pfSense on thin client recognizes dual port NIC , but not quad port

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I’m building a pfSense router using an HP t610 Plus from eBay. I have previously been using a t5740 to host my pfSense but decided to upgrade a bit.

I took my Intel Pro/1000 quad port NIC from the old router and put it in the t610 and it isn’t recognized by pfSense. I put Ubuntu on a stick and ran lspci and it is not recognized there either. However, I borrowed a dual port NIC, which is the exact same thing, but halved (literally, the quad port board looks like two of the dual port one). The dual port card works fine. As does a GeForce 310 I tried. I put the quad port card back into the old t5740 and it works fine there still.

Any ideas why it and only it doesn’t work in the t610 Plus?

Thanks!

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If it’s not recognized by lspci, there’s something wrong at the hardware level. Is your dual port card going in the same PCI/PCI-Express slot that your quad was going in? Can you put your quad NIC back in your old router and see it?

Edit:
Duh, reading.

Okay, so new questions. Is the quad NIC a PCI-Express card? If so, is it 1x, 4x, 8x, ? And what kind of slot is it going into? I have this vague feeling of worry about putting say an 8x in a 12x physical slot that’s actually a 4x slot. There really shouldn’t be anything wrong with it.

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You could try the quad NIC again in the old router
You could try the quad NIC in a different computer
You could try booting a linux on the new router with the quad NIC

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As I mentioned above, I did put it back and it works fine. I’m using it now as my router in the meantime.

Tried this as well, like I said, I put Ubuntu on a stick and used it to run lspci to ensure that the NIC wasn’t recognized.

I will try to find another old computer I can try it in if I get the chance, I don’t really have any old machines here, but I’ll see if I can try it in one at work.

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Yeah, it’s PCI-E 4x. The thin client has a 4x slot in it, with a riser that converts it to a 16x (length) slot.

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Okay, so the base slot on the motherboard is a 4x, riser card plugs into that and suddenly you’ve got a 16x length slot. It might be a pain in the butt, as you’ll likely have to remove the bracket, but could you plug your quad port directly into the motherboard’s 4x slot instead of the riser? Maybe it’s conflicting somehow with that riser.

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I’ll try to give that a shot tonight after work!

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I should correct myself, the slot on the board is x8, and the riser makes it x16, and the card itself is x4. Sorry about that. I’ll still try to get the board out and try the card directly if I can.

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