HPE DL380 Gen10 Plus HBAs failing during firmware updates—has anyone seen this?

I haven’t seen that failure pattern with these controllers. We’ve used the same underlying LSI/Broadcom hardware, including OEM and non-OEM versions, across several generations without permanently losing a card during a firmware update. One was temporarily left unusable after a kernel panic interrupted the flash, but its recovery mode brought it back. Another needed to be flashed a couple more times before it initialized correctly under UEFI. That suggests the high failure rate may be specific to the update package, procedure, platform configuration, or a hardware batch rather than an inherent flaw in the silicon. Also make sure the failures aren’t actually the cache or capacitor modules; those have failed for us more often than the controller itself.

Nine failures sounds extreme, especially if that’s across a fleet rather than one machine. With 15 hosts and three HBAs per host, I’d document the exact controller revisions, firmware versions, update method, server BIOS settings, and whether the system is booting in UEFI or legacy mode, then have HPE escalate it as a systemic issue. I’d avoid repeatedly flashing production cards until you can test one representative host and confirm the package and recovery process.

The fact that you have three HBAs in each of 15 systems is important context. I’d also verify that the replacement cards are the exact supported MR216i-A or MR216i-P part numbers and that the firmware bundle matches the server generation. If HPE is calling this rare while you’re seeing roughly an 80% failure rate, the hardware or firmware batch should be investigated rather than treating every failed card as an isolated incident.