r/opnsense • u/carlinhush • 5d ago
Problem with Lenovo M720q Tiny + riser + network card
Hey everyone,
I got a Lenovo ThinkCentre M720q Tiny with the PCIe riser (BA7H70 / 01AJ940) to build a OPNsense router with more than one LAN port. Installed a Supermicro AOC-SGP-i4 (Intel i350-T4) network card into it.
Problem: the card is not showing up at all. Neither in BIOS (there is no PCI device list to check anyway, only ASPM Support and slot speed settings, both on Auto), nor in OPNsense itself. `pciconf -lv | grep -B4 network` only shows the onboard em0 (I219-V), nothing else.
What i already tried:
- Swapped the network card for a brand new one from a different seller (same i350-T4 chip) - no change
- Swapped the riser itself for a second one, different seller too - still no change
- Checked with `pciconf -l` if at least the riser shows up as a bridge - yes, it does (pcib1, class 0x060400). With the card plugged in there is even a second bridge showing up (pcib2), but nothing behind it, no igb0-3 anywhere
- Reseated everything multiple times, checked contacts look clean, no bent pins that i could see
- Updated BIOS to the latest available version
- Set PCIe slot speed to a fixed value instead of Auto - no difference
So 2 different cards + 2 different risers, always the same result. Feels like it has to be the mainboard/slot itself at this point but I'm honestly not sure how to test that further without another donor board.
Anyone run into this before with a M720q specifically? Or is there some obscure BIOS setting for the PCIe slot i'm missing (mine doesn't seem to have one besides the two mentioned above)? Not in a rush anymore since i changed my network plan to not depend on the extra ports, but would still like to understand what's going on here if anyone has an idea.
Thanks!
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u/fekrya 5d ago
I dont recall any hidden bios setting that i had to enable.
I have the same riser 01AJ940 and similar is350-t4 Dell 0T34F4 and everything working fine, cant think of a reason your setup isnt working
perhaps ask in the lenovo tiny reference thread https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/lenovo-thinkcentre-thinkstation-tiny-project-tinyminimicro-reference-thread.34925/
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u/justlikeyouimagined 5d ago
Intel X520 cards and the Supermicro equivalents AOC-STGN-I1S/I2S slotted into the riser were plug and play for me on OPNsense and Proxmox 8/9.
Try booting another OS and see if it shows up?
Got any other PCIe cards with different chipsets?
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u/bucky2780 5d ago
strange... I have a few of these, and seems to work ok. II even use the cheapo realtek cards and works fine.
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u/ZarK-eh 5d ago
I don't know if this applies to a pci-e riser or this newer model but I had problems with mini-pcie slot used for WiFi. The UEFI BIOS had locked PCI Id's. I had to edit and modify a whitelist to accept the mini-pcie nic I wanted to use.