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    Unable to use BCM57810 properly, need new drivers

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    • G Offline
      Gradius @stephenw10
      last edited by Gradius

      @stephenw10 said in Unable to use BCM57810 properly, need new drivers:

      @Gradius said in Unable to use BCM57810 properly, need new drivers:

      It works, however, you need to unplug and the plug in again (power ON/OFF the SFP).

      Like if you reboot pfSense you need to reconnect the module? Full power cycle?

      No, I just need to plug out the SFP module, and then plug in, so power on & off just the module, then it works.

      I just confirmed now, if the NIC is at 1Gbps (NVRAM), I don't need to do that, it only happens at 2.5Gbps.

      2.jpg

      And right after (that picture), I got 1 warning:
      pppoe0: received unexpected PADO

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      • G Offline
        Gradius @Gradius
        last edited by

        More here:
        3.jpg

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        • stephenw10S Offline
          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
          last edited by

          But to get into the situation where you have the reseat the module you reboot pfSense?

          Like something during a warm boot puts the NIC/module into an invalid mode.

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          • G Offline
            Gradius @stephenw10
            last edited by Gradius

            @stephenw10 said in Unable to use BCM57810 properly, need new drivers:

            But to get into the situation where you have the reseat the module you reboot pfSense?

            Like something during a warm boot puts the NIC/module into an invalid mode.

            No, I don't reboot pfSense at all, I just get out the SFP module for a few seconds, and then I insert it again.

            If I reboot the entire system, it refuses to bring the SFP up ONLY IF it's in 2.5Gbps mode.

            If it's in 1Gbps mode, it works just fine.

            Now I made a custom FW (scripts to fix 2.5Gbps speed on ODI module), and when I reboot the entire system, I don't see bxe0 at all, ONLY when I remove the SFP module for a few seconds, is when pfSense is able to recognize it, and even shows the correct speed:

            0.jpg

            Something must be missing in driver, only when is in 2.5Gbps mode, it won't "internally reset", or something like that, to bring it up that interface on.

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            • stephenw10S Offline
              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
              last edited by

              Hmm, I'm confused then. What is it that prompts you to re-insert the module if not rebooting?

              It looks like it does it at boot from the screenshots.

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              • G Offline
                Gradius @stephenw10
                last edited by

                @stephenw10 said in Unable to use BCM57810 properly, need new drivers:

                Hmm, I'm confused then. What is it that prompts you to re-insert the module if not rebooting?

                It looks like it does it at boot from the screenshots.

                I got that "2500 Mbps" AFTER I did removed the SFP and inserted again.

                If I let it there, it would never "go up".

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                • stephenw10S Offline
                  stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                  last edited by

                  But to be clear that's the state it's in after boot? Not after changing the link speed or some other manual change?

                  There's a good chance something is omitted during the boot process that otherwise gets run when the NIC comes up.

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                  • G Offline
                    Gradius @stephenw10
                    last edited by

                    @stephenw10 said in Unable to use BCM57810 properly, need new drivers:

                    But to be clear that's the state it's in after boot? Not after changing the link speed or some other manual change?

                    There's a good chance something is omitted during the boot process that otherwise gets run when the NIC comes up.

                    Hi,

                    Well, I need to enter into ODI cli and configure it manually the speed (I do that on a media converter) via putty (telnet):

                    flash set LAN_SDS_MODE 6

                    To check:
                    cat /proc/lan_sds/lan_sds_cfg
                    lan_sds_mode = 6(2500BaseX)

                    So, I perform a reboot, test it again, see that is working, only then I put it back on BCM57810.

                    On BCM57810's side, I need to have enabled via UEFI, options 56 and 59 to 6:

                    Under UEFI boot:
                    ediag -b10eng

                    dev 1 (port 1 where the ODI will be used)
                    nvm cfg (enter config)
                    7 (on menu option, then)
                    56=6
                    59=6
                    save (NVRAM save)
                    exit

                    Options are:
                    5 for 1Gbps
                    6 for 2.5Gbps
                    7 for 10Gbps

                    The only values you only need to setup once are 35 and 36 to 70, because 70 means: 1Gbps, 2.5Gbps and 10Gbps auto mode speeds.

                    I managed to get a more up-to-date firmware for ODI, I'll try with that after, because the version I use, if I let it in 2.5Gbps mode, and my BCM is in 1Gbps mode, the ODI isn't capable to switch back to 1Gbps automatically. So the interface will never "wakes up".

                    Also (as mentioned before), there's a bug on ODI part, in 2.5Gbps mode, the upload speed gets really slow, that I will check (if they fixed) with the last firmware release (june 2025). And then, I will check under pfSense boot if it will "wake up", or not, w/o touching ODI.

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                    • G Offline
                      Gradius
                      last edited by Gradius

                      Ok, my final test (at least on RC1)...

                      I'm running the last ODI firmware now, and I'm using:

                      flash set LAN_SDS_MODE 5 [ lan_sds_mode = 5(HiSGMII MAC) ]

                      This forces 2.5Gbps all the time.

                      Exiting from UEFI, and starting POST, once the system goes fully up, the interface (SFP) doesn't want to come up, so I have to remove it, and insert it again, then is able to "power on", and after a while, it gets PPPoE and everything works fine.

                      If I perform a reboot on Proxmox, the interface is able to come up w/o doing anything more, howerver, I got those errors before it got a public IP from PPPoE:
                      pfsense.jpg

                      After is UP, no more errors, or anything.

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                      • stephenw10S Offline
                        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                        last edited by

                        Ah, interesting so the NIC is passed through to pfSense in Proxmox? I'd forgotten that! So when pfSense is rebooted the NIC may not be reset in the same way it would be running bare metal.

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                        • G Offline
                          Gradius @stephenw10
                          last edited by

                          @stephenw10 said in Unable to use BCM57810 properly, need new drivers:

                          Ah, interesting so the NIC is passed through to pfSense in Proxmox? I'd forgotten that! So when pfSense is rebooted the NIC may not be reset in the same way it would be running bare metal.

                          Yep, probably is that. Once you are under VM, lots of things changes too.

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                          • G Offline
                            Gradius @Gradius
                            last edited by

                            Btw, I'm under v2.8.1 now.

                            Good to know:
                            Added: Support 2.5G SGMII (SFP GPON ONT) in bxe driver (QLogic NetXtreme II BCM57810):
                            https://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/16321

                            Can't wait for v25.11

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                            • stephenw10S Offline
                              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                              last edited by

                              @Gradius said in Unable to use BCM57810 properly, need new drivers:

                              https://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/16321

                              Mmm, that's the same patch that's in 2.8.1 though.

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