Thunderbolt 3 Modified Firmware Custom SSDT Discussion

[BaGeRa]

Thank you @CaseySJ

I attached you the Firmware that I dumped from the card when I bought it from eBay, It's was MacOS already Patched it's work fine in Mac pro with Catalina, But when I like to use back withintel PC dual xeon E5 the card don't work it's just recognized as Thunderbolt 15D2 Device but not working.

I hope that you can provide me a Firmware that can my Alpine Ridge Rev2 work again for windows machine.

Best regards,

 

[BaGeRa]

@scottkendall @NorthAmTransAm

I really interested to understand how to modify firmware based on OSY method ?? there are a Guide here ??

How we can mix different Firmware part from different cards OEM Firmware's ??

Thank you

 

[CaseySJ]

Thank you @CaseySJ

I attached you the Firmware that I dumped from the card when I bought it from eBay, It's was MacOS already Patched it's work fine in Mac pro with Catalina, But when I like to use back withintel PC dual xeon E5 the card don't work it's just recognized as Thunderbolt 15D2 Device but not working.

I hope that you can provide me a Firmware that can my Alpine Ridge Rev2 work again for windows machine.

Best regards,

A nice feature of Thunderbolt firmware is the existence of (a) active firmware and (b) backup firmware. In your file, the original Alpine Ridge firmware is still present in unmodified form, but in the backup region. In the attached file, I simply marked the backup region as the active region by changing a pointer.

Try flashing this version.

This also means we can change the pointer again to re-activate the modified version.

 

[BaGeRa]

I tested the attached Firmware but not working and the card it's not showing up at the boot and not detected in windows at all.

Notice: Maybe the Backup Firmware is not the original of my card !! maybe the man that flashed the card are used the standard Alpine Ridge V3 Firmware.zip from this post.

Can you check the @Consigliere Firmware it's said that it's the OEM Alpine Ridge Rev2 and see if you can make work.

I can't understand what's wrong with this Card and how to make it work again !!

 

[CaseySJ]

I tested the attached Firmware but not working and the card it's not showing up at the boot and not detected in windows at all.

Notice: Maybe the Backup Firmware is not the original of my card !! maybe the man that flashed the card are used the standard Alpine Ridge V3 Firmware.zip from this post.

Can you check the @Consigliere Firmware it's said that it's the OEM Alpine Ridge Rev2 and see if you can make work.

I can't understand what's wrong with this Card and how to make it work again !!

Please try this version. It's an original, unmodified file.

I don't have a GC-Alpine Ridge, but check if you're flashing the right chip. On GC-Titan Ridge we must flash the chip with blue dot (not green dot).

 

[BaGeRa]

@CaseySJ Not working at all and the card not booting and not detected in windows.

For the Alpine Ridge card we have just the Blue Chip no Green one.

The last Firmware that you sent to me it's the [Alpine Ridge 4C 2016] PCI ID : 0x15d3 and when I use a flashed Firmware Windows detect the card by PCI ID : 0x15d2 that correspond to INTEL_ALPINE_RIDGE_C_4C_NHI = [Alpine Ridge 4C 2015] (rev 02) !!

This is the list for Alpine Ridge :

#define PCI_DEVICE_ID_INTEL_ALPINE_RIDGE_LP_NHI 0x15bf
#define PCI_DEVICE_ID_INTEL_ALPINE_RIDGE_LP_BRIDGE 0x15c0
#define PCI_DEVICE_ID_INTEL_ALPINE_RIDGE_C_4C_NHI 0x15d2
#define PCI_DEVICE_ID_INTEL_ALPINE_RIDGE_C_4C_BRIDGE 0x15d3
#define PCI_DEVICE_ID_INTEL_ALPINE_RIDGE_C_2C_NHI 0x15d9
#define PCI_DEVICE_ID_INTEL_ALPINE_RIDGE_C_2C_BRIDGE 0x15da

As I see each card have two variant or part of the firmware not sur : _NHI and _BRIDGE

Now if my Model is the Alpine Ridge rev 02 the device will be only :

#define PCI_DEVICE_ID_INTEL_ALPINE_RIDGE_C_4C_NHI 0x15d2
#define PCI_DEVICE_ID_INTEL_ALPINE_RIDGE_C_4C_BRIDGE 0x15d3

The last one that you sent me is 0x15d3 and maybe in the same Firmware there are 0x15d2 that you need to point on it first ??

This may Help !!!

 

[CaseySJ]

@CaseySJ Not working at all and the card not booting and not detected in windows.

For the Alpine Ridge card we have just the Blue Chip no Green one.

The last Firmware that you sent to me it's the [Alpine Ridge 4C 2016] PCI ID : 0x15d3 and when I use a flashed Firmware Windows detect the card by PCI ID : 0x15d2 that correspond to INTEL_ALPINE_RIDGE_C_4C_NHI = [Alpine Ridge 4C 2015] (rev 02) !!

This is the list for Alpine Ridge :

#define PCI_DEVICE_ID_INTEL_ALPINE_RIDGE_LP_NHI 0x15bf
#define PCI_DEVICE_ID_INTEL_ALPINE_RIDGE_LP_BRIDGE 0x15c0
#define PCI_DEVICE_ID_INTEL_ALPINE_RIDGE_C_4C_NHI 0x15d2
#define PCI_DEVICE_ID_INTEL_ALPINE_RIDGE_C_4C_BRIDGE 0x15d3
#define PCI_DEVICE_ID_INTEL_ALPINE_RIDGE_C_2C_NHI 0x15d9
#define PCI_DEVICE_ID_INTEL_ALPINE_RIDGE_C_2C_BRIDGE 0x15da

As I see each card have two variant or part of the firmware not sur : _NHI and _BRIDGE

Now if my Model is the Alpine Ridge rev 02 the device will be only :

#define PCI_DEVICE_ID_INTEL_ALPINE_RIDGE_C_4C_NHI 0x15d2
#define PCI_DEVICE_ID_INTEL_ALPINE_RIDGE_C_4C_BRIDGE 0x15d3

The last one that you sent me is 0x15d3 and maybe in the same Firmware there are 0x15d2 that you need to point on it first ??

This may Help !!!

Thunderbolt Controllers have multiple subcomponents as we can see below. UPSB is Upstream Bridge, DSB0 is Downstream Bridge #0, and NHI is Native Host Interface.

Device 0x15D2 refers to the NHI or Native Host Interface
Device 0x15D3 refers to the Bridges

These are all part of the same Thunderbolt controller, so no need to worry about those numbers.

My recommendation now is to flash the same firmware that the card was delivered with (CG-Alipne Mac Ordred.bin). Let's see if the card works with the same firmware that it came with.

 

[BaGeRa]

I just test it now and the card it start up on boot the extrarenal HDD Blinking and on windows it's detected but the controller not detected in Thunderbolt Control Center.

When I inspect the "CG-Alipne Mac Ordred.bin" it's give PCI ID : 0x1578 nvm version 33 !!

So how the card can boot and detected by a wrong (patched) firmware ?? this one is Alpine Ridge too :

+#define PCI_DEVICE_ID_INTEL_ALPINE_RIDGE_4C_NHI 0x1577
+#define PCI_DEVICE_ID_INTEL_ALPINE_RIDGE_4C_BRIDGE 0x1578

Maybe the original firmware file of the 0x1578 can make it work!! and what's about the nvm version 33 ??

Or Maybe we need to inject the NHI like @scottkendall said before on the 0x15d3 Firmware ??


So confused!! any idea @CaseySJ

 

[scottkendall]

I just test it now and the card it start up on boot the extrarenal HDD Blinking and on windows it's detected but the controller not detected in Thunderbolt Control Center.

When I inspect the "CG-Alipne Mac Ordred.bin" it's give PCI ID : 0x1578 nvm version 33 !!

So how the card can boot and detected by a wrong (patched) firmware ?? this one is Alpine Ridge too :

+#define PCI_DEVICE_ID_INTEL_ALPINE_RIDGE_4C_NHI 0x1577
+#define PCI_DEVICE_ID_INTEL_ALPINE_RIDGE_4C_BRIDGE 0x1578

Maybe the original firmware file of the 0x1578 can make it work!! and what's about the nvm version 33 ??

Or Maybe we need to inject the NHI like @scottkendall said before on the 0x15d3 Firmware ??


So confused!! any idea @CaseySJ

I never had a whole lot of luck with the Alpine Ridge card. Just very recently I flashed it back to this attached file. I am not sure if I saved this or where it is from, but I flashed my Alpine Ridge card back to this file the other day while attempting to make the studio monitor wake after sleep. The monitor worked fine in Monterey. However, then I upgraded to Ventura, and it stoped waking up. No luck yet. Maybe one day I have time I might ask @CaseySJ for help. Though I am on a ledge right now with getting Studio. Likely will wait we see if there will be anything released this year.

 

[BaGeRa]

Thank you @scottkendall This file is the same one sent by @CaseySJ, and it's not working, too.

It's like the Card don't have power at all on boot, not like the Flashed one the card from the boot it's working and external HDD is blinking and recognized as device in Windows 11. But still not working because maybe the modified Firmware not destinated to Windows it's for macOS.

Now we need @CaseySJ's help, to play around with the two Firmwares - the Original one and the Patched one - understanding what's wrong. We can try to find a solution, and maybe providing a new Firmware working.

@CaseySJ, I am available to test with my Alpine Ridge Rev2.0 card and give you feedback. If someone else can help, please interact with us !!

Best regards,