Intel x550-T1 Multi-gig auto negotiation Ubuntu 24.04

[Phantom775]

Hello, after searching for a while it seems this card does support 100/1000/2.5g/5g/10g, which is exactly what i need. However in practice, it seems (and i have confirmed from other posts) that 2.5/5g is supported, but disabled by default. I've found i'm able to temporarily manually enable it by running in the terminal,

ethtool -s <ethX> advertise 0x1800000001028

However, after a system restart the advertised speeds reset. I'm also only pulling about 1.5 gbps w/ iperf3. around 2 with real file transfers from smb share. I was curious if this is within the +/- of the 2.5 gbps, or if there's something else i should be diagnosing.

My main concern is to fix the auto-negotiation to where 2.5/5 is enabled by default, on system start up. Thank you.

[RyanFeeko]

Hey @Phantom775 , i have found an article. Could you check the link below:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000030131/ethernet-products/500-series-network-adapters-up-to-10gbe.html

However, what is the version driver installed?

Here the latest driver version:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/15084/intel-ethernet-adapter-complete-driver-pack.html

Hope this may help...

[Phantom775]

Hello, Ryan.
That article doesn't seem helpful for my use case. I need auto-negotiation to use 100/1000/2.5g/5g/10g at the same time, i don't want to specify only one.

I'm unsure of the driver installed, i can try to manually install a driver but i'm not sure how to on Ubuntu.

[RyanFeeko]

Hey @Phantom775 you may try below steps:

Try below:
sudo ethtool -s <eth_name> autoneg on

Create a dispatcher script in /etc/NetworkManager/dispatcher.d/ to apply ethtool settings on each connection event:
sudo nano /etc/NetworkManager/dispatcher.d/10-ethtool-settings


Write below script:
=========================

#!/bin/bash

INTERFACE="<eth_name>"

if [ "$1" == "$INTERFACE" ]; then
ethtool -s $INTERFACE autoneg on
fi

==========================

Make the script executable:
sudo chmod +x /etc/NetworkManager/dispatcher.d/10-ethtool-settings

then reboot:
sudo reboot

let see if this works or not..

[Ragulan_Intel]

Hi Phantom775,

Hope you are doing well.

Please be informed that the auto-negotiation for 2.5 and 5Gb speeds for the X550 was changed in 2020. Default auto-negotiation excludes the 2.5 and 5Gb speeds.

If 2.5 or 5Gb is chosen manually, it will change auto-negotiation to only advertise that speed. So, it is not forcing to 2.5Gb or 5Gb when those options are chosen, it changes the advertised speed.

That may be an issue if the switch is configured as forced to 2.5Gb instead of auto-negotiate.

If that still does not help, please make sure the ethernet updated to the latest NVM and drivers.

Additionally I am attaching you the datasheet link that might address your concern and provide a better insight

https://cdrdv2.intel.com/v1/dl/getcontent/333369

Regards,

Ragulan_Intel

[Fikri_Intel]

Hi Phantom775,

Just wanted to to follow up, do you have further concerns.

Looking forward to your response.

Regards,

Fikri

[Phantom775]

Hello,
Sorry, we’re in the middle of moving and I’ve been fairly busy.

So if I’m understanding correctly, it can’t advertise all 5 speeds at the same time? Or isn’t supposed to, anyways?

The command I provided allows it to advertise all 5 speeds, it just loses the functionality on restart.

Also, what is NVM? Sorry, I’m fairly novice.

Additionally, is it possible to just downgrade to the 2020 driver? I’m sure this isn’t recommended or supported, but if it fixes my issue that’s all I care about unless there’s some huge vulnerability.

Thank you.

[Sachinks]

Hello Phantom775,

Thank you for your reply and thank you for providing the details.

Please note that as per the update from 2020, Default auto-negotiation excludes the 2.5 and 5Gb speeds. So as per your query, yes, it can’t advertise all 5 speeds at the same time.

And regarding the NVM, it is fimrware for the adapter. You can check the latest NVM update available here :

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/19358/non-volatile-memory-nvm-update-utility-for-intel-ethernet-network-adapter-x550-series.html

You can follow the steps given in the ''README'' file to get the installation steps. Please note that the base driver has to be installed to the latest version before installing the latest NVM file.

You can get the latest drivers for the adapter here : https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/19622/intel-ethernet-product-software-release-notes.html

We would not suggest installing drivers from 2020 and before as they are very old and may cause other issues.

You can try updating the drivers and NVM to the latest version available and see if that helps.

Regards,

Sachin KS

[Ragulan_Intel]

Hi Phantom,

Greetings!

This is a gentle follow up on this request. 

We would appreciate if you can let us know the progress of updating the drivers and NVM to the latest version available.

Regards,

Ragulan_Intel