Finisar FTLX8571D3BCL sfp+ & x520-da2 in Windows 10

[Fixer]

This combination worked fine all last year and until sometime this summer when I started seeing issues where the port would die and Windows Device Manager would report that the device could not start (error 10), only on the port that was plugged in.

I was thinking it was the natex.us x520-da2's had finally given up the ghost but then noticed they still worked fine when plugged in via DAC.

I started checking Windows versions and Intel PROWin64 driver versions until I finally thought to actually look at the Windows System Log in Event Viewer where I find a more detailed error that the SFP+ modules were unsupported.

Anyone know how to roll back to older drivers in the latest Windows 10 Pro? I can't seem to make it work.

 

[saivert]

I find that hard to believe. Pretty much everywhere says you are supposed to use Intel's own SFP+ modules with their cards and nothing else (except DACs) work. That is why the X520-SR1 and -SR2 SKUs exist. Maybe Intel is supposedly blacklisting more and more modules or some conspiracy.
They can be found on eBay for cheaps now from chinese sellers.

Anyways if you still have the older proset installer you can extract the drivers from it using 7-zip. Then you can uninstall the network card in device manager and do a manual driver install using the extracted files.

 

[Fixer]

I went the other way and bought some Intel branded sfp's and now everything is running again.

You find it hard to believe that the Finisar sfp's I bought with the x520-da2 cards from Natex ran for over a year without issue? Well, it happened that way!

 

[saivert]

I had some FS.com generic SFP+ modules and they didn't work with my X520 either.
Had to get Intel branded ones.
Everything seems to go in Mellanox NICs though.