WOL on 10Gbe NICs (Intel X550 & AQC107)

[koaly]

Hi everyone,

I have a home server on Unraid, based on Asrock x570m pro4 and R7 pro 5750GE, which work fine in a combination.

Mainboard has only 1Gbe LAN and I want to add 10Gbe NIC with RJ45 and keep only one connection to the router. That means on-board LAN will not be in use.

My need is to have only one LAN connetiona with a possibility for WOL over the NIC. It works very well with on-board LAN from S5 state with enabled ACPI, but I could not make it working with either Intel X550 or AQC107 cards. Intel confirmed that the chip itself has a WOL capability, but it is not implemented in NICs.

Then I tried several AQC107 NICs. Asus ASUS XG-C100C has confirmed that WOL is not implemented. Then I requested TP Link about WOL on TP Link TX401 and received an email, saying that WOL should work.

Nevertheless, TP Link TX401 does not show any signs of WOL working at all and about to be returned back to the shop.

I know there are also AQC107 implementations from both Qnap and Synology and I will try them as well.

Did anybody have WOL working on AQC107 at all? Chip specs say it's capable, but I have not found any working implementation yet.
thanks in advance   

Edited October 27, 2021 by koaly

[Vr2Io]

Simple connect the onboard NIC ( without assign IP ) for WOL purpose.

[koaly]

1 minute ago, Vr2Io said:

Simple connect the onboard NIC ( without assign IP ) for WOL purpose.

Thanks for the hint. Unfortunately I have only one physical LAN cable coming to this area.

Shall assigning the IP be blocked on a router level? Right?  

[Vr2Io]

If no spare cable then no solution.

 

As WOL were base on magic-packet ( MAC address ), so nothing need to block at router.

 

I use optical and use suggested method for WOL. I also notice Tplinlk say support WOL and most other 10G NIC not mention this.

For WOL on those power hungry NIC, unless they have advance power management design, otherwise that would draw too much power in S5 and I think that's why 10G NIC usually haven't WOL.

 

** edit : If you have Wireless NIC support WoWLAN ( wake on WiFi ) then you could try setup under VM **

Edited October 27, 2021 by Vr2Io

[koaly]

On 10/27/2021 at 1:04 PM, Vr2Io said:

If no spare cable then no solution.

 

As WOL were base on magic-packet ( MAC address ), so nothing need to block at router.

 

I use optical and use suggested method for WOL. I also notice Tplinlk say support WOL and most other 10G NIC not mention this.

For WOL on those power hungry NIC, unless they have advance power management design, otherwise that would draw too much power in S5 and I think that's why 10G NIC usually haven't WOL.

 

** edit : If you have Wireless NIC support WoWLAN ( wake on WiFi ) then you could try setup under VM **

Thank you for the comment. I have tested WOL on in total four different 10Gbe NICs: Intel X550T2 and 3 versions on AQC107 (TP-Link, Qnap and Synology) in my Unraid server. Non of them woke up the server, despite of indicated WOL in specs.

TP-Link support service appeared to be very responsive and re-confirmed that WOL must be working.

Then I have double checked the NICs on another motherboard (Gigabyte Aorus x570 Master) and WOL does work well with TP-Link TX401 and Qnap QXG-10G1T. Seems like Synology E10G18-T1 does not have WOL. Intel X550 has no working WOL and it is confirmed by Intel.

So, my problem lies in a defctive or not comptible motherboard Asrock x570m pro4. Now I'm challenged to replace the motherboard and it seems there is no similar cheap mATX alternative on x570. The only non-Asrock option with 8-SATA I found is Asus TUF x570-plus. But this is ATX board and will lead me to a change of the Fractal Design Node 804 case to an ATX one. I decided to give it a try to build in a Fractal Design Meshify 2 (6x HDD holders is a standard set, optional up to 14).  

By the way TP-Link implementation of AQC107 is way better from all tested. Both Synology and Qnap have poor (smaller/thinner) heatsinks with 2 plastic pin mounts and completely dry thermopads underneeth.
I hope these findings help anybody

Edited November 3, 2021 by koaly
misspellings

[Vr2Io]

1 hour ago, koaly said:

I hope these findings help anybody

Really great info.

 

For Asrock x570m pro4, I suppose it may due to no 3.3v-aux present when system in S5, you can further check on this PCIe slot pin and solve if you know electronic circuit.

https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/225389/pcie-power-when-system-off

 

By some checking, Qnap B10 pin have circuit trace and component ( C21 C25 C26 C222 C223 ) but Synology have the trace only ( missing C21 C25 & C2X )

 

 

Edited November 3, 2021 by Vr2Io

[koaly]

9 minutes ago, Vr2Io said:

Really great info.

 

For Asrock x570m pro4, I suppose it may due to no 3.3v-aux present when system in S5, you can further check on this PCIe slot pin and solve if you know electronic circuit.

https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/225389/pcie-power-when-system-off

Thanks for the link. Although I would not solder anything on the motherboard for a sake of having a valid warranty. BIOS shows an option of WOL from PCIe, but it does not work. Asrock support insisted in an email response that when they tested PCIe NICs on this MB, WOL worked well. May be I try another sample of this model just to avoid unneccessary changes 

 

[Vr2Io]

I make some mistake and correct as below

 

1. For Synology E10G18-T1 does not have WOL, it should be the NIC haven't implement  3.3v-Aux for the chips as standby power.

2. Tplink not work on Asrock, it should be mobo relate, could you check does mobo BIOS "NIC" UEFI WOL setting or status. 

 

Edited November 3, 2021 by Vr2Io

[koaly]

7 minutes ago, Vr2Io said:

BIOS "NIC" UEFI WOL setting

There is nothing else in BIOS settings of x570m pro4 for WOL. Actually only Intel chips provide additional section in BIOS settings.

I have this option with N/A on X550, just like you shown. But Intel's 10Gbe NICs have no WOL at all.

Only if I activate "Boot from LAN", I see additional options for DHCP of NICs, but it had no influence on WOL functionality.

My new MB from Asus is already on the way and I will check WOL on it. Another thought is to get the Asrock MB replaced by the same model through the Asrock support.

 

[koaly]

I got the final response from ASRock on the non-working WOL from PCIe devices. They confirmed that X570m Pro4 does not support it, despite of the specification for the Motherboard on their website:

Here's what I received exactly:

"got final feedback from headquarter:

After checking with BIOS and HW RD, we found it is a compatibility issue between X570M Pro4 and some specific LAN card.

We also verify AMD reference board and it also has the same problem.

If User would like use the WOL function, please help to ask user using the onboard i211 LAN."

 

PS: WOL is works well on Gigabyte x570 motherboards. I checked it with the MASTER edition.