Can anyone help direct me to the proper firmware? Or alternatively, how safe is it to try to burn various packages using MFT? Is there some validation that happens to try to prevent you from bricking a card?
Should I be worried that trying the wrong firmware might cut the card off from the outside world by trying to use incompatible interface mapping (as my card is mezzanine and not standard PCIe)?
Thanks in advance for any assistance or guidance. Some additional info below… (there is a different device ID coming up in Flint query vs inside OS)
I am not making very much progress, and I am not optimistic. I have downloaded maybe 20 different packages from Dell’s site to unpack to check for any clues about compatibility with this card but none of them so far have included the SubDeviceID I am looking for.
You can see that the Dell employees are very responsive on their community site from my links in my original post but they are about to give up “running out of ideas” on trying to find it.
Mellanox support has already punted the question over to the forum here. And similar forum questions often elicit a response from a Mellanox employee directing users back to the “manufacturer” such as Dell or HPE and telling the user they do not have a support contract.
It’s shocking that it is this difficult to find a simple firmware file. I can understand selling premium support if a customer is out of warranty and has a technical question but asking for a firmware isn’t really “support” for this type of product. It should only rise to “support” if a customer is asking for assistance to APPLY the update.
We are talking about a product of a vintage (CX3) where we can see there are many available updates still posted… it’s just impossible to FIND what is needed (or there has been an oversight and this update is missing).
Hopefully someone at Mellanox will realize how screwed up the firmware situation is over at Dell and maybe contact them to get it fixed. Finding any Mellanox firmware over there is more luck than anything. And that isn’t good for the Mellanox brand.
The specific problem is that their download pages have no specific identifiers about Dell or Mellanox part numbers for which they apply. The most specific they get is CX3, CX4, pro etc. and maybe speed and number of ports. Further, there is no index of the pages. So it’s actually easier to find Mellanox firmware pages at Dell via Google than via Dell Support pages. But without Dell/Mellanox product ID’s on the pages, it’s random chance that you will find the update you actually need.
I do understand that Mellanox is expecting Dell to handle support. But this product is also branded by Mellanox (even if they consider it to be a Dell product) and Dell is not coming through. So not only does this hurt Dell’s reputation but it is also hurting Mellanox. Dell is effectively just a retailer in this situation. These are not integrated devices or chips. They are accessories. And for accessories, most people expect to be able to turn to the manufacturer.
if you guys from Mellanox don’t reply i will try to force to burn those images on the Mezzaine card. Well if i brick one, guess how many cards i will order from Mellanox/Dell in future? Make an educated guess.
If you do brick, I think they put an on-board reset from what I’ve been told. You just have to close the jumper holes with some wire or some have pins.