Advisory: (Revision) HPE NVMe E3.S SSDs - Certain SSDs From Certain Option Kits May Fail After Being Updated to Drive Firmware Version HPK3

Document Subtype: Customer AdvisorySeverity: HighDocument ID: a00156336en_usLast Updated: 2026-03-03Document Version: 2

DESCRIPTION

After upgrading drive firmware from version HPK2 to version HPK3, the following issues may occur on certain HPE NVMe SSDs (listed in Scope), for example:

  • The LED on the front of the disk will illuminate solid amber

  • The disk will be marked as "Critical/failed" in the HPE Integrated Lights-Out (iLO) User Interface shown under the Storage tab

  • The disk will be in "Read Only" mode, so it cannot be written to any longer

  • The Integrated Management Log (IML) will show a failed disk, for instance:

    "Critical,NVMe,NVMe Storage - Drive at Embedded:Port=9B:Box=1:Bay=2 status changed to Failed,01/07/2026 23:55:15,274,Hardware, Critical,NVMe,NVMe Storage - Drive at Embedded:Port=9B:Box=1:Bay=1 status changed to Failed,01/07/2026 23:55:15,274,Hardware"

In addition, if tools such as SmartCTL are used, after the upgrade, the output will show an example similar to this health status:

=== START OF SMART DATA SECTION ===

SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: FAILED!

NVM subsystem reliability has been degraded

media has been placed in read only mode

SCOPE

The following HPE SSDs and storage option kits are susceptible to this issue:

HPE Part NumberHPE Spare Part NumberHPE Model NumberHPE Description
P70392-B21P70490-001VV003840KYFFHHPE 3.84TB NVMe RI E3S EC1 PS1010 SSD
P70395-B21P70491-001VV007680KYFFLHPE 7.68TB NVMe RI E3S EC1 PS1010 SSD
P70397-B21P70492-001VV015360KYFEVHPE 15.36TB NVMe RI E3S EC1 PS1010 SSD
P70399-B21P70493-001MV003200KYFFKHPE 3.2TB NVMe MU E3S EC1 PS1030 SSD
P70401-B21P70494-001MV006400KYFFAHPE 6.4TB NVMe MU E3S EC1 PS1030 SSD
P70403-B21P70495-001MV012800KYFFBHPE 12.8TB NVMe MU E3S EC1 PS1030 SSD


RESOLUTION

To resolve this issue, update the SSDs to firmware version HPK4 using the following release:

Universal Firmware Package for Drives - MV003200KYFFK, MV006400KYFFA, MV012800KYFFB, VV003840KYFFH, VV007680KYFFL and VV015360KYFEV

NOTE: HPE recommends updating the drives to firmware HPK4.

If the firmware has been updated and issues have occurred, perform one of the following options:

  • To recover the disk, use the Linux command "nvme format /dev/xxx" where xxx is the device name, i.e. /dev/nvme0n1. This will make the disk usable again.

    OR



Document Version
Release Date
Details
2
March 3, 2026
Updated the Resolution with the permanent fix.
1
January 27, 2026
Original Document Release.
Hardware Platforms Affected: HPE ProLiant DL365 Gen11, HPE ProLiant DL385 Gen11, HPE ProLiant DL325 Gen11, HPE ProLiant DL345 Gen11, HPE ProLiant DL320 Gen11, HPE ProLiant DL360 Gen11, HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen11, HPE ProLiant DL380a Gen11, HPE ProLiant ML350 Gen11, HPE Alletra Storage Server 4110, HPE Alletra Storage Server 4120, HPE Synergy 480 Gen11 Compute Module, HPE ProLiant DL560 Gen11, HPE ProLiant DX365 Gen11, HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen11 12EDSFF NC Configure-to-order Server, HPE ProLiant Compute DL320 Gen12, HPE ProLiant Compute DL340 Gen12, HPE ProLiant Compute DL384 Gen12, HPE ProLiant DL145 Gen11, HPE ProLiant Compute DL380a Gen12, HPE ProLiant Compute DL360 Gen12, HPE ProLiant Compute DL380 Gen12, HPE ProLiant Compute ML350 Gen12, HPE Synergy 480 Gen12 Compute Module

Operating Systems Affected: OS Independent

Software Affected: Not Applicable
Support Communication Cross Reference ID: SIK11001
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