CWWK/Topton/... Nxxx quad NIC router

[gregg098]

What command do you run to get this information?

Interesting...

Here's mine(4-port with NVME x4). Looks like all ports are legit 2.5Gbe.

01:00.0 Non-Volatile memory controller: Sandisk Corp WD Black 2018/SN750 / PC SN720 NVMe SSD (prog-if 02 [NVM Express])
LnkCap: Port #0, Speed 8GT/s, Width x4, ASPM L1, Exit Latency L1 <8us
LnkSta: Speed 8GT/s, Width x4
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Controller I226-V (rev 04)
LnkCap: Port #0, Speed 5GT/s, Width x1, ASPM L1, Exit Latency L1 <4us
LnkSta: Speed 5GT/s, Width x1
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Controller I226-V (rev 04)
LnkCap: Port #0, Speed 5GT/s, Width x1, ASPM L1, Exit Latency L1 <4us
LnkSta: Speed 5GT/s, Width x1
04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Controller I226-V (rev 04)
LnkCap: Port #0, Speed 5GT/s, Width x1, ASPM L1, Exit Latency L1 <4us
LnkSta: Speed 5GT/s, Width x1
05:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Controller I226-V (rev 04)
LnkCap: Port #0, Speed 5GT/s, Width x1, ASPM L1, Exit Latency L1 <4us
LnkSta: Speed 5GT/s, Width x1

 

[lvxvl]

Sorry, I misread your question. Usually it should be available if you boot a compatible OS or ISO image. I doubt there is BIOS console support on those boxes (but I could be wrong). Ideally you try and let us know … I still don’t have a n100 box to play with.

So the BIOS doesn't have an option for BIOS level serial console access, too bad
But the serial port is detected and available in linux (Proxmox v8):

[    5.237086] 00:01: ttyS0 at I/O 0x3f8 (irq = 4, base_baud = 115200) is a 16550A

With the amendment of '/etc/default/grub' line from:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet intel_iommu=on"

to:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8 intel_iommu=on"

note: the last console is the primary console

You can get access to a terminal via the onboard serial pinheader.

The only problem I have now is to detect what the pinout scheme is.
Does anyone have, or can get access to, a manual for the board?

 

[edmonds]

Hey thread, looks like there are Changwang 5x and 6x 2.5 GbE models available now. I ordered a barebones KingnovyPC model from Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CB3M6M16) and it ended up being a Changwang CW-ADLN-5L (第12代AlderLake-N100 5网系列). Shipping was 11 days from China to the US and it came with a SATA adapter, screws, standoffs, VESA mount bracket, and a no-name DC power adapter in the box. It has the larger chassis variant with the tall, straight fins.

Compared to the CW-ADLN-4L, the -5L model adds a fifth I226-V, a second HDMI port, a USB Type C port (unclear if this is also a Thunderbolt port, there are Thunderbolt-related options in the UEFI settings). It has two SATA ports and two M.2 key M 2280 slots. Unfortunately both of the M.2 slots are PCIe x1 only. The antenna mounting holes are on opposite sides of the chassis instead of being right next to each other on the -4L chassis.

I installed a Crucial 8 GB memory module, model CT8G48C40S5, a Solidigm P41 Plus 512 GB SSD, and a MediaTek MT7921K M.2 Wi-Fi module using an M.2 A+E key to M.2 M key riser card (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BCMJZGYL). This all works great except the SSD is a PCIe x4 module and both M.2 slots are only PCIe x1. I reformatted the SSD to use 4K sectors and it booted off it fine, as long as the EFI Service Partition is at least 260 MB.

I used a 12V 5.5x2.5mm DC 802.3at POE splitter (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09CYGW46K) to power the unit off of a Netgear MS108EUP 2.5 GbE POE switch. This worked great and the POE switch is able to monitor per-port power usage. I didn't try the no-name power adapter it came with. Even though the POE splitter is a "gigabit" splitter it still linked to the switch at 2.5 GbE.

The firmware version was very recent. It shows as version 5.27 with a date of 07/05/2023 on the main UEFI screen. Unfortunately the default UEFI settings set the PCIe speed on the first two LAN controllers to Gen1, so you have to go into the UEFI settings under Chipset -> PCH-IO Configuration -> PCI Express Configuration -> PCI Express Root Port 1 (and 2) and change "PCIe Speed" from "Gen1" to "Auto". Then you get the full PCIe speed on all five LAN controllers.

I monitored the power consumption via POE (using both the POE switch and a PoE Texas PoE Tester Gen2.5, which agreed to within half a watt or so) and the CPU core temperature under a few stress testing scenarios. Results were:

• Idle: 9 watts, 35°C
• One LAN port active, iperf3 2.3 Gb/s bidirectional: 12 watts, 42°C
• No network activity, "stress -c 1": 16 watts, 65°C
• No network activity, "stress -c 2": 21 watts
• No network activity, "stress -c 3": 21 watts
• No network activity, "stress -c 4": 22 watts, 74°C

The MT7921K Wi-Fi adapter that I used seems to work OK as both a client and AP, although the RX speeds are a lot higher than the TX speeds for some reason (maybe the M.2 slot isn't delivering enough power?). This is a Wi-Fi module designed for client use rather than as an access point, and I don't think I've seen any AP oriented M.2 modules that are skinny enough to fit in the M.2 slot without bumping into the SSD in the adjacent M.2 slot. But maybe an M.2 riser card would lift such a Wi-Fi module over the adjacent SSD.

Everything seems to work great with Debian 12 "bookworm" and the default 6.1 kernel.

 

[lvxvl]

So the BIOS doesn't have an option for BIOS level serial console access, too bad
But the serial port is detected and available in linux (Proxmox v8):

[    5.237086] 00:01: ttyS0 at I/O 0x3f8 (irq = 4, base_baud = 115200) is a 16550A

With the amendment of '/etc/default/grub' line from:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet intel_iommu=on"

to:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8 intel_iommu=on"

note: the last console is the primary console

You can get access to a terminal via the onboard serial pinheader.

The only problem I have now is to detect what the pinout scheme is.
Does anyone have, or can get access to, a manual for the board?

The only 'external' reference I've come up with doesn't provide a console, a lot of gibberish coming back at all kind of baudrates.

 

[NickLD]

Just joined the forum to post this. I been quietly following these mini pc routers and just picked up the 4 x 2.5G N305 CWWK model to play with. Plan to have it serve as a Proxmox/PFSense box, likely also running Home Assistant & Frigate. My machine came with an 1 4x lane M.2 -> carrier board with 4 1x lane M.2 slots. Plan to use it to add more SSD storage, maybe HDDs too. I wasn't thrilled with how floppy the carrier board is, so I designed and 3D printed this bracket which firmly affixes it to the rest of the machine.

CWWK/TOPTON N100/N200/N305 M.2 Carrier board mounting bracket by NickLD

Hope it is helpful to someone else!

If I decide to add some HDDs, my next idea will be to design and print a replacement bottom cover for the unit featuring some 3.5 or 2.5" drive bays or something. We will see.

 

[Jackomonster]

wanted to hear if someone could point me to a guide on how to setup these boxes using proxmox and pfsense with passed through, as i tried to follow the ones that i could find but im not getting the same results, some says the passed through is done via PCI and others are saying using the network menu and bond.

 

[jordanp123]

Ordered a N305 unit from TopTon for a proxmox box, now it looks like they're wanting more money.

 

[gregg098]

Ordered a N305 unit from TopTon for a proxmox box, now it looks like they're wanting more money. View attachment 31107

Topton is not a good seller. I ordered from them in the past and they just kept throwing fake tracking numbers at me when in reality, the item was just out of stock. I'd cancel and order from someone else.

 

[jordanp123]

Topton is not a good seller. I ordered from them in the past and they just kept throwing fake tracking numbers at me when in reality, the item was just out of stock. I'd cancel and order from someone else.

I cancelled it just now and reordered a KingNovy one.

 

[alaricljs]

Looks to me like they're saying DHL wanted more to ship and they switched to UPS in order to not pay more...

 

[Becks0815]

wanted to hear if someone could point me to a guide on how to setup these boxes using proxmox and pfsense with passed through, as i tried to follow the ones that i could find but im not getting the same results, some says the passed through is done via PCI and others are saying using the network menu and bond.

Proxmox -> select the VM with PFSense/Opnsense installed -> select hardware tab -> add PCI Device -> add raw PCI Device -> select the two NICs



Then boot PFsense/Opnsense and asign the NICs to WAN/home network

 

[Jackomonster]

Proxmox -> select the VM with PFSense/Opnsense installed -> select hardware tab -> add PCI Device -> add raw PCI Device -> select the two NICs

View attachment 31121

Then boot PFsense/Opnsense and asign the NICs to WAN/home network

thank you very much for the the help and pictures. this was also the first thing i did, but after viewing some youtubes i got a bit unsure as they did it direct from the pve and network

 

[Becks0815]

it also should/could work by selecting NICs in the PVE and choose the correct type: pass through, instead of virtual.

 

[Jackomonster]

Running Proxmox on the box and getting these ACPI bios errors, tried running the default bios settings but without any help. are you guys also getting them:
ACPI BIOS Error (bug): Could not resolve symbol [\_SB.PC00.TXHC.RHUB.SS01], AE_NOT_FOUND(20221020/dswload2-126
ACPI Error: AE_NOT_FOUND, During name lookup/catalog (20221020/psobject-220)
ACPI BIOS Error (bug): Could not resolve symbol [\_SB.PC00.TXHC.RHUB.SS02], AE_NOT_FOUND (20221020/dswload2-162)
ACPI Error: AE_NOT_FOUND, During name lookup/catalog (20221020/psobject-220)

I could just disable it from the GRUB, but would it perhaps have some benefits regarding power saving ?

 

[miken92]

Running Proxmox on the box and getting these ACPI bios errors, tried running the default bios settings but without any help. are you guys also getting them:
ACPI BIOS Error (bug): Could not resolve symbol [\_SB.PC00.TXHC.RHUB.SS01], AE_NOT_FOUND(20221020/dswload2-126
ACPI Error: AE_NOT_FOUND, During name lookup/catalog (20221020/psobject-220)
ACPI BIOS Error (bug): Could not resolve symbol [\_SB.PC00.TXHC.RHUB.SS02], AE_NOT_FOUND (20221020/dswload2-162)
ACPI Error: AE_NOT_FOUND, During name lookup/catalog (20221020/psobject-220)

I could just disable it from the GRUB, but would it perhaps have some benefits regarding power saving ?

I get simlar booting OPNsense:

Firmware Error (ACPI): Could not resolve symbol [\134_SB.PC00.TXHC.RHUB.SS01], AE_NOT_FOUND (20201113/dswload2-315)
ACPI Error: AE_NOT_FOUND, During name lookup/catalog (20201113/psobject-372)
Firmware Error (ACPI): Could not resolve symbol [\134_SB.PC00.TXHC.RHUB.SS02], AE_NOT_FOUND (20201113/dswload2-315)
ACPI Error: AE_NOT_FOUND, During name lookup/catalog (20201113/psobject-372)

Dumping DSDT and trying to decode it fails $ iasl -d n100.dsdtIntel ACPI Component ArchitectureASL+ Optimizing Compil - Pastebin.com so I guess it is a bios issue, no idea what it means or what the impact is though.

 

[AnthonyUK]

I get simlar booting OPNsense:

It is quite common to have ACPI errors in Linux/Unix (HP especially) but I wouldn't worry unless it causes you issues.
RHUB is USB related so if you do not use it, disable in the BIOS.

If you have some experience with OpenCore you can use it to correct ACPI errors.

 

[Donut7059]

anyone with one of these recent models not see anywhere in the bios to enable IOMMU?
didnt see vt-d

 

[AnthonyUK]

anyone with one of these recent models not see anywhere in the bios to enable IOMMU?
didnt see vt-d

IOMMU is not an option but a product of enabling Intel VT-x (or the AMD equivalent).
I seem to recall that it was enabled by default on my Topton unit (CW-AD4L-N V1).

 

[Devedse]

I checked the fimrware and they have the same filename name and md5 hash.

HUSN RJ34 RJ35 RJ36-N100 BIOS % md5 ADLN001_20230325.bin
MD5 (ADLN001_20230325.bin) = 8c995df5dee274cf9f2a929c95fa3dfb

CWWK CW-N100 % md5 ADLN001_20230325.bin
MD5 (ADLN001_20230325.bin) = 8c995df5dee274cf9f2a929c95fa3dfb

But this firmware is the stock one with build date 03/18/23 and i was missing option in the bios "Beep function" to disable the beep. Then CWWK gave me a newer one that has option again.

I also got a newer firmware file (CW-N100-4L-4K-nologo-230531.ISO) that should fix the black screen issue when you connect the unit to a 4k screen using HDMI. Did not install it yet to test.

Can you maybe share the CW-N100-4L-4K-nologo-230531.ISO bios? I received a BIOS from CWWK that bricked my NVME. I managed to get it working again using the BIOS posted here originally but that was actually older then my initial version.

 

[minimos]

Hi,

Just like @edmonds I have a KingnovyPC model bought from Amazon UK which is the 5 port variant.

I've setup Proxmox on it, have CPU frequency scaling enabled through the power save governor, currently practicing setting up an OpnSense VM to act as my router.

I generally get good temps with no BIOS tweaks, I've got 3VM's running with OpnSense and Pfsense so I can try out pass through with NICS and also have a playground with which to experiment before getting my settings to dial in and then replicate in my To Be router. There is also an Ubuntu VM I use to access the web UI of the 3 routers, each with a different VLAN assigned so I can connect to all 3 from 1 machine.

The box is not running 24x7 yet, but as it will be an always on appliance tweaking the BIOS settings is my preferred route to lower consumption and temps. I have noticed that a 10 hour use (i.e. all 3 VM's spun up, doing speed tests and lots of UI changes slowly see's the base temps creep up), shutting things down see's base temps slowly erode (as viewed using sensors in the proxmox shell)

The temps themselves when doing the above are only at most in the low 50's when under load, with drops to mid 30's on the cores, but to say when you start the day its high 30's to mid 20's I think there is room for tweaks.

I'm not very familiar with PL's in the BIOS, but I believe tweaking these could lower max power draw, and maybe throttle the CPU a little. Does anybody have a good guide on how to do it for one of these types of machine.

Also, are there any settings in BIOS where I could turn off certain options to help push down power draw.

As I said, happy so far with what I have, but looking to tweak it a little so it is even better

Thanks