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January 31st, 2019 09:00
Intel I350-T4 network card hangs after BIOS splash cursor
I have recently acquired a Dell OEM NIC, model K9CR1, which is an Intel I350-T4.
I have installed it in both an Optiplex 755 and a 790, with the same result each time.
It will boot past the BIOS splash screen, and then hang with a blinking cursor at the upper left corner of the screen.
If I press F2, I see the "entering setup" message, but the blinking cursor screen still comes up, and I can do nothing but shut down.
The machines are running Windows 7 SP1, and they boot fine without the card in them.
As a test, I installed an Intel PRO/1000 GT card, and the machines booted without any problem, recognized the card and communicated over the network with it.
I spoke to Intel about this, and was advised that there is no compatibility issue.
The question is what to do next.
The combination of an Intel mainboard and an Intel NIC should certainly have a reasonable level of expected compatibility, and as I mentioned above, Intel doesn't see any conflicts. They looked up the Dell mainboard by model number.
I have seen postings about blocking pins 5 and 6 on the NIC in order to stop an SMBIOS signal, but that has not worked for me.
Just as a side note, the cards appear to be genuine, with the "DELTA" embossed and not painted.
Both computers are patched up to most recent BIOS, in the case of the 755 it is A22.
Anyone ?
fireberd
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January 31st, 2019 10:00
I see these (used) for sale on e-bay. They were designed for Server use and not for a "regular" PC. Although it is an Intel chipset network card, since they were for Server uses I suspect these are Proprietary and only work on the device(s) they were designed for.
I've seen (experienced) Dell custom/proprietary implementations of Intel (and others) specs. e.g. I had a Dell E510 desktop and the Intel motherboard chipset implementation limited the CPU capabilities. I don't remember the Intel chipset model but according to Intel it would accept up to a D960 CPU however the Dell implementation would only accept up to a D945 CPU. We had users try the D960 and it would not boot. If you haven't looked at the front panel connections, they are Dell proprietary and undocumented.
MysteriesOfDell
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January 31st, 2019 11:00
I have also experienced the Dell "limited" implementations, although I find that in machines of more recent vintage, this seems to be much less of a problem.
As an example, I am running the Opti 755 with 16 GB (you read that right) and a Core2 Quad CPU. Not bad for a system that old.
I'm not sure what you mean by front panel proprietary, which can't refer to the NIC since it faces out the opposite side. I can say that when I plug in all four of the NIC ports to a switch, they all light up. This, unfortunately, does not fix the problem of hanging at boot time, but it does confirm that at least at the physical link level, the cards are working.
As far as the "server" specific hardware, I have seen too many Dell machines work with server parts to believe that this is the issue. Considering that Intel was able to look up the specific board and declare it compatible, I have to discount that possibility.
I am going to try and hunt down a server I can try this card in, just to see if they work at all.
While I am doing that, anyone with more insight, experience or an actual solution will be warmly welcomed here.
Anybody ?
fireberd
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January 31st, 2019 11:00
As I noted Dell custom implements many times. Thus the Intel spec's for that NIC card may not be 100% applicable to the Dell card.
MysteriesOfDell
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January 31st, 2019 13:00
While I understand what you are saying, and I appreciate the benefit of your experience, what I actually need here is input from people who have insight into how this might be made to work.
SSJ77
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October 24th, 2019 08:00
Disable the OPROM for that PCI slot and see if it works after.
edci350
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December 9th, 2019 03:00
Same issue, w 790, did you magically resolve it?
My card worked on firmware 15 and after I loaded 19 it hung...
Sepf
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June 8th, 2020 10:00
I guess this happens if the capability to run flash firmware on the adapter is enabled but no firmware flashed.
In my case it was PCIe slot depended if the UEFI hung or not. Disabling flash firmware with the Intel Ethernet Flash Firmware Utility solved it in my case.
Bootutilw64e.exe -NIC=i..n -FLASHDISABLE
or
Bootutilw64e.exe -ALL -FLASHDISABLE