"nvmecontrol: format request returned error"message for "nvmecontrol format -f 3 nvme1" on a still-new Optane DC P4800X 1.5T : info and questions

From: Mark Millard <marklmi_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 17 Jul 2026 20:19:08 UTC
My attempt to change from (in smartctl output form):

Supported LBA Sizes (NSID 0x1)
Id Fmt  Data  Metadt  Rel_Perf
 0 +     512       0         2
. . .

to:

Supported LBA Sizes (NSID 0x1)
Id Fmt  Data  Metadt  Rel_Perf
. . .
 3 -    4096       0         0
. . .

reported:

# nvmecontrol format -f 3 nvme1
nvmecontrol: format request returned error

but afterwards shows:

Supported LBA Sizes (NSID 0x1)
Id Fmt  Data  Metadt  Rel_Perf
. . .
 3 +    4096       0         0
. . .

It also shows:

Media and Data Integrity Errors:    0
Error Information Log Entries:      0

Error Information (NVMe Log 0x01, 16 of 64 entries)
No Errors Logged

dmesg -a shows:

# dmesg -a | tail -7
nvme1: Resetting controller due to a timeout.
nvme1: event="start"
nvme1: event="success"
nvme1: aborting outstanding admin command
nvme1: FORMAT_NVM (80) sqid:0 cid:15 nsid:ffffffff cdw10:00000003
cdw11:00000000
nvme1: ABORTED_BY_REQUEST (00/07) crd:0 m:0 dnr:1 p:0 sqid:0 cid:15 cdw0:0
nvme1: done aborting outstanding admin


Is this a problem for use of the media? Did it likely finish what it was
doing? If it did not finish, what may I do about it?


For reference (after the attempt):

=== START OF SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

SMART/Health Information (NVMe Log 0x02, NSID 0xffffffff)
Critical Warning:                   0x00
Temperature:                        45 Celsius
Available Spare:                    100%
Available Spare Threshold:          0%
Percentage Used:                    0%
Data Units Read:                    22 [11.2 MB]
Data Units Written:                 33 [16.8 MB]
Host Read Commands:                 862
Host Write Commands:                210
Controller Busy Time:               0
Power Cycles:                       5
Power On Hours:                     1
Unsafe Shutdowns:                   1
Media and Data Integrity Errors:    0
Error Information Log Entries:      0

and:

# nvmecontrol identify -n 1 nvme1
Size:                        366284646 blocks
Capacity:                    366284646 blocks
Utilization:                 366284646 blocks
Thin Provisioning:           Not Supported
Number of LBA Formats:       7
Current LBA Format:          LBA Format #03
Metadata Capabilities
  Extended:                  Supported
  Separate:                  Not Supported
Data Protection Caps:        Last Bytes, Type 1
Data Protection Settings:    Not Enabled
Multi-Path I/O Capabilities: Not Supported
Reservation Capabilities:    Not Supported
Format Progress Indicator:   Not Supported
Deallocate Logical Block:    Read Not Reported
Optimal I/O Boundary:        0 blocks
NVM Capacity:                0 bytes
Globally Unique Identifier:  00000000000000000000000000000000
IEEE EUI64:                  5cd2e496b5ea0100
LBA Format #00: Data Size:   512  Metadata Size:     0  Performance: Good
LBA Format #01: Data Size:   512  Metadata Size:     8  Performance: Good
LBA Format #02: Data Size:   512  Metadata Size:    16  Performance: Good
LBA Format #03: Data Size:  4096  Metadata Size:     0  Performance: Best
LBA Format #04: Data Size:  4096  Metadata Size:     8  Performance: Best
LBA Format #05: Data Size:  4096  Metadata Size:    64  Performance: Best
LBA Format #06: Data Size:  4096  Metadata Size:   128  Performance: Best


-- 
===
Mark Millard
marklmi at yahoo.com