Field Notice: FN - 63824 - C220, C240, C22, C24 (with IVB E5-2600 / E5-2400 v2 Series CPU) in a UCSM Environment - BIOS/Firmware Upgrade Recommended

Notice

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

Revision History

Revision	Publish Date	Comments
1.0	17-Jun-14	Initial Release
10.0	13-Oct-17	Migration to new field notice system
10.1	30-May-18	Fixed Broken Image Links

Products Affected

Affected Product ID	Comments
UCS-CPU-E52403B=
UCS-CPU-E52407B=
UCS-CPU-E52420B=
UCS-CPU-E52430B=
UCS-CPU-E52430LB=
UCS-CPU-E52440B=
UCS-CPU-E52450B=
UCS-CPU-E52470B
UCS-CPU-E52609B
UCS-CPU-E52620B
UCS-CPU-E52630B
UCS-CPU-E52630LB
UCS-CPU-E52637B
UCS-CPU-E52640B
UCS-CPU-E52643B
UCS-CPU-E52650B
UCS-CPU-E52650LB
UCS-CPU-E52660B
UCS-CPU-E52667B
UCS-CPU-E52670B
UCS-CPU-E52680B
UCS-CPU-E52690B
UCS-CPU-E52695B
UCS-CPU-E52697B
UCS-CPU-E52440B
UCS-CPU-E52407B
UCS-CPU-E52420B
UCS-CPU-E52430B
UCS-CPU-E52430LB
UCS-CPU-E52450B
UCS-CPU-E52403B
UCS-CPU-E52470B=

Defect Information

Defect ID	Headline
CSCuo48978	UCSM - Prevent downgrade of FW to lower than min required for IVB CPUs

Problem Description

Cisco Unified Computing System (USC) Manager managed Cisco C-Series Rack Servers that have Intel E5-2600 / E5-2400 v2 Series CPUs might not power on if the user accidentally downgrades the C-Series Server Firmware to earlier than the minimum required firmware.

Cisco UCS C220/C240 Minimum Software and Firmware Requirements

Software or Firmware	Minimum Version
Cisco UCS Manager (UCSM-managed system only) "ucs-k9-bundle-infra.2.1.3a.A.bin" & "ucs-k9-bundle-c-series.2.1.3a.C.bin"	2.1(3)
Server CIMC "ucs-c240-k9-cimc.1.5.3.bin" or "ucs-c220-k9-cimc.1.5.3.bin"	1.5(3)
Server BIOS "ucs-c240-bios.C240M3.1.5.3b.0.082020130616.bin" or "ucs-c220-bios.C220M3.1.5.3b.0.082020130601.bin"	1.5(3)

Refer to Downgrade Scenario 1: UCSM-Managed Server for complete Minimum Software and Firmware Requirements.

Background

UCS Manager does not prevent nor warn users when they try to downgrade a C-series server that has Intel E5-2600 / E5-2400 v2 Series CPUs (Ivy Bridge CPUs) to a version earlier than the minimum supported firmware. This results in server boot failure and the FSM Associate Bios Post Completion task being stuck.

The error message shown under Finite State Machine (FSM) tab in the UCS Manager tool is: Waiting for BIOS POST Completion information from IBMC.

In order to prevent the server failure described previously, before you integrate Cisco C-Series Rack Servers that have Intel E5-2600 / E5-2400 v2 Series CPUs into the current UCS Manager environment, take these precautions:

1. If the "Default" Host Firmware Package is configured under Servers > Policies > Host Firmware Packages > Default, then the Default Host Firmware Package must point to an Ivy Bridge CPUs supported Firmware (FW) package.
2. Do not select an unsupported Host Firmware Package in the Service Profile in order to downgrade FWs.
3. Do not downgrade FWs with the Activate Firmware feature under Equipment > Firmware Management > Installed Firmware > Activate Firmware to lower than the minimum required FW.

Problem Symptom

Newly discovered Cisco C-Series Rack Servers that have Intel E5-2600 / E5-2400 v2 Series CPUs might not power on if the user accidentally downgrades the C-Series Server Firmware to lower than the minimum required firmware.

Workaround/Solution

In order to recover a server FW upgrade failure described previously, attempt this procedure:

1. Upgrade UCS Manager (infra-bundle) to a required software and download the corresponding C-bundle to the FI if the running version does not match the requirement.

   Refer to Downgrade Scenario 1: UCSM-Managed Server for Minimum Software and Firmware Requirements.

2. Select the impacted server under the Equipment tab, and then click Activate BIOS Firmware under Inventory > Motherboard > Action.

   If this procedure does not recover the impacted server, contact Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) in order to be guided through these steps (also documented in Cisco bug ID CSCuo48978). If recovery is unable to be achieved, the Service Request (SR)/case must be escalated.

3. Select the desire BIOS FW version, check the Force check box, and click OK.

Optional: You can also Activate BIOS Firmware via the UCS Manager CLI.

How to Upgrade Software

Here are the steps:

Log in to the UCS Manager GUI and verify the CPU name under Server-x > Inventory > CPUs.

Look for the string v2 in the CPU Name, which indicates that this is Ivy Bridge CPU.

Optional: You can also verify the CPU name via the UCS Manager CLI.

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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