Intel X550 and Big Sur

[maxix1234566]

Hello everyone, please help me start Ethernet Intel X550 in Big Sur operating system.

I have an Asus X99-E-10G WS motherboard that has two 10G ports that run on an Intel X550 controller.
In Catalina, everything worked for me, got it working with kexts:
- FakePCIID.kext
- FakePCIID_Intel_GbX.kext

FakePCIID_Intel_GbX.kext/Contents/Info.plist

- SmallTreeIntel8259x.kext
But unfortunately SmallTreeIntel8259x is no longer developed and Catalina is the last operating system where it runs

I found an alternative on this controller from another manufacturer sonnettech, namely in the product "Presto 10GbE PCIe Card" which is supported in the Big Sur operating system

Help me start this kext, as I understand it, you need to throw in a fake device-id, as it was with SmallTreeIntel, but I don't understand where to get it

SonnetEthernet-10GE.kext attached to post

 

[cmartin58]

Hi, I made an account to follow this thread. I'm in the same boat with an ASUS x299 sage 10G board. I'd love to get the dual 10G ports (intel x550) running.

Your theory is the best approach that I can think of until someone smarter than me comes along. There's a good thread on macrumors forum titled "Modify retail Intel 10GbE NICs to use Small Tree macOS Drivers" that walks through the process to change the Subsytem ID on x520/540 cards to small tree to make them cards work using small tree drivers... which are now discontinued apparently.

I assume that following the process described in that forum post would also work for changing the Subsystem ID in our x550 cards to whatever it is that Sonnet uses and would have the same effect/result as changing it for small tree drivers. Unfortunately I don't know and can't find the sonnet Subsytem ID in the Presto PCIe card(s). I checked my Sonnet Thunderbolt 2 10G adaptor which is labelled with a Subsytem ID of "0x72e3". But I don't know how useful that is considering that the device is using an Aquantia controller...

 

[djlild7hina]

Hi, I made an account to follow this thread. I'm in the same boat with an ASUS x299 sage 10G board. I'd love to get the dual 10G ports (intel x550) running.

Your theory is the best approach that I can think of until someone smarter than me comes along. There's a good thread on macrumors forum titled "Modify retail Intel 10GbE NICs to use Small Tree macOS Drivers" that walks through the process to change the Subsytem ID on x520/540 cards to small tree to make them cards work using small tree drivers... which are now discontinued apparently.

I assume that following the process described in that forum post would also work for changing the Subsystem ID in our x550 cards to whatever it is that Sonnet uses and would have the same effect/result as changing it for small tree drivers. Unfortunately I don't know and can't find the sonnet Subsytem ID in the Presto PCIe card(s). I checked my Sonnet Thunderbolt 2 10G adaptor which is labelled with a Subsytem ID of "0x72e3". But I don't know how useful that is considering that the device is using an Aquantia controller...

Yes you can modify the EEPROM for the X550 on the Sage to work with either the Sonnet or SmallTree drivers. SmallTree does not have drivers for Big Sur but the Catalina drivers still work.

For SmallTree you basically have to modify the Subsytem Id to 000a like this:
(replace enp225s0f0 with proper identifier using 'ifconfig')
sudo ethtool -E enp225s0f0 magic 0x15638086 offset 0x242 value 0x0a
sudo ethtool -E enp225s0f0 magic 0x15638086 offset 0x243 value 0x00

sudo ethtool -E enp225s0f1 magic 0x15638086 offset 0x242 value 0x0a
sudo ethtool -E enp225s0f1 magic 0x15638086 offset 0x243 value 0x00

My github has instructions for the x550 but should be adaptable for other NICs

I have also tested a X550 card with the Sonnet driver working

Intel Network adapters on OS X: Small Tree drivers

The Sonnet has a different firmware SUBSYS-ID (16b8:7212). You'd need to mod your card to it in order to use the Sonnet drivers. I always thought Sonnet's drivers were just licensed derivatives of SmallTree's driver and were often outdated so I always stuck with the SmallTree drivers, but now I...

www.tonymacx86.com

 

[cmartin58]

Yes you can modify the EEPROM for the X550 on the Sage to work with either the Sonnet or SmallTree drivers. SmallTree does not have drivers for Big Sur but the Catalina drivers still work.

For SmallTree you basically have to modify the Subsytem Id to 000a like this:
(replace enp225s0f0 with proper identifier using 'ifconfig')
sudo ethtool -E enp225s0f0 magic 0x15638086 offset 0x242 value 0x0a
sudo ethtool -E enp225s0f0 magic 0x15638086 offset 0x243 value 0x00

sudo ethtool -E enp225s0f1 magic 0x15638086 offset 0x242 value 0x0a
sudo ethtool -E enp225s0f1 magic 0x15638086 offset 0x243 value 0x00

My github has instructions for the x550 but should be adaptable for other NICs

I have also tested a X550 card with the Sonnet driver working

Intel Network adapters on OS X: Small Tree drivers

The Sonnet has a different firmware SUBSYS-ID (16b8:7212). You'd need to mod your card to it in order to use the Sonnet drivers. I always thought Sonnet's drivers were just licensed derivatives of SmallTree's driver and were often outdated so I always stuck with the SmallTree drivers, but now I...

www.tonymacx86.com

My man! I found your comments in the thread "Intel Network adapters on OS X: Small Tree drivers" and saw that someone (you) had in fact done what I expected would work just days ago!

But as you note, Small tree drivers still work so it's even more straight forward than I planned. I've spent the afternoon trying to wrap my head around all the different ID types and Linux commands (I'm not much of a terminal person). Seeing your comments of success with nearly identical hardware to myself was incredibly encouraging!

And since you've so kindly shared the commands that (from what I can tell at least, again, still new to terminal) I can just "drag and drop", this has turned into a breeze. I'll go try now and type my findings below...

After walking my way through your GitHub and following your VERY CLEAR instructions I was done in 5 minutes. Both of my 10g ports have drivers installed and working well. Simply amazing. Thank you so much for the incredibly clear instructions. I'll be connecting this to a QNAP TS-873 with a dual x540 card installed, and eventually run a Ubiquiti switch in-between the two.

I saw the discussion about Sonnet vs Small tree drivers in the aforementioned thread. Since both work, is there a reason to go with one over an other? Might be best discussed in the other thread, but I'm just curious.

 

[djlild7hina]

My man! I found your comments in the thread "Intel Network adapters on OS X: Small Tree drivers" and saw that someone (you) had in fact done what I expected would work just days ago!

But as you note, Small tree drivers still work so it's even more straight forward than I planned. I've spent the afternoon trying to wrap my head around all the different ID types and Linux commands (I'm not much of a terminal person). Seeing your comments of success with nearly identical hardware to myself was incredibly encouraging!

And since you've so kindly shared the commands that (from what I can tell at least, again, still new to terminal) I can just "drag and drop", this has turned into a breeze. I'll go try now and type my findings below...

After walking my way through your GitHub and following your VERY CLEAR instructions I was done in 5 minutes. Both of my 10g ports have drivers installed and working well. Simply amazing. Thank you so much for the incredibly clear instructions. I'll be connecting this to a QNAP TS-873 with a dual x540 card installed, and eventually run a Ubiquiti switch in-between the two.

I saw the discussion about Sonnet vs Small tree drivers in the aforementioned thread. Since both work, is there a reason to go with one over an other? Might be best discussed in the other thread, but I'm just curious.

Great glad it worked! Very easy and reversible hack
As for the differences I’m not sure as I didn’t really test (but yes would be better to discuss in the other thread)? I just stuck with SmallTree and kept the commands for Sonnet as a backup in case

 

[macmaxxx]

Yes you can modify the EEPROM for the X550 on the Sage to work with either the Sonnet or SmallTree drivers. SmallTree does not have drivers for Big Sur but the Catalina drivers still work.

For SmallTree you basically have to modify the Subsytem Id to 000a like this:
(replace enp225s0f0 with proper identifier using 'ifconfig')
sudo ethtool -E enp225s0f0 magic 0x15638086 offset 0x242 value 0x0a
sudo ethtool -E enp225s0f0 magic 0x15638086 offset 0x243 value 0x00

sudo ethtool -E enp225s0f1 magic 0x15638086 offset 0x242 value 0x0a
sudo ethtool -E enp225s0f1 magic 0x15638086 offset 0x243 value 0x00

My github has instructions for the x550 but should be adaptable for other NICs

I have also tested a X550 card with the Sonnet driver working

Intel Network adapters on OS X: Small Tree drivers

The Sonnet has a different firmware SUBSYS-ID (16b8:7212). You'd need to mod your card to it in order to use the Sonnet drivers. I always thought Sonnet's drivers were just licensed derivatives of SmallTree's driver and were often outdated so I always stuck with the SmallTree drivers, but now I...

www.tonymacx86.com

At this moment I've three Hacks with exactly the same components, so with Asus X299 Sage WS 10G

The first Hack has been made for another guy with Mojave/ Clover; The three motherboard has bougth in 2019 with bios 3200. One board is HS, so I've bougth another one in november 2021, exactly the same board, it's become with bios 3500. I've installed the bios 3400 on this three boards with Catalina/OpenCore last version. The two first boards bougth in 2019 running perfectly, bester than a real mac! With the two ethernet ports runing faster!

I used the same EFI on the third board bougth in 2021. All running perfectly too except the two ethernet ports! No connexion, not present. ???? What's happen?? Ideas?

 

[djlild7hina]

At this moment I've three Hacks with exactly the same components, so with Asus X299 Sage WS 10G

The first Hack has been made for another guy with Mojave/ Clover; The three motherboard has bougth in 2019 with bios 3200. One board is HS, so I've bougth another one in november 2021, exactly the same board, it's become with bios 3500. I've installed the bios 3400 on this three boards with Catalina/OpenCore last version. The two first boards bougth in 2019 running perfectly, bester than a real mac! With the two ethernet ports runing faster!

I used the same EFI on the third board bougth in 2021. All running perfectly too except the two ethernet ports! No connexion, not present. ???? What's happen?? Ideas?

You need to modify the EEPROM and add the SmallTree kext to your EFI. (the process is outlined in the post you quoted) I don't provide support anymore since I retired from hackintosh. Make sure it works in Windows or Linux first.

Good luck

 

[macmaxxx]

Yes, I've been installed Windows 10 in another ssd and after installed drivers for ethernet and it's works fine.

I don't understand why it's works fine with the two first board without modify EEPROM but not in this one. I'll try modify that.

We hope You w'll come back to hackintosh soon ....

 

[macmaxxx]

You need to modify the EEPROM and add the SmallTree kext to your EFI. (the process is outlined in the post you quoted) I don't provide support anymore since I retired from hackintosh. Make sure it works in Windows or Linux first.

Good luck

When I make ifconfig I get this , I don't know where is identifier. And when I put "sudo ethool...etc... in terminal I take "command not found":
lo0: flags=8049<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 16384
options=1203<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,TXSTATUS,SW_TIMESTAMP>
inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000
inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128
inet6 fe80::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x1
nd6 options=201<PERFORMNUD,DAD>
gif0: flags=8010<POINTOPOINT,MULTICAST> mtu 1280
stf0: flags=0<> mtu 1280
utun0: flags=8051<UP,POINTOPOINT,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 1380
inet6 fe80::6baa:e6a3:dc48:eee4%utun0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x4
nd6 options=201<PERFORMNUD,DAD>
utun1: flags=8051<UP,POINTOPOINT,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 2000
inet6 fe80::974f:176f:cd89:e3f9%utun1 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x5
nd6 options=201<PERFORMNUD,DAD>
macoshca@MacOss-iMac ~ %

 

[maxix1234566]

And when I put "sudo ethool...etc... in terminal I take "command not found"

sudo apt-get install ethtool

and this needs to be done in linux os, not mac os