Missing NIC port, em0: The EEPROM Checksum Is Not Valid (follow-up)

[schlouf]

There is a post form 2012 by parsalog about the em driver failing to load due to "EEPROM checksum is not valid":  https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=51404.0. That thread is quite old and I cannot reply to it. So here is a follow-up that could save a few hours to some of you.

Parsalog's solution to this problem involved the use of the BOOTUTIL app from Intel. This solution however only works if a flash chip is physically present, which is not necessarily the case in small integrated systems.

I have a small integrated mini-itx system and the BOOTUTIL app did not do the trick. I managed to fix the issue with Intel's EEUPDATE app. I had to use version 5.17.19.2 to actually recongnise my NICs.

EEUPDATE /ALL /TEST will identify which NICs have incorrect EEPROM checksums. In my case in was NIC 1, while NIC 2 to 4 had correct checksums.
EEUPDATE /NIC=2 /DUMP will dump the EEPROM from NIC 2.
EEUPDATE /NIC=1 /D <filename>will load the dumped EEPROM file into NIC 1 while conserving its original MAC address.

This fixed my issue EEPROM checksum issue on em0.

Cheers!</filename>