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    Watchguard Firebox M400/M500

    Hardware
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    • stephenw10S
      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
      last edited by

      That with the default fan speed? Those temps are pretty good (low), what sort of i3 is that?

      I probably need to go and blow the dust out of mine!

      Oh wait you need to enable the coretemp module in Sys > Adv > Misc then check:

      sysctl dev.cpu.0.temperature dev.cpu.1.temperature
dev.cpu.0.temperature: 46.0C
dev.cpu.1.temperature: 44.0C

      That's with the default G1820, without speedstep enabled and the fans set to 0x20.

      [24.03-RC][root@m500.stevew.lan]/root: sysctl dev.cpu.0.temperature dev.cpu.1.temperature
dev.cpu.0.temperature: 34.0C
dev.cpu.1.temperature: 30.0C

      The G3420 with speedstep enabled and fans at 0x1b

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      • G
        gilphilbert @stephenw10
        last edited by

        @stephenw10 Ah, that did it (coretemp module):

        # sysctl -a | grep "dev.cpu.*.temperature"
dev.cpu.3.temperature: 51.0C
dev.cpu.1.temperature: 49.0C
dev.cpu.2.temperature: 52.0C
dev.cpu.0.temperature: 50.0C

        It's a Core i3 4130 with SpeedStep enabled.

        I replaced the fans with Noctua ones (including the power supply) so I'm expecting the temps to be higher even with SpeedStep enabled.

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        • stephenw10S
          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
          last edited by

          Did you try just running the fans at a slower speed before replacing them?

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            gilphilbert @stephenw10
            last edited by

            @stephenw10 No, because my plan was to put this in my office... but that plan has now changed and it's going in a different room. Chances are I'll actually re-install the original fans for better cooling. When I do, I'll let you know what temps I get

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            • A
              acsaba @gilphilbert
              last edited by

              @gilphilbert I appreciate your effort.
              I have an M500 and I have tried to boot Firebox with the provided image and I do not have serial console access. The cable is good ( I have connection with the original firmware), so the question is if the image should work with M500. As I have seen in the specs, the motherboard is the same. In addition it is not clear for me if I need to reset the BIOS before to use the image or after.
              I appreciate any feedback in this matter.

              Many thanks.

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              • stephenw10S
                stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                last edited by

                I used it on an M500. It's identical to the M400 other than the CPU and RAM which shouldn't make any difference for this.

                Did you use the original CF card?

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                  acsaba @stephenw10
                  last edited by

                  @stephenw10
                  No, I have another CF and I have tried with USB stick as well. I have successfully boot Arc loader and ubuntu core.
                  Many thanks for your feedback. I will keep working on it.

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                  • stephenw10S
                    stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                    last edited by

                    It won't boot USB with the original BIOS but if you've got a CF that will boot at all that should work.

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                    • A
                      acsaba @stephenw10
                      last edited by

                      @stephenw10 said in Watchguard Firebox M400/M500:

                      iI won't boot USB with the original BIOS but if you've got a CF that will boot at all that should work.

                      I can boot with the original bios using USB stick As I have mentioned, I did this couple of times.
                      The condition is to remove the CF.

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                      • stephenw10S
                        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                        last edited by

                        Hmm, curious. I never managed to make that work before flashing the BIOS.

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                          acsaba @stephenw10
                          last edited by acsaba

                          @stephenw10

                          b9c86442-dc9d-4e1f-a556-29afb951c3b4-image.png

                          I manage to install Synology DMS 7.2 using an arc-24.6.2.img, then installed an SSD.
                          The boot is still on the USB stick.

                          I just ordered i5-4590T CPU as replacement for the original one and 8 GB CF to not brake the original CF.
                          I will keep you posted.

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                          • I
                            iJay-XTM5
                            last edited by

                            This M500 may have an unlocked bios, otherwise, it would not boot from USB IIRC. I had to unlock the bios through the serial console using the password others have posted in this forum. I was able to enable USB booting after unlocking the bios and successfully booted from a USB flash drive that had the USB memstick installer (Serial Console). I chose to install pfsense on the internal CF card as I did not want to open the box. The box boots off the CF now without a fuss.
                            I upgraded the CPU to an i5-4590T and installed low noise fans on my M400 previously, but it hangs on reboot every single time, so I left the M500 's original configuration as is.

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                              acsaba @iJay-XTM5
                              last edited by

                              @iJay-XTM5
                              Appreciate your feedback. I have a second M500 (I used both in datacenter in HA mode), so I can test on this as well. Yesterday did the CPU update and I'm looking forward to replace the fans as well. Unfortunately a low noise fan is expansive, so in case you have any hint please share with me.

                              Regarding CPU temperature, it is ~60-62C in full load with the original fans.

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                              • stephenw10S
                                stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                last edited by

                                You can lower the fan speed existing fans to reduce the noise using WGXepc

                                That seems quite hot though. I assume you replaced the heatsink compound when you fitted that?

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                                  acsaba @stephenw10
                                  last edited by

                                  @stephenw10 said in Watchguard Firebox M400/M500:

                                  That seems quite hot though. I assume you replaced the heatsink compound when you fitted that?

                                  Yes. I did.

                                  What is a normal temperature on your end ?
                                  Many thanks.

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                                  • stephenw10S
                                    stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                    last edited by stephenw10

                                    Depends on the ambient temp I guess but for a 'T' rated CPU I expect lower. My M500 with a 4670S runs slightly cooler than that at max:

                                    last pid: 57560;  load averages:  4.20,  3.66,  2.22                                                                     up 0+00:13:56  19:53:36
187 threads:   9 running, 157 sleeping, 21 waiting
CPU 0: 29.1% user,  0.0% nice, 70.9% system,  0.0% interrupt,  0.0% idle
CPU 1: 29.9% user,  0.0% nice, 70.1% system,  0.0% interrupt,  0.0% idle
CPU 2: 30.7% user,  0.0% nice, 69.3% system,  0.0% interrupt,  0.0% idle
CPU 3: 32.7% user,  0.0% nice, 67.3% system,  0.0% interrupt,  0.0% idle
Mem: 106M Active, 9212K Inact, 339M Wired, 118M Buf, 7411M Free
Swap: 192M Total, 192M Free

  PID USERNAME    PRI NICE   SIZE    RES STATE    C   TIME    WCPU COMMAND
44930 root        135    0    12M  2076K RUN      2  10:53  99.97% yes
44987 root        135    0    12M  2072K CPU1     1  10:52  99.88% yes
44788 root        135    0    12M  2072K CPU0     0  10:54  99.87% yes
45189 root        135    0    12M  2068K CPU3     3  10:52  99.86% yes
    0 root        -60    -     0B   672K -        3   0:00   0.05% [kernel{if_config_tqg_0}]
57560 root         20    0    14M  3992K CPU2     2   0:00   0.03% top -HaSP
    6 root        -16    -     0B    16K pftm     0   0:00   0.02% [pf purge]

                                    [24.03-RELEASE][root@m500.stevew.lan]/root: sysctl dev.cpu.0.temperature dev.cpu.1.temperature dev.cpu.2.temperature dev.cpu.3.temperature
dev.cpu.0.temperature: 58.0C
dev.cpu.1.temperature: 54.0C
dev.cpu.2.temperature: 57.0C
dev.cpu.3.temperature: 55.0C

                                    The fans are pretty loud at that point!

                                    [24.03-RELEASE][root@m500.stevew.lan]/root: ./WGXepc64 -f
Found Firebox M400/500
Current fanspeed is 78, minimum fanspeed is 1b

                                    Also it's the hotest day of the year today in the UK so the ambient is ~30C in my 'office'.

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                                      acsaba @stephenw10
                                      last edited by

                                      @stephenw10
                                      Many thanks for the info. I will replace the heatsink compound again. Currently I'm using a Ceramic polysynthetic thermal compound which should not be bad :)

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                                      • stephenw10S
                                        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                        last edited by

                                        I wouldn't expect to need anything too special there. Just not trying to reuse the crusty stuff Lanner put on it 10 years ago!

                                        For reference at mostly idle I see:

                                        [24.03-RELEASE][root@m500.stevew.lan]/root: sysctl dev.cpu.0.temperature dev.cpu.1.temperature dev.cpu.2.temperature dev.cpu.3.temperature
dev.cpu.0.temperature: 40.0C
dev.cpu.1.temperature: 38.0C
dev.cpu.2.temperature: 40.0C
dev.cpu.3.temperature: 42.0C
[24.03-RELEASE][root@m500.stevew.lan]/root: ./WGXepc64 -f
Found Firebox M400/500
Current fanspeed is 2e, minimum fanspeed is 1b
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                                        • chpalmerC
                                          chpalmer
                                          last edited by

                                          Don't know if anyone else has tried yet (and I have no reason to think it wouldn't work but..) I successfully upgraded to Pfsense+ on my M400 today running an i5 processor..

                                          More to support Netgate and Pfsense than anything.. but in case anyone else is holding back.. ;)

                                          Triggering snowflakes one by one..
                                          Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4590T CPU @ 2.00GHz on an M400 WG box.

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