Symptoms:

• HP ProLiant G7 Server is configured with HP NC551m Dual Port FlexFabric 10Gb Converged Network Adapter or HP NC551i Dual Port FlexFabric 10Gb Network Adapter
• The host is using elxnet with driver version 10.7.110.13 and firmware version 4.9.416.15
• In the /var/run/log/vmkernel.log file, you see entries similar to:

2016-05-26T10:38:53.402Z cpu25:33426)WARNING: elxnet: elxnet_detectDumpUe:343: [vmnic0] UE Detected!!
2016-05-26T10:38:53.402Z cpu25:33426)elxnet: elxnet_detectDumpUe:354: 0000:04:00.0: Forcing Link Down as Unrecoverable Error detected in chip/fw.
2016-05-26T10:38:53.402Z cpu25:33426)WARNING: elxnet: elxnet_detectDumpUe:359: [vmnic0] UE lo: TXULP1 bit set
2016-05-26T10:38:53.526Z cpu12:33432)WARNING: elxnet: elxnet_detectDumpUe:343: [vmnic1] UE Detected!!
2016-05-26T10:38:53.526Z cpu12:33432)elxnet: elxnet_detectDumpUe:354: 0000:04:00.1: Forcing Link Down as Unrecoverable Error detected in chip/fw.
2016-05-26T10:38:53.526Z cpu12:33432)WARNING: elxnet: elxnet_detectDumpUe:359: [vmnic1] UE lo: TXULP1 bit set
This message has repeated 71 times: 0000:04:00.0: Error in Card Detected! Cannot allocate WRBs hw_error:1|fw_timeout:0This message has repeated 72 times: 0000:04:00.1: Error in Card Detected! Cannot allocate WRBs hw_error:1|fw_timeout:0This message has repeated 73 times: 0000:05:00.0: Error in Card Detected! Cannot allocate WRBs hw_error:1|fw_timeout:0This message has repeated 74 times: 0000:05:00.1: Error in Card Detected! Cannot allocate WRBs hw_error:1|fw_timeout:0


Note: The preceding log excerpts are only examples. Date, time, and environmental variables may vary depending on your environment.

VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5

This is a known issue affecting HP ProLiant G7 servers configured with an HP NC551m Dual Port FlexFabric 10Gb Converged Network Adapter or HP NC551i Dual Port FlexFabric 10Gb Network Adapter and running VMware ESXi 5.5 or 6.0.

To work around this issue for ESXi 5.5, downgrade to elxnet driver version 10.2.298.5 and firmware version 4.9.416.2.

To work around this issue for ESXi 6.0, create a custom image using the March 2015 Driver/Firmware Recipe and deliverables on Software Delivery Repository. For more information, see HP Advisory c05154182.

Note: The preceding links were correct as of June 2, 2016. If you find a link is broken, provide a feedback and a VMware employee will update the link.