[Discussion] Intel i225-V on macOS Monterey

[surenmunoo]

21 hours ago, bidero said:

 

I'm really grateful that you have tested everything. You're the first person to have it working on Vision D. I'm wondering if it's somehow connected with mainboard revision. According to intel, early revisions of I225 had some problems setting correct link speed https://cdrdv2.intel.com/v1/dl/getContent/621661. I have I225 Rev. 2 - SLNJY.

 

@SavageAUS With Gigabyte Z490 Vision D it's the other way around. We have two NICs. I219 - 1 Gbps which is working just fine with IntelMausi.kext and I225 - 2.5 Gpbs which is problematic.

 

@Henties What's the brand of your Aquantia card?

 

My board is rev 1.1, bought it as a refurb from B&H

[bidero]

@surenmunoo My board revision is also 1.1. I know I’ve already asked you a lot, but would you mind taking a picture of I225 on your board please? It’s near the left edge of the board (below back panel), just above 1st pcie slot. Or you could just write down what’s in the 3rd line.
 

 

[Naki]

@surenmunoo -- this is Linespeed.what!? Lose that dummy, noname, useless network test.  

Use the industry standard instead: https://www.speedtest.net/

 

RE guys with those 10 GBit LAN cards -- all good but have in mind that WiFi routers and LAN switches that support 10 GBit and even the slower 2.5 Gbit will cost a small fortune.  

Once such routers and switches prices go down, maybe there is a better chance to use such LAN cards. :)

Edited August 5, 2021 by Naki

[surenmunoo]

7 hours ago, bidero said:

@surenmunoo My board revision is also 1.1. I know I’ve already asked you a lot, but would you mind taking a picture of I225 on your board please? It’s near the left edge of the board (below back panel), just above 1st pcie slot. Or you could just write down what’s in the 3rd line.
 

 

No Issues, I am changing my fans later this afternoon so will send a picture. 

19 minutes ago, Naki said:

@surenmunoo -- this is Linespeed.what!? Lose that dummy, noname, useless network test.  

Use the industry standard instead: https://www.speedtest.net/

 

RE guys with those 10 GBit LAN cards -- all good but have in mind that WiFi routers and LAN switches that support 10 GBit and even the slower 2.5 Gbit will cost a small fortune.  

Once such routers and switches prices go down, maybe there is a better chance to use such LAN cards. :)

Yeah, I use that as well but that website is down most of the time. 

[Alex HQuest]

5 hours ago, Naki said:

Use the industry standard instead: https://www.speedtest.net/

Industry standard in advertisements per single page. This site is banned in a lot of Fortune 500 companies, with a reason.

 

Google’s “Internet speed test” powered by M-Lab is much more reliable, straight to the point and way less annoying.

[chris1111]

here a simple script speed test 

double clic to it

Speed Test.zip

 

[surenmunoo]

15 hours ago, bidero said:

@surenmunoo My board revision is also 1.1. I know I’ve already asked you a lot, but would you mind taking a picture of I225 on your board please? It’s near the left edge of the board (below back panel), just above 1st pcie slot. Or you could just write down what’s in the 3rd line.
 

 

[bidero]

Thanks @surenmunoo, SLNJY - Revision 2. Same as mine. I really have no idea how to make It work 😕 

[Rocky12]

@bidero Firmware comparison could help

Z490 VISION D (rev. 1.x)

Intel I225 Firmware Update Tool

Intel I225 2.5GbE Firmware

 

 

mb_driver_intel-i225-firmware-tool.zip

Edited August 6, 2021 by Rocky12

[surenmunoo]

4 hours ago, bidero said:

Thanks @surenmunoo, SLNJY - Revision 2. Same as mine. I really have no idea how to make It work 😕 

Not sure if I can upload my EFI here, If I can then maybe you can give it a try. Maybe a Mod can advise

[Henties]

@Rocky12 The mb_driver_intel-i225-firmware-tool.zip file which you posted cannot be opened by me, neither can I open the one that Gigabyte is hosting on their web site, what is the magic that seemingly enables you to open and use that file ?

 

Greetings Henties

[miliuco]

9 hours ago, surenmunoo said:

Not sure if I can upload my EFI here, If I can then maybe you can give it a try. Maybe a Mod can advise

Yes, you can.

[bidero]

@Rocky12 I have already tested that. Unfortunately there is a script error (already discussed on few other forums), so the updater is not working correctly. I've managed to run nvmupdatew64e.exe alone, and it looks like I already have the newest NVM firmware - 1.45.  "Unsupported device found - DeviceId: 0D4D" in the log file is about I219.

Intel(R) Ethernet NVM Update Tool
NVMUpdate version 1.35.30.0
Copyright (C) 2013 - 2020 Intel Corporation.

nvmupdatew64e -i -l test 

Unsupported device found - DeviceId: 0D4D.
Inventory
[00:005:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller (2) I225-V
	Flash inventory started.
	Shadow RAM inventory started.
	Shadow RAM inventory finished.
	Flash inventory finished.
	OROM inventory started.
	OROM inventory finished.
[00:005:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller (2) I225-V
	Vendor                 : 8086
	Device                 : 15F3
	Subvendor              : 8086
	Subdevice              : 0000
	Revision               : 2
	LAN MAC                : B42E99FCD08A
	Alt MAC                : B42E99FCD08A
	SAN MAC                : 000000000000
	ETrackId               : 8000014B
	SerialNumber           : B42E99FFFFFCD08A
	NVM Version            : 1.69(1.45)
	PBA                    : G23456-000
	VPD status             : Not set
	VPD size               : 0
	NVM update             : No config file entry
	  checksum             : Valid
	OROM update            : No config file entry
	  CIVD                 : 0.0.0
	  PXE                  : 0.4.9, checksum Valid
	  EFI                  : 0.8.7, checksum None

@Henties If you're on Mac, use something like Unarchiver. On windows, 7-Zip does the job.

 

@surenmunoo I really hope it will help. I have even connected my old Time Capsule to see if it's maybe ISP's router fault. Still no success.

Could you run "nvmupdatew64e.exe -i -l test.txt" from the file posted by Rocky12 and paste your text.txt file here please?

 

 

Edited August 7, 2021 by bidero

[Henties]

@bidero @Rocky12 Attached is the output after running nvmupdatew64e.exe -i -l text.txt but not really knowing what to make of the contents of the generated text.txt file. My intel i225-V only works sort of with 100baceTX on Monterey, whereas is works up to 1000baseT under Big Sur.

 

Any suggestions to get it working properly ?

 

Regards Henties

nvmupdatew64e.exe -i -l text.txt

Inventory
[00:010:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller (2) I225-V
    Flash inventory started.
    Shadow RAM inventory started.
    Shadow RAM inventory finished.
    Flash inventory finished.
    OROM inventory started.
    OROM inventory finished.
[00:010:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller (2) I225-V
    Vendor                 : 8086
    Device                 : 15F3
    Subvendor              : 1458
    Subdevice              : E000
    Revision               : 2
    LAN MAC                : 18C04DAA7D37
    Alt MAC                : 18C04DAA7D37
    SAN MAC                : 000000000000
    ETrackId               : 8000014B
    SerialNumber           : 18C04DFFFFAA7D37
    NVM Version            : 1.69(1.45)
    PBA                    : G23456-000
    VPD status             : Not set
    VPD size               : 0
    NVM update             : No config file entry
      checksum             : Valid
    OROM update            : No config file entry
      CIVD                 : 0.0.0
      PXE                  : 0.4.9, checksum Valid
      EFI                  : 0.8.7, checksum None

 

Edited August 7, 2021 by Allan
Insert code

[bidero]

@Henties Looks like your I225 has the same NVM firmware version as mine - 1.45.

 

On Big Sur I have no problems at all. Everything is buttery smooth. Using only dk.e1000=0 in boot arguments.

I can't manage it to make it work on Monterey with any possible manual settings combination (and/or with DHCP). I'm starting to wonder if one of the kexts used by surenmunoo is doing the job. I'm on Apple Broadcom WiFi/BT module - but I don't really think it's related.

[surenmunoo]

12 hours ago, bidero said:

@Rocky12 I have already tested that. Unfortunately there is a script error (already discussed on few other forums), so the updater is not working correctly. I've managed to run nvmupdatew64e.exe alone, and it looks like I already have the newest NVM firmware - 1.45.  "Unsupported device found - DeviceId: 0D4D" in the log file is about I219.

Intel(R) Ethernet NVM Update Tool
NVMUpdate version 1.35.30.0
Copyright (C) 2013 - 2020 Intel Corporation.

nvmupdatew64e -i -l test 

Unsupported device found - DeviceId: 0D4D.
Inventory
[00:005:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller (2) I225-V
	Flash inventory started.
	Shadow RAM inventory started.
	Shadow RAM inventory finished.
	Flash inventory finished.
	OROM inventory started.
	OROM inventory finished.
[00:005:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller (2) I225-V
	Vendor                 : 8086
	Device                 : 15F3
	Subvendor              : 8086
	Subdevice              : 0000
	Revision               : 2
	LAN MAC                : B42E99FCD08A
	Alt MAC                : B42E99FCD08A
	SAN MAC                : 000000000000
	ETrackId               : 8000014B
	SerialNumber           : B42E99FFFFFCD08A
	NVM Version            : 1.69(1.45)
	PBA                    : G23456-000
	VPD status             : Not set
	VPD size               : 0
	NVM update             : No config file entry
	  checksum             : Valid
	OROM update            : No config file entry
	  CIVD                 : 0.0.0
	  PXE                  : 0.4.9, checksum Valid
	  EFI                  : 0.8.7, checksum None

@Henties If you're on Mac, use something like Unarchiver. On windows, 7-Zip does the job.

 

@surenmunoo I really hope it will help. I have even connected my old Time Capsule to see if it's maybe ISP's router fault. Still no success.

Could you run "nvmupdatew64e.exe -i -l test.txt" from the file posted by Rocky12 and paste your text.txt file here please?

 

 

I cannot open the zip file

53 minutes ago, bidero said:

@Henties Looks like your I225 has the same NVM firmware version as mine - 1.45.

 

On Big Sur I have no problems at all. Everything is buttery smooth. Using only dk.e1000=0 in boot arguments.

I can't manage it to make it work on Monterey with any possible manual settings combination (and/or with DHCP). I'm starting to wonder if one of the kexts used by surenmunoo is doing the job. I'm on Apple Broadcom WiFi/BT module - but I don't really think it's related.

Try this EFI, I removed the kexts folder as it made it to large and the serial numbers.

EFI.zip

[Rocky12]

Try this

Nvmupdate145.zip

some useful information may be help you

https://askubuntu.com/questions/1244745/ubuntu-20-04-intel-network-connectivity-issue-bug-in-igc

 

 

 

Edited August 8, 2021 by Rocky12

[Henties]

@surenmunoo @Rocky12 thanks for your feedback including the link to the ask ubuntu site, the contents of which I found very interesting, and conclude that the malfunctioning of the Intel i225-V onboard NIC on both of my GA-Z490 Vision G builds, on Monterey only, must now exclusively be related to a problem with the beta code base of Monterey. This i225-V NIC is working properly under 2 iterations of Windows, Ubuntu 20.4 as well as Big Sur 11.5.1 I think therefore it is best to wait for another few Monterey beta releases from Apple and monitor what is happening along the way.

With Monterey beta 3 I was not able to get the i225-V NIC working at all whereas under beta release 4 it seems to be quite usable at a 100baseTX speed setting, some progress at least. 

My daily computer activities are all conducted under Big Sur 11.5.1 which I find extremely stable, I am using Monterey beta 4 .... only for experimental purposes until I feel that Monterey's stability matches that of Big Sur, of cause with a properly working i225-V NIC included in my "usefulness" considerations for Monterey.

 

Greetings Henties 

 

[Guest 5T33Z0]

Glad to see this issue has its own thread now, so I can follow it.

 

@Henties I managed to install beta 4 now. I can set-up the Internet connection (100baseTX, full duplex with flow control) and the icon becomes "green" and says I am connected. But I can't get any connection to any server in Safari or Firefox I've tried a manual address with DCHP supoort as well as a completely manual configuration. I am only using the boot-arg: dk.e1000=0, no DeviceProerties or Kernel Patches.

Edited August 9, 2021 by 5T33Z0

[Henties]

@5T33Z0 I also only use dk.e1000=0 as a boot arg and can connect with the i225-V only at the reduced speed of 100baseTX, which is too slow for my everyday connection requirements for which I use an Aquantia PCIe card instead. The i225-V is used to connect to my DANTE audio network which in my setup runs quite well at 100baseTX.  Why yours does not even want to connect at 100baseTX is however beyond my understanding, perhaps you are using additional kexts or SSDts which, I don't use and or need, causing your i225-V not to even kick in at 100baseTX ??? 

I anticipate Apple to seed Monterey beta 5 upgrade soon, hoping that the i225-V will then be fully functional. I don't think there is much we can do while we are dealing with Monterey which is still fairly early in it's beta development cycle, that being the reason why all my machines are still on Big Sur 11.5.1 and I only use Monterey beta in a dual boot configuration for testing and experimental purposes on one of my 2 GA-Z490 Vision G hacks.

I am positive that the i225-V will eventually work the way it should under Monterey

 

Greetings Henties

[Henties]

The Monterey beta 5 i225-V onboard NIC is now working and connecting through all available speed ranges but only once or rather for as long as one does not change the connected webpage. Once I change a webpage internet access stops. Most of the time I can get it working again by just disabling and re-enabling the NIC in System Preferences--> Network.

I have written this with the i225-V enabled at 1000baseT as per the attached screenshot, it looks like we are almost there but no quite yet, pitty.

 

Greetings Henties

Edited August 12, 2021 by Henties

[bidero]

No progress here 😕 In my case beta 5 doesn’t change a thing. When there finally is a green light, nothing is loading in safari.

[Guest 5T33Z0]

On 8/12/2021 at 9:38 AM, Henties said:

The Monterey beta 5 i225-V onboard NIC is now working and connecting through all available speed ranges but only once or rather for as long as one does not change the connected webpage. Once I change a webpage internet access stops. Most of the time I can get it working again by just disabling and re-enabling the NIC in System Preferences--> Network.

I have written this with the i225-V enabled at 1000baseT as per the attached screenshot, it looks like we are almost there but no quite yet, pitty.

 

Greetings Henties

 

What's the build number of Monterey beta 5? I have to download the Installer separately since I can't access the internet from within monterey.

What do you mean by: "Once I change a webpage internet access stops."

[Henties]

3 hours ago, 5T33Z0 said:

 

What's the build number of Monterey beta 5? I have to download the Installer separately since I can't access the internet from within monterey.

What do you mean by: "Once I change a webpage internet access stops."

With Monterey beta 5 build (21A5304g) I have to stay on one webpage, and may not even attempt to follow another embedded link from within that same page. As soon as I however do, browsing freezes and I get nowhere further, therefore not usable at all, as it happens through all speed ranges from 1000baseT down. However my PCIe Aquantia 10 Gig. add on NIC works like a dream in Monterey, but it does not help me because I cannot use the i225-V anymore at a low speed setting to serve my Dante audio network, without that functionality my Monterey is actually useless, therefore I have provisionally mothballed it till the next beta is seeded by Apple, essentially now waiting to see what beta 6 will surprise us with.

Going by improvements that Apple has phased into the network stack of Big Sur, with the recent 11.5.2 update, I believe I begin to see light in the tunnel, even extending to Monterey.

ASICS based AX88179 USB NICs have always worked without extra Kexts in prior versions of Big Sur - OOB. With the architechtural changes in Big Sur, this stopped. Asics however provided a temporary solution with the incarnation of their new DEXT driver, this installation was cumbersome to install but nevertheless somehow worked. I used it successfully for quit some time and for a number of months. To me it was therefore a welcome move by Apple to modify their Big Sur 11.5.2  code base such that "UGREEN" USB Gigabit NICs once again just work OOB without anything extra the user has to be bothered about under Big Sur. 

In short AX88179 USB dongles once again work OOP after the release of Apple Big Sur 11.5.2.

I believe Monterey will finally also be blessed with this treatment by Apple, with USB AX88179 dongles working OOB under Monterey as well, we just have to be a bit more patient. 

In addition, I am also confident that the i225-V NIC will also work well under Monterey, but the letter is still under fairly early beta in its development phase so we have to be just a bit more realistic and patient until all the goodness of Monterey enfolds before us.

 

Greetings Henties

 

Greetings Henties 

 

[Guest 5T33Z0]

Nothing has changed in Beta 5 for me either. It says "connected" (in green) but I still can't get a connection to the outside world. I can't get a connection to the DNS Server. It doesnt matter if I set it up as a DHCP Conection with manual IP or completely manual.