[SOLVED] Problems with a X520-DA2 10G NIC (Not recognised in Scale/Core/Windows)

[Bikerchris]

Hello all,

I wonder if anyone had any thoughts on my issue.

I have a (used) Intel X520-DA2 (appears genuine) that isn't recognised in a known good Scale machine (Gigabyte GA-B250M-D2V / Intel G4560 / Intel NIC PCI). I also placed it in another machine and it wasn't picked up. I then clean installed Core on the first machine and it also isn't recognised and finally tried it in a Windows 10 machine and again, no luck.

I've made various changes to the BIOS with no success.

I've switched between various known good fibre cables to a working 10G network switch (Mikrotik) and tried it with all ports (some ports in use to other TrueNAS machines) with no issues.

What puzzles me is that the external lights come on as if all is well, so PCI power is getting to it.

I'm reluctant to buy another card as the prices have gone up quite a bit...I confess I should have tested it when I bought it in July 2022.

Any comments welcome, though I feel it's likely only worth selling on ebay for parts/spares.

Many thanks in advance.

Chris

 

[danb35]

It really sounds like a dead or fake card. But to be sure, what do you mean by "it isn't picked up"? In SCALE, does it show up with ls /sys/class/net/? In Windows, does it show up in the Device Manager (as anything at all)? If not, I don't see that there's any real hope for it.

 

[Bikerchris]

Thank you for responding so quickly @danb35 , that sounds like bad news - hey ho.

When I say isn't picking up, I mean that the NIC isn't available in either the UI or console, only the onboard NIC is shown as an option.

Unfortunately the system has Core on it at the moment, is there an equivalent to ls /sys.., happy to try?

In Windows it did show up at all. I downloaded the drivers from the intel website and during the install it said "No Intel NIC installed".

I did just have a small but likely useless brainwave - prior to this I did have an Intel mono port 1G NIC in both test machines (in the smaller. I wonder if drivers somehow had an effect?

 

[danb35]

Unfortunately the system has Core on it at the moment, is there an equivalent to ls /sys.., happy to try?

You should see something with lspci.

 

[Bikerchris]

Thanks @danb35 , I'll try right now.

 

[danb35]

There's some weird spacing there (maybe if you used code tags rather than icode tags), but still that isn't encouraging--the Intel NIC should show up there.

 

[Bikerchris]

Oh, I think I had a small putty window, here it is again if helpful:

Code:

root@TrueNAS-2nd-G4560[~]# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v6/7th Gen Core Processor Host Bridge/DRAM Registers (rev 05)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation HD Graphics 610 (rev 04)
00:08.0 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v5/v6 / E3-1500 v5 / 6th/7th/8th Gen Core Processor Gaussian Mixture Model
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 200 Series/Z370 Chipset Family USB 3.0 xHCI Controller
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 200 Series PCH CSME HECI #1
00:17.0 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 200 Series PCH SATA controller [AHCI mode]
00:1b.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 200 Series PCH PCI Express Root Port #21 (rev f0)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 200 Series PCH PCI Express Root Port #5 (rev f0)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 200 Series PCH PCI Express Root Port #6 (rev f0)
00:1c.6 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 200 Series PCH PCI Express Root Port #7 (rev f0)
00:1c.7 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 200 Series PCH PCI Express Root Port #8 (rev f0)
00:1d.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 200 Series PCH PCI Express Root Port #9 (rev f0)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 200 Series PCH LPC Controller (B250)
00:1f.2 Memory controller: Intel Corporation 200 Series/Z370 Chipset Family Power Management Controller
00:1f.4 SMBus: Intel Corporation 200 Series/Z370 Chipset Family SMBus Controller
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 0c)
root@TrueNAS-2nd-G4560[~]#

 

[Bikerchris]

Here are some pics as well

 

[danb35]

I don't see a Yottamark sticker on that card, and I understand it should have one:

YottaMark* and BradyID* Stickers on Intel® Ethernet Adapters

YottaMark* and BradyID Code Verification on Intel® Ethernet Adapters.

www.intel.com

But fake or not, it does seem like that card is dead.

 

[Bikerchris]

The strange thing is that the LN reference on the warranty sticker is a reliable outlet here (UK). Unless someone has actually just printed the label and put it on a dud?

Thanks for your help @danb35 , very much appreciated.

 

[Bikerchris]

Just thought I would close this thread off with a final test. I unplugged a known good 10G NIC (also Intel) from a known good machine...in a hope that perhaps it was lack of PCI power, as the original board was micro-ATX.

Still the same issue, lots of lights and but no connectivity, so off to eBay I go, making it clear that it's a non-working item.

 

[Bikerchris]

SMALL UPDATE

I bought a new SFP+ NIC and all is now well.

 

[jgreco]

Unfortunately the system has Core on it at the moment, is there an equivalent to ls /sys.., happy to try?

Be aware that the X520 cards want real Intel optics in them, so if you put clones or Ciscos in there things may not work right. On the X520's, there is a sysctl to override that behaviour though.

 

[Bikerchris]

Thank you @jgreco (and hope you're well of course), I have a nice variety of optics that work well with my existing Intel NICS. I do have a few other cable makes, so I will try those as well, just in case.

Thank you also for the sysctl hint, I'll investigate.

 

[Radu]

I am trying also an X520-DA2 and in ubuntu 16.04 "ifconfig -a" does not display the interfaces, instead lspci lists the card. Will try also with BSD.
SPF+ modules mod:

Intel x520 EEPROM Patcher allows to unlock the x520 network card to work with non-intel branded SFP modules.

Intel x520 EEPROM Patcher allows to unlock the x520 network card to work with non-intel branded SFP modules. - intel_x520_patcher.py

gist.github.com

 

[jgreco]

I am trying also an X520-DA2 and in ubuntu 16.04 "ifconfig -a" does not display the interfaces, instead lspci lists the card. Will try also with BSD.

This is a common failure mode for fake cards. Have you checked the validity of the Yottamark on the card?

SPF+ modules mod:

Recommend NOT trying to use this, as there's already a driver patch to enable non-Intel SFP+'s. Or you can just buy the cheap-as-hell used ones, or generics branded as Intel, both are really cheap.

 

[Radu]

Unfortunately my card does not have a Yottamark on it.

Due to SFP+ modules, I already have some, so why not make the mod to the card permanent regardless of the host ?

I do not think that the cards are fake, seller says that they are from Dell, also the PCB has the Intel logo on it ...

 

[jgreco]

Unfortunately my card does not have a Yottamark on it.

Due to SFP+ modules, I already have some, so why not make the mod to the card permanent regardless of the host ?

I do not think that the cards are fake, seller says that they are from Dell, also the PCB has the Intel logo on it ...

Because the driver is involved in SFP+ enforcement. It's entirely possible that the driver and the modified firmware work correctly together to do what you wish. But it's also possible it doesn't. Forty odd years in the business suggests unnecessary hacks often have unexpected results. Since the drivers already support non-Intel SFP+'s, the logical thing is to use the driver's method, or use Intel tagged SFP+'s, rather than glomming on an unnecessary hack that could cause more mysterious issues.

If you can find other examples of the Dell card, check for signs of fake. Any idiot can etch the Intel logo into a PCB, "looking alike" is a poor measure. I have a pair of Intel dual ethernet cards from the 2000's that came in a box IDENTICAL to Intel, looked very similar to legit cards, and in fact the easiest way to tell them as fake was that the label spelled it "DAUL" (picture included). The fact that the card isn't recognized is a huge red flag.

Also see

Fake server cards

Some time ago, forum frequenter @artlessknave kindly sent me a pair of LSI HBA cards that had failed to work out in a FreeNAS build. Having suspected that these were fakes, I asked for them to be shipped here for comparison. However, COVID...

www.truenas.com

 

[Radu]

You argument has a fair point regarding firmware.

It looks like an Dell/Intel one, lspci lists the card alongside with the proper identification such as vendor IDs.
I will try to check with a newer version of ubuntu or some other OS.

 

[jgreco]

The X520 is a more-than-decade old card. Any version of pretty much any OS in the last decade should detect it, the card has amazing compatibility. Can you provide the detailed info from lspci including the vendor and device codes (use "lspci -vvxnn" to see the hexadecimal vendor and device codes) because it seems strange that a Dell X520 card wouldn't be detected...