Last Modified: Jul 15, 2026
Affected Product(s):
F5OS AFM, F5OS-A
Fixed In:
F5OS v2.0.0
Opened: Sep 26, 2024 Severity: 3-Major
The appliance fails to complete PXE boot, displaying a "PXE-E18: Server response timeout" error on the console. The PXE client retrieves the server IP address and NBP filename but reports an NBP filesize of 0 Bytes and is unable to complete the TFTP transfer. Other identical appliances on the same network boot successfully.
Affected appliances cannot be provisioned or reimaged via PXE boot, rendering them unable to complete initial deployment or recovery procedures in environments that rely on network-based boot and imaging workflows. The unit is otherwise functional but cannot be serviced through standard PXE-based provisioning.
This issue occurs on F5 r5k/10k/12k model appliances running F5OS-A software. The failure is related to incorrect MAC addresses being programmed on affected units during manufacturing, which causes the PXE client to fail TFTP option acknowledgement handling during network boot.
No workaround available. Affected units must be returned through the RMA process for remanufacturing to correct the MAC address programming.
Corrected the manufacturing process to ensure proper MAC address assignment on r5k/10k/12k appliances, resolving the TFTP negotiation failure during PXE boot. This issue is tracked under bug 1612613.