On Sun, Apr 3, 2016 at 7:21 AM, Wesley W. Terpstra <wes...@terpstra.ca> wrote: > Sorry for the earlier message! My hand hit the send button before I'd > finished writing the email. > > I had a bit more time this weekend, and I managed to unlock my > X710-DA4. It now accepts any SFP+. I tried four different models of > 10GBASE-LR transceivers in the card, and they all seemed to work just > fine. Admittedly, I only tested that they could hit 1.1GiB/s TCP flows > for a few minutes before picking one transceiver type and sticking > with it. In particular, I had some A7EL-LND3-ADMA transceivers lying > around that I found for 10EUR a piece and I am now using these > reliably the whole day. In summary, FUD aside, the X710-DA4 works > great with most SFP+s and the decision to lock this card down seems > more like it has something to do with monopolistic practices than > anything else. If I run into any problems with the cheaper SFP+s I > will follow-up with a reply to the list. > > The XL710 has four records in NVM that describe whether or not the > card should reject an unknown SFP+. When you flip these four bits, it > will accept any SFP+. I have tested Linux only, but the driver works > unmodified with an unlocked card. Todd Fujinaka mentioned that Intel > sells an unlocked optics card, so I imagine the drivers were tested > against those cards which is why it works under linux. Therefore, I'd > wager the windows driver likewise works with an unlocked card, though > I have not tested it. > > Be warned: running nvmupdate64e -rd will restore the lock bits! Normal > update appears to preserve their value. > > To unlock your card, you will need linux 4.5, nvmupdate64e v1.26.17.09 > , skill with Cl, and some time. I have not prepared a general-purpose > unlocking tool, because the NVM format might differ between cards and > thus this procedure should only be undertaken by someone who knows > what they are doing. > > DO NOT FOLLOW THIS GUIDE UNLESS YOU DON'T FEAR BRICKING YOUR CARD!
Actually possible repercussions are far worse than bricking your card. You could potentially burn up the entire system if you mess with an EEPROM and you don't know what you are doing. The main reason why Intel locks out third party SFPs is because they want to be able to perform electrical validation before attempting to power them on in the driver. Odds are most SFPs won't cause any issues, but you just opened yourself up to liability if someone starts a fire or damages their equipment by following your guide so I want to make sure you understand the risks are much greater then what you have stated here. - Alex ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ _______________________________________________ E1000-devel mailing list E1000-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/e1000-devel To learn more about Intel® Ethernet, visit http://communities.intel.com/community/wired
