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Hi everyone,

I have a slightly different I226 issue and this thread has been very useful while trying to understand what happened.

My motherboard is an ASRock Q670M vPro OEM board (DATEN) with an onboard Intel I226-LM.

The onboard LAN stopped working after a BIOS update from version 1.02 to 2.05. I later restored/downgraded the motherboard back to the original 1.02 BIOS, but the LAN remained in the same state.

Intel NVMUpdate currently detects the controller as:

Client Foxville with Empty Flash Image

Vendor:          8086
Device:          125F
Subvendor:       8086
Subdevice:       0000
Revision:        4

LAN MAC:         F1BD1AFAE817
Alt MAC:         000000000000
SAN MAC:         000000000000

ETrackId:        00000000
SerialNumber:    00A0C9FFFF000000
NVM Version:     10.2707 (A.A93)
PBA:             B11011-041
VPD:             Not set

NVM update:      No config file entry
NVM checksum:    Invalid

The controller therefore still enumerates on PCIe, but it appears to be running in the 125F hardware-default / Empty Flash state.

I created a custom NVMUpdate configuration for the current 8086:125F device using:

FXVL_125B_LM_1MB_2.32.bin

which is the Intel I226-LM / 125B 1 MB image.

NVMUpdate accepts the configuration and recognizes that an update is required, including the target ETrack ID 80000424, but the actual update fails at the flash stage:

Config file read.

Inventory
Client Foxville with Empty Flash Image

Flash inventory started.
Shadow RAM inventory started.
Shadow RAM inventory failed.
Flash inventory failed.

Update
...
Flash update started.
Error: Flash update failed.
Device update failed.

Post update inventory
...
Flash inventory started.
Flash inventory finished.

The resulting XML reports status/error 6.

I also tested the update with:

PRESERVATION: NONE
EEPID: 80000424

and obtained exactly the same result.

The external SPI flash located next to the I226 on this motherboard is:

Macronix MX25V1606FM2I03
16 Mbit / 2 MB

Another interesting detail is that Intel provides both:

FXVL_125B_LM_1MB_2.32.bin
FXVL_125B_LM_2MB_2.32.bin

Intel documentation indicates that the 1 MB onboard image does not include the EFI LAN driver and expects the system BIOS to provide it, while the 2 MB image includes the EFI LAN driver.

This motherboard BIOS already contains an IntelLanUefiDriverI225 UEFI module, so the 1 MB I226-LM image appears to be a plausible match for this platform, although I cannot confirm which NVM image ASRock originally provisioned at the factory.

What I am mainly trying to understand is:

Has anyone successfully recovered an I226-LM from 8086:125F / Client Foxville with Empty Flash Image, rather than updating an already working NVM?
Is NVMUpdate actually capable of recovering a genuinely empty/invalid Foxville flash, or is a production/provisioning tool such as a newer LANConf / EEUPDATE / Intel manufacturing tool required?
Does Shadow RAM inventory failed followed by Flash update failed indicate that NVMUpdate cannot establish the initial valid Shadow RAM / secured flash structure required to perform a normal update?
Does anyone know whether the 1 MB or 2 MB I226-LM image is normally used on ASRock onboard/vPro implementations like this one?

ASRock support unfortunately told me that they do not have a LAN recovery tool and suggested using an add-in NIC. The OEM has also not provided a recovery procedure so far.

An add-in NIC is not really a solution in this case because the motherboard uses Intel vPro/AMT, and the out-of-band KVM functionality depends on the onboard I226-LM.

I have not externally programmed or erased the SPI flash yet because I would prefer to understand the intended recovery procedure before modifying it directly.

If anyone has dealt with a genuinely empty/corrupted Foxville NVM, especially an I226-LM, I would really appreciate any information.

Thanks!