Beware of fake ConnectX-3 Pro (MCX312B-XCCT) from eBay

[TheWired]

Mine is the same, but from an ebay seller. I will share more when I check it. Delivery will take some time.

 

[thulle]

At this point I am personally certain that eBay dealer nhlfy411 is selling only fake ConnectX-3 Pro cards.

Ty for that, I considered a $46 offer that popped up after browsing around, but I think I'll skip that.

 

[TheWired]

My real Mellanox ConnectX-3 Pro is finally here. I disassembled it and found that thermal paste is old and the chip clearly states ConnectX-3 Pro. The number is almost invisible, my camera is poor and was unable to catch it. Another specific thing - rubber feet that keep heatsink away from the PCB are stuck on the heatsink itself, not on the PCB like as on the fake controller. Please see the pictures.

 

[xtrap225]

i wanted to thank you all for this thread, which of course i found only after having had the same thing from the same seller happen to me. which was pretty upsetting.

live and learn, from now on i will do a search on all eBay sellers before i a make any major purchases.

for anyone having the same experience as me, i put in for a return and simply stated with evidence that they sent me the wrong model of card.

" Your return was completed and you have been refunded " so at least there is that good news for me. I am now wondering if this seller would have this thread on their radar? should i be posting this? if the consensus is that this will cause more harm than help, i would be happy to modify or remove anything. i just though this might help someone else get a refund and not get ripped off. course its possible that the seller will refuse and you will need to take it to eBay arbitration. everything else i got from that seller was of good quality and legit.

Giving this seller a great deal of "benefit of the doubt", it is possible they got ripped off and were originally unknowingly selling bad cards? Of course even if that was true in the past, they of course are well aware now....but why not create a second account so as not taint their primary one? I don't understand. It must have been a lot more profitable (larger price difference between X-3 and X-3Pro) way back when. because as far as fakes go if you released these when their firmware was already the newest, I probably would have missed it, they are pretty impressive in that regard. Well only if i hadn't also bought two MCX314A-BCCT as well; which took the updated firmware no problem, so unless it's a super fake, its real.

I did a quick search and the 2.40.7000 came out in approximately Nov 2017, and i suppose the price difference would have been ~several hundred dollars or more USD between the pro and non-pro.

so beyond wanting to help others and apparently blab on for a bit, i have a possibly very stupid question.

It is an open question for everyone. Does anyone think there is any possible harm or danger in using these cards? Maybe it's crazy or stupid but what if any, is the likelihood of a backdoor or anything malicious beyond changing the descriptors in the firmware? like uefi/efi bios' can have?

There isn't enough space to flash something like that in a network cards firmware, right?

I'm embarrassed for even asking but i figured better safe than sorry. Now that they are free, ill probably use them anyway, at least for now.

 

[viper780]

Of course there is the possibility of a backdoor. But that's a risk you take every time when buying something used.

Actually, this risk is also present when buying from the original manufacturer. Thinking of backdoors in Intel ME Engine

 

[Freebsd1976]

Does anyone think there is any possible harm or danger in using these cards?

I don't think the ebay seller have the capability to create a backdoor in firmware.

 

[TheWired]

At least we can download the original firmware, directly from the manufacturer's website and flash it. This should minimize this risk.

 

[xtrap225]

for those that are wanting it. i had already installed one in a windows box, and therefore was using windows. (otherwise i would have used linux), but i managed to flash it to the latest cx-3 (non-pro) firmware using the following command. i was happy to see this didn't effect the GUID's or MAC's.

when i flashed my MCX314A-BCCT it wiped my GUID's but i guess i don't need those since i am doing Ethernet and not IB, should i even bother to try to fix that?


flint -d /dev/mst/mt4103_pci_cr0 -i fw-ConnectX3-rel-2_42_5000-MCX312B-XCB_Ax-FlexBoot-3.4.752.bin --allow_psid_change --nofs burn


it now is seen as mt4099_pci_cr0 on firmware 2.42.5000

i got these instructions from https://forums.servethehome.com/ind...rnet-dual-port-qsfp-adapter.20525/post-200662

the person then recommends 'to turn off bootrom crap'

#turn off bootrom crap
mlxconfig -d /dev/mst/mt4099_pci_cr0 set BOOT_OPTION_ROM_EN_P1=false
mlxconfig -d /dev/mst/mt4099_pci_cr0 set BOOT_OPTION_ROM_EN_P2=false
mlxconfig -d /dev/mst/mt4099_pci_cr0 set LEGACY_BOOT_PROTOCOL_P1=0
mlxconfig -d /dev/mst/mt4099_pci_cr0 set LEGACY_BOOT_PROTOCOL_P2=0

i was wondering what folks think of this? i have read that turning it off can make boot up faster and reduse memory used by the card.

but on the downside if there is an issue with the card then without the bootrom it may not function properly.

so disable it? or don't mess with it?

 

[Finbester]

Interesting. Looks like I have two of the same cards from the same seller. Ordered on Nov 6. Gonna check one tomorrow, and see what the chip says.

 

[Finbester]

Finally got around checking it, and like others this was a fake. So if I'm correct, this is the 3rd or 4th one that is fake from the same seller.