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Troubleshooting: Broadcom NetXtreme II™ Network Adapter User Guide

Hardware Diagnostics

Checking Port LEDs

Troubleshooting Checklist

Checking if Current Drivers are Loaded

Running a Cable Length Test

Testing Network Connectivity

Removing the Broadcom NetXtreme II Device Drivers

Upgrading from Windows 2000 Server to Windows Server 2003

Preparing for an Unattended Installation or Using Sysprep

Using the NetXtreme II Monolithic Driver

Linux Red Hat 3.0 AS x86_64 and BMAPI

Broadcom Boot Agent

Broadcom Advanced Server Program (BASP)

Miscellaneous

Hardware Diagnostics

Loopback diagnostic tests are available for testing the adapter hardware. These tests provide access to the adapter internal/external diagnostics, where packet information is transmitted across the physical link (for instructions and information on running tests in an MS-DOS environment, see User Diagnostics; for Windows environments, see Diagnostics).

Checking Port LEDs

See Network Link and Activity Indication to check the state of the network link and activity.

Troubleshooting Checklist

Caution! Before you open the cabinet of your server to add or remove the adapter, review Safety Precautions.

The following checklist provides recommended actions to take to resolve problems installing the Broadcom NetXtreme II adapter or running it in your system.

Checking if Current Drivers are Loaded

Windows

See Vital Sign to view vital information about the adapter, link status, and network connectivity.

NetWare

To verify that the driver is loaded properly, type

LOAD BX2.LAN FRAME_ETHERNET_II NAME=BX2_1_EII


 

This command automatically verifies if the link is active. If the link is active, the command returns Link is up.

From the command line, type config then press ENTER. The following status information is displayed:

Broadcom NetXtreme II Gigabit Ethernet Adapter Version:
Hardware Setting:
Node Address:
Frame Type:
Board Name:
LAN Protocol: ARP (see note)
LAN Protocol: IP Addr: (see note)

NOTE: The LAN protocol status is displayed after an IP address is assigned to the adapter.

Linux

To verify that the bnx2.o driver is loaded properly, run:

lsmod 


 

If the driver is loaded, a line similar to the one below is displayed, where size is the size of the driver in bytes, and n is the number of adapters configured.

Module
Size
Used by
BCM5706
size
n
BCM5708
size
n

Running a Cable Length Test

For Windows operating systems, see Cable Analysis for information on running a cable length test.

Testing Network Connectivity

NOTE: When using forced link speeds, verify that both the adapter and the switch are forced to the same speed, or that at least one link partner is configured for auto-negotiation.

Windows

Use the ping command to determine if the network connection is working.

NOTE: Network connectivity can also be tested using the Network Test feature in Broadcom Advanced Control Suite 2.

  1. Click Start, and then click Run.
  2. Type cmd in the Open box, and then click OK.
  3. Type ipconfig /all to view the network connection to be tested.
  4. Type ping IP address, and then press ENTER.

The ping statistics that are displayed indicate whether the network connection is working or not.

NetWare

Ping an IP host on the network to verify connection has been established.

From the command line, type ping IP address, and then press ENTER.

The ping statistics that are displayed indicate whether or not the network connection is working.

Linux

To verify that the Ethernet interface is up and running, run ifconfig to check the status of the Ethernet interface. It is possible to use netstat -i to check the statistics on the Ethernet interface. See Linux Driver Software for information on ifconfig and netstat.

Ping an IP host on the network to verify connection has been established.

From the command line, type ping IP address, and then press ENTER.

The ping statistics that are displayed indicate whether or not the network connection is working.

Removing the Broadcom NetXtreme II Device Drivers

Uninstall the Broadcom NetXtreme II device drivers from your system only through the InstallShield wizard. Uninstalling the device drivers with Device Manager or any other means may not provide a clean uninstall and may cause the system to become unstable. For information on uninstalling Broadcom NetXtreme II device drivers, see Removing the Device Drivers.

Upgrading from Windows 2000 Server to Windows Server 2003

Prior to performing an OS upgrade from Windows 2000 Server to Windows Server 2003 when a Broadcom NetXtreme II adapter is installed in your system, Broadcom recommends that you uninstall the adapter's driver. This is to ensure that no errors are encountered in the installation of the Windows Server 2003 drivers for the NetXtreme II adapters. The device drivers for Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003 are not the same and require the installation of the Windows 2003 drivers to be performed after the OS upgrade is completed.

Preparing for an Unattended Installation or Using Sysprep

When creating an answer file for an unattended installation or for the System Preparation Tool (Sysprep) utility, the following sections must be included under the [Unattend] section:

OemPreinstall=Yes
OemPnpDriversPath=Drivers\NIC

NOTES:

For an unattended installation, place the Broadcom NetXtreme II driver files in the $OEM$\$1\Drivers\NIC directory. For Sysprep, the drivers are located in Drivers\NIC at the root of the system drive. The Broadcom NetXtreme II driver files are listed below according to the operating system to be installed:

Windows 2000: bxvbd.inf, bxvbdx.sys, bxvbd.cat, bxnd.inf, bxnd.cat, bxnd50x.sys, bxndcox.dll, bxdiag.cat, bxdiag.inf, bxdiagx.sys

Windows Server 2003 (ia32): bxvbd.inf, bxvbdx.sys, bxvbd.cat, bxnd.inf, bxnd.cat, bxnd52x.sys, bxndcox.dll, bxdiag.cat, bxdiag.inf, bxdiagx.sys

Windows Server 2003 (x64): bxvbd.inf, bxvbda.sys, bxvbd.cat, bxnd.inf, bxnd.cat, bxnd52a.sys, bxndcoa.dll, bxdiag.cat, bxdiag.inf, and bxdiaga.sys

Using the NetXtreme II Monolithic Driver

The NetXtreme II, based on its advanced functionalities, uses a software architecture that includes a Virtual Bus Device (VBD) to extend functionalities beyond basic network connectivity. Microsoft, however, does not currently support this architecture when loading an operating system through its Remote Installation Services (RIS) or for the deployment agent used in the Automated Deployment Services (ADS). Therefore, a separate driver was created to accommodate these Microsoft deficiencies. This driver is known as the NetXtreme II monolithic driver and is referred to as the "RIS" driver.

The NetXtreme II monolithic driver was developed to work only for the text mode portion of a RIS installation and to establish connectivity with a deployment agent for ADS. It is not intended to be used as a driver loaded in the running state of an operating system. The exception to this would be when used for the Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE).

For RIS, this driver is used similarly to any other network adapter driver for supporting network connectivity after the PXE boot to the RIS server. When placed in the I386 or AMD64 directory (depending on the version of the operating system being deployed), the monolithic driver is called to establish that there is driver support for the NetXtreme II adapter included in the RIS image.

For ADS, the driver is placed in the PreSystem directory on the server running ADS to establish connectivity with the deployment agent on remote systems with NetXtreme II adapters when booting from PXE.

While Windows PE 2005 natively supports the VBD architecture, it was found that using the "minint" switch in the startnet.cmd file does not. The minint switch performs a limited scan of the system bus to identify network devices only and, therefore, does not support the VBD architecture. Since only network connectivity is required in Windows PE, the only supported driver is the monolithic driver for the NetXtreme II adapter in this environment as well. Place the b06nd.inf file in the INF directory within the Windows PE image, and place the appropriate driver file (b06nd51a.sys for x64-based builds or b06nd51.sys for x86-based builds) in the driver's directory. If Windows PE is deployed as a flat image from a RIS, you must also place both the b06nd.inf and the appropriate driver file in the I386 or AMD64 directory containing the image. If the RIS server is running Windows 2000 Server and deploying an x86 WinPE image, the following modification is required for the INF file located in the I386 directory:

  1. Locate [Manufacturer] header within the file.
  2. Review the line below it which reads: %brcm% = broadcom, ntx86, ntamd64, ntia64 or equivalent.
  3. Modify that line to read: %brcm% = broadcom.ntx86, ntamd64, ntia64. The change made replaces the comma and space after "broadcom" with a period.
  4. Save the file.
  5. Restart the RIS service (binslvc).

Linux Red Hat 3.0 AS x86_64 and BMAPI

Problem: Broadcom Management Application Programming Interface (BMAPI) is not compatible with the Red Hat 3.0 AS x86_64 distribution.

Solution: There is no solution to this compatibility issue at this time. Try using a different 64-bit Linux distribution.

Broadcom Boot Agent

Problem: Unable to obtain network settings through DHCP using PXE.

Solution: For proper operation make sure that the Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) is disabled or that portfast mode (for Cisco) is enabled on the port to which the PXE client is connected. For instance, set spantree portfast 4/12 enable.

Broadcom Advanced Server Program (BASP)

Problem: A system containing an 802.3ad team causes a Netlogon service failure in the system event log and prevents it from communicating with the domain controller during boot up.

Solution: Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 326152 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/326152/en-us) indicates that Gigabit Ethernet adapters may experience problems with connectivity to a domain controller due to link fluctuation while the driver initializes and negotiates link with the network infrastructure. The link negotiation is further affected when the Gigabit adapters are participating in an 802.3ad team due to the additional negotiation with a switch required for this team type. As suggested in the Knowledge Base Article above, disabling media sense as described in a separate Knowledge Base Article 239924 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/239924/) has shown to be a valid workaround when this problem occurs.

Problem: The 802.3ad team member links disconnect and reconnect continuously (applies to all operating systems).

Solution: This is a third-party issue. It is seen only when configuring an 802.3ad team with greater than two members on the server and connecting an HP2524 switch, with LACP enabled as passive or active. The HP switch shows an LACP channel being brought up successfully with only two team members. All other team member links disconnect and reconnect. This does not occur with a Cisco Catalyst 6500.

Problem: A Generic Trunking (GEC/FEC) 802.3ad-Draft Static type of team may lose some network connectivity if the driver to a team member is disabled.

Solution: If a team member supports underlying management software (ASF/IPMI/UMP) or Wake-On-LAN, the link may be maintained on the switch for the adapter despite its driver being disabled. This may result in the switch continuing to pass traffic to the attached port rather than route the traffic to an active team member port. Disconnecting the disabled adapter from the switch will allow traffic to resume to the other active team members.

Miscellaneous

Table 1. Miscellaneous Problems/Solutions
Problem
Solution
The Broadcom NetXtreme II adapter may not perform at optimal level on some systems if it is added after the system has booted.
The system BIOS in some systems does not set the cache line size and the latency timer if the adapter is added after the system has booted. Reboot the system after the adapter has been added.
Large Send Offload (LSO) and Checksum Offload are not working on my team.
If one of the adapters on a team does not support LSO, LSO does not function for the team. Remove the adapter that does not support LSO from the team, or replace it with one that does. The same applies to Checksum Offload.
Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) is not functioning properly.
IPMI works only when LiveLink™ is disabled. See Configuring LiveLink for a Smart Load Balancing and Failover Team.
Although the Broadcom 5708S SerDes adapter is capable of connecting at speeds up to 2.5 Gbps when licensed and configured, Windows Task Manager incorrectly reports the speed at 2 Gbps.
This reporting error is a known Microsoft issue. Locate the actual link speed from the BACS2 Vital Sign tab.
Cannot configure the Resource Allocation tab in BACS2 after SNP is uninstalled.
Reinstall SNP. Prior to uninstalling SNP from the system, ensure that NDIS is enabled via the checkbox on the Resource Configuration screen, available from the Resource Allocations tab (see Resource Allocations). If NDIS is disabled and SNP is removed, there is no access to re-enable the device.


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