Ethernet Compatibility List for macOS [1GbE, 5GbE, 10GbE, 25GbE, 40GbE, 50GbE, 100GbE]

[EliteMacx86]

Hi guys, I have purchased a CX4121A-ACAT ConnectX-4 card after reading this post but I can't make it working in Sonoma. The card is in a PCIe slot, and it is seen by the system, recognized as Ethernet card, but no driver is loaded. (The card works fine in Windows 11.) The AppleEthernetMLX5 can't load, it crashes EXC_BAD_ACCESS exception. Its parent class is IOSkywalkFamily, for which I am trying to load the original Apple version from System/Library/Extensions, but it is not loading, I can see this in sysinfo: "Kext has a CFBundleExecutable property but the executable can't be found: IOSkywalkFamily". So this is where I am stuck now.
I am not sure I understand the exact reason why IOSkywalkFamily had to be replaced by an external kext, I thought it was because of missing Broadcom support - but does this also mean that I need to use the OpenCore version of IOSkywalkFamily, with the same extra steps as if I was using it for a Broadcom wifi driver? I have tried loading the OC version but that did not work either.
Has anyone made this card - or any other Mellanox card that uses the AppleEthernetMLX5 driver - working under Sonoma?

That works pretty fine. Not tested under Sonoma though. Are you using DAC or LC?

Attach your EFI and a copy of IOReg.

 

[PeterMack]

I have two identical cards, one is in my Windows machine working fine, the other in my mack, and a DAC cable to connect them. Attached EFI and ioreg. (Had to leave out some kexts from the zip as it was too large to upload.)
You may see an AppleEthernetMLX5.kext there, that was just me trying to load it but that failed too. As far as I understand this driver should load automatically on a Mac, but it is possible that my settings that allow my wifi and BT to work are preventing the official driver from loading.
I have VT-d enabled, and SIP is enabled too because of my Wifi.
There is nothing relevant in my IOReg, the driver is not loaded at all so a search for MLX5 has 0 results. The PC03/BR3A node is empty - this is where the card is at the moment.

 

[EliteMacx86]

I have two identical cards, one is in my Windows machine working fine, the other in my mack, and a DAC cable to connect them. Attached EFI and ioreg. (Had to leave out some kexts from the zip as it was too large to upload.)
You may see an AppleEthernetMLX5.kext there, that was just me trying to load it but that failed too. As far as I understand this driver should load automatically on a Mac, but it is possible that my settings that allow my wifi and BT to work are preventing the official driver from loading.
I have VT-d enabled, and SIP is enabled too because of my Wifi.
There is nothing relevant in my IOReg, the driver is not loaded at all so a search for MLX5 has 0 results. The PC03/BR3A node is empty - this is where the card is at the moment.

IOReg is missing

 

[lopess]

I also have the same Mellanox card and I also can't make it working in Sonoma. The card is in a PCIe slot, and it is seen by the system, recognized as Ethernet card, but no driver is loaded. I also tried the Intel card mentioned here XXV710. In this case, the drivers are loaded by the system, but the card cannot connect to the network.

 

[EliteMacx86]

I also have the same Mellanox card and I also can't make it working in Sonoma. The card is in a PCIe slot, and it is seen by the system, recognized as Ethernet card, but no driver is loaded. I also tried the Intel card mentioned here XXV710. In this case, the drivers are loaded by the system, but the card cannot connect to the network.

Need IOReg to diagnose the issue.

 

[lopess]

 

[PeterMack]

IOReg is missing

IOReg does not contain any relevant info besides what I have already mentioned - the PC03/BR3A node is empty, the driver is not loaded. On the other hand it does contain certain bits of private information that should not be shared publicly.

 

[EliteMacx86]

IOReg does not contain any relevant info besides what I have already mentioned - the PC03/BR3A node is empty, the driver is not loaded. On the other hand it does contain certain bits of private information that should not be shared publicly.

Why it is so hard for you to attach a copy of IOReg? Send it over email or Discord.

You can even serialize the info. xD

 

[PeterMack]

Why it is so hard for you to attach a copy of IOReg? Send it over email or Discord.

You can even serialize the info. xD

It is a binary file describing someone's whole system, at the least it contains the serial number of the machine, and I am not sure what else it contains, so in my opinion you should not ask for it in the first place.

On the other hand, I did find relevant information in my IOReg - I have an m.2 wifi module on my motherboard, a BCM94360, which is disabled in the bios, but the first ethernet port is recognized as this BCM module, only the second port is named as "Mellanox". I am attaching two screenshots.

The weird thing is that this module is now disabled in the bios, I even disabled the kexts that made this working, and it is still showing up among my PCIe devices.

 

[EliteMacx86]

It is a binary file describing someone's whole system, at the least it contains the serial number of the machine, and I am not sure what else it contains, so in my opinion you should not ask for it in the first place.

Honestly, people are not going to hack down into your system using the IOReg. Every Mac forum has the IOReg including the Apple forum. It's good to take precautions but not too much that the issue cannot be diagnosed.

As you're still not interested in attaching the IOReg over email/Discord, open IOReg and send a picture to verify a couple of things.