[solved] Intel i226 Firmware (see post #39)

[nero355]

More like those who email you a Word doc with subject line "some pics for you", you open the doc and there's no pics, just a https link where you can go see the pics.

That's how absurd a lot of Intel docs online are. ;)

But "The Stupidity Level" is the same and that's what I was aiming for :D

[Oliver91]

After successfully flashing my Lenovo box I remembered that one of the 2.5gb ports on my Minisforum MS-01 is an i226v. I ran the Intel flash utility in 'inventory' mode just to get a look at the firmware version and I got this in the log:

Warning: Cannot initialize port: [00:087:00:00] Intel(R) Ethernet Controller I226-V

Error:  The selected adapter (location:[87:00:00]) cannot be updated due to inaccessible device memory.
Update the device driver and reboot the system before running this utility again.
Consult the utility documentation for more information.

I'm going to poke around in the Minisforum BIOS to see if there's a setting there that's preventing access to the NIC.

I had the same issue on a Minisforum 773 Lite - I went into the BIOS (Del on startup) and just disabled all the trusted computing settings I could find, and hey voila it started working.

[thatguychuck]

I have a Protectli VP2430 with coreboot that would just skip the flash, complaining about a secure boot certificate. Adding

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-AllowMissingCert to the command allowed it to continue.

[and]

Hi, have an MSI box with 2x i226-v onboard

Current NVM is 2.23 etrack is 80000397 and it's not listed on the github but ITT it's reported as being a 2MB so got that version and this happens:

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./nvmupdate64e -b -l nvm.log -m D843AEB4FB21 -f -u -c nvm.cfg

Config file read.
Error:   Failed to load FXVL_125C_V_2MB_2.32.bin. Please verify if the file is valid.
This is the nvm.cfg

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CURRENT FAMILY: 1.0.0
CONFIG VERSION: 1.20.0

; NIC device
BEGIN DEVICE
DEVICENAME: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller I226-V
VENDOR: 8086
DEVICE: 125C
SUBVENDOR: 1462
SUBDEVICE: b0b1
NVM IMAGE: FXVL_125C_V_2MB_2.32.bin
EEPID: 80000422
RESET TYPE: REBOOT
REPLACES: 80000397
END DEVICE
Tried the 1MB:

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./nvmupdate64e -b -l nvm.log -m D843AEB4FB21 -f -u -c nvm.cfg

Config file read.
Inventory
[00:088:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller I226-V
Alternate MAC address is not set.
Flash inventory started.
Shadow RAM inventory started.
Shadow RAM inventory finished.
Flash inventory finished.
OROM inventory started.
OROM inventory finished.
Update
[00:088:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller I226-V
Creating backup images in directory: D843AEB4FB21.
Backup images created.
Flash update started.
Error:    Flash update failed.
Device update failed.
Update security revisions
[00:088:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller I226-V
Skipping update minimum security revisions.
Update VPD with VPD template
[00:088:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller I226-V
Skipping VPD update with VPD template.
[code/]
For brevity this is half the inventory.log

[code][00:088:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller I226-V
Vendor                 : 8086
Device                 : 125C
Subvendor              : 1462
Subdevice              : B0B1
Revision               : 4
LAN MAC                : D843AEB4FB21
Alt MAC                : 000000000000
SAN MAC                : 000000000000
ETrackId               : 80000397
SerialNumber           : D843AEFFFFB4FB21
NVM Version            : 2.35(2.23)
PBA                    : G23456-000
VPD status             : Not set
VPD size               : 0
NVM update             : No config file entry
  checksum             : Valid
OROM update            : No config file entry
  CIVD                 : 0.0.0
  EFI                  : 0.1.5, checksum None
Any ideas? Have read the this thread in its entirety - thanks to all for the contributions, especially BrandyWine - but I appear to be the first to encounter this error

[BrandyWine]

@and,

Please list your cfg file.

[and]

@and,

Please list your cfg file.

This one?

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CURRENT FAMILY: 1.0.0
CONFIG VERSION: 1.20.0

; NIC device
BEGIN DEVICE
DEVICENAME: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller I226-V
VENDOR: 8086
DEVICE: 125C
SUBVENDOR: 1462
SUBDEVICE: b0b1
NVM IMAGE: FXVL_125C_V_2MB_2.32.bin
EEPID: 80000422
RESET TYPE: REBOOT
REPLACES: 80000397
END DEVICE

[BrandyWine]

What does the inventory output say? Why is the device tagged with a Micro Star subvendor?

[and]

What does the inventory output say? Why is the device tagged with a Micro Star subvendor?

Trying to flash a MSI Cubi NUC 1M, 2x I226-V on board so I guess that makes them the correct subvendor?

Full inventory:

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Config file will not be read.
Inventory
[00:088:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller I226-V
Alternate MAC address is not set.
Flash inventory started.
Shadow RAM inventory started.
Shadow RAM inventory finished.
Flash inventory finished.
OROM inventory started.
OROM inventory finished.
[00:089:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller I226-V
Alternate MAC address is not set.
Flash inventory started.
Shadow RAM inventory started.
Shadow RAM inventory finished.
Flash inventory finished.
OROM inventory started.
OROM inventory finished.
[00:088:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller I226-V
Vendor                 : 8086
Device                 : 125C
Subvendor              : 1462
Subdevice              : B0B1
Revision               : 4
LAN MAC                : D843AEB4FB21
Alt MAC                : 000000000000
SAN MAC                : 000000000000
ETrackId               : 80000397
SerialNumber           : D843AEFFFFB4FB21
NVM Version            : 2.35(2.23)
PBA                    : G23456-000
VPD status             : Not set
VPD size               : 0
NVM update             : No config file entry
  checksum             : Valid
OROM update            : No config file entry
  CIVD                 : 0.0.0
  EFI                  : 0.1.5, checksum None
[00:089:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller I226-V
Vendor                 : 8086
Device                 : 125C
Subvendor              : 1462
Subdevice              : B0B1
Revision               : 4
LAN MAC                : D843AEB4FB22
Alt MAC                : 000000000000
SAN MAC                : 000000000000
ETrackId               : 80000397
SerialNumber           : D843AEFFFFB4FB22
NVM Version            : 2.35(2.23)
PBA                    : G23456-000
VPD status             : Not set
VPD size               : 0
NVM update             : No config file entry
  checksum             : Valid
OROM update            : No config file entry
  CIVD                 : 0.0.0
  EFI                  : 0.1.5, checksum None

[BrandyWine]

Take the EEPID and REPLACES out of the cfg file, these are optional cfg parameters.

When it fails, what is the exit code?
https://edc.intel.com/content/www/us/en/design/products/ethernet/adapters-and-devices-user-guide/intel-ethernet-nvm-update-tool/#command-line-parameters

[and]

Take the EEPID and REPLACES out of the cfg file, these are optional cfg parameters.

When it fails, what is the exit code?
https://edc.intel.com/content/www/us/en/design/products/ethernet/adapters-and-devices-user-guide/intel-ethernet-nvm-update-tool/#command-line-parameters

I'm sorry, I don't understand how to generate the exit code

Took the optional out of the cfg and even tried -sv and it still gave the same error. Redownloaded .bin, and still same issue.

[Patrick M. Hausen]

I'm sorry, I don't understand how to generate the exit code

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echo $?


[focapetulante]

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!