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    X710-t2 missing NBase-T, pfsense 2.5.2

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    • J
      jonowar
      last edited by

      Hello, I'm new to pfsense and freebsd. I am hoping to support nbase-t in my network and bought the X710 for that reason. I have a fresh install of 2.5.2 but I'm missing 2.5 and 5gbe on my X710. It does work fine in 10gbase-T and 1000base-T.

      ixl0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
      	description: WAN
      	options=e100bb<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,JUMBO_MTU,VLAN_HWCSUM,VLAN_HWFILTER,RXCSUM_IPV6,TXCSUM_IPV6>
      	capabilities=f507bb<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,JUMBO_MTU,VLAN_HWCSUM,TSO4,TSO6,LRO,VLAN_HWFILTER,VLAN_HWTSO,NETMAP,RXCSUM_IPV6,TXCSUM_IPV6>
      	ether 
      	inet6 
      	inet6 
      	inet 
      	media: Ethernet autoselect (1000baseT <full-duplex>)
      	status: active
      	supported media:
      		media autoselect
      		media 10Gbase-T
      		media 1000baseT
      		media 100baseTX
      	nd6 options=23<PERFORMNUD,ACCEPT_RTADV,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
      ixl1: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
      	description: LAN
      	options=e100bb<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,JUMBO_MTU,VLAN_HWCSUM,VLAN_HWFILTER,RXCSUM_IPV6,TXCSUM_IPV6>
      	capabilities=f507bb<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,JUMBO_MTU,VLAN_HWCSUM,TSO4,TSO6,LRO,VLAN_HWFILTER,VLAN_HWTSO,NETMAP,RXCSUM_IPV6,TXCSUM_IPV6>
      	ether 
      	inet6 
      	inet6 
      	inet 
      	media: Ethernet autoselect (10Gbase-T <full-duplex>)
      	status: active
      	supported media:
      		media autoselect
      		media 10Gbase-T
      		media 1000baseT
      		media 100baseTX
      

      My card info is

      dev.ixl.0.fw_version: fw 7.83.59945 api 1.9 nvm 7.10 etid 800075d6 oem 19.4864.12
      

      The driver shows 2.3.0-k

      I saw this FreeBSD issue that may be related, but not sure where that leaves me.
      https://reviews.freebsd.org/D31565

      Any ideas to get 2.5 on my x710?
      Thanks!

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • stephenw10S
        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
        last edited by

        Does it actually fail to link at 2.5G or 5G?

        Previous reports on the forum indicated that is will link but just doesn't display a link speed because the driver is not yet aware of it.

        Steve

        J 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • J
          jonowar @stephenw10
          last edited by

          @stephenw10 it displays a link speed for 1000baseT and I'm unable to get more than ~900mbps down on my 1.2gig connection.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • stephenw10S
            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
            last edited by

            What's it connected to? That does look like it has liked at 1G. I believe previous reports showed it displaying 'Unknown' for the link speed at 2.5G.

            Steve

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • J
              jonowar
              last edited by

              @stephenw10 It's connected to a Netgear CM2000 cable modem which has a 2.5gbe port on it.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • stephenw10S
                stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                last edited by

                Hmm, I could have been mis-remembering. This post seems to show it will correctly indicate 2.5G:
                https://forum.netgate.com/post/973940

                Maybe the cable you have isn't capable of 2.5G?

                Steve

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • J
                  jonowar
                  last edited by

                  @stephenw10 i tried a few different cables, I can get 10g on those cables going to my netgear managed switch.

                  Anyway, the seller agreed to a refund so I'm going to try an X520-da2 with an SFP+->RJ45 adapter on the WAN side, my managed switch has SFP uplink anyway.

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • stephenw10S
                    stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                    last edited by

                    Hmm, I don't think that will do 2.5G.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • J
                      jonowar
                      last edited by

                      Some SFP+RJ45 adapters do specify that they can convert 10g to 5/2.5g

                      This is my source for that info:
                      https://www.servethehome.com/sfp-to-10gbase-t-adapter-module-buyers-guide/

                      stephenw10S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • stephenw10S
                        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator @jonowar
                        last edited by

                        Mmm, I don't think the X520 will do it though, even if the module does. I've never tried it myself though.

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • J
                          jonowar
                          last edited by

                          From what I read, the x520 will see it as a 10g connection and the modem will see it as 2.5 and it will give me 2.5 throughput.... but if it doesn't work I'll give up, that extra 200mbps is mostly just Comcast marketing gimmick anyway.

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • stephenw10S
                            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                            last edited by

                            You could just buy a 2.5G NIC....

                            J 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • J
                              jonowar @stephenw10
                              last edited by

                              I may also try that, but there don't seem to be very many good 2.5 options. From what I've read of the i225 chipset, many people are having troubles, even when disabling the hardware checksum.

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • SetarcosS
                                Setarcos
                                last edited by

                                I haven't quite dialed my X710-T2L in, but it does sync at 2.5G and show the appropriate speed in the UI with 21.05.2.

                                ixl0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
                                        description: WAN
                                        options=e100bb<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,JUMBO_MTU,VLAN_HWCSUM,VLAN_HWFILTER,RXCSUM_IPV6,TXCSUM_IPV6>
                                        capabilities=f507bb<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,JUMBO_MTU,VLAN_HWCSUM,TSO4,TSO6,LRO,VLAN_HWFILTER,VLAN_HWTSO,NETMAP,RXCSUM_IPV6,TXCSUM_IPV6>
                                        ether xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
                                        inet6 xxxx::xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx%ixl0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x1
                                        inet6 xxxx:xxx:xxxx:xx:xxx:xxxx:xxxx:xx0x prefixlen 128
                                        inet xx.xxx.xxx.xxx netmask 0xfffff800 broadcast 255.255.255.255
                                        media: Ethernet autoselect (2500Base-T <full-duplex,rxpause>)
                                        status: active
                                        supported media:
                                                media autoselect
                                                media 10Gbase-T
                                                media 5000Base-T
                                                media 2500Base-T
                                                media 1000baseT
                                                media 100baseTX
                                        nd6 options=23<PERFORMNUD,ACCEPT_RTADV,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
                                
                                dev.ixl.0.fw_version: fw 7.3.60988 api 1.10 nvm 7.30 etid 80008416 oem 1.266.0
                                

                                I am not sure if it matters, but NVM 7.30 is what is specified in Intel driver version that the BSD driver used in 2.5.2/21.05.2 is based on (see here for references). My card shipped with NVM 8.10, but I downgraded to 7.30 and everything seems to be performing the same as with 8.10.

                                A 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                • J
                                  jonowar
                                  last edited by

                                  thanks for that, I tried upgrading my firmware but its eTrackId is not listed in the firmware update as it's a Dell card, not Intel OEM. I think that's the root of the problem.

                                  J 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • J
                                    jonowar @jonowar
                                    last edited by

                                    Just to close the loop here, I received the X520-DA2 and it worked great with a Wiitek SFP+/RJ45 adapter AFTER I modified the EEPROM on the X520. I had to boot to Ubuntu with a USB drive and run an ethtool command to flip a switch to allow unsupported modules.

                                    Just clocked 1367.13 down! Previous record was 910... so actually a much larger improvement than I thought!

                                    To fix the X520, I had to follow instructions found here: https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/patching-intel-x520-eeprom-to-unlock-all-sfp-transceivers.24634/

                                    In Pfsense I show a 10gbe link to the cable modem and the cable modem shows a 2.5gbe link.

                                    Anyway, I'm excited, it's finally working!

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                    • A
                                      aivxtla @Setarcos
                                      last edited by aivxtla

                                      @setarcos there’s no need to downgrade the firmware you can use the latest one if you want. Infact I used a newer one 8.4 I think (My card originally shipped with 7.2). It will still work fine with the inbuilt driver. I did however compile the latest driver from Intel’s site, though not necessary.

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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