Broadcom NetXtreme II BCM5716 Ethernet controller unclaimed after update to 16.04 server

Solution 1:

This is an Ubuntu bug that should be reported to Launchpad by running ubuntu-bug linux-firmware.

The problem is that the 3.3+ kernels require new firmware files. The files are available in upstream linux-firmware git, but are not backported to Ubuntu linux-firmware package.

A workaround is to download the upstream git and take firmware form there.

Clone the git repo by

git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git

and copy the bnx2 directory to /lib/firmware on your server.

Threre is already a bug report on this issue.

It is marked as "fixed", but it is actually not any more. I don't see the bnx2 firmware in any of the supported linux-firmware packages. So I suggest to make a new bug report.

Solution 2:

We had this same issue. Only thing that solved it was to update the kernel to something above 4.9.0. We went with 4.9.73. Steps:

• Go to the Ubuntu kernel website

• Download 3 debs to a folder somewhere (adjusting for system type)

  • linux-headers-4.9.73-040973_4.9.73-040973.201712291730_all.deb
  • linux-image-4.9.73-040973-generic_4.9.73-040973.201712291730_amd64.deb
  • linux-headers-4.9.73-040973-generic_4.9.73-040973.201712291730_amd64.deb

• Install the debs and run update-grub:

  cd /path/to/folder/where/you/put/the/debs
  sudo dpkg -i *.deb
  sudo update-grub
  reboot
  

• Drink beer to celebrate your greatness

Situation solution starting point: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1643558