Proliant DL380 embedded NICs missing after firmware update

I ran into a very strange issue today when I went to redeploy an old Proliant DL380 G5. The first thing I did was use the most current service pack DVD to update the firmware. The most current is from 2/2014 and has the number 2013.02.0. After installing ESXi 5.1 U1 I noticed that I was only showing 4 NICs and not the 6 I started with.

The two embedded NICs were missing!!

After a quick google search or twelve I stumbled upon an HP discussion with exactly the same problem that I was having. I followed the instructions from the HP discussion and here is what it took to fix (Most of this is copied from user hase3d’s post).

1. Download all necessary tools
     – download FreeDOS
     – download XDIAG.exe 
     – download bc08c740.bin 
     – read all information in setup.txt

2. Prepare the FreeDOS.iso
     -After downloading open the iso with a tool like UltraISO. I used Magic ISO.
-Add the XDIAG.exe and the bc08c740.bin to the iso – I these files to the          root so that I wouldn’t need to add a path later.
-Save the iso with a new name.
-Burn it or mount it with ilo.

3. Boot from FreeDOS
     -Select Install to harddisk
     -Press 1
     -Select your language and press Enter
    -Press ESC
    -Select run FreeDOS from CD-ROM

4. Mine booted to f:\freedos. Do a cd\ to get back to the root of f:
5. Run xdiag in engineering mode by typing xdiag -b06eng
6. type device 1
7. nvm fill 0 0x600 0
8. nvm upgrade -bc bc08c740.bin
9. nvm cfg
     -Press q
     -Type default
     -Press q again
     -Type 16=10 wich sets the BAR size to 32
     -Press q for the third time
     -Type save and then exit out to the main menu

10. Type device 2  and repeat steps 7-9, run the command 1=00:00:18:xx:xx:xx <— change the last digit for different mac on device 2.

I did not do anything else from the setup.txt file.

I powered down the host and then when I rebooted I had 6 NICs again!