Field Notice: FN74298 - Specific NVMe Drives in Cisco APIC Appliances May Experience Operational Failures in Certain Conditions - BIOS/Firmware Upgrade Recommended

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Updated:December 16, 2025

Document ID:FN74298

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High

Impact Rating:

High

First Published:

2025-Dec-15

Last Published:

2025-Dec-15

Revision:

1.0

Cisco Bug IDs:

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.

Products Affected

Affected Product Name	Description	Comments
APIC-M2-240GB	240GB SATA M.2
APIC-SD960G63X-EP	960GB 2.5in Enterprise performance 6GSATA SSD(3X endurance)
UCS-M2-I240GB	240GB M.2 Boot SATA Intel SSD
UCS-SD960G63X-EP	960GB 2.5in Enter Perf 6G SATA Intel SSD (3X)

Defect Information

Defect ID	Headline
CSCwo08959	In some circumstances, NVMe drives may fail or go missing
CSCwo19083	In some circumstances, SSD drives may fail or go missing

Problem Description

Under certain conditions, specific NVMe solid-state drives (SSDs) that are used in Cisco APIC-M4 and APIC-L4 Appliances might experience operational failures.

Background

Cisco has identified a firmware-related defect in certain NVMe SSDs that are used in Cisco APIC Appliances that may result in drive failures due to improper voltage handling. A firmware upgrade is required to address this issue. For a list of affected product identifiers (PIDs), see the Products Affected section of this field notice.

Problem Symptom

When a drive fails, the initial symptom is typically an alert or alarm in Cisco Integrated Management Controller (IMC), or Cisco Intersight. The logs will display a message that is similar to the following:

NVME disk FRONT-NVME-8 is inoperable: reseat or replace the NVME drive FRONT-NVME-8

A subsequent reboot will result in the drive being marked as missing. Once the drive has failed, it must be replaced

Workaround/Solution

Workaround

There is no workaround to address this issue. Once the drive fails, recovery is not possible.

Solution

To prevent this failure, upgrade the Cisco IMC firmware to the appropriate fixed firmware release, depending on drive model and PID, as shown in the following table:

APIC Model	NVMe Drive Type	Affected Cisco IMC Releases	Recommended Fixed Release
APIC-L4	UCS-M2-I240GB UCS-SD960G63X-EP	4.2(3m) and earlier 4.3(2.240090) and earlier 4.3(4.242038) and earlier 4.3(5.250001)	4.3.4.252002
APIC-M4	UCS-M2-I240GB UCS-SD960G63X-EP	4.2(3m) and earlier 4.3(2.240090) and earlier 4.3(4.242038) and earlier 4.3(5.250001)	4.3.4.252002

How to Identify Affected Products

Use Cisco IMC for NVMe Drives

To identify the Product ID (PID) and firmware release for NVMe drives on a Cisco UCS C-Series Standalone Rack Server using Cisco IMC, complete the following steps:

Log in to the Cisco IMC GUI.
From the left-side menu, choose Admin > Storage.
Choose the controller to which the NVMe drives are attached.
Choose Computer > PID Catalog > HDD. Note the PID in the Product ID.

If the PID matches one of the PIDs in the Products Affected section of this field notice, continue to Step 5. If it does not match, the device is not affected.

From the right-side pane, choose Physical Drive Info.
Look at the Firmware Version column.

If the firmware release is earlier than the Recommended Fixed Release shown in the table in the Workaround/Solution section of this Field Notice, the Cisco IMC firmware should be upgraded as soon as possible.

Additional Information

For additional information on recommended Cisco IMC releases for Cisco ACI Software, see the Miscellaneous Compatibility Information section of the Release Notes for the Cisco ACI Software release.

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/cloud-systems-management/application-policy-infrastructure-controller-apic/tsd-products-support-series-home.html

Revision History

Version	Description	Section	Date
1.0	Initial Release	—	2025-DEC-15

For More Information

For further assistance or for more information about this field notice, contact the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) using one of the following methods:

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This Document Applies to These Products

Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC)