cmp170hx_check

Single-card checker for NVIDIA CMP 170HX cards (PCI IDs 10de:20c2 / 10de:2082) — run it one card at a time: it waits for the card, verifies the PCIe capacitor mod, records PCIe bus health, backs up VBIOS, runs the cmpunlocker verification, and optionally stresses VRAM. Each card gets its own folder + JSON report named by serial, so the folders accumulate as you go through your batch (e.g. 23 cards).

Reference harness (auto-cloned into harness/ by preflight):

• 170th-Street — community docs, incl. modifications/pcie-capacitor-mod.md (the pass criteria: LnkSta Width x16 after the mod, x4 when missing)
• cmpunlocker — verify.sh is executed read-only per card (nothing is installed or patched by this tool)

Requirements

• Linux x86-64 (tested target: Ubuntu 26.04), Python 3.8+
• sudo privileges — precondition for --preflight package installation and for privileged checks (PCI rescan, link retrain, sysfs ROM, dmesg, verify.sh)
• pciutils (lspci, setpci), git — installed automatically by preflight
• NVIDIA driver with nvidia-smi (nvidia-open 610.xx+, see cmpunlocker) for unlock verification — preflight can install it for you (asks first)
• nvflash — bundled in this repo (nvflash_5.867_linux/x64/nvflash), used directly by the script; no system install needed (see nvflash)
• Optional: vkmark or vulkan-tools for the 5-minute VRAM stress test

Preflight (setup step)

python3 check_cards.py --preflight

On Ubuntu 26.04 this:

1. Checks the sudo precondition — runs sudo -v if needed so credentials are cached; if sudo is unavailable it prints the fix and does not install anything (exit code 3 if blocking tools are still missing)
2. Installs required packages via apt-get update && apt-get install: git, pciutils, vulkan-tools, vkmark
3. Offers to install the NVIDIA driver (ubuntu-drivers install, falling back to the nvidia-driver metapackage) when nvidia-smi is missing — reboot afterwards
4. Clones the two harness repos into harness/
5. Prints a tool status table — the bundled nvflash is detected automatically and its path is shown

Skip installation with --no-install (no sudo needed at all).

nvflash (bundled in this repo)

The Linux build of NVIDIA's nvflash 5.867 is committed to this repo at nvflash_5.867_linux/x64/nvflash (plus aarch64/ppc64/x86 variants) — the script uses it directly, no system-wide installation required.

Binary resolution order:

1. --nvflash /path/to/nvflash (explicit override)
2. repo copy: nvflash_*_linux/<arch>/nvflash, then ./nvflash
3. nvflash on PATH (optional system install)

Preflight reports nvflash OK and prints the resolved path.

python3 check_cards.py --preflight   # shows: nvflash OK / nvflash: <repo>/nvflash_5.867_linux/x64/nvflash

Notes:

• nvflash requires root: the script invokes it via sudo — cache credentials with sudo -v first, or run the script as root.
• Only --save (read-only backup) is used; if it fails while the NVIDIA driver is bound, the script automatically falls back to the sysfs ROM method.
• Do not use the AUR nvflash package (known broken), and ignore Windows .exe builds.

Optional — install it system-wide anyway:

sudo install -m 755 nvflash_5.867_linux/x64/nvflash /usr/local/bin/nvflash
nvflash --version
sudo nvflash --list        # must show the 170HX

Refreshing the bundled copy: download nvflash_5.867_linux.zip from https://www.techpowerup.com/download/nvidia-nvflash/ , verify SHA256 73ab51e121129059f1377b3bf21a8001f6649d64af2471455499c803a9c80301, extract and replace the files (keep the executable bit: chmod +x).

Usage (one card per run)

python3 check_cards.py               # check the connected card
python3 check_cards.py --preflight   # setup: tools, packages, harness clone
python3 check_cards.py --demo        # self-test with fake hardware (no GPU needed)
python3 check_cards.py --help        # all flags

Flow of a normal run:

1. Waits for a CMP 170HX on the bus — prompts you to insert/reseat the card, Enter triggers a PCI rescan (q quits)
2. Serial auto-read from nvflash UUID; falls back to a manual label prompt
3. VBIOS backup → cards/<serial>/bios.rom (nvflash, sysfs ROM fallback)
4. PCIe checks: link speed/width, AER counters, full config-space dump
5. Link retrain test + full bus rescan test (device must survive both)
6. Kernel log scrape (dmesg/journalctl) for this BDF: Xid / AER / NVRM lines
7. nvidia-smi snapshot + harness/cmpunlocker/verify.sh (read-only)
8. Last step, optional: Run 5-min Vulkan VRAM stress test now? (y/N) — refused by default, --vulkan always|never to override
9. Result printed + report.json written into the card's folder

Remove the card, plug the next one, repeat — no queue, no indices, folders just pile up in cards/.

Checks & scoring (lenient)

Result	Criteria
FAIL	no device detected, link down/untrained, device lost after rescan, link failed retrain, active uncorrectable AER errors
WARN	link width ≠ x16 (capacitor mod missing/incomplete), Gen1 only (Gen2 unlock patch not active), correctable AER errors, kernel errors / Xid, VBIOS backup failed, cmpunlocker verify not unlocked-ok, errors during VRAM stress
PASS	everything clean

Exit codes: 0 PASS/WARN · 1 FAIL · 2 no card found · 3 preflight blocking failure.

Output

cards/
└── <serial>/
    ├── bios.rom              # VBIOS backup (+ sha256 in report)
    ├── report.json           # full result: link, AER before/after, retrain,
    │                          #   rescan, dmesg, verify, vulkan, PASS/WARN/FAIL
    ├── lspci.txt             # lspci -vvv (before)
    ├── lspci_after.txt       # lspci -vvv (after retrain/rescan)
    ├── config_space.hex      # lspci -nnvvxxxx full hex dump
    ├── dmesg.log             # kernel lines related to this card
    └── verify_unlocker.log   # cmpunlocker verify.sh output

Flags

Flag	Meaning
--preflight	setup only: sudo precondition + package install + harness clone, then exit
--demo	run the whole pipeline against fake hardware (self-test)
--nvflash PATH	explicit nvflash binary
--serial XYZ	override serial (skips nvflash auto-read)
--vulkan ask|always|never	VRAM test policy (default: ask, last step)
--skip-bios	skip VBIOS backup
--no-install	never install packages (skips the sudo precondition)
--no-clone	don't clone the harness repos

Safety

This tool only reads card state: verify.sh is run without installing anything, no modules are patched, no firmware is flashed. The only writes are local files, PCI link retrain/rescan sysfs triggers, package installation during --preflight (explicitly gated behind the sudo precondition), and your own reports.