HP T730 help please

stephenw10

@cgi2099 said in HP T730 help please:

Are the x550-t2 decent cards?

Yes. The x500 series are what I would recommend currently. In terms of price, performance and stability they are in the sweet spot IMO. That may change.

Steve

cgi2099

@stephenw10

Awesome, maybe I can find one of those reasonable somewhere.

I did see intel released new firmware for the x710 cards on the 8th but idk if that will fix any issues.

stephenw10

Yup check the OEM equivalent list:
https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/list-of-nics-and-their-equivalent-oem-parts.20974/

Not seeing a firmware update newer than 8_40, does it have a change log?

Steve

cgi2099

@stephenw10

9.0 is what I think I see, but could be the wrong card:

link text

I believe this is the changelog:

link text

I am not sure what version my card has on it at the moment.

stephenw10

Hmm, interesting. Not sure why I didn't find that. I can't see any specific mention of MDD though.

cgi2099

@stephenw10

I am going to update in the morning and I'll report back if anything improves.

I did as you said and the last time it crashed today I plugged into the realtek port and was still able to access the gui. So it is the Intel card crashing.

Temps were fine, 40-50*c is what my temp gun was saying. I am still going to put a fan on it also.

cgi2099

@stephenw10

My card was on 7.3 but with that said updating to 9.0 did not solve the issue, still getting the same error.

With that said is there a package for intel drivers 27.6? I believe that is the last thing I can do in hopes of getting this card to play nice.

stephenw10

You could try that. It's quite an involved procedure though, you need to compile the driver on an equivalent FreeBSD box and move it across.
Alternatively you could try using the ixl kmod port: https://www.freshports.org/net/intel-ixl-kmod/
It's an older version but potentially easier.

Steve

cgi2099

@stephenw10

I am having a hard time finding the download link on that page

stephenw10

Do this:

[2.6.0-RELEASE][admin@cedev-6.stevew.lan]/root: pkg add http://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:12:amd64/latest/All//intel-ixl-kmod-1.12.2.pkg
Fetching intel-ixl-kmod-1.12.2.pkg: 100%   94 KiB  96.3kB/s    00:01    
Installing intel-ixl-kmod-1.12.2...
Extracting intel-ixl-kmod-1.12.2: 100%
=====
Message from intel-ixl-kmod-1.12.2:

--
THIS PACKAGE INSTALLS THE NEWER VERSION OF THE SOFTWARE WHICH CAN CAUSE SYSTEM
INSTABILITY WHILE USED. USE THE UPDATED VERSION ONLY IF YOU EXPERIENCE
PROBLEMS WITH THE DRIVER PRESENT IN THE KERNEL DISTRIBUTION

Usage:
To load the updated version of the driver add this:

if_ixl_updated_load="YES"

to your /boot/loader.conf and reboot the machine.
There's no need to recompile the GENERIC kernel without if_ixl driver

After the reboot you may see this kind of messaged in the dmesg:

module_register: module pci/ixl already exists!
Module pci/ixl failed to register: 17

This is the side effect of the newer version of the driver overriding the
older one and can be safely disregarded
[2.6.0-RELEASE][admin@cedev-6.stevew.lan]/root: echo 'if_ixl_updated_load="YES"' >> /boot/loader.conf.local

So both those commands.
Then reboot and check that it's loaded:

[2.6.0-RELEASE][admin@cedev-6.stevew.lan]/root: kldstat
Id Refs Address                Size Name
 1   30 0xffffffff80200000  3aed878 kernel
 2    1 0xffffffff83cee000    5b680 if_ixl_updated.ko
 3    1 0xffffffff83d4a000    16b18 if_atlantic.ko
 4    1 0xffffffff83f19000     1000 cpuctl.ko
 5    1 0xffffffff83f1a000     2698 intpm.ko
 6    1 0xffffffff83f1d000      b40 smbus.ko
 8    1 0xffffffff83f53000    11aa8 dummynet.ko
 9    1 0xffffffff83f1e000    344f8 if_wg.ko

Steve

cgi2099

@stephenw10

Wish I would have left it alone lol.

After installing it would just boot loop,

I had to reinstall but now I get an error in the console:

Enter full pathname of shell or RETURN for /bin/sh

I've reinstalled 3 times and it doesn't fix it.

Everything works in the web GUI and I am up and going.

But don't know what to do about the console

stephenw10

Where is it failing in the boot?

It still does that after reinstalling 2.6 clean?

How did you install it originally?

Steve

cgi2099

@stephenw10

Ended up getting it fixed by flashing my old firmware and then upgrading. Was rather painless after that, installed my packages and did a config restore. I guess this x710 goes in the tech cabinet until there is a fix. Got an i350-4 ready to install tomorrow.

A Former User

@cgi2099 said in HP T730 help please:

@stephenw10
Ended up getting it fixed by flashing my old firmware and then upgrading. Was rather painless after that, installed my packages and did a config restore. I guess this x710 goes in the tech cabinet until there is a fix. Got an i350-4 ready to install tomorrow.

For Fiber connection you could try out the Allied Telesis AT-29M2/SC M.2 module, it is nice cheap for something around ~$30 in the usa. So you will be having fiber and
copper based NICs. If they are supported by FreeBSD (pfSense) you will be able to set up one more network connection.