# NIC not detected during FreeBSD 13.0 RELEASE Installation



## tmpdmp (Apr 18, 2021)

Not sure if this is in the right section but I have this motherboard with a 1x Intel® I225-V 2.5Gbps NIC. I couldn't configure IPv4 during install, kept saying no devices to config or something along those lines. Is this NIC supported? I have linux installed and using this NIC but I really would like to use FreeBSD with this system/motherboard. Any luck it is supported in the future? Thanks.


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## `Orum (Apr 18, 2021)

What does `pciconf -lcbv` show?


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## mark_j (Apr 18, 2021)

I think you're out of luck with i225v etc devices. Intel doesn't seem to want to support FreeBSD. The em(4) driver certainly doesn't list them and nor does Intel: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/do...work-Adapter-Gigabit-Base-Driver-for-FreeBSD-

The best I could rustle up was https://downloadcenter.intel.com/product/184686/Intel-Ethernet-Controller-I225-Series


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## tmpdmp (Apr 21, 2021)

`Orum said:


> What does `pciconf -lcbv` show?




```
none5@pci0:3:0:0:    class=0x020000 rev=0x03 hdr=0x00 vendor=0x8086 device=0x15f3 subvendor=0x1462 subdevice=0x7d09
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    device     = 'Ethernet Controller I225-V'
    class      = network
    subclass   = ethernet
    bar   [10] = type Memory, range 32, base 0xa3200000, size 1048576, enabled
    bar   [1c] = type Memory, range 32, base 0xa3300000, size 16384, enabled
    cap 01[40] = powerspec 3  supports D0 D3  current D0
    cap 05[50] = MSI supports 1 message, 64 bit, vector masks
    cap 11[70] = MSI-X supports 5 messages
                 Table in map 0x1c[0x0], PBA in map 0x1c[0x2000]
    cap 10[a0] = PCI-Express 2 endpoint max data 256(512) FLR RO NS
                 max read 512
                 link x1(x1) speed 5.0(5.0) ASPM disabled(L1)
    ecap 0001[100] = AER 2 0 fatal 0 non-fatal 0 corrected
    ecap 0003[140] = Serial 1 d8bbc1ffff04a7ff
    ecap 0018[1c0] = LTR 1
    ecap 001f[1f0] = Precision Time Measurement 1
    ecap 001e[1e0] = L1 PM Substates 1
```

There was a bunch of other entries but this showed up for my ethernet which is not supported.


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## SirDice (Apr 21, 2021)

As far as I know there's no support for the Intel I225 2.5G network cards. There is support for Intel 10Gbe interfaces; ixgbe(4).


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## bakul (Apr 21, 2021)

There is a pfsense driver for I225-V @ https://github.com/pfsense/FreeBSD-src/tree/devel-12/sys/dev/igc. I don’t know how hard it would be to make it work under 13.0.


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## tankist02 (May 22, 2021)

I have the same problem. Can I install a separate network card which is supported by FreeBSD 13.0? If yes what cards would you recommend? This is for home workstation if that matters.


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## mer (May 22, 2021)

tankist02 said:


> I have the same problem. Can I install a separate network card which is supported by FreeBSD 13.0? If yes what cards would you recommend? This is for home workstation if that matters.


I would think almost any generic card with RealTek (yes, there may be issues with some under load) or a generic Intel supported by em driver (like an old Intel PRO/1000) should work.


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## SirDice (May 24, 2021)

Realtek isn't too good and might have some dodgy variants, I'd go for an Intel PRO/1000 card, they're pretty much guaranteed to work. Performance is quite good too. And they're not more expensive than a Realtek card nowadays.


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## mer (May 24, 2021)

SirDice said:


> Realtek isn't too good and might have some dodgy variants, I'd go for an Intel PRO/1000 card, they're pretty much guaranteed to work. Performance is quite good too. And they're not more expensive than a Realtek card nowadays.


Agreed;  RealTek seems to be too dependent on exactly what it is, Intel has always been pretty solid.  I probably even have some old 10/100 ISA format cards hanging around in the spares pile.
Unfortunately RealTek is a builtin on some chipsets.


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## olli@ (Aug 20, 2021)

Just in case someone comes across this thread, searching for Intel I225-V support …

The igc(4) driver was MFCed to stable/13 this week. It supports the Intel I225-V ethernet NICs that are becoming very popular on consumer hardware.
That driver is included in the latest stable/13 snapshot (20210819) right now, and it will be included in 13.1-RELEASE.

I recently ordered an HM80 mini PC from Minisforum (link to product page) that also has a 2.5 GbE Intel I225-V NIC, in addition to an “old-fashioned” 1 GbE Realtek NIC. Both of them now work fine with FreeBSD stable/13 out of the box.

Contrary to popular believe, the Realtek NIC (re(4)) also works perfectly fine. It might not be as sophisticated as some Intel NICs, but I have zero problems with it whatsoever, even under heavy load serving NFS traffic and several video streams in parallel. I guss some people still have the problems of the old FastEthernet rl(4) in their minds – these were badly designed indeed. But that was 20 years ago. The re(4) NICs today are different beasts.


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## Yamon234 (Oct 21, 2021)

olli@ said:


> Just in case someone comes across this thread, searching for Intel I225-V support …
> 
> The igc(4) driver was MFCed to stable/13 this week. It supports the Intel I225-V ethernet NICs that are becoming very popular on consumer hardware.
> That driver is included in the latest stable/13 snapshot (20210819) right now, and it will be included in 13.1-RELEASE.
> ...


This is great. Is there anyway to implement this in the current version of pfsense?


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## astyle (Oct 21, 2021)

Yamon234 said:


> This is great. Is there anyway to implement this in the current version of pfsense?


You're not making much sense... PFSense is a hardware router with FreeBSD loaded and configured on it. Are you looking to swap out the built-in NICs on the router to the Intel-based ones that olli@ mentions in his post? Or are you looking to update the router's existing FreeBSD installation? I'd suggest against swapping the hardware out. Upgrading the software on the router - then you're probably in the right place for useful info.


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## SirDice (Oct 22, 2021)

astyle said:


> PFSense is a hardware router with FreeBSD loaded and configured on it.


pfSense is a FreeBSD derivative you can download and install on your own equipment. They just happen to also sell and support hardware (appliances) with the software preinstalled on it.



Yamon234 said:


> Is there anyway to implement this in the current version of pfsense?


pfSense is a completely separate project. You should ask the pfSense project.


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## astyle (Oct 22, 2021)

Then another way to understand Yamon234 's question would be if pfSense supports those Intel-based NICs or has drivers available for install for the bespoke NICs....


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## mer (Oct 22, 2021)

Some of netgate's latest products have 2.5G ports on them, they may or may not be the exact things others are asking about, so yes latest releases of pfSense "support them if the folks are talking about the same hardware that the Netgate devices have".
And yes changes/support have been pushed back upstream to FreeBSD;  incorporation into a release or branch of FreeBSD?  I don't know.  One could browse the git repo online and look at the network drivers or something.

But I agree that one should ask the specific question over at the pfsense forums.  Lots of the Negate developers will respond and the answer may already be there.


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## SirDice (Oct 22, 2021)

mer said:


> And yes changes/support have been pushed back upstream to FreeBSD; incorporation into a release or branch of FreeBSD? I don't know.





olli@ said:


> The igc(4) driver was MFCed to stable/13 this week. It supports the Intel I225-V ethernet NICs that are becoming very popular on consumer hardware.
> That driver is included in the latest stable/13 snapshot (20210819) right now, and it will be included in 13.1-RELEASE.


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