Marvell (Aquantia) 10 Gb Ethernet support thread

[Mieze]

@Zyphrax: Unlike 3rd party drivers Apple's ethernet drivers are tightly coupled with IONetworkingFamily.kext virtually making it impossible to roll back a single driver. A rollback of the IONetworkingFamily.kext is also not a practical solution as it may result in severe compatibility issues with other kexts (WIFI, etc.).

 

Another problem is the fact that the driver requires an Aquantia NIC with custom firmware (specifically made for Apple by Aquantia) and 10.13.3 is the only version which came with the bug that caused 3rd party cards to be re-flashed with Apple firmware.

Edited May 23, 2018 by Mieze

[zebity]

On 5/24/2018 at 7:15 AM, meaganmargaret said:

I think I have said this before, but I'll repeat:   you do have options.

 

There is the 10GBE Chelsio T520-BT card (currently $260 on e-Bay) the Startech ST10GSPEXNB 10GBE card (about ~$250), and you can mod an Intel T540 or T520 using the process outlined at another site.  Used Intel T540s and T520s go used on e-Bay for about $90.  The modding process is annoying, but not impossible.

 

And if you're up for the cost, there is always the Smalltree:  P2E10G-1-T 10GbE One Port 10GBase-T

 

You don't have to use the Aquantia, there are options.

 

Hi MM,

 

funny you you should mention SmallTree I have a couple of Macs with SmallTree 10GbE cards in them and have started posting  on my efforts to get these working via QEMU/OVMF/Clover  with PCI pass through.  This is all new territory for me, so need help to get get this working. See here:

 

 

My machine is 32 core server with lots of PCIe slots so I have moved one of my SmallTree/Intel x540-at2 cards into the machine and am now trying to get it working. As it is big machine I have deliberately set it up as KVM host via Ubuntu 18.04. I have already moved bunch of FreeBSD & Ubuntu servers off a series of Mac mini’s running VMWare fusion and am now working on moving corresponding MacOS servers onto the same machine. This is all due to Apple abandoning Xserve some years ago and I need to get ultimate going.

 

As I said happy to take suggestions and test these , as if I can get SmallTree going on QEMU then work should be easily moved to physical machines.

 

cheers,

 

zebity

Edited May 25, 2018 by zebity
Clean up

[d5aqoep]

Discussing non-native cards like Small-Tree or Intel X540-T2 is actually offtopic because this thread was created specifically to test those cards which have the potential to work Out of the Box. But now since Out of the Box working cards require a kext patch in clover, it is up to mods to change the title of this thread.

[KGP-iMacPro]

Sad news my friends.. Aquantia kext patch stopped working with 10.13.5 Beta 5. My ASUS NIC suddenly is not recognised anymore by the system .

 

 

[Mieze]

Are you using the first patch I published or have you patched the built-in property?

 

Mieze

[richtig]

What is really needed for the Aquantia LAN port situation: a sort of universal driver that works for any of the Aquantia 10, 5, & 2.5 Gb LAN controllers, and that does not require any kind of special Apple firmware flash procedure to be able to work in either: macOS or Windows or Linux. Preferably: the macOS driver would enable functioning in Sierra, High Sierra, El Capitan, and whatever 10.14 ends up being named.

 

Edited May 25, 2018 by richtig

[zebity]

5 hours ago, d5aqoep said:

Discussing non-native cards like Small-Tree or Intel X540-T2 is actually offtopic because this thread was created specifically to test those cards which have the potential to work Out of the Box. But now since Out of the Box working cards require a kext patch in clover, it is up to mods to change the title of this thread.

Hi d5aqoep,

 

apologies i I am new to insanely Mac, though long time Mac user.

 

In this context I am not sure what “non-native” means.

 

The SmallTree 10GbE is not just a rebranded Intel x540 it has Apple specific firmware that works in conjunction with OS X specific drivers (kexts). It has long been one of few 10GbE cards available for Mac Pro (ATTO provide an alternate I believe) and is widely used in video production systems.

 

I know it has Apple specific firmware as if you install a standard Intel X540 into a Mac even with SmallTree drivers installed, then it is not recognized. So it seems to have very similar behavior to aquantia discussed here.

 

i did read this thread btw and it is very interesting and informative, so again apologies if I veered off topic.

 

cheers,

 

zebity.

 

 

[d5aqoep]

20 hours ago, KGP-iMacPro said:

Sad news my friends.. Aquantia kext patch stopped working with 10.13.5 Beta 5. My ASUS NIC suddenly is not recognised anymore by the system .

 

 

It's working perfectly on my Hackintosh with Mieze patch on 10.13.5 Beta 5. You need to check your patch again or something else might be borked on your setup or config.plist.

[d5aqoep]

4 hours ago, meaganmargaret said:

Anyone else running who's had a successful Aquantia (in 1013.3. or 10.13.4) implementation and who now is running Beta 5 of 10.13.5 (with the patch) care to report?

 

In Beta 5 of 10.13.5, is the Aquantia still working?  (this assumes it was working in 10.13.4 or 10.13.3, and now we need to know if it is still working in this beta of 10.13.5)

(Sorry folks, I don't run Betas or I would report....)

Read my reply above. Patch is still working for baptized cards on 10.13.5 Beta 5.

[KGP-iMacPro]

16 hours ago, d5aqoep said:

It's working perfectly on my Hackintosh with Mieze patch on 10.13.5 Beta 5. You need to check your patch again or something else might be borked on your setup or config.plist.

 

I did not change anything in my configuration.. The Aquantia was working all time long with 10.13.5 Beta 5, until it suddenly stopped.

 

Good for all of us if this just happened in my case...  

[d5aqoep]

8 hours ago, KGP-iMacPro said:

 

I did not change anything in my configuration.. The Aquantia was working all time long with 10.13.5 Beta 5, until it suddenly stopped.

 

Good for all of us if this just happened in my case...  

 

It might just be corruption of some kext or problem with beta.

[Mieze]

13 hours ago, KGP-iMacPro said:

I did not change anything in my configuration.. The Aquantia was working all time long with 10.13.5 Beta 5, until it suddenly stopped.

You still haven't told us which patch you are using? While the first one will fail almost certainly after a driver update, patching the string "built-in" will survive provided they haven't added another check to identify Apple hardware.

[KGP-iMacPro]

11 hours ago, Mieze said:

You still haven't told us which patch you are using? While the first one will fail almost certainly after a driver update, patching the string "built-in" will survive provided they haven't added another check to identify Apple hardware.

 

Name*                            Find*[HEX]         Replace*[HEX]      Comment
AppleEthernetAquantiaAqtion      0F84C003 0000      90909090 9090      Aquantia patch ©Mieze

 

[Mieze]

Well, it has always been clear that this patch will most likely fail after the next update of the driver. Try to use the "built-in" patch which should still work as it doesn't rely on any specific code pattern.

[d5aqoep]

2 hours ago, KGP-iMacPro said:

 

Name*                            Find*[HEX]         Replace*[HEX]      Comment
AppleEthernetAquantiaAqtion      0F84C003 0000      90909090 9090      Aquantia patch ©Mieze

 

Surprisingly I am using the same patch and all working well here.

[KGP-iMacPro]

6 hours ago, d5aqoep said:

Surprisingly I am using the same patch and all working well here.

 

Alright... I removed and replugged the Aquantia NIC and now the adapter is again working with both Mieze's Kext Patch and 10.13.5 Beta 5.

 

I don't know what was exactly the issue, but it seems that indeed also the kext patch is still working.

 

I think by this we can close the discussion all around my formerly reported issue. 

 

Thanks, guys and ladies! 

 

    

Edited May 28, 2018 by KGP-iMacPro

[d5aqoep]

Patch working in macOS 10.13.6 Beta 1. 

[d5aqoep]

44 minutes ago, meaganmargaret said:

 

Old patch or new patch?

Old Patch

[d5aqoep]

On 5/28/2018 at 4:19 AM, Mieze said:

Well, it has always been clear that this patch will most likely fail after the next update of the driver. Try to use the "built-in" patch which should still work as it doesn't rely on any specific code pattern.

 

Just reporting. From 10.14 macOS Mojave DP1 onwards, only this patch is woking. Previous patch by Mieze has stopped working.

 

But hey!!! Our flashed cards still work!

 

Edit: Still working on DP2

Edited June 22, 2018 by d5aqoep

[cosmos654]

Hello everybody.

Is it possible to patch the firmware and use the ASUS card on a 100-serie mobo and then WITH NVRAM emulated (EMUVAriableUEFI-64 installed) ?
Thanks.

[d5aqoep]

18 hours ago, cosmos654 said:

Hello everybody.

Is it possible to patch the firmware and use the ASUS card on a 100-serie mobo and then WITH NVRAM emulated (EMUVAriableUEFI-64 installed) ?
Thanks.

Yes but only possible to patch on macOS 10.13.3

[d5aqoep]

@meaganmargaret

I saw it but stopped short of ordering because I couldn’t find any info whether it supports WOL or not. Wake on LAN is a crucial requirement for me. I am sure many will have the same question. Right now, my AQN-107 is supporting WOL in Windows and I will continue to use it.

Edited July 4, 2018 by d5aqoep

[KGP-iMacPro]

On 6/5/2018 at 7:06 PM, d5aqoep said:

 

Just reporting. From 10.14 macOS Mojave DP1 onwards, only this patch is woking. Previous patch by Mieze has stopped working.

 

But hey!!! Our flashed cards still work!

 

Edit: Still working on DP2

 

Where to implement the "built-in" patch in the config.plist via clover configurator? 

 

EDIT: answered by myself.. it is also a KextToPatch entry and it also works under 10.14 PB5 (18A353d) 

Edited August 7, 2018 by KGP-iMacPro

[d5aqoep]

19 hours ago, meaganmargaret said:

Preliminary results for the Sonnet SoloG Presto 10GbE adapter ($99):

So, I just got and plugged it in. The first thing I did was disable all patches and any Ethernet kexts I could find were deleted.

And yes!!, it indeed does work without a kext or a patch or any flashing! (as long as you have macOS 10.13.4 or greater)

 

The performance is roughly equivalent to the Aquantia (which wasn't bad) and the Intel X540-T1. And not as fast as a Intel 550.

I have the modded Intel, two Aquantias (that I'm going to sell), and the new Sonnet. If I had to do over again, I would purchase the Sonnet. In the attachment below, you can see that the Sonnet is actually smaller than the Aquantia, with a smaller heatsink. This is relevant because in testing it, I did see it drop a bit over time and I think that's because it was throttling. It started out faster than the Aquantia, then after a few minutes dropped to about the same level as the Aquantia.
 

But this is the first 10G adapter that I know of that will work in a Mac or Hack with no flashing modifications required, no kexts required, no patches either! And remember, you get it from a good company with a decent reputation, with a warranty and some support. You get none of that with the Intel mod card or the modded Aquantia.

If you have 10.13.4 or greater, this adapter is literally plug and play.

 

Did you try whether it supports WOL in windows ?

[d5aqoep]

On 8/10/2018 at 5:03 AM, meaganmargaret said:

btw, I don't think this card does support WOL.....I don't see it mentioned on the Sonnet website for the page that references this card, yet, the Sonnet 2 port 10G does mention it supports WOL.....so my guess is that it does not support it....typical for most Aquantia low cost 10G adapters....

 

But did you try it yourself in Windows?

 

In Windows, Make sure latest drivers for it are installed, disable Fast Boot from power settings. Then in Bios of your motherboard, enable wake from PCI setting.

 

Then if you have ASUS router, you can go to your router homepage -> Network Tools -> Wake on LAN -> Select the MAC address of your PC and wake it from there.

If you don't have ASUS router, then you need to download any WOL app from app store and configure it to wake up your PC remotely. Even port forwarding might be needed but there are plenty easy guides out there. Once you get WOL to work, there is this Warm Fuzzy feeling that you have total control of your PC.

 

BTW AQN-107 which I purchased from Aquantia themselves does support WOL and I got it for just $69 + $10 shipping.Now they have increased shipping to $30 haha. But this card relies on the hackery of installing 10.13.3 to make it work with a kext patch for future macOS versions. We don't even know if that kext patch might stop working in future and we have to rely on outdated Apple bootcamp drivers to run it in Windows. That is why I was trying for Sonnet card.

 

PS: I have not yet got any Hackintosh to successfully WOL from shutdown ever. I can get it to wake up when put to sleep though. But in Windows, I can get it to wake up from complete shutdown.

Edited August 12, 2018 by d5aqoep