Successful Install on Watchguard Firebox X700!

jmcentire · Nov 6, 2009, 11:07 PM

I finally got around to taking a picture(sorry just cell phone pics) of how I have my hdd mounted…it doesn't look solid but it actually is(i can't move the drive at all):

I just angled the drive and put a single screw in, give it a try it will surprise you how solid it is.

boblmartens · Nov 7, 2009, 5:41 AM

Was able to get it up and running today after scrounging an old/ancient 5GB IDE drive from one of the dead laptops in the office. After I had it working I decided to reload the 2GB CF card and then try it again … with no luck.

I am using a Kingston 2GB CF card and while I can get it to load on the machine that I originally installed it on, I cannot get it to load in the Firebox for the life of me. BSD starts up so that I can open up Hyperterminal and take a look at what is coming back to me, but when it starts to load the root partition, it doesn't seem to want to load off of the CF card even though I go ahead and choose ad0 as the mount device.

Any help or ideas would be appreciated. Could it be the Kingston card I am using? Any ideas?

boblmartens · Nov 9, 2009, 3:39 PM

I got it working, just had to read on how to install to a CF card .. I glossed over a couple of things.

Now to try and clean some stuff up and get some other things working! Really impressed so far and looking forward to seeing what can be done with it. I now need to try and find a better CF card to use in the box … probably something a little bit faster.

secure.boy · Nov 27, 2009, 1:11 PM

i have for sale Watchguard x700 (1.2GHz celeron, 256MB SDRAM, 512MB CF)
contact me at secure[dot]boy[at]hotmail[dot]com or pm

gpapaiko · Dec 1, 2009, 1:43 PM

Hi,

I have a watchguard x1000 and got pfsense 1.2.2 working on it (on hard disk).
Since this boxes have a LCD display and 4 button I was wondreing if anyone manged to ge the LCD diaply and buttons working.
If so how.

Also it has a encryption safe net card - what command can i run to see if it has been picked and reccoginsed by pfsense.

Thansk
George.

jjgoessens · Dec 1, 2009, 6:38 PM

Hi,

Here it is :
http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,7920.45.html#lastPost

i installed it on a pf 1.2.3, but it should work with 1.2.2.

ridnhard19 wrote the display driver, i just added keybord & backlight functions.

JJ

emigrating · Dec 5, 2009, 1:23 AM

Has anyone tried installing pfSense on one of the later model X550e or X750e Fireboxes?
My X700 is still going strong, but I'm really starting to feel the need for a GbE firewall.

Unubtanium · Dec 8, 2009, 8:25 AM

@emigrating:

Has anyone tried installing pfSense on one of the later model X550e or X750e Fireboxes?
My X700 is still going strong, but I'm really starting to feel the need for a GbE firewall.

Have not yet, but as soon as my hands land on one of this i WILL give it a go. ;D

whaskes · Dec 27, 2009, 11:16 AM

hi all! sorry my englisgh…. ::)

i installed the FreeBSD whaskes.homedns.org 7.2-RELEASE-p5 FreeBSD 7.2-RELEASE-p5 #0: Sun Dec 6 23:20:31 EST 2009 sullrich@FreeBSD_7.2_pfSense_1.2.3_snaps.pfsense.org:/usr/obj.pfSense/usr/pfSensesrc/src/sys/pfSense_SMP.7 i386

i have a problem. when the system is booting, this messages wrote.

Dec 27 11:11:56 whaskes kernel: ad0: TIMEOUT - READ_DMA retrying (1 retry left) LBA=38416719
Dec 27 11:12:01 whaskes kernel: ad0: TIMEOUT - READ_DMA retrying (0 retries left) LBA=38416719
Dec 27 11:12:06 whaskes kernel: ad0: FAILURE - READ_DMA timed out LBA=38416719
Dec 27 11:12:06 whaskes kernel: g_vfs_done():ad0s1a[READ(offset=19669319680, length=114688)]error = 5

the system is working. how shall I remove the messages?

intel stl-2 mainboard
2x512mb sdram ecc-reg
2x1ghz pentium cpu
maxtor 40gb winchester

wallabybob · Dec 27, 2009, 11:18 PM

It is not uncommon to see messages about disk errors during startup.

I'd be inclined to check if your hard drive has a bad spot around the block reported. If so, it might be time to replace the hard drive. Alternatively, if you are a bit more adventurous, you might be able to adjust the partitions to remove the bad block(s) out of any active partition. This would allow you to fairly safely continue using the drive until further bad blocks show up. As best I know, the startup doesn't methodically read the hard drive at startup so I suspect the reported block is in or close to some significant directory or home block.

tehtrk · Jan 4, 2010, 8:42 AM

@Dayblade:

@Sifter:

Again, has anyone upgraded the memory on these boxes and gotten it to see the additional? I placed a 512meg module in the box, and it still registers at 256meg. I tried 2 separate sticks.

Perhaps jumper settings somewhere on the board?

Upgraded it to 512 MB just this week:

Kingston KVR100x64C2/512 512MB PC100 CL2

Also changed out the heatsink and fan - that is the MAJORITY of the noise factor in the x700 - they use a fan designed by Y.S. Tech (?) that was pushing 7200+ RPM's. I switched and installed a lower/larger fan combo @ 5500 RPM's and temps dropped by 10C and the noise is SUBJECTIVELY quieter.
(Granted I did not test decibel levels prior to the fan switch out)

Hope that helps - <3 pfSense on my WatchGuard btw - still working on getting the LCD to do its thang…otherwise, it works like a champ.

Dayblade

Thanks for the detailed info man. I'm looking to upgrade both ram and heatsink. I think I'll just play it safe and go with the ram you mentioned. Do you have the model number for that YS tech HSF? Sounds like it's performing well.

Apart from low ram (when running snort lol) and that whine I'm loving this WG pfsense box!

lilrichie · Jan 7, 2010, 10:20 PM

Hey Everyone,

I am new here been looking into pfsense for some time now and getting a hombrew modification or something pre-built but then i ran accross this thread, is their a guide to installing pfsense on a firebox? if their is i am going to buy one.

Richard

hlouie · Jan 21, 2010, 6:53 AM

Now I got myself a WatchGuard x500 and would like to install m0n0 or pfsense. I see some are using CF (Compact Flash), Microdrives in the CF slot, DOM (Disk on modules), IDE Hard Drive, IDE SSD (Solid State Drive).

I want to start off with m0n0 because it a small load but I want to grow in to using pfsense and use the full complete load. I've read somewhere CF have limited writeback due to the bandwidth so it uses a ramdisk. Does this apply to the Microdrive in the CF slot? I really don't want to use a IDE Hard Drive due to noise and heat. In the IDE, I might use a DOM or SSD.

Because I'm starting fresh with this new firewall, what is the best media to use so I expand in to?

wallabybob · Jan 21, 2010, 7:08 AM

I've been running a full install (not embedded) on a 1GB Transcend DOM for nearly two years now without problems.

I believe a microdrive is a magnetic drive. A Compact Flash card uses semiconductor storage. Not all microdrives work with FreeBSD - search the forums for more information.

coldfire · Jan 25, 2010, 11:15 AM

Hi,
I sell my Firebox X700 (currently under m0n0, cause of 128MB CF) with standard components and a 512MB SDRAM (not tested).
I've only the box, screws, m0n0 CF and Watchguard CF (no CD, no license).

For more information : hotfire.fraggeur@free.fr

jonnytabpni · Jan 25, 2010, 6:20 PM

Was the watchdog timeout issue ever resolved? What about in the latest 2.0 BETA builds?

gpapaiko · Jan 29, 2010, 10:05 AM

Hi,

I have installed Pfsense 1.2.3RC on a Firebos X1000, on a 40Gb 2.5" IDE drive, got the LCD display working and now have some across a time out.
re1: watchdog timeout - this occures almost instantnousely wen I try to access the web interface. :(
Has any one sen this before and does any one have a resolution to it.
This slows all connection right down.
I putit into production and with in 2 day it shows up gain.

I have added a Broadcom BCM4318KFB9 wireless card, but it is not seen by pfsense - is ther any drivers for it?
What card is the best to user?

Does any one if the "Safenet" encrytption card is ued by pfsense - i know it is pickup on boot.

Thanks
George ;D

gpapaiko · Jan 29, 2010, 10:25 AM

Hi,

Made some changes and boot wiht "boot -v" option and now go this (more details):
re1: watchdog timeout
t_delta 16.0218ab2579e66da0 too long

Any ideas on how to resolve?

Thanks
George

iFloris · Jan 29, 2010, 10:34 AM

@gpapaiko, I think that t_delta might be connected to the harddrive rather than to the watchguard. I found this: http://old.nabble.com/Thinkpad-T23-60-second-stall-on-resuming-8.0-RELEASE-i386-td26765321.html which references the same timeout. Someone else also has the t_delta too long message on a completely different system here: http://kerneltrap.org/mailarchive/freebsd-current/2009/7/12/6182173.
Also, da0 is a bsd-reference for your harddrive.

jonnytabpni · Feb 3, 2010, 10:15 AM

So I got my x700, which looks perfect!

However, as soon as I access the web interface, watchdog timeouts are thrown all over the place :(

Anyone have a fix? Does using the embedded kernel or full kernel make a difference? I'm using BETA 2.0 on the embedded kernel