How to get around NVM Checksum error (PXE-E05) to make the ethernet work?

Question

I have Toshiba Portege M400 Tablet PC with Intel 82573L Gigabit Ethernet Controller. It works fine with Windows, but in Ubuntu it doesn't work!

During startup CMOS shows the following:

PXE-E05 error, LAN Adapter configuration not initialized, Boot Agent cannot continue.

I figured out that it was due to NVM Checksum error, and I tried to flash EEPROM using Intel Boot Utility with no success. Flashing EEPROM always returned the following error:

PXE not flashed on port 1, Firmware not present.

I restored to Kernel to edit driver files and bypass NVM Checksum error again to lure without any fruitful outcome.

Here are some terminal output:

$ lspci -v | grep 82573L
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82573L Gigabit Ethernet Controller

$ ifconfig -a
just listed wlan0 only

Welcome to Ask Ubuntu! We need more hardware information to help you, can you look at [this question](http://askubuntu.com/questions/14008/i-have-a-hardware-detection-problem-what-logs-do-i-need-to-look-into) and then edit your question adding the information. — Danatela, Mar 31 '14 at 08:44
What version of kernel are you using? Type this command yo find out: uname -a — Moga, Mar 31 '14 at 10:10
@Touseef don't forget to edit your question with those facts, don't put them into comments. — guntbert, Apr 01 '14 at 17:56
@Danatela Here you go, and thank you for your valuable suggestions! — Touseef, Apr 02 '14 at 06:25
Exactly how this doesn't work in Ubuntu? The CMOS message is because it tries to boot from the NIC, and is totally irrelevant. — Braiam, Apr 07 '14 at 13:51

score 10 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 21 '14 at 18:20

Finally I got the solution. I just skipped the NVM Checksum at Ubuntu startup by editing the device drivers of my Ethernet Controller (82573L gigabit).

Here are the steps:

Download latest e1000e drivers from Intel site

Decompress the source as follows

tar zxvf e1000e-[VERSION].tar.gz
cd e1000e-[VERSION]/src

Open netdev.c and search for the following code and delete it:

/* make sure the NVM is good */
if(e1000_validate_nvm_checksum(hw) < 0)
{
    dev_err(pci_dev_to_dev(pdev), "The NVM Checksum Is Not Valid\n");
    err = -EIO;
    goto err_eeprom;
}

Now run these commands:
```
sudo modprobe -r e1000e
sudo make install
sudo modprobe e1000e
sudo update-initramfs -u
```
This will replace the old drivers and initialize these drivers at startup.

Note: The best way to correct the checksum error is to flash the EEPROM, but in my Case EEPROM was corrupted and wouldn't flash. So, I had to skip the Checksum Error Checkup at startup.

How to get around NVM Checksum error (PXE-E05) to make the ethernet work?

1 Answers1