Watchguard x1250e
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The X Core x1250e, does that use the same bios as the x750e? If not where do I get the firmware for it? The freedos bootable image only seems to have the x750e firmware on it.
Thanks,
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it is exactly the same motherboard in both. I used the latest one from Steven on my box its i believe 8.1. what size CF card do you have?
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it is exactly the same motherboard in both. I used the latest one from Steven on my box its i believe 8.1. what size CF card do you have?
4GB
Does the latest one from Steven come on the freedos image?
Thanks,
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No i dont belive it does…
I can not seem to find the link to the bios rom file from steven. Here I will just attach it here.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6eYWGFWxDP7bDNFaTRNRjJBckUok so for your 4gb cf card to work you need to do some stuff. Follow the steps below and it should work.
Step 1. Download Rufus from here: https://rufus.akeo.ie/downloads/rufus-2.11p.exe
Step 2. Download the Bios flash image from Steven here: https://sites.google.com/site/pfsensefirebox/home/FreeDOSBios2.img.gz
Step 3. Run Rufus as admin, Under DEVICE, select your drive letter, type a name in the "New Volume Label", Then select "quick format", "Create a bootable disk using > FreeDOS", then check the box for "create extended Label and Icon Files",
Step 4. Click Start and let it fully run. After it finishes you should have a drive that you can navigate with explorer.
Step 5. Open Steven's FreeDOS image with 7zip and copy all the files from it to the ROOT of the CF card overwriting everything.
Step 6. Copy the XEBIOS_81.BIN file to the BIOS folder on the CF CARD and rename it to "XEBIOS81.BIN"(Removing the Underscore, We do this because FreeDOS has an 8.3 naming convention).
Step 7. safely remove the cf card from your computer and then put it in the watchguard, Boot it and wait for the beeps. Then Connect to the box with 9600 8N1 and press enter until you are presented with the c:>.
Step 8. Type the following Commands (just turn on caps lock, DO NOT TYPE ANYTHING WRONG YOU CAN NOT BACKSPACE):
CD BIOS
AWDFLASH /PN /SY BACKUP1.BIN /E
AWDFLASH XEBIOS81.BIN /PY /SN /CC /E
After that finishes you should be presented with "C:\BIOS>" at this point you can reboot the box. You should be able to connect to the bios at this point with 115200 8N1.There are a few times that when I have done this and connected to the box it would just give me garbage in putty, if this happens just leave the box on and connected to your term, Make sure you remove the CF card. This will cause the box to reboot after it fails to boot. After about 6 or 7 times of rebooting it should let you in. Im not really sure why it does this but it has happened to me a few times. If you just leave it long enough it will fix its self.
Let me know if you have any more questions.
EDIT: I take no credit for this, Steven did all the work I just figured out how to make it work on pretty much any size CF Card.
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Sorry I meant to ask, if I want to use the 4GB card to install pfsense onto a hard drive, do I need to do anything different?
There is a video on YT that explains how to do what you just said minus the bios version change. But this unit came with the a 80GB HD and caddy which was never used apparently. I can also add an HD to the x1250e I got.
Thanks,
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If you flash the installer image onto the compact flash you should be able to boot from that and install to the HD. You might need to switch the boot order around perhaps but maybe not if there isn't anything bootable on the HD already.
Steve
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If you flash the installer image onto the compact flash you should be able to boot from that and install to the HD. You might need to switch the boot order around perhaps but maybe not if there isn't anything bootable on the HD already.
Steve
Good to know!
Thanks Stephen
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If you flash the installer image onto the compact flash you should be able to boot from that and install to the HD. You might need to switch the boot order around perhaps but maybe not if there isn't anything bootable on the HD already.
Steve
Hi Stephen,
Something did run across my mind after I replied.
With your version of the bios do I need go into the bios and change the first IDE port to support the 4GB CF card? The video I watched talks about using the firmware off the freedos image from pfsense and going into the bios, setting the pri IDE to manual and setting the heads to 2 so that the 4GB CF card works.
Thanks,
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If you are using version 8 there is no longer any need to do that. It should boot any size CF cards or most HDs with the default auto settings.
See: https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=20095.msg383842#msg383842
What? You didn't read all 119 pages in that thread? :P
(but you actually want version 8.1 as I forgot to unhide a menu)
Steve
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If you are using version 8 there is no longer any need to do that. It should boot any size CF cards or most HDs with the default auto settings.
See: https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=20095.msg383842#msg383842
What? You didn't read all 119 pages in that thread? :P
(but you actually want version 8.1 as I forgot to unhide a menu)
Steve
I have the 8.1 file from Alup who was kind enough to link (above). :)
I haven't ready all 119, maybe half. Just not he half that offered me anything. :)
Thanks,
Andrew -
Sorry I meant to ask, if I want to use the 4GB card to install pfsense onto a hard drive, do I need to do anything different?
There is a video on YT that explains how to do what you just said minus the bios version change. But this unit came with the a 80GB HD and caddy which was never used apparently. I can also add an HD to the x1250e I got.
Thanks,
What version of PFSense works on the X1250e? I get an error that the CPU doesn't support long mode.
Do I need to upgrade the CPU to something else?
Thanks,
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I figured out I need 32bit.
After installing 32bit to the 4GB card and booting it.. It seems to be getting stuck after
ada0: Previously was known as ad0
Timeoutcounter "TSC" frequency 1300073528 Hz quality 800.Any ideas?
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This is what I get…
ada0 at ata0 bus 0 scbus0 target 0 lun 0
ada0: <xmore industrial="" xm-cf-4g0-xic52s(f)="" 081107s4="">ATA-5 device
ada0: Serial Number 20110127AAAA80001666
ada0: 33.300MB/s transfers (UDMA2, PIO 512bytes)
ada0: 4009MB (8211168 512 byte sectors)
ada0: Previously was known as ad0
Timecounter "TSC" frequency 1300075101 Hz quality 800
(ada0:ata0:0:0:0): READ_DMA. ACB: c8 00 df 4a 7d 40 00 00 00 00 01 00
(ada0:ata0:0:0:0): CAM status: Command timeout
(ada0:ata0:0:0:0): Retrying command
ada0 at ata0 bus 0 scbus0 target 0 lun 0
ada0: <xmore industrial="" xm-cf-4g0-xic52s(f)="" 081107s4="">s/n 20110127AAAA80001666 detached
(ada0:ata0:0:0:0): Periph destroyed
Trying to mount root from ufs:/dev/ufs/pfSense [ro]…
mountroot: waiting for device /dev/ufs/pfSense ...
Mounting from ufs:/dev/ufs/pfSense failed with error 19.Loader variables:
vfs.root.mountfrom=ufs:/dev/ufs/pfSense
vfs.root.mountfrom.options=roManual root filesystem specification:
<fstype>: <device>[options]
Mount <device>using filesystem <fstype>and with the specified (optional) option list.eg. ufs:/dev/da0s1a
zfs:tank
cd9660:/dev/acd0 ro
(which is equivalent to: mount -t cd9660 -o ro /dev/acd0 /)? List valid disk boot devices
. Yield 1 second (for background tasks)
<empty line=""> Abort manual inputmountroot> Timecounter "TSC" frequency 1300075101 Hz quality 800
Invalid file system specification.mountroot></empty></fstype></device></device></fstype></xmore></xmore>
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What file systems does it list if you type ? there?
Steve
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What file systems does it list if you type ? there?
Steve
Hey Steve,
When I type ? it just says List of GEOM managed disk devices: and nothing appears under them.
Thanks
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Ah, sorry missed that error. You probably need to disable DMA for that card:
https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Boot_Troubleshooting#pfSense_2.2_and_later
The CF card slot does not have the pins required for DMA but the card reports it's DMA capable and so tries to use it.
Steve
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Ah, sorry missed that error. You probably need to disable DMA for that card:
https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Boot_Troubleshooting#pfSense_2.2_and_later
The CF card slot does not have the pins required for DMA but the card reports it's DMA capable and so tries to use it.
Steve
Hi Steve,
OK so that's interesting because I have Block Mode enabled, DMA disabled, PIO mode Auto, and UDMA modes disabled in the bios.
Since the CF card doesn't have the pins. If I was to go out and buy a non-generic card (this one is from China…it worked fine in my XTM 510 oddly), and buy something like a Kingston 16GB CF card would that resolve this problem and would the 8.1 bois support the 16GB CF card?
Thanks,
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There is a second problem, but it might also be related the CF.
When I had the 80GB IDE HD plugged the system would hang at the timecounter message. Again I am not sure if it related to the CF card or not or if the HD is possibly has something on. The previous ower told me the drive was never used but who knows really, it a FOR 320 caddy and the drive could have come out of some old laptop with Windows XP on it for all I know.
I can say the HD doesn't show up in the bios when I have it plugged in with the CF card, so its possible that its NFG.
Thanks,
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I think the FreeBSD driver ignores the BIOS reports. You can see from the error it's trying to use use DMA.
It's the card slot that doesn't have the pins, the CF card itself probably is UDMA capable and reports it correctly. The slot in the XTM is newer and may well support UDMA I don't recall off hand.
I would expect the BIOS to support a 16GB card though I've never tried anything larger than 4GB myself. The CF card just appears as another IDE drive.
It's possible both are set as master. You may need to set the HD as slave or cable select to boot with both in place.
Steve
P.S. You should try to avoid quoting an entire previous post in your reply it makes the thread far larger than it needs to be. In fact you can just reply without quoting when you are just referring to the post above.
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What do you suggest I do with respect to getting pfsense installed on this x1250e?
Use another CF card not? Not sure what you are suggesting in your response.
Thanks,
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Interrupt the the boot at the loader and enter:
set hint.ata.0.mode=PIO4
boot
Then edit the loader file once it's booted successfully like it shows here:
https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Boot_Troubleshooting#pfSense_2.2_and_laterThat should allow that card to boot.
Steve
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Thanks Steve