Recently I purchased a HP 6600ml-24XG switch in my bid to get 10 gig networking going in my home. I had been looking for one and found one from a semi-local recycler for a great price. From the beginning I was aware this type of switch was temperamental. A quick search showed people on HP’s forums trying to figure out what transceivers will work on it as its a limited set and the original HP documentation was lacking clarity. The seller also was having trouble hence why I was able to acquire it for a steal.
Once I got the switch I tried a 1 gig transceiver I already had on hand and was greeted with a red warning light and an unsupported transceiver alert on the switch. Some posting on the Airhead forums (all HP networking has been moved over to Aruba) and I had a much more readable support doc showing compatible transceivers.
Great! off to eBay with the part number to buy an official transceiver to test with. I wanted an original one, since I thought they would be the most likely to work, before I started messing around with 3ed party ones. I found a seller out of china selling a used one and ordered it. I have never had any issues buying stuff like this from china before. After all a fair amount of E-waste gets sent there, sorted, and resold. I figured it was probably from something like that. So I placed my order. 2 weeks later (remember this) it showed up and I plug it into my switch… unsupported…. “ok that’s weird”. Some more posting later and its suggested the firmware on the switch might be too new and to try a different module. OK back to ebay lets buy from a US seller this time! I found a seller with a brand new transceiver. Pictures look legit. Even has the holograms on the packaging. Great! time to place an order. Got a tracking number the next day… weird its taking a while to ship… 2 weeks (are you remembering) later package has been given to USPS and is on its way. Since I am in Canada and the seller would only ship to a US address I had it shipped to my mailbox in Point Roberts. So it took me a while to actually get it. One visit across the border later I have my Transceiver and go to plug it into my switch…. unsupported… “GAAAAA!”
It’s at this point that I am starting to question if the switch might be broken. So I bug the head of the network deployment team at work to see if I can borrow a few Transceivers to test. I don’t usually like to bug people at work about my homelab stuff but I wanted to be absolutely sure before I started a warranty call with HP (their switches have a transferable 99 year warranty) or spend more money on the switch. I get them home and Unsupported… Unsupported… Supported. *cheering* I finally have something that works. So this at least proves the switch isn’t at fault. As a bonus this transceiver is actually an SFP+ to 10Gig Ethernet module something HP didn’t even list as an option. Turns out it emulates a DAC cable.
Since I had to return these modules I ordered my own from the same place work got them. FS.com After contacting their support and chatting with a nice sales engineer I order the module. It arrives and I plug it in and it works. Progress! Now I’m convinced I likely was scammed by the above ebay sellers. I re-order the same parts that failed from FS and low and behold they both worked.
After a few quick searches I find out HP actually has a process for reporting counterfeit hardware. They had me take pictures and send them off for validation. Below are the pictures I sent them.
After a little back and forth and some more detailed photos I get the following partially redacted response from HP confirming my suspicions.
Notice the legal threat If I chose to sell them to someone else. At least I have proof the products are counterfeit now and ebay I’m sure would love to see that information right? *sarcasm* Oh they don’t have a direct way to report counterfeit products. After a support chat with one of their reps I am told to use the request a refund option and select not as described as a reason. So I do this for both of my purchases. I also reported the usernames for violating ebay’s Policy’s. I don’t expect anything to come of that. Especially since there was no option to provide evidence. I did however receive an interesting auto-response when I reported the US seller.
It turns out they were also a Chinese seller. Remember it took 2 weeks for my shipment from china to reach me in Canada. Well it also took 2 Weeks for my shipment in the US to actually get mailed. It appears they have a fulfillment center (that’s what the shipping label said) in the US remailing the Transceivers to make them appear to be shipping from the US instead of China.
This particular ebay seller has already refunded me (gee I wonder why). I waited about 3 days for the second seller to give me my refund and was being ignored. So I decided to leave negative feedback informing their customers they sell counterfeit products. less then 24 hours later they refunded me and are asking me to withdraw my feedback. I have no plans to do such.
HP seems to be anxious to get the counterfeit transceivers from me and has already emailed me requesting I send them. So far I have emailed them back saying I will be holding on to them until ebay finishes their investigation and to please send me a pre-paid label or I can send them to recycling. I have not received a response yet. I will update if I do.
