vmxnet3 adapter resetting repeatedly on Windows Server 2016

[Eds89]

Hi,

Can anyone help me determine why a vnic is resetting repeatedly on one of my VMs?

The event I am seeing during a reset is from NDIS, event ID 10400, with error text:

Log Name:      System

Source:        Microsoft-Windows-NDIS

Date:          04/04/2018 20:17:26

Event ID:      10400

Task Category: None

Level:         Warning

Keywords:     

User:          N/A

Computer:     

Description:

The network interface "vmxnet3 Ethernet Adapter" has begun resetting.  There will be a momentary disruption in network connectivity while the hardware resets.

Reason: The network driver detected that its hardware has stopped responding to commands.

This network interface has reset 3 time(s) since it was last initialized.

Event Xml:

<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">

  <System>

    <Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-NDIS" Guid="{CDEAD503-17F5-4A3E-B7AE-DF8CC2902EB9}" />

    <EventID>10400</EventID>

    <Version>0</Version>

    <Level>3</Level>

    <Task>0</Task>

    <Opcode>0</Opcode>

    <Keywords>0x2000000000000000</Keywords>

    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2018-04-04T19:17:26.409842400Z" />

    <EventRecordID>67826</EventRecordID>

    <Correlation ActivityID="{5D35FA47-7968-4AAF-A0D9-EF91BC722ED5}" />

    <Execution ProcessID="4" ThreadID="3904" />

    <Channel>System</Channel>

    <Computer></Computer>

    <Security />

  </System>

  <EventData>

    <Data Name="IfGuid">{5D35FA47-7968-4AAF-A0D9-EF91BC722ED5}</Data>

    <Data Name="IfIndex">4</Data>

    <Data Name="IfLuid">1689399666409472</Data>

    <Data Name="AdapterName">vmxnet3 Ethernet Adapter</Data>

    <Data Name="ResetReason">2</Data>

    <Data Name="ResetCount">3</Data>

  </EventData>

</Event>

Is it likely just a case of needing a reinstall of vmware tools?

Cheers

Eds

[Ashwin Prakash]

Hello Eds

You would have to reinstall VMware tools on the VM. However you could follow the steps mentioned below to reinstall.

1. Removed VMNET3 NIC

2. Started VM and ran "netsh int ip reset c:\resetlog.txt" (to delete old/ghost configs), make the ghosted network adapter visible in the Device Manager and uninstall the ghosted network adapter from the registry.

3. Stoped VM and added VMNET3 (enabled but disconnected)

4. Started VM and configuerd IPv4-static+Gateway+DNS

5. Stoped VM and set VMNET3 to be "connected"

6. Started VM... all works fine now for 3 days without issues.

Steps to make the ghosted network adapter visible in the Device Manager and uninstall the ghosted network adapter from the registry:

Click Start > Run.

Type cmd and press Enter.

At the command prompt, run this command:

Note: open the command prompt using the Run as Administrator option.

set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1

Start the Device Manager by running this command from the same command prompt:

start devmgmt.msc

Click View > Show Hidden Devices.

Expand the Network Adapters tree (click the plus sign next to the Network adapters entry).

Right-click the dimmed network adapter, then click Uninstall.

Once all of the grayed out NICs are uninstalled, assign the IP address to the virtual NIC.

[Eds89]

I was still seeing odd network behaviour even after a reinstall of VM tools, so have now carried out your additional steps, and will monitor for improvement for a few days.

Thanks

Eds

[Ashwin Prakash]

Thank you for updating the post :smileyhappy:

[Eds89]

Unfortunately, this hasn't helped. I still had a reset, and my application keeps reporting drops in connectivity!

Any further thoughts on what I can try?

Cheers

Eds

[nettech1]

Could you please post your ESXi version and a build number?

I am seeing VMXNET3 resets in our lab on a Windows 10 1803 VM and Server 2012R2.

We are on VMware ESXi 6.0 U3 Dell Version: A10, Build# 7967664

-Steve M.

[Eds89]

I'm running6.5.0 Update 1 (Build 5969303)

VMtools 10.1.7

Cheers

Eds

[nettech1]

Are you able to tweak the global nic settings as suggested in the post?

http://lifeofageekadmin.com/network-performance/

http://blog.stryk.info/2017/10/03/general-network-issues-with-windows-and-vmxnet3/

[Ashwin Prakash]

Upgrade to latest VMTools version 10.2.5 (vmxnet3 driver 1.7.3.8) and see if the issue is seen?

[Eds89]

Have updated to both ESXi 6.7 and the latest build of tools.

So far, everything seems ok, but it was an intermittent issue before so not guaranteed fixed yet.

[nettech1]

It looks like the RSS issue was resolved in VMWare tools 10.1.7

VMware Knowledge Base

Has anyone looked in to a possibility of large packet loss at the guest operating system level on the VMXNET3?

VMware Knowledge Base​

-Steve M.

[Eds89]

I haven't seen any resets for about 8 days now, so am fairly confident that the update of the tools/vmxnet3 driver has resolved my issue!

[RayEspinoza]

Dear Eds89, did this update solve your problem?

 

Regards,

Ray.

[welder314]

I am having the same issue. ESXi 6.5 U2 GA, Windows 10 1607 clients. I currently have clients running vmxnet3 driver 1.7.3.7 and 1.8.3.0 that experience resets, so upgrading to the newer Tools version is clearly not the resolution by itself.

[abugeja]

Running vmware tools 10.2.5 and i am still having resets on windows 2016 servers. any other thoughts? a case has been logged to vmware as well on this.