FW Missing (NIC)

Hey guys,

I have a HP server, where I installed Centos 9 Stream minimal. I have 2 Network Cards.
1 is gbps, and other is 10gbps, I was using the one with higher flow, but suddenly stopped working.
So I had to switch to the other one. I think there was some kind of update, and something went wrong.
I cant activate connections with “nmtui” I’m getting an error, which I will send a picture.
And there is an error with “fw missing” which I will provide with picture.
I downloaded SPP for HP, which went through some update procedure(kernel, firmware, etc.) but still nothing.
Will reinstalling the whole system help?
The point here is to avoid reinstalling, coz I have some production there, which now takes slower, because of that error.
Can any1 share some insight on this matter?


PS. when in boot the faulty card is blinking, as soon as the system loads, lights go out on that card. Maybe a hardware problem?

Possible but i wouldn’t leap to that conclusion. The blinking could very well be a feature, perhaps it’s attempting to locate a PXE boot server for diskless startup. You did say it’s a server, right?

I would take the “fw missing” at face value. Fedora 37, at least, has the linux-firmware package which includes all of the following files:

/usr/lib/firmware/bnx2
/usr/lib/firmware/bnx2/bnx2-mips-06-6.2.3.fw.xz
/usr/lib/firmware/bnx2/bnx2-mips-09-6.2.1b.fw.xz
/usr/lib/firmware/bnx2/bnx2-rv2p-06-6.0.15.fw.xz
/usr/lib/firmware/bnx2/bnx2-rv2p-09-6.0.17.fw.xz
/usr/lib/firmware/bnx2/bnx2-rv2p-09ax-6.0.17.fw.xz
/usr/lib/firmware/bnx2x
/usr/lib/firmware/bnx2x/bnx2x-e1-7.13.1.0.fw.xz
/usr/lib/firmware/bnx2x/bnx2x-e1-7.13.11.0.fw.xz
/usr/lib/firmware/bnx2x/bnx2x-e1-7.13.15.0.fw.xz
/usr/lib/firmware/bnx2x/bnx2x-e1-7.13.21.0.fw.xz
/usr/lib/firmware/bnx2x/bnx2x-e1h-7.13.1.0.fw.xz
/usr/lib/firmware/bnx2x/bnx2x-e1h-7.13.11.0.fw.xz
/usr/lib/firmware/bnx2x/bnx2x-e1h-7.13.15.0.fw.xz
/usr/lib/firmware/bnx2x/bnx2x-e1h-7.13.21.0.fw.xz
/usr/lib/firmware/bnx2x/bnx2x-e2-7.13.1.0.fw.xz
/usr/lib/firmware/bnx2x/bnx2x-e2-7.13.11.0.fw.xz
/usr/lib/firmware/bnx2x/bnx2x-e2-7.13.15.0.fw.xz
/usr/lib/firmware/bnx2x/bnx2x-e2-7.13.21.0.fw.xz

Hopefully, one of those is the firmware for your… I can’t quite make it out, your BCM57810, maybe? (BCM57010?)

…If you have that package installed, I believe the firmware should be downloaded onto the cards automatically during the boot process.

Getting the firmware loaded onto the cards would hopefully change them from “unavailable” to configured-and-working. But unless you see any messages about firmware install failing in the journal (sudo journalctl -b, to read the messages for the current boot), then I’d assume their lack of function is simply down to needing firmware.

So, first thing I’d do is make sure that linux-firmware is installed on the machine, and that you see a /usr/lib/firmware/bnx2x/ directory populated with some firmware files. Then you’d have to work out how to make sure they’re (a) right for, and (b) getting used for, your NIC(s). There, I’m afraid I can’t be of any help, as I have no experience with server hardware firmware.

But if you did a minimal install, it’s possible you just don’t have linux-firmware on the box.