[solved] Intel i226 Firmware (see post #39)

[BrandyWine]

Just one question when I ran "dmesg | grep IGC"  I am seeing some references to the older version?  I am assuming that this is a cumulative log that doesn't clear on reboot?

Welcome to freeBSD. You are seeing old boot info. You can change that behavior.

Use the flash utility to get info on all the nics it can address.

[dirtyfreebooter]

dmesg shows multiple boots. so if you just dmesg | greg, and some of your boot logs before the firmware update was done will show the older firmware of course. its easiest to verify with sysctl

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sysctl dev.igc.0.fw_version
sysctl dev.igc.1.fw_version
sysctl dev.igc.2.fw_version
sysctl dev.igc.3.fw_version
etc


[mpoldphone191]

Thanks for the commands, I verified that I have the latest firmware on all 4 NICs.  I have not seen any issues with the N150 mini PC with the new firmware on a new build of OPNSense.

dmesg shows multiple boots. so if you just dmesg | greg, and some of your boot logs before the firmware update was done will show the older firmware of course. its easiest to verify with sysctl

Code Select Expand

sysctl dev.igc.0.fw_version
sysctl dev.igc.1.fw_version
sysctl dev.igc.2.fw_version
sysctl dev.igc.3.fw_version
etc


[BrandyWine]

....... I have not seen any issues with the N150 mini PC with the new firmware on a new build of OPNSense.

Mine too has be problem free. But I will note, the more features you run the higher the probability of an issue popping up. I don't run many features at all. Basoc stuff, boson, suricata, fw, and I am playing around with WireGuard, but that's it. My little N150 seems to run almost idle all the time.

[bbin]

Following the thread I was able to update the i225-v NICs on my Protectli 4670 to 1.89 from the Billy Curtis github repo.

Based upon some research it seems the latest available firmware for the i225-v is 1.94, but the only publicly available version I can find appears to be a version of the i225-LM firmware that has been patched with a hex editor to work on an i225-v (https://djesko.eu/intel-i225-v-lm-nvm-1-94-fw/).  Has anyone tried this firmware or are they aware of a more "official" firmware image?

[BrandyWine]

@bbin,
Try this zip for v1.94. I think I got this out of an Intel bundle from back in Sept2025.
https://tinyurl.com/i225fw194

Unfortunately, using the bin from this zip with the bsd util doesn't always work that way, bin's can be compiled for use with specific flash utils, so you may need to boot into windoze and flash it from there. But I don't have any 225's so I am not sure if this specific v1.94 is the one for your 225.

[Indabox]

I am just getting started with OpnSense and have been reading up a ton and stumbled across this thread, so wanted to get my NIC updated to limit any bashing head on desk moments.

That said, I wanted to thank Brandywine for all the information on this. I live booted OpnSense, mounted a USB thumb drive with needed files, and was able to successfully update all 4 ports on my i226-v (ver4) card from 2.17 to 2.32. I did have to use the 2mb file in the "main.zip" file shared by Brandywine in post #19. Trying to download it from Billy Curtis git page on my win11 laptop was giving me a small 100kb ish corrupt file for some reason (I blame Microsoft).

For those wondering, the card I purchased off Amajong is this one: https://a.co/d/8qAk2sz

Again, it's a 4 port i226-V (ver4) card that comes with 2.17 firmware.

@Brandywine, if possible it may be a good idea to add the link to your "main.zip" to your post #39 instructions (or add the 2mb file to the i226.zip) to have everything in 1 spot. Either way, I really appreciate all the info/instructions on how to update these things.

Now I'm off to mount a fan to the NIC.. poor thing is getting a bit toasty running in the Dell 3240 compact I jammed it in..

[Stom14680]

I finally upgraded my rather old 2.13 to 2.32.

Do you still have the 2.13 firmware backup? If so, can you share the hash (such as MD5) of the 2.13 files?

I have a card with 2.13 firmware but I was never able to upgrade to 2.32. I began to think there might be something special for my card's firmware. It will be great to see if mine is the same as yours. Thanks in advance!

[pOpY2k25]

I finally upgraded my rather old 2.13 to 2.32.

Do you still have the 2.13 firmware backup? If so, can you share the hash (such as MD5) of the 2.13 files?

I have a card with 2.13 firmware but I was never able to upgrade to 2.32. I began to think there might be something special for my card's firmware. It will be great to see if mine is the same as yours. Thanks in advance!

here is my backup of 2.13: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XVVNRI5ieIVpNAA7GTV5qA7a9RX8lDTL/view?usp=sharing

[olmari]

I have an Deciso DEC750 with I-225, originally it had FW version that wasn't listed, I managed to update FW to version 1.89 1mb variant, and I do have backup from original(s). One thing I wonder that backups from all 3 I-225 interfaces are 2mb even if the 1mb v1.89 firmware went in just perfectly initially.

Some background: Now the one visual issue is that interface led are just static green led and nothing else, it doesn't affect the apparent working of interface otherwise. But now the DEC750 reboots between 1-3 days, and I'm not even sure this FW mangling is the rootcause, but:

I can not downgrade / change firmware to any version, it always fails even when trying to push the original backup back... Here is some log of _a_ attempt:

```
root@router:~/tik # cat nvm.log
Intel(R) Ethernet NVM Update Tool
NVMUpdate version 1.43.20.0
Copyright(C) 2013 - 2025 Intel Corporation.

./nvmupdate64e -b -l nvm.log -f -u -c 68.cfg

Config file read.
Inventory
[00:002:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller (3) I225-V
   Alternate MAC address is not set.
   Flash inventory started.
   Shadow RAM inventory started.
Warning: Can't preserve PBA. Device PBA size is incorrect.
   Shadow RAM inventory finished.
   Flash inventory finished.
[00:003:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller (3) I225-V
   Alternate MAC address is not set.
   Flash inventory started.
   Shadow RAM inventory started.
Warning: Can't preserve PBA. Device PBA size is incorrect.
   Shadow RAM inventory finished.
   Flash inventory finished.
[00:004:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller (3) I225-V
   Alternate MAC address is not set.
   Flash inventory started.
   Shadow RAM inventory started.
Warning: Can't preserve PBA. Device PBA size is incorrect.
   Shadow RAM inventory finished.
   Flash inventory finished.
Update
[00:002:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller (3) I225-V
   Creating backup images in directory: F490EA00B95F.
   Backup images created.
   Flash update started.
Error:      Flash update failed.
   Device update failed.
[00:003:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller (3) I225-V
   Creating backup images in directory: F490EA00B960.
   Backup images created.
   Flash update started.
Error:      Flash update failed.
   Device update failed.
[00:004:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller (3) I225-V
   Creating backup images in directory: F490EA00B961.
   Backup images created.
   Flash update started.
Error:      Flash update failed.
   Device update failed.
Update security revisions
[00:002:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller (3) I225-V
   Skipping update minimum security revisions.
[00:003:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller (3) I225-V
   Skipping update minimum security revisions.
[00:004:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller (3) I225-V
   Skipping update minimum security revisions.
Update VPD with VPD template
[00:002:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller (3) I225-V
   Skipping VPD update with VPD template.
[00:003:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller (3) I225-V
   Skipping VPD update with VPD template.
[00:004:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller (3) I225-V
   Skipping VPD update with VPD template.
```

So I suppose this is sort of "what could I try next?" -question :)

Shameless cross-post from https://github.com/BillyCurtis/Intel-I226-V-NVM-Firmware/issues/3

[opnsesame]

Picked up a few "Fenvi" i226-v cards off aliexpress. They work fine in some motherboards, but not in others. Figured I'd try updating the firmware to see if that's causing compatibility issues. Everything has failed so far.

Version 2.13 , 80000286 , 2MB .bins fail immediately, but 1MB will hang for several minutes before failing.
Booted up a live debian xfce iso, added "iomem=relaxed" in the 1st section of grub bootloader before booting (press e to get to menu, then F10 to boot after editing)
Tried with both eeupdate64e and nvmupdate64e, linux editions. Tried 1.41 and 1.43 versions of nvmupdate64e.
./eeupdate64e /nic=1 /d (firmware file)
./nvmupdate64e -b -l log.txt -f -u -c (config file)
I didn't specify MAC address because it's the only card in there.

Tried updating to other versions : 23, 17, 14, but all failed. The 14 and 17 gave authentication errors instead of just failing outright.
Card still works in certain motherboards, just cannot update the firmware. Kind of annoying.

[Waldus66668]

I find EFI version on NVM tool easier to use. Simply grab eeupdate64e.efi form Intel driver pack, boot into EFI shell and run command like:

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eeupdate64e.efi /nic=1 /d=FXVL_125C_V_1MB_2.32.bin
You only specify nic number and name of NVM file to flash. No need to worry about configuration file.