Watchguard Firebox M400/M500

[stephenw10]

The Lanner FW-7585 manual is the closest you're likely to find. It's not exactly the same but close enough.

[mtnhansen]

@stephenw10 Thank you very much! Will have to see if I can get the M400 to stay on.

[mrpixel21]

@stephenw10 Hello. I tried the link you shared for the fan control software, but it's doesn't work anymore.
I went to git and downloaded the .c code, but it won't run. I assume I need to compile it which I'm unfamiliar with how to do.
When I do try to run it even as root, I get permission denied.
This is on an M400 with Stock bios.
Thanks

[stephenw10]

Which link? I put a compiled binary up on github that should work, here.

Otherwise, yes, you'd have to compile it in FreeBSD and copy it to pfSense.

Steve

[mrpixel21]

@stephenw10 said in Watchguard Firebox M400/M500:

Turns out it was relatively easy to add the fan control to WGXepc as it's pretty much identical to the Mx70 boxes. Though I managed to break it several times by not setting enough things and ending up with a negative temperature/speed ramp.

So find the updated code: https://github.com/stephenw10/WGXepc/blob/master/WGXepc.c
And a compiled binary here for those willing to trust it.

This is the file I'm referring to.

[stephenw10]

So fetch it onto your firewall, change the permissions so it's executable, run it:

[2.7.0-DEVELOPMENT][admin@m400-2.stevew.lan]/root: fetch https://github.com/stephenw10/WGXepc/raw/master/WGXepc64
WGXepc64                                                26 kB 3625 kBps    00s
[2.7.0-DEVELOPMENT][admin@m400-2.stevew.lan]/root: chmod +x WGXepc64
[2.7.0-DEVELOPMENT][admin@m400-2.stevew.lan]/root: ./WGXepc64
Found Firebox M400/500
WGXepc Version 1.6_1 22/11/2020 stephenw10
WGXepc can accept two arguments:
 -f (CPU fan) will return the current and minimum fan speed or if followed
    by a number in hex, 00-FF, will set it.
 -f2 (System fan) will return the current and minimum fan speed or if followed
    by a number in hex, 00-FF, will set it.
 -l (led) will set the arm/disarm led state to the second argument:
    red, green, red_flash, green_flash, red_flash_fast, green_flash_fast, off
 -b (backlight) will set the lcd backlight to the second argument:
    on or off. Do not use with LCD driver.
 -t (temperature) shows the current CPU temperature reported by the
    SuperIO chip. X-e box only.
Not all functions are supported by all models

[mrpixel21]

@stephenw10 Just changing the permissions of the file resolved the issue. I set the CPU fan to 5 instead of 14 as you had done, and it initially lowered the fan speed, but it's been ramping up and down even though the interface temp values are reporting that it's only getting to 35C. Is this normal?

[stephenw10]

Yes the actual fan speed should vary with temperature. The value you set there is the minimum fan speed, the actual speed is determined by the minimum plus a value proportional to the CPU temp above a minimum temp value.

[eisenb11]

I'm running into the weirdest issue. I've been super happy with the M400 that I upgraded the BIOS and installed 2.6 on so I decided to do the same for my backup M400. Both M400s have i3-4130T CPUs.

Updated the BIOS, used Rufus to install the 2.6 image to CF... but I'm stuck in the installer where it partitions the CF.

I selected EUFI, then GPT... but I keep getting an error. "File exists. geom 'ada0'". I can't get past this to do the install.

Would you happen to have any pointers on how to get past this?

[stephenw10]

You can't install to the CF card if you wrote the installer image to the CF card and booted that.

You need to boot from USB and install to CF. Or boot from CF and install to SSD etc.

[eisenb11]

@stephenw10 That makes total sense, I’ll try that later… but somehow it worked when I did it on the first machine! Twilight Zone! Ha ha

[eisenb11]

@stephenw10 Wow, I'm just having terrible luck this go-around.

I used Rufus to put the 2.6 image on a thumb drive. Booted off the thumb drive. Had it to install to ad0. When it was ready to reboot, I shut down and removed the thumb drive. Power back up and then get an error message that it can't find a proper boot device. It appears that it didn't format the CF to be bootable. Did I miss a step in the install somewhere?

[eisenb11]

@eisenb11 I figured it out. I went back into the bios and looked under boot and it had a weird selection for the boot order. I changed it and it can now boot correctly.

[stephenw10]

Mmm, been a a while but IIRC the defaults will only boot legacy from the CF and if the USB drive boots EFI it will also install as that unless you specifically set it not to. So probably a legacy/EFI issues.
But with access to the BIOS you can just change that to boot however you want.

[Swaglisher]

hello i have recently purchessed a m400 of off ebay, would anyone be able to help me update the bios, ive not really done anything like this before

[stephenw10]

First consider that flashing the BIOS is potentially risky. Do you actually need to flash it?

[Swaglisher]

@stephenw10 it still has the bios that came with it and i want to be able to stop it from useing 40w constanly

[stephenw10]

This is what I did: https://forum.netgate.com/post/836153

Others have done it using an external SPI programmer.

[MathewPope]

So ive managed to get pfsense up, ive replaced the ram with 2 sticks of Kingston PC3-12800E, and changed the fans, Im looking to change the proc, could someone confirm working procs

[DirkS]

@MathewPope
i3-4130T + 8GB Ram without any problems. Has enough power for 1Gbit fiber in combination with pfblockerng, two subnets, tailscale, ntopng.
CPU load is 11% average.