Field Notice: *Expired* FN- 8611 - NPE-175 and NPE-225 Recall Due To Anomalous Packet Handling Behavior

Revised February 15, 2006

July 11, 2000

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NOTICE:

THIS FIELD NOTICE HAS BEEN ARCHIVED AND IS NO LONGER MAINTAINED OR UPDATED BY CISCO.

THIS FIELD NOTICE IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS AND DOES NOT IMPLY ANY KIND OF GUARANTEE, WARRANTY OR SUPPORT. USE OF THE INFORMATION ON THIS FIELD NOTICE OR MATERIALS LINKED FROM THIS FIELD NOTICE IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. CISCO RESERVES THE RIGHT TO CHANGE OR UPDATE THIS FIELD NOTICE AT ANY TIME.

Products Affected

Product	TAN	TAN Rev	BAL	BAL Rev	Comments
NPE-175	800-05420-01	-A0	73-3453-03	-A0	Network Processor Engine 175 for 7200 and 7200 VXR	N/A
NPE-175	800-05420-01	-A0	73-3453-03	-B0	Network Processor Engine 175 for 7200 and 7200 VXR	N/A
NPE-175	800-05420-01	-B0	73-3453-03	-B0	Network Processor Engine 175 for 7200 and 7200 VXR	N/A
NPE-175	800-05420-01	-B0	73-3453-03	-A0	Network Processor Engine 175 for 7200 and 7200 VXR	N/A
NPE-225	800-05418-01	-A0	73-3453-03	-B0	Network Processor Engine 225 for 7200 and 7200 VXR	N/A
NPE-225	800-05418-01	-A0	73-3453-03	-A0	Network Processor Engine 225 for 7200 and 7200 VXR	N/A
NPE-225	800-05418-01	-B0	73-3453-03	-B0	Network Processor Engine 225 for 7200 and 7200 VXR	N/A
NPE-225	800-05418-01	-B0	73-3453-03	-A0	Network Processor Engine 225 for 7200 and 7200 VXR	N/A

Problem Description

Initially, a problem was observed with an output stuck condition on the PA-POS-OC3 with an NPE-225. The problem was observed with a private Cisco IOS® Software Release 12.0S; however, the same problem was found to occur with other Cisco IOS software images during testing.

Further investigation found that a system with either an NPE-175 or NPE-225 and a PA-POS-OC3 port adapter under extreme high traffic conditions may exhibit anomalous and unpredictable behaviour ranging from a port adapter interface no longer able to transmit, system crash, or system hang (catastrophic failures).

However, investigation of this anomaly also found that it is not a common occurrence and has not been detected in the field. This problem was detected in extreme manufacturing quality test conditions. Hence, upgrading is not believed to be an immediate need and can be scheduled at the customer's convenience.

This problem is tracked in CSCdp57908. (See the DDTS Section below for details.)

Background

The problem has been traced to an errata with a specific third-party chip and cannot solely be fixed in software. The fix for this specific problem requires a re-spin of the chip, as well a software upgrade. This issue is specific to NPE-175s and NPE-225s.

Because proper operation is not guaranteed, the anomalous packet handling behavior may affect any port adapter in the router, leading to unpredictable and catastrophic results.

Problem Symptoms

The following example represents one specific, commonly observed failure condition. Note that it is possible for any other unknown, unpredictable, and possibly catastrophic error to occur based on our knowledge of the errata for this third-party chip.

c7200#show interface pos 1/0   
                        
POS1/0 is up, line protocol is up
 Hardware is Packet over Sonet
 Internet address is 10.1.1.2/24
 MTU 4470 bytes, BW 155000 Kbit, DLY 100 usec, rely 255/255, load 1/255
 Encapsulation HDLC, crc 16, loopback not set
 Keepalive set (10 sec)
 Scramble disabled
 Last input 00:00:04, output 00:14:32, output hang never
 Last clearing of "show interface" counters 00:14:55
 Queueing strategy: fifo
 Output queue 40/40, 950101 drops; input queue 0/75, 0 drops
 5 minute input rate 523000 bits/sec, 667 packets/sec
 5 minute output rate 387000 bits/sec, 495 packets/sec
    1272858 packets input, 127279338 bytes, 0 no buffer
    Received 0 broadcasts, 0 runts, 0 giants, 0* throttles
             0 parity
    0 input errors, 0 CRC, 0 frame, 0 overrun, 0 ignored, 0 abort
    322691 packets output, 32269087 bytes, 0 underruns
    0 output errors, 0 applique, 2 interface resets
    0 output buffer failures, 0 output buffers swapped out
    0 carrier transitions
                        
c7200#       

New Software, Affected Hardware Symptom

If the repaired Cisco IOS software is installed on a system with affected Cisco NPE-175 or NPE-225, one of the following error messages will be encountered:

%PLATFORM-4-RECALLED_NPE: Old version NPE-175-225 with Rev= ZZZ system controller. 
                          Contact upgraged-info@cisco.com for replacement.
  
%C7200-4-RECALLED_NPE: Old version NPE-175/225 with Rev = xxx system controller.  
                       Contact upgrades-info@cisco.com for replacement.

Using older Cisco IOS software images may lead to unpredictable malfunctions, including system crashes.

Workaround/Solution

The only solution to this problem is to replace the NPE-175 and NPE-225 boards with new revision boards that have the correct component. Request a return material authorization (RMA) for replacement product. In addition, a software upgrade to the repaired Cisco IOS software release version listed in Solution Table below.

Sales orders shipped after January 2000 have the corrected hardware version. Lead time for replacement product is anticipated to be two to four weeks.

Solution Table: Required Version for Solution

Product	Hardware Part Number (see details)	Hardware Availability	Minimum Software Required	Software Image	Software Availability
NPE-175(=)	800-05420-02 (or later) 73-3453-04 (or later)	January 2000	12.0(5)XE6 12.0(9)S 12.1(1)	c7200-*-mz	12.0(5)XE6 - Available on CCO January 3, 2000; MFG January 10, 2000. 12.0(9)S - Anticipated availability February 2000. 12.1(1) - Anticipated availability March/April 2000.
NPE-225(=)	800-05418-02 (or later) 73-3453-04 (or later)

Note: Cisco IOS Software Release 12.0T will not have the software defect repaired because of the Cisco IOS software release process of migrating Cisco IOS Software Release 12.0T to 12.1 mainline. Cisco IOS Software Release 12.1 mainline is a renumber of 12.0T that will integrate only software defect repairs.

DDTS

This defect has Cisco bug ID CSCdp57908. If you are a registered CCO user and you have logged in, you can view the bug details.

DDTS	Description
CSCdp57908 (registered customers only)	NPE-175/225 Add support for new revision of system controller chip.

Cisco IOS Versions Affected

The affected Cisco IOS software images listed in the table below are not recommended and are no longer supported for Cisco NPE-175 or NPE-225 products.

IOS Trains Affected	IOS Maintenances Affected	IOS Images Affected
12.0(5)XE	12.0(5)XE4 and 12.0(5)XE5	All c7200 images ( c7200-*-mz)
12.0T (see note)	12.0(4)T through 12.0(7)T	All c7200 images ( c7200-*-mz)
12.0S	12.0(5)S through 12.0(8)S	All c7200 images ( c7200-*-mz)

Note: Cisco IOS Software Release 12.0T affected images have a fix in 12.1(1) which was released in March/April 2000. Cisco IOS Software Release 12.1 is a renumber of 12.0T allowing only software defect repairs to be integrated.

How To Identify Hardware Levels

Visually, the 800-level number(s) (noted above) can be found on the back side of the metal carrier of the NPE. The 73-level number can be found on the printed circuit board assembly on the component side of the NPE assembly.

Use the show c7200 command to identify the NPE-175 and NPE-225 versions remotely.

Please note that these NPEs are comprised of two 73-level assemblies, the main board, and a power entry module (PEM). The PEM is what makes the NPE-175 unique from the NPE-225. The main board of the NPE is common to both the NPE-175 and NPE-225. This is the part affected by the fix for this problem and its 73-level number is shown below in the sample show c7200 command output (highlighted by brackets and in bold text).

Affected NPE boards have the part number 73-3453-03 or earlier versions. Corrected versions (as shown) have the part number 73-3453-04 or later. Note: The suffix (last two digits of the part number) is the version number referenced.

NPE-175

NPE175(boot)#show c7200

Network IO Interrupt Throttling:
 throttle count=0, timer count=0
 active=0, configured=0
 netint usec=4000, netint mask usec=200
                         
C7200 Midplane EEPROM:
        Hardware revision 1.3           Board revision M0
        Serial number     6624895       Part number    73-1539-03
        Test history      0x0           RMA number     00-00-00
        MAC=0010.0bae.fc00, MAC Size=1024
        EEPROM format version 1, Model=0x6
        EEPROM contents (hex):
        0x20: 01 06 01 03 00 65 16 7F 49 06 03 03 00 10 0B AE
        0x30: FC 00 04 00 00 00 00 00 00 65 0C B0 AA AA 00 FF
                         
C7206 CPU EEPROM:
        Hardware revision 1.0           Board revision A0
        Serial number     11624967      Part number    >>73-3453-04<<
        Test history      0x0           RMA number     00-00-00
        EEPROM format version 1
        EEPROM contents (hex):
          0x20: 01 C2 01 00 00 B1 62 07 49 0D 7D 03 00 00 00 00
          0x30: 50 00 00 00 99 06 09 00 00 00 FF FF FF FF FF FF
                                  
C7200 PE EEPROM:
        Hardware revision 1.0           Board revision A0
        Serial number     12334989      Part number    73-3466-04
        Test history      0x0           RMA number     00-00-00
        EEPROM format version 1
        EEPROM contents (hex):
          0x20: 01 C3 01 00 00 BC 37 8D 49 0D 8A 04 00 00 00 00
          0x30: 50 00 00 00 99 06 04 00 00 00 FF FF FF FF FF FF

NPE-225

NPE225(boot)#show c7200

Network IO Interrupt Throttling:
 throttle count=0, timer count=0
 active=0, configured=0
 netint usec=4000, netint mask usec=200
                         
C7200 Midplane EEPROM:
        Hardware revision 1.3           Board revision M0
        Serial number     6624895       Part number    73-1539-03
        Test history      0x0           RMA number     00-00-00
        MAC=0010.0bae.fc00, MAC Size=1024
        EEPROM format version 1, Model=0x6
        EEPROM contents (hex):
          0x20: 01 06 01 03 00 65 16 7F 49 06 03 03 00 10 0B AE
          0x30: FC 00 04 00 00 00 00 00 00 65 0C B0 AA AA 00 FF
                         
C7206 CPU EEPROM:
        Hardware revision 1.0           Board revision A0
        Serial number     11624970      Part number    >>73-3453-04<<
        Test history      0x0           RMA number     00-00-00
        EEPROM format version 1
        EEPROM contents (hex):
          0x20: 01 C2 01 00 00 B1 62 07 49 0D 7D 03 00 00 00 00
          0x30: 50 00 00 00 99 06 09 00 00 00 FF FF FF FF FF FF
                                  
C7200 PE EEPROM:
        Hardware revision 1.0           Board revision A0
        Serial number     12334990      Part number    73-4043-02
        Test history      0x0           RMA number     00-00-00
        EEPROM format version 1
        EEPROM contents (hex):
          0x20: 01 C3 01 00 00 BC 37 8D 49 0D 8A 04 00 00 00 00
          0x30: 50 00 00 00 99 06 04 00 00 00 FF FF FF FF FF F

How To Upgrade Software

All Service Inventory and new spares from Manufacturing will require Cisco IOS software with the fix for CSCdp57908 (See Solution Table above) in order for these NPEs to function properly.

Despite the fact that previous hardware versions of the NPE-175 and NPE-225 install base will function without the CSCdp57908 fix, customers should upgrade the Cisco IOS software so that if an RMA is needed, the replacement NPE-175 or NPE-225 will not experience a Cisco IOS incompatibility. At a minimum, all NPE-175 and NPE-225 customers should download the repaired Cisco IOS software, listed in the Solution Table above, to a local TFTP server so that they are prepared for this minimum Cisco IOS requirement moving forward.

Customers are encouraged to participate in this recall and replace their NPE-175 and NPE-225 hardware.

If you are a registered CCO user (registered customers only) and you have logged in, you can download Cisco IOS software.

Revision History

Revision	Date	Comment
1.2	15-FEB-2006	Expired
1.1	18-JUL-2002	Maintenance update
1.0	11-JAN-2000	Initial Public Release

For More Information

If you require further assistance, or if you have any further questions regarding this field notice, please contact the Cisco Systems Technical Assistance Center (TAC) by one of the following methods:

• Open a service request on Cisco.com
• By email
• By telephone

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