics pass.
 
The BIOS levels affected are:  

  • IBM eServer BladeCenter HS20, type 8843, all versions prior to Version 1.00, build id BWE106AUS
  • IBM eServer xSeries 346, type 8840, all versions prior to Version 1.02, build id KPE124AUS
  • IBM eServer xSeries 336, type 8837, all versions prior to Version 1.02, build id APE117AUS
  • IBM eServer xSeries 236, type 8841, all versions prior to Version 1.00, build id NRE118AUS

Solution

Update the system BIOS to the latest level as follows:  

  • IBM eServer BladeCenter HS20, type 8843, BIOS version 1.00, or higher
  • IBM eServer xSeries 346, type 8840, BIOS version 1.02, or higher
  • IBM eServer xSeries 336, type 8837, BIOS version 1.02, or higher
  • IBM eServer xSeries 236, type 8841, BIOS version 1.00, or higher

Additional information

The problem happens because the Ethernet MAC address for the BMC is not properly assigned on some servers. The BMC MAC address is already allocated, but on some servers it is not written to the correct storage location. The new BIOS will program the BMC with the correct MAC address.

 

Document Location

Worldwide

Operating System

BladeCenter:Operating system independent / None

System x:Operating system independent / None

Older System x:Operating system independent / None

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Document Information

Modified date:
29 January 2019

UID

ibm1MIGR-57363

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