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MP All Models Mellanox ConnectX-3 40 GbE using ATTO FastFrame macOS driver

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rdmitry911

macrumors newbie
Aug 20, 2022
4
1
willowthewisp said:
That means you have to desolder the SPI chip, flash it with the ATTO fw, solder it back and the ATTO driver will work. More than one clone means to modify the MAC with a hex editor before burning the SPI chip. The first 2kb of the fw a important !
I never used the lifefish/FNP method, always used a SPI programmer.
Most people tell you about a hot air soldering solution - use soldquick and a good soldering iron, heat up both sides of the 25xxx chip, use lots of flux. Always clean the stuff (pcb) with break cleaner (hexan) and a q-tip.
But remember that the PCIe 2.0 x8 bus will limit the port to appx. 3GB on a Mac Pro 5.1. If you want to go 40/50 Gbit a PCIe switch (2.0 x16 to 3.0 x8) is needed.
Click to expand...
Soldering is not my strong point at all. If there is any way to avoid soldering I would go that way. As far as you are the one who pointed here to lifefish/FNP method, may be you still have some references how to make it happen even if you didn't go that way?
 
X

xajh20058

macrumors newbie
Mar 3, 2023
1
0
rdmitry911 said:
Soldering is not my strong point at all. If there is any way to avoid soldering I would go that way. As far as you are the one who pointed here to lifefish/FNP method, may be you still have some references how to make it happen even if you didn't go that way?
Click to expand...
I flash ATTO firmware in my Mellanox MCX313 in lifefish mode (closed FNP) and try it in my hackintosh (OS: ventura). It does not work after installing the ATTO Driver.

mcx313.png
 
X

xjn819

macrumors newbie
Jan 1, 2023
23
11
just upgrade to last Ventura, Apple has released 40gb ETH dirverkit, the dext mlx5, according to the VID it supports all the MLX connectX 4 + from 40GB to 200GB (I guess). MTU cannot be set through GUI, but I think `networksetup -setMTU en4 9000` will work. I have no conditions to test if ROCE2 works.

another dirverkit called `i40e`, obviously is the driver for intel's 40gb+ cards.
 
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X

xjn819

macrumors newbie
Jan 1, 2023
23
11
xjn819 said:
just upgrade to last Ventura, Apple has released 40gb ETH dirverkit, the dext mlx5, according to the VID it supports all the MLX connectX 4 + from 40GB to 200GB (I guess). MTU cannot be set through GUI, but I think `networksetup -setMTU en4 9000` will work. I have no conditions to test if ROCE2 works.

another dirverkit called `i40e`, obviously is the driver for intel's 40gb+ cards.
Click to expand...
forgot, 25gb eth cards included
 
C

Cartsett

macrumors newbie
Apr 10, 2023
8
2
xjn819 said:
just upgrade to last Ventura, Apple has released 40gb ETH dirverkit, the dext mlx5, according to the VID it supports all the MLX connectX 4 + from 40GB to 200GB (I guess). MTU cannot be set through GUI, but I think `networksetup -setMTU en4 9000` will work. I have no conditions to test if ROCE2 works.

another dirverkit called `i40e`, obviously is the driver for intel's 40gb+ cards.
Click to expand...
I tried the 25G nic cx4411a acan on Ventura and it worked natively too. However, the MTU was limited to maximum 2034 in settings. Tried the command you provided and it didn’t work. Were you able to set it by any means? Thanks
 
X

xjn819

macrumors newbie
Jan 1, 2023
23
11
Cartsett said:
I tried the 25G nic cx4411a acan on Ventura and it worked natively too. However, the MTU was limited to maximum 2034 in settings. Tried the command you provided and it didn’t work. Were you able to set it by any means? Thanks
Click to expand...
Did you change ‘en4’ to your actual card name?
 
X

xjn819

macrumors newbie
Jan 1, 2023
23
11
Cartsett said:
Yes, in my case, it’s en7. Did it work for you?
Click to expand...
Nope, I have an ATTO card setting MTU from their mgt app. This command is used in general for macos Ethernet. Since the mlx driver is a driverkit(dext), it may differ from others. I have a quick view of this dext, it only have a on/off flag, so we cannot set MTU by adding flag. hope apple could add this function soon
 
X

xjn819

macrumors newbie
Jan 1, 2023
23
11
xjn819 said:
Nope, I have an ATTO card setting MTU from their mgt app. This command is used in general for macos Ethernet. Since the mlx driver is a driverkit(dext), it may differ from others. I have a quick view of this dext, it only have a on/off flag, so we cannot set MTU by adding flag. hope apple could add this function soon
Click to expand...
btw, the first beta of Ventura already had the mlx driver. At that time, it was a kext, which meant you could set the MTU via a command. But to load that kext, you had to have a hackintosh. I can't remember exactly when it changed to a dext.
 
Last edited:
C

Cartsett

macrumors newbie
Apr 10, 2023
8
2
xjn819 said:
Nope, I have an ATTO card setting MTU from their mgt app. This command is used in general for macos Ethernet. Since the mlx driver is a driverkit(dext), it may differ from others. I have a quick view of this dext, it only have a on/off flag, so we cannot set MTU by adding flag. hope apple could add this function soon
Click to expand...
Oh I see. Great progress though. The MTU is no big deal. Thanks
 
M

markfrog

macrumors newbie
Apr 8, 2023
8
1
xjn819 said:
just upgrade to last Ventura, Apple has released 40gb ETH dirverkit, the dext mlx5, according to the VID it supports all the MLX connectX 4 + from 40GB to 200GB (I guess). MTU cannot be set through GUI, but I think `networksetup -setMTU en4 9000` will work. I have no conditions to test if ROCE2 works.

another dirverkit called `i40e`, obviously is the driver for intel's 40gb+ cards.
Click to expand...
Hello, will cx4131a gcat work? it is 1g.10g.25g.40g.50g
 
X

xjn819

macrumors newbie
Jan 1, 2023
23
11
xjn819 said:
btw, the first beta of Ventura already had the mlx driver. At that time, it was a kext, which meant you could set the MTU via a command. But to load that kext, you had to have a hackintosh. I can't remember exactly when it changed to a dext.
Click to expand...
I obtained this kext from Ventura beta1. At that time, the driver was still a kext instead of a dext. You can adjust the MTU using the command ‘networksetup -setMTU en4 9000’ if the NIC is driven by the kext.

If you have a Hackintosh, follow these steps:

  1. Disable SIP, add the boot args: dk.mlx5=0 to block the mlx dext driver.
  2. Load the attached mlx kext through OpenCore, reboot and use the command to adjust the MTU; it should work.
  3. Use ‘ifconfig’ to check.
The kext might work on Apple Silicon as well, since it still has Apple's signature. I have a rough idea, but I haven't tried it:

  1. Disable SIP.
  2. Enter ‘sudo nvram boot-args=dk.mlx5=0’ to block the mlx dext.
  3. Place the attached kext in /Library/Extensions, but it may not work; reboot Mac, give it a try.
  4. If step 3 fails, use `kmutil` to load the kext directly.
  5. Verify the kext is loaded using `kextstat | grep "AppleEthernet"` and ensure mlx is displayed.
  6. Use the command to adjust the MTU.
  7. In the terminal, enter ‘ifconfig’ to check the MTU.
 

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Last edited:
C

Cartsett

macrumors newbie
Apr 10, 2023
8
2
xjn819 said:
this kext I got from Ventura beta1, at that moment this driver was still a kext rather than dext.
if it is a Hackintosh,
1. add boot-arg: dk.mlx5=0 to block the mlx dext driver.
2. load the attached mlx kext through opencore, and use the command to adjust MTU, it should work.


Apple silicon might work as well, since the kext still has Apple's signature. I have a very rough idea, but have no try.
1. disable SIP,
2. `sudo nvram boot-args=dk.mlx5=0` to block mlx dext.
3. (1). put the attached kext to /library/extensions but it may not work, just have a try
3. (2). if 3(1) failed, use `kmutil`to load the kext directly.
4. verify the kext is loaded through `kextstat | grep "AppleEthernet"`, check mlx is shown.
5. use the command to adjust MTU
Click to expand...
I tried the these steps on my Hackintosh and it worked! Successfully loaded the kext and set the MTU to 9000 using the command. However, when I tried it on another hackintosh, it unloaded the driver kit, but was unable to load the kext.
 
X

xjn819

macrumors newbie
Jan 1, 2023
23
11
Cartsett said:
I tried the these steps on my Hackintosh and it worked! Successfully loaded the kext and set the MTU to 9000 using the command. However, when I tried it on another hackintosh, it unloaded the driver kit, but was unable to load the kext.
Click to expand...
  1. Ensure that your other Hackintosh has SIP disabled.
  2. Try enabling or disabling VT-D, as it may help.
You haven't provided any configuration details, so I can only guess that there might be some incorrect settings, especially since your first Hackintosh worked fine.
 
Last edited:
C

Cartsett

macrumors newbie
Apr 10, 2023
8
2
xjn819 said:
  1. Ensure that your other Hackintosh has SIP disabled.
  2. Try enabling or disabling VT-D, as it may help.
You haven't provided any configuration details, so I can only guess that there might be some incorrect settings, especially since your first Hackintosh worked fine.
Click to expand...
Hackintosh A(success):
13700K
MSI Z690i Unify
6800XT
MacOS Ventura 13.0
SIP and VTD enabled

Hackintosh B(fail):
13700K
Gigabyte Z690 Aero D
6800XT
MacOS Ventura 13.3.1
SIP and VTD enabled

I just tried to disable the SIP for hackintosh B. It didn't help though. VTD is necessary to enable the onboard Thunderbolt, i225 nic and aqc113 nic, and prevent system crush, so I can't turn it off. Both hackintosh use the similar EFI. Only differences are USB mapping, alcid and aqc113 config. So I think the problem could be MacOS13.3.1. I didn't backup the system so I can't roll back to 13.0 to test it without a fresh installation. It's still really helpful. Thanks a lot for your suggestion again!
 
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