High Sierra native support for 10Gb ethernet

[mikeboss]

starting with macOS High Sierra 10.13.2 there will be native support for Aquantia AQtion based 10GbE network cards.
digging around in the latest developer beta of 10.13.2 revealed a KEXT named "AppleEthernetAquantiaAqtion.kext".
path to the KEXT: /System/Library/Extensions/IONetworkingFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/

this has to be the 10GbE NIC of the soon to be released iMac Pro. it might be easy to get 10Gb ethernet in the near future...

possibly compatible cards:

ASUS ROG AREION 10G
https://www.asus.com/Motherboard-Accessory/ROG-AREION-10G/

Aquantia AQtion AQN-107
https://www.aquantia.com/products/aqtion/nics/
https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/...tent/uploads/2017/10/AQN-107-Brief-052417.pdf

GIGABYTE GC-AQC107
https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GC-AQC107

ASUS XG-C100C
https://www.asus.com/Networking/XG-C100C/





https://www.anandtech.com/show/11368/aquantia-launch-aqtion-5g25g1g-nics


supported PCI Vendor/Device IDs found in the KEXT:

Vendor 1d6a -> Aquantia Corp.

pci1d6a,1
pci1d6a,b1
pci1d6a,d100
pci1d6a,d107
pci1d6a,d108 <<-- AQtion AQN-108 5GbE also supported?
pci1d6a,7b1
pci1d6a,8b1
pci1d6a,9b1

 

[krakman]

I have been waiting for this news for a long time!

I was going to get some Intel NIC and flash them but if a native plug and play solution appears I will be very happy indeed!

THe only thing is that the current Aquantia cards only have 1 port whilst some of the Intel based cards have 2 ports which suits my purpose better.

 

[itdk92]

Great news indeed

 

[mikeboss]

after having a look at the linux driver for the ASUS XG-C100C I'd say it's almost 100% certain that this card will work with macOS 10.13.2

http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/wireless/XG-C100C/DR_XG_C100C_5005_Linux.zip

 

[William Payne]

I am confused, Sonnet Tech have been selling 10Gb cards that are Mac Compatible this whole time. I have never used one but they have been on their site for ages and they specifically advertise it as Mac compatible.

 

[mikeboss]

I am confused, Sonnet Tech have been selling 10Gb cards that are Mac Compatible this whole time. I have never used one but they have been on their site for ages and they specifically advertise it as Mac compatible.

true. but for 2-3 times the money and without native (OOTB) support from macOS. these cards only work with the specific drivers from the manufacturer. whenever possible, I prefer cards that work without the need to install 3rd party drivers. usually much less potential for conflicts etc.

 

[William Payne]

true. but for 2-3 times the money and without native (OOTB) support from macOS. these cards only work with the specific drivers from the manufacturer. whenever possible, I prefer cards that work without the need to install 3rd party drivers. usually much less potential for conflicts etc.

I can understand that. Fair enough. I come from the Windows world where everything requires the install of drivers.

 

[Kris Kelvin]

Bad news: A MacPro5,1 will not POST if a ASUS XG-C100C adapter is installed (no boot chime). The card appears to be powered though (solid LEDs on the card when an Ethernet cable is connected to it).
The card should be compatible with PCIe 2.0 x4, and I've installed it in slot 3, which should be exactly that.

The same card in an external Thunderbolt enclosure (ThunderTek PX) is not detected and doesn't seem to be powered.

 

[mikeboss]

Bad news: A MacPro5,1 will not POST if a ASUS XG-C100C adapter is installed.

bummer! IMHO this should not happen if a card follows PCI-rules/designguides.

EDIT:
did you try the card in a PC? maybe it has some kind of an option ROM or menu (net-boot for example)? or the card doesn't like slots 3 & 4 (the two slots are connected to a PCIe switch).

EDIT II:
according to a reviewer on amazon the card indeed has PXE boot. can it be disabled (while plugged in to a PC)?

yep, there's an EEPROM -> https://kknews.cc/tech/k3q565p.html
card should work without this, I'm pretty sure the MAC address is stored in the aquantia chip.

 

[Kris Kelvin]

Thanks for the pointers! I think you might be right. Aquantia writes here:

Aquantia also provides UEFI and PXE boot code, as well as ROM programming and Windows Installer utilities.

The utilities don't seem to be public though.
I don't have a PC, but maybe I'll find one. Will keep trying.

 

[AidenShaw]

Thanks for the pointers! I think you might be right. Aquantia writes here:

Aquantia also provides UEFI and PXE boot code, as well as ROM programming and Windows Installer utilities.

The utilities don't seem to be public though.
I don't have a PC, but maybe I'll find one. Will keep trying.

Note that no Apple system uses UEFI.

 

[mikeboss]

Kris, you could try to short pins 4+5 of the EEPROM while powering on the Mac Pro. this will prevent the system from reading out the ROM of the network card. back in the time when I was flashing EFI ROMs to PC graphics cards, this allowed me to boot the Mac Pro even if it played dead because I really f***ed up the ROM of the card...

http://netkas.org/?p=1182
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/how-to-save-your-ati-5770-gpu-after-a-bad-bios-flash.1894948/

 

[Squuiid]

The boot ROM is most definitely the issue here, as others have said.

Intel cards allow the ROM to be disabled by running a command, BootUtil. This is a must for the cards to work in a cMP.

Are there any tools available from Aquantia/ASUS which might achieve this? Might be worth reaching out to their support teams if not.

UPDATE: I've emailed Aquantia at rdc-drv@aquantia.com
Will post the response when I get one.

 

[Squuiid]

Here's where you can buy the Aquantia AQN-107-104-SFA card:
US:
http://shop.wpgam.com/WPGAStore/index.php?route=product/search&filter_name=Aquantia&x=0&y=0
US$79 + shipping and tax.

And here's the Gigabyte GC-AQC107 card:
US:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07544QS2H/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1
UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07544QS2H/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A2KVF7QXNCLV8H&psc=1

US$99 + tax.

 

[d5aqoëp]

ASUS XG-C100C (AQC107)

I have this card and it's got an extremely pathetic driver support from ASUS/Aquantia
The driver on ASUS site is from April 2017 and Aquantia is June dated.
In Windows WOL does not work and there is a review on Amazon.com saying the same. WOL is such a basic feature and it's laughable that drivers can't make it work.

Aquantia promises macOS support and no driver is available.

 

[mikeboss]

Aquantia promises macOS support and no driver is available.

with macOS High Sierra 10.13.2 the NIC is supported OOTB. we don't need the driver, we need the possibility to disable the boot ROM though.

 

[d5aqoëp]

@mikeboss

Ohh boy!! I removed the ASUS XG-C100C from the attic and inserted into bro’s Hackintosh running HS 10.13.2 and behold

It's getting detected correctly. But network settings shows as network cable unplugged

It is working correctly in Windows 10 with driver downloaded from ASUS site so there is no cable unplugged problem.

We are so near!!!!!

 

[mikeboss]

@mikeboss

Ohh boy!! I removed the ASUS XG-C100C from the attic and inserted into bro’s Hackintosh running HS 10.13.2 and behold

It's getting detected correctly. But network settings shows as network cable unplugged

are you sure that the "unplugged" interface is the ASUS NIC? or is it possible that this is the mainboard's onboard NIC?
check MAC address (click on "Advanced..."). it's possible that the Aquantia will show up if you click on "+" in the lower left of the window.

 

[Kris Kelvin]

are you sure that the "unplugged" interface is the ASUS NIC?

In the System Profiler screenshot (which is now gone), only a single Ethernet device was listed. I think there's no other supported Ethernet adapter.

It's getting detected correctly. But network settings shows as network cable unplugged

It's possible that negotiation fails with the macOS driver. Can you try setting the "Speed" in Advanced -> Hardware to "1000baseT" or whatever your switch expects?

 

[d5aqoëp]

In the System Profiler screenshot (which is now gone), only a single Ethernet device was listed. I think there's no other supported Ethernet adapter.

It's possible that negotiation fails with the macOS driver. Can you try setting the "Speed" in Advanced -> Hardware to "1000baseT" or whatever your switch expects?

1. I have disabled onboard Intel I219-V ethernet adapter from BIOS.
2. It does not give me any option other than autoselect

 

[Squuiid]

So nobody has been able to get any of these cards working in macOS?

Here's Aquantia's support email address. The more people that put pressure on and request a tool to disable the boot ROM the more likely we are to get it. Please do send them an email requesting the tool if you want to get these working in a cMP.
AQN_Support@aquantia.com

 

[Kris Kelvin]

At this point, it's all just conjecture. Maybe there's a BootROM. Maybe other brands or the generic version linked above are different from ASUS' adapter. Maybe the macOS driver is not ready for actual use (the iMac Pro might ship with a different version). Maybe it only talks to 10G switches.

I've found a link to a diagnostics utility (Windows only) that should work with AQC107 adapters:
http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/drivers/driversdetails?driverId=ND8VR

Haven't yet gotten my hands on a PC but might find the time over the holidays. I'd rather not try shorting the ROM while running the card in my only workstation (Mac Pro).

 

[DPUser]

Interesting stuff. Thanks for sharing your journey and, hopefully, ultimate success!

 

[Squuiid]

I've found a link to a diagnostics utility (Windows only) that should work with AQC107 adapters:
http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/drivers/driversdetails?driverId=ND8VR

Haven't yet gotten my hands on a PC but might find the time over the holidays. I'd rather not try shorting the ROM while running the card in my only workstation (Mac Pro).

Kris, any luck with this?

 

[mikeboss]

kris, I'll try it with one of my PCs if you would like to send me the NIC...

EDIT
I just had a quick look at the utility provided by DELL. unfortunately it doesn't look like there's an option to disable the boot ROM. but maybe there's some sort of a menu to do this while the card is mounted in a PC..?