ixgbe driver fails while loading in kernel for NIC 8086 :10fb (rev 01) subsystem 103c:17d0

[Oleg Gumenyuk]

Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82599ES 10-Gigabit SFI/SFP+ Network Connection (rev 0)
PCIID: 8086:10fb subsystem 103c:17d0

I have tried to install Ubuntu 16.04 with default kernel v4.4 and backported kernel from 18.04 v4.15. PXE boot process works well till the moment when the installer tries to load the ixgbe driver for NIC. The driver fails to initialize NIC with the following error messages in the syslog:
ixgbe: Intel(r) 10 Gigabit PCI Express Network Driver - version 5.1.0-k
ixgne: Copyright (c) 1999-20016 Intel Corporation
ixgbe: probe of 0000:03:00.0 failed with error -5
ixgbe: probe of 0000:03:00.1 failed with error -5

I have used the most recent initrd and kernel from
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/xenial-updates/main/installer-amd64/current/images/hwe-netboot/ubuntu-installer/amd64/

file linux initrd.gz
linux: Linux/x86 Kernel, Setup Version 0x20d, bzImage, Version 4.15.0, Version 4.15.0-45, RO-rootFS, swap_dev 0x7, Normal VGA
initrd.gz: gzip compressed data, was "initrd", from Unix, last modified: Wed Feb 20 06:36:36 2019, max compression

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Also I'd like to say that

* the same issue with ixgbe 4.2.1-k if I use the installer of Ubuntu 16.04 with kernel v4.4
* ixgbe v4.2.1-k from SLES12SP2 works correctly.

#this is SLES12 host with more info about ixgbe from SLES12.
:~ # modinfo ixgbe
filename: /lib/modules/4.4.90-92.50-default/kernel/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ixgbe/ixgbe.ko
version: 4.2.1-k
license: GPL
description: Intel(R) 10 Gigabit PCI Express Network Driver
author: Intel Corporation, <email address hidden>
srcversion: F8D1434936208D466C73062

[Ubuntu Foundations Team Bug Bot (crichton)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. It seems that your bug report is not filed about a specific source package though, rather it is just filed against Ubuntu in general. It is important that bug reports be filed about source packages so that people interested in the package can find the bugs about it. You can find some hints about determining what package your bug might be about at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/FindRightPackage. You might also ask for help in the #ubuntu-bugs irc channel on Freenode.

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[Ubuntu Kernel Bot (ubuntu-kernel-bot)]

This bug is missing log files that will aid in diagnosing the problem. While running an Ubuntu kernel (not a mainline or third-party kernel) please enter the following command in a terminal window:

apport-collect 1829340

and then change the status of the bug to 'Confirmed'.

If, due to the nature of the issue you have encountered, you are unable to run this command, please add a comment stating that fact and change the bug status to 'Confirmed'.

This change has been made by an automated script, maintained by the Ubuntu Kernel Team.

[Oleg Gumenyuk (oleg-v-gumenyuk)]

apport-collect is not available in the BusyBox env. So, I cannot complete the command apport-collect 1829340

[Oleg Gumenyuk (oleg-v-gumenyuk)]

The workaround has been found. Such network cards in DL20 Gen9 servers can work without changes in the driver if tune BIOS setting - disable SR-IOV in BIOS for the 10GB Intel Ethernet network card

[Oleg Gumenyuk (oleg-v-gumenyuk)]

just to be more specific - we try Ubuntu 16.04.5 and kernel 4.15.0-33 and succeeded.