{"slug": "aqc113-firmware-flashing-and-recovery-notes", "title": "AQC113 Firmware Flashing and Recovery Notes", "summary": "The article provides instructions for flashing firmware on Marvell/Aquantia AQC113 network controllers using the `flashUpdate2.exe` tool on Windows, including steps to disable memory protection and allow unsigned drivers. It details how to locate the correct firmware file by matching device IDs (VID, PID, SVID, SDID) in the `updatedata.xml` file, and offers both a normal update command and a forced reflash command for recovering a bricked NIC. The author warns that improper use can permanently damage the network card.", "body_md": "Just gonna leave my notes that I saved here quickly if others want to pursue this: (Warning: if someone comes across this in the future, if you don't know what you're doing you can brick your NIC, proceed at your own risk):\nFlash files can be found on station-drivers.com Marvell/Aquantia AQC & AQN Ethernet Drivers & Firmwares\nUseful thread for information Marvell AQC113C FourPartID Firmware Updater Discussion\nAQC113 Flashing\nflashUpdate2.exe is the flashing tool used on Windows, it can be extracted from the flashUpdateAppPackage.Appx archive in the zip file.\nYou will need to disable windows memory protection and allow unsigned drivers by holding shift while clicking reboot then select allow unsigned drivers in advanced startup options. Alternatively Hiren’s BootCD PE can be used.\nBefore flashing it's a good idea to check updatedata.xml for the matching image of your VID, PID, SVID, SDID which can be found with\nlspci -vnn -s 03:00.0\nwhere 03:00.0 should be replaced by your Ethernet device pci address which shows in lspci\n03:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Aquantia Corp. AQtion AQC113 NBase-T/IEEE 802.3an Ethernet Controller [Antigua 10G] [1d6a:04c0] (rev 03)\nSubsystem: Aquantia Corp. AQtion AQC113 NBase-T/IEEE 802.3an Ethernet Controller [Antigua 10G] [1d6a:0001]\nI found the matching entry corresponding to the correct firmware file in updatedata.xml which matches all the above VID, PID, SVID, SDID\n<bdp id=\"8\">\n<hwids>\n<pciid vid=\"1d6a\" did=\"04c0\" sdid=\"0001\" svid=\"1d6a\" />\n</hwids>\n<mac>01000c0040000000000000000100000002000c00000300003ddb9ca1ffffffff</mac>\n<phy>0301040200e4030003001cc482b1ffff1dc482b1ffff1ec40100ffff</phy>\n<exprom>True</exprom>\n<image>AQC113-Antigua_Bx-1.3.33_bdp_aqsign.clx</image>\n</bdp>\nNormal update procedure: Specify AGENT image + Firmware required\nD:\\flashUpdateAppPackage>flashUpdate2.exe --update ATL2-8.0.1_agent_SIGN.clx AQC113-Antigua_Bx-1.3.33_bdp_aqsign.clx\nForced Reflash: The command I used to recover the bricked AQC113 nic or can be used if the above doesn't work\nD:\\flashUpdateAppPackage>flashUpdate2.exe --reflash ATL2-8.0.1_agent_SIGN.clx AQC113-Antigua_Bx-1.3.33_bdp_aqsign.clx\nThis one resulted in functional card updated to 1.3.33\nflashUpdate2.exe flags\nUsage: flashUpdate2 [-d DEVICE] [-t TYPE] [-v] [--erase|--recover|--reflash|--update]\nAGENT.clx [IMAGE.clx]\nOptions:\n-h, --help Display help message.\n-d DEVICE Device name from listDevices tool.\nYou can use shortcuts to access the first device\nin a family: PCI, DIAG.\n-t TYPE Device type. By default program tries to detect device\ntype by analyzing DEVICE name.\nYou can specify one of the following: PCI, DIAG.\n-i Display four part ids .\n-u Ignore if the clx fw version is same as the current fw version.\n-v Verbose output.\n--erase Erase the flash.\n--recover Recover flash content. IMAGE.clx must be specified.\n--reflash Replace flash image with the new one. IMAGE.clx must be specified.\n--update Perform update. IMAGE.clx must be specified.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/aqc113-firmware-flashing-and-recovery-notes", "canonical_source": "https://gist.github.com/coronas2k/c7d3a37ca04da2f15783da3cc8cf3702", "published_at": "2025-10-17 16:27:00+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-05-22 16:08:40.587086+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["hardware", "developer-tools", "cybersecurity"], "entities": ["Marvell", "Aquantia", "AQC113", "AQN", "Hiren's BootCD PE", "Windows", "station-drivers.com"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/aqc113-firmware-flashing-and-recovery-notes", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/aqc113-firmware-flashing-and-recovery-notes.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/aqc113-firmware-flashing-and-recovery-notes.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/aqc113-firmware-flashing-and-recovery-notes.jsonld"}}