Imaging operations fail on devices with USB 3.0 controller and/or Intel i217 ethernet network controller

Zone is updated to 11.2.3 Monthly Update 1 or  has installed ZENworks Imaging Driver Update for April 2013 or older.

Imaging boot hangs on splash screen and the following kernel error message gets logged:
"...
Starting udev... udev-work[205]: '/sbin/modprobe -b pci:v00008086d00008C31sv00008086sd00002052bc0Csc03i30' unexpected exit with status 0x0009
..."
where the hardware ID belongs to USB 3.0 compatible controller.

Networking does not get available if Linux kernel boots ok.

This has been reported for device models:

• HP EliteDesk 800 G1
  
• Fujitsu Esprimo E520 E85+
• Dell Optiplex 9020
• Dell Precision T1700
• Dell Latitude E6440
• Dell Latitude E6540
  

ZENworks 11 SP3 will throw the following error if USB 3.0 is enabled

"Preboot Server address cannot be resolved"

For ZCM 11.2.4: A fix for this issue is intended to be included in a future update to the product: however, in the interim, Novell has made a Patch available for testing, as part of a Monthly patch update: it can be obtained at https://download.novell.com/Download?buildid=Rbs5fYlojj0~ as "ZCM 11.2.4 Monthly Update 1 - see TID 7014163". This update should only be applied if the symptoms above are being experienced, and are causing problems.

Please report any problems encountered when using this Patch, by using the feedback link on this TID.

This is also fixed in the ZCM 11.2.4 Imaging Driver Update for November 2013, which can be downloaded from https://download.novell.com/Download?buildid=LNiqXqWzBdA~

For ZCM 11.2.3a: This is fixed in the ZENworks Imaging Update for October 2013, which can be downloaded from https://download.novell.com/Download?buildid=Op8McRXXF3o~

Workarounds to avoid hang on splash screen:

• use kernel parameter nousb or/and brokenmodules=xhci-hcd,usbcore,usb_common in z_maint.cfg, z_auto.cfg
• disable USB 3.0 in device BIOS

ZCM Imaging Linux distribution is currently based on SLE11SP2 kernel and has old drivers which do not work properly with some USB 3.0 compatible controllers and Intel i217 ethernet network controllers.

To check if the observed issue is as described above:
Boot affected device with SLE11SP3 CD and run hardware report:
  # hwinfo > /tmp/hwinfo.txt
Find hardware id and check what kind hardware is that.
For instance above reported error refers:
17: PCI 14.0: 0c03 USB Controller
  [Created at pci.323]
  UDI: /org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/pci_8086_8c31
  Unique ID: MZfG.Y1Ief+mGvg7
  SysFS ID: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0
  SysFS BusID: 0000:00:14.0
  Hardware Class: usb controller
  Model: "Intel USB Controller"
  Vendor: pci 0x8086 "Intel Corporation"
  Device: pci 0x8c31
  SubVendor: pci 0x8086 "Intel Corporation"
  SubDevice: pci 0x2052
  Revision: 0x04
  Driver: "xhci_hcd"
  Driver Modules: "xhci_hcd"
  Memory Range: 0xf7c20000-0xf7c2ffff (rw,non-prefetchable)
  IRQ: 44 (778 events)
  Module Alias: "pci:v00008086d00008C31sv00008086sd00002052bc0Csc03i30"
  Driver Info #0:
    Driver Status: xhci_hcd is active
    Driver Activation Cmd: "modprobe xhci_hcd"
  Config Status: cfg=new, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown

The hardware ids for the Intel i217 ethernet network controller are 0x153a (i217LM) and 0x153b (i217V). They require a newer e1000e driver as currently shipping with the ZCM 11.2.x Imaging Linux distribution.