AQC113 Firmware Flashing and Recovery Notes

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.

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 : Flash files can be found on station-drivers.com Marvell/Aquantia AQC & AQN Ethernet Drivers & Firmwares Useful thread for information Marvell AQC113C FourPartID Firmware Updater Discussion AQC113 Flashing flashUpdate2.exe is the flashing tool used on Windows, it can be extracted from the flashUpdateAppPackage.Appx archive in the zip file. You 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. Before 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 lspci -vnn -s 03:00.0 where 03:00.0 should be replaced by your Ethernet device pci address which shows in lspci 03:00.0 Ethernet controller 0200 : Aquantia Corp. AQtion AQC113 NBase-T/IEEE 802.3an Ethernet Controller Antigua 10G 1d6a:04c0 rev 03 Subsystem: Aquantia Corp. AQtion AQC113 NBase-T/IEEE 802.3an Ethernet Controller Antigua 10G 1d6a:0001 I found the matching entry corresponding to the correct firmware file in updatedata.xml which matches all the above VID, PID, SVID, SDID <bdp id="8" <hwids <pciid vid="1d6a" did="04c0" sdid="0001" svid="1d6a" / </hwids <mac 01000c0040000000000000000100000002000c00000300003ddb9ca1ffffffff</mac <phy 0301040200e4030003001cc482b1ffff1dc482b1ffff1ec40100ffff</phy <exprom True</exprom <image AQC113-Antigua Bx-1.3.33 bdp aqsign.clx</image </bdp Normal update procedure: Specify AGENT image + Firmware required D:\flashUpdateAppPackage flashUpdate2.exe --update ATL2-8.0.1 agent SIGN.clx AQC113-Antigua Bx-1.3.33 bdp aqsign.clx Forced Reflash: The command I used to recover the bricked AQC113 nic or can be used if the above doesn't work D:\flashUpdateAppPackage flashUpdate2.exe --reflash ATL2-8.0.1 agent SIGN.clx AQC113-Antigua Bx-1.3.33 bdp aqsign.clx This one resulted in functional card updated to 1.3.33 flashUpdate2.exe flags Usage: flashUpdate2 -d DEVICE -t TYPE -v --erase|--recover|--reflash|--update AGENT.clx IMAGE.clx Options: -h, --help Display help message. -d DEVICE Device name from listDevices tool. You can use shortcuts to access the first device in a family: PCI, DIAG. -t TYPE Device type. By default program tries to detect device type by analyzing DEVICE name. You can specify one of the following: PCI, DIAG. -i Display four part ids . -u Ignore if the clx fw version is same as the current fw version. -v Verbose output. --erase Erase the flash. --recover Recover flash content. IMAGE.clx must be specified. --reflash Replace flash image with the new one. IMAGE.clx must be specified. --update Perform update. IMAGE.clx must be specified.