X710-t2 missing NBase-T, pfsense 2.5.2

jonowar

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

stephenw10

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

jonowar

@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.

stephenw10

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

jonowar

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/

stephenw10

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

jonowar

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.

stephenw10

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

jonowar

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.

Setarcos

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.

jonowar

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.

jonowar

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!

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.