CWWK/Topton/... Nxxx quad NIC router

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A

alkersan

New Member
Jun 15, 2025
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JTech said:
Did you ever end up finding the special sata cable? Mine didn't come with one and I need to purchase one.
Click to expand...
You're probably referring specifically to the power adapter of the sata cable, right? As the data itself looks pretty standard. To me that connector to the right looks like the one from the old floppy connectors, but I'm not expert.
Also, found same question on reddit, they claim it's google'able by "Intel NUC 4 pin sata cable", which looks fitting.
 
J

JTech

New Member
Nov 14, 2023
14
0
1
alkersan said:
You're probably referring specifically to the power adapter of the sata cable, right? As the data itself looks pretty standard. To me that connector to the right looks like the one from the old floppy connectors, but I'm not expert.
Also, found same question on reddit, they claim it's google'able by "Intel NUC 4 pin sata cable", which looks fitting.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I need to work on my google/gemini skills because the results didn't even show that reddit post. I did come across some similar results, but nothing with reviews. Was hoping someone who has gone through the process posted some review.
 
S

slybunda

Active Member
Jan 30, 2023
186
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JTech said:
For those who are buying replacement power adapters for higher quality. The specs on the power adapter for the Zimaboard 2 look identical to the one that came with my topton device. Is the adapter good enough or safe to use for the topton device?
Click to expand...
heh look at the size difference between those 2 and both have same output. the smaller one is not even a GAN charger so deffo cheaping out. i got a 75w version of that delta and a 65w liteon psu. both good quality units with no issues.
 
pigr8

pigr8

Active Member
Jul 13, 2017
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if anyone wants to update the i226 nvm firmware on their boxes here is how to do it (i have 2 cwwk and 2 aoostar minipc, did it successfully)

download the whole mega package from intel Intel® Ethernet Adapter Complete Driver Pack and just get the linux/windows binary (nvmupdate64e runs on proxmox, nvmupdatew64e on w11), then create and use this configuration file (nvmupdate.cfg)

Code: 
CURRENT FAMILY: 1.0.0
CONFIG VERSION: 1.20.0

; NIC device
BEGIN DEVICE
DEVICENAME: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller I226-V
VENDOR: 8086
DEVICE: 125C
SUBVENDOR: 8086
SUBDEVICE: 0000
NVM IMAGE: FXVL_125C_V_1MB_2.32.bin
EEPID: 80000425
RESET TYPE: REBOOT
REPLACES: 80000308
END DEVICE
also get the firmware version from here GitHub - BillyCurtis/Intel-I226-V-NVM-Firmware: Intel I225-V / I226-V NVM Firmware and place it in the same folder where the binary and the cfg are, then simply run it (change the -m flag with your actual mac address)

Code: 
root@proxmox:~#./nvmupdate64e -b -l nvm.log -m A8B8E0036839 -f -u -c nvmupdate.cfg
Intel(R) Ethernet NVM Update Tool
NVMUpdate version 1.41.3.1
Copyright(C) 2013 - 2024 Intel Corporation.

./nvmupdate64e -b -l nvm.log -m A8B8E0036839 -f -u -c nvmupdate.cfg

Config file read.
Inventory
[00:003:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller I226-V
        Alternate MAC address is not set.
        Flash inventory started.
        Shadow RAM inventory started.
        Shadow RAM inventory finished.
        Flash inventory finished.
Update
[00:003:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller I226-V
        Creating backup images in directory: A8B8E0036839.
        Backup images created.
        Flash update started.
        NVM verification started.
        Shadow RAM verification started.
        Shadow RAM verification finished.
        Flash verification started.
        Flash verification finished.
        NVM verification finished.
        Flash update successful.
        Device update successful.
Update security revisions
[00:003:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller I226-V
        Skipping update minimum security revisions.
Update VPD with VPD template
[00:003:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller I226-V
        Skipping VPD update with VPD template.
Checking update availability for next tool run.
A reboot is required to complete the update process.
 
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U

USSZulu

New Member
Nov 22, 2022
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Just out of curiosity, who is BillyCurtis? Is there anywhere official that I can get I226v firmware? The reason I ask is you never know what a firmware file from an unknown source could contain.
 
pigr8

pigr8

Active Member
Jul 13, 2017
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a dude from the opnsense forum that just made life easier for everyone by uploading the file to github instead of having them downloaded from intel (requires account and login).

alternative is to get them from here Loading... and use them (and you can also sha sum compare them with the ones from github)
 
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USSZulu

New Member
Nov 22, 2022
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pigr8 said:
a dude from the opnsense forum that just made life easier for everyone by uploading the file to github instead of having them downloaded from intel (requires account and login).

alternative is to get them from here Loading... and use them (and you can also sha sum compare them with the ones from github)
Click to expand...
Thank you for the information. I made an intel account and tried to download the software from the link provided, but got an error saying I don't have permission to access that resource. Is there a place I can get the hash of this software from intel to verify the download from Github?

Thanks!
 
U

USSZulu

New Member
Nov 22, 2022
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pigr8

pigr8

Active Member
Jul 13, 2017
123
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USSZulu said:
Thank you for the information. I made an intel account and tried to download the software from the link provided, but got an error saying I don't have permission to access that resource. Is there a place I can get the hash of this software from intel to verify the download from Github?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
yeah getting the firmware from Intel is annoying that is why the dude published them on github so others dont have to do the same procedure.
 
P

phil-2024

Member
Sep 7, 2024
68
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USSZulu said:
I appreciate the information. Thank you!
Click to expand...
I used the said firmware absolutely fine, its legit. The installer checks it for a valid checksum anyway and it works just fine.

Think about it for a bit, the effort involved to modify the firmware (would someone outside of Intel even have access to the original source code anyway to be able to add some malware or virus to it and the tools to recompile it), just for a handful of people that are likely to stumble across it and update their network chips, just would not be worth it even if possible.
 
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TrevorH

TrevorH

Member
Oct 25, 2024
95
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phil-2024 said:
Think about it for a bit, the effort involved to modify the firmware (would someone outside of Intel even have access to the original source code anyway to be able to add some malware or virus to it and the tools to recompile it)
Click to expand...
If you were aiming to do something malicious then it's more likely the firmware would be legit but the executables on the iso to apply the firmware would be infected.
 
P

phil-2024

Member
Sep 7, 2024
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Indeed, which is why you should use the EXEs from Intel which can be obtained from downloading a complete Zip of their network drivers, it has the firmware updates for i225 but for some reason lack i226 firmware, but the flash procedure is the same.
 
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slybunda

Active Member
Jan 30, 2023
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those looking for cheap small drives for use in these boxes. have a look at the M10 optane drives from aliexpress. 16gb ones are like £4 fast with high endurance
 
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slybunda

Active Member
Jan 30, 2023
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phil-2024 said:
Indeed, which is why you should use the EXEs from Intel which can be obtained from downloading a complete Zip of their network drivers, it has the firmware updates for i225 but for some reason lack i226 firmware, but the flash procedure is the same.
Click to expand...
What's new in the new firmware?
 
pigr8

pigr8

Active Member
Jul 13, 2017
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the problems are the chips, i226 have notorious problems with aspm expecially 2.17, also i225 is a pretty shitty chip that intel knows about.

my first take on this was to update the i225 i have on a asus b650 board that has problems with wol not always working but i failed to update (probably because of the subsystem id of asus, i tried to force it unsuccessfully) then i stumbled upon the i226 workaround procedure and tried the update and those worked (updated 7 nics, some 1mb some 2mb variants).

i know aspm is broken on the n100 n305 and n150 (at least the cwwk and aoostar i have) but since the nics are always in use that is not a real issue, but on the last one (a remote dev machine) it actually fixed my wol so thats nice.. all had 2.17 (2 had 2.22), now all are updated to 2.32.

no performance gains, and did not measure consumption differences.
 
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F

famzilla

New Member
Mar 1, 2024
8
2
3
pigr8 said:
if anyone wants to update the i226 nvm firmware on their boxes here is how to do it (i have 2 cwwk and 2 aoostar minipc, did it successfully)

download the whole mega package from intel Intel® Ethernet Adapter Complete Driver Pack and just get the linux/windows binary (nvmupdate64e runs on proxmox, nvmupdatew64e on w11), then create and use this configuration file (nvmupdate.cfg)

Code: 
CURRENT FAMILY: 1.0.0
CONFIG VERSION: 1.20.0

; NIC device
BEGIN DEVICE
DEVICENAME: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller I226-V
VENDOR: 8086
DEVICE: 125C
SUBVENDOR: 8086
SUBDEVICE: 0000
NVM IMAGE: FXVL_125C_V_1MB_2.32.bin
EEPID: 80000425
RESET TYPE: REBOOT
REPLACES: 80000308
END DEVICE
also get the firmware version from here GitHub - BillyCurtis/Intel-I226-V-NVM-Firmware: Intel I225-V / I226-V NVM Firmware and place it in the same folder where the binary and the cfg are, then simply run it (change the -m flag with your actual mac address)

Code: 
root@proxmox:~#./nvmupdate64e -b -l nvm.log -m A8B8E0036839 -f -u -c nvmupdate.cfg
Intel(R) Ethernet NVM Update Tool
NVMUpdate version 1.41.3.1
Copyright(C) 2013 - 2024 Intel Corporation.

./nvmupdate64e -b -l nvm.log -m A8B8E0036839 -f -u -c nvmupdate.cfg

Config file read.
Inventory
[00:003:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller I226-V
        Alternate MAC address is not set.
        Flash inventory started.
        Shadow RAM inventory started.
        Shadow RAM inventory finished.
        Flash inventory finished.
Update
[00:003:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller I226-V
        Creating backup images in directory: A8B8E0036839.
        Backup images created.
        Flash update started.
        NVM verification started.
        Shadow RAM verification started.
        Shadow RAM verification finished.
        Flash verification started.
        Flash verification finished.
        NVM verification finished.
        Flash update successful.
        Device update successful.
Update security revisions
[00:003:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller I226-V
        Skipping update minimum security revisions.
Update VPD with VPD template
[00:003:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller I226-V
        Skipping VPD update with VPD template.
Checking update availability for next tool run.
A reboot is required to complete the update process.
Click to expand...
This was cfg pretty close for me. My adapters wanted the 2M firmware and a different EEPID. Having the backup meant I felt confident about the update and the cli tool spit out the old version for me to update the cfg. It rejected the 1M update and I determined 2M was needed from the backup. I updated from 2.13.

I did one of the four adapters first to verify nothing was too broken then executed the find & update all command from the readme.
 
A

audit13

Member
Jun 26, 2024
65
20
8
pigr8 said:
if anyone wants to update the i226 nvm firmware on their boxes here is how to do it (i have 2 cwwk and 2 aoostar minipc, did it successfully)
Click to expand...
Thanks for the instructions. I'm quite a newbie when it comes to opnsense on my Topton n100.

I must say that the Topton has been running 100% stable with Wireguard server, Adguard Home, and ISC DHCP for almost 2 years and wonder if I would gain anything from updating the nvm firmware.
 
T

Trasher

New Member
Mar 4, 2025
5
5
3
famzilla said:
This was cfg pretty close for me. My adapters wanted the 2M firmware and a different EEPID. Having the backup meant I felt confident about the update and the cli tool spit out the old version for me to update the cfg. It rejected the 1M update and I determined 2M was needed from the backup. I updated from 2.13.

I did one of the four adapters first to verify nothing was too broken then executed the find & update all command from the readme.
Click to expand...
How did you find out the EEPID? Ethtool wont show the HEX-value
ethtool -i enp4s0
driver: igc
version: 6.17.4-2-pve
firmware-version: 2013:8877
expansion-rom-version:
bus-info: 0000:04:00.0
supports-statistics: yes
supports-test: yes
supports-eeprom-access: yes
supports-register-dump: yes
supports-priv-flags: yes
 
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