Mellanox ConnectX-4 Lx MCX4121A-ACAT with blank firmware

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Raice

Member
Jul 12, 2017
64
11
8
41
Guangzhou, China
About 6 month ago I have bought couple of these (about 60USD each) from seller on taobao with the empty firmware or may be nobody even flashed it. It looks like all-new cards but without any sticker except one (barcode and 809K1384291181 for example). I was able to restore it to working condition using Mellanox firmware tools, the only problem was that Mellanox flint tool cannot detect its Original GUID and MAC address and I had to generate it. Cards work fine in couple of DL360g8 at least I was not able to find any problems.

A few days ago I found a seller on taobao who sells these cards at ridiculously low prices (around 10USD)

I have bought a couple of cards again - all the same. New cards with empty firmware.
Tried to flash one - it worked, but I think may be there is a way to completely restore firmware with original base GUIDs and MACs?

If I query card now I get:

Code:
> flint -d mt4117_pciconf0 q                                                                                            Image type:            FS3
FW Version:            14.25.1020
FW Release Date:       30.4.2019
Product Version:       14.25.1020
Rom Info:              type=UEFI version=14.18.19 cpu=AMD64,AARCH64
                       type=PXE version=3.5.701 cpu=AMD64
Description:           UID                GuidsNumber
Base GUID:             0002c90300002f78        4
Orig Base GUID:        N/A                     4
Base MAC:              0002c9002f78            4
Orig Base MAC:         N/A                     4
Image VSD:             N/A
Device VSD:            N/A
PSID:                  MT_2420110034
Security Attributes:   N/A
Code:
> flint -d mt4117_pciconf0 v                                                                                           
FS3 failsafe image

     /0x00000038-0x00001a63 (0x001a2c)/ (BOOT2) - OK
     /0x00002000-0x0000201f (0x000020)/ (ITOC_HEADER) - OK
     /0x00004000-0x000040ff (0x000100)/ (FS3_RESET_INFO) - OK
     /0x00005000-0x00005bff (0x000c00)/ (FW_MAIN_CFG) - OK
     /0x00006000-0x0000637f (0x000380)/ (FW_BOOT_CFG) - OK
     /0x00007000-0x0000857f (0x001580)/ (HW_MAIN_CFG) - OK
     /0x00009000-0x0000913f (0x000140)/ (HW_BOOT_CFG) - OK
     /0x0000a000-0x0000cc7f (0x002c80)/ (PHY_UC_CONSTS) - OK
     /0x0000d000-0x0000d13f (0x000140)/ (IMAGE_SIGNATURE_256) - OK
     /0x0000e000-0x0000e8ff (0x000900)/ (PUBLIC_KEYS_2048) - OK
     /0x0000f000-0x0000f08f (0x000090)/ (FORBIDDEN_VERSIONS) - OK
     /0x00010000-0x0001023f (0x000240)/ (IMAGE_SIGNATURE_512) - OK
     /0x00011000-0x000120ff (0x001100)/ (PUBLIC_KEYS_4096) - OK
     /0x00013000-0x000b0e27 (0x09de28)/ (ROM_CODE) - OK
     /0x000b1000-0x000c0fff (0x010000)/ (CRDUMP_MASK_DATA) - OK
     /0x000c1000-0x000c19ff (0x000a00)/ (PHY_UC_CMD) - OK
     /0x000c2000-0x000cb91f (0x009920)/ (PHY_UC_CODE) - OK
     /0x000cc000-0x000f429b (0x02829c)/ (PCI_CODE) - OK
     /0x000f5000-0x00102f77 (0x00df78)/ (IRON_PREP_CODE) - OK
     /0x00103000-0x003cee4f (0x2cbe50)/ (MAIN_CODE) - OK
     /0x003cf000-0x003dc9df (0x00d9e0)/ (PCIE_LINK_CODE) - OK
     /0x003dd000-0x003dde8f (0x000e90)/ (POST_IRON_BOOT_CODE) - OK
     /0x003de000-0x003dfd83 (0x001d84)/ (UPGRADE_CODE) - OK
     /0x003e0000-0x003e03ff (0x000400)/ (IMAGE_INFO) - OK
     /0x003e0400-0x003e0bab (0x0007ac)/ (DBG_FW_INI) - OK
     /0x003e0bac-0x003e0bb3 (0x000008)/ (DBG_FW_PARAMS) - OK
     /0x00fa0000-0x00faffff (0x010000)/ (NV_DATA) - CRC IGNORED
     /0x00fb0000-0x00fbffff (0x010000)/ (NV_DATA) - CRC IGNORED
     /0x00fc0000-0x00fcffff (0x010000)/ (FW_NV_LOG) - CRC IGNORED
     /0x00fee000-0x00fee1ff (0x000200)/ (DEV_INFO) - OK
     /0x00ff8000-0x00ff813f (0x000140)/ (MFG_INFO) - OK
     /0x00ff8140-0x00ff813f (0x000000)/ (VPD_R0) - OK

-I- FW image verification succeeded. Image is bootable.
(NV_DATA) - CRC IGNORED - this particular one bothers me

Any suggestions?
 

MiniKnight

Well-Known Member
Mar 30, 2012
3,072
973
113
NYC
Aren't the GUID's and MACs set at the factory? Is it possible you've got a card before they were set so they don't have them?

And I want $10 25gig cards!
 

aron

New Member
Jul 19, 2017
24
3
3
47
howdid you find these cards on taobao? any links? what did you search for?
 

Freebsd1976

Active Member
Feb 23, 2018
387
73
28
Deal is gone, anther seller price is 60$ , if you still want it , pm me 。

Ps: it is cx4111a 60$
 
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