Silicom Intel XL710 firmware not updating

One day they sent me an Intel XL710-QDA2 network adapter, from the manufacturer Silicom, on which the firmware could not be updated.

An example of viewing information through the firmware update utility:

./nvmupdate64e -i -l

Other Intel XL710 network adapters installed in the server have successfully updated, except for one from Silicom, if you look at the adapter data:

[00:216:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Converged Network Adapter XL710-Q2
        Vendor                 : 8086
        Device                 : 1583
        Subvendor              : 8086
        Subdevice              : 0001
        Revision               : 2
        LAN MAC                : 00E0ED7E133B
        Alt MAC                : 000000000000
        SAN MAC                : 000000000200
        ETrackId               : 800023D3
        SerialNumber           : 3B137EFFFFEDE000
        NVM Version            : 5.02(5.02)
        PBA                    : 100000-000
        VPD status             : Valid
        VPD size               : 125
        NVM update             : No config file entry
          checksum             : Valid
        OROM update            : No config file entry
          CIVD                 : 0.0.0

It can be seen that the firmware version is old – 5.02, PBA is indicated by zeros for some reason 100000-000, CIVD is also zeros, it can be assumed that this was done on purpose so that the firmware could not be updated, perhaps because it was modified for example. I also ordered XL710-QDA1 and XL710-QDA2 from Aliexpress, but they updated successfully, unlike Silicom.

If you look at the table, then for DeviceID 1583, Board # (PBA): J11363-xyz should be indicated.
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005612/ethernet-products/gigabit-ethernet-adapters-up-to-2-5gbe.html

Here is an example of another network adapter on which the firmware was successfully updated:

[00:018:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Converged Network Adapter XL710-Q2
        Vendor                 : 8086
        Device                 : 1583
        Subvendor              : 8086
        Subdevice              : 0001
        Revision               : 2
        LAN MAC                : 6CB31150D390
        Alt MAC                : 000000000000
        SAN MAC                : 6CB31150D391
        ETrackId               : 8000C40F
        SerialNumber           : 90D350FFFF11B36C
        NVM Version            : 8.112(8.70)
        PBA                    : J11363-003
        VPD status             : Valid
        VPD size               : 63
        NVM update             : No config file entry
          checksum             : Valid
        OROM update            : No config file entry
          CIVD                 : 1.3179.0
          PXE                  : 1.1.42, checksum Valid
          EFI                  : 4.9.13, checksum None

The link below also has instructions on how to check the network adapter.
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005584/ethernet-products/gigabit-ethernet-controllers-up-to-2-5gbe.html

The problem was solved by asking the supplier to replace the network adapter with a normal one.

See also my articles:
Intel 700 Series Network Adapters Firmware Update
Intel i40e driver update

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