Watchguard Firebox X Peak platform

stephenw10

Unfortunately it doesn't show up in normal boot. :(
Even now that I have turned on console redirection I still have to press tab and delete wildly to get the post to show. If I press nothing I get a couple of AT commands, as if it's looking for a modem, and then it boots normally. You could try pressing tab and delete and see if anything happens. Reading back through my posts I never really tried very hard before I modified the bios, since I expected to see something without having to randomly hit keys. ::)
The only reliable method I found was to boot into Freedos and use a dos command, biosid. Of course once you have that you can also read the bios to a file and write a new one etc. I could send you an image of the CF card I used if you'e willing to try it.

Steve

mericksonj

Sure I'm willing. Thanks! I have several CF I can use if it makes any difference, 64M 128M and 4G.

stephenw10

Ok here's the file: freedosconsole1.vhd
It's a 'virtual hard disk' file I created with WinImage but I tested it with Physdiskwrite and it seemed ok. The card I used is 16MB so that's the file size, compressed image didn't work. I flashed and booted a 128MB card no problem, you just get a 16MB partition.
When you boot the CF card with the image you must have a serial terminal already open connected to com1 (the front port) on your firebox. This is because freedos will switch to a serial console at the end of the boot up and it hangs if it doesn't find one. I added in a series of three beeps just before it switches so you know it booted OK.
The program, biosid.com, is in the c:\bios folder. It simply displays the bios information, although the formatting for serial console is all wrong. Also in there is awdflash.exe and a few of the modified bioses I went through. Good Luck!

Steve

File size should be: 15,991,296 bytes, MD5 sum: 5fb23e7ef53cffed4b26f6f37b8ab33a

stephenw10

Anyone got any news on their bios version? ???

Steve

Xfinity

What kind of RAM upgrades can you do with this Firebox? (Speculate mode on ;))

stephenw10

The 875p chipset supports up to 4GB in 4 dimm slots. However the X-peak motherboard only has two slots (although it has space for 4 if you're feeling brave with a soldering iron!) so I would say 2GB.
Reference: here.
Steve

Xfinity

Thanks for the info, any good pointers in ram-modules that work as well? ;)

stephenw10

Hmm,
Well first off I've not tried any other DIMMs in my firebox. To be honest 512MB seems more than enough for my needs. You could look at Intels guide for their desktop 875p board here . It doesn't mention any specific manufacturers though. Otherwise try Googling for 875p motherboards from other manufacturers who may have lists of approved DIMMs.
Do you have a firebox then?

Steve

Xfinity

Thanks for all information regarding the memory on this thing, going to check ebay in a few and see what I can find ;)…

stephenw10

No problem! ;D
Keep us updated with what works and what doesn't.

Steve

stephenw10

The Advantech AIMB-X3 motherboard has by default only one usb connection, the front mounted usb port. It has hardware, however, to support at least 4 ports and possibly 6 or 8! The Intel FWE6300ESB chip haas a 4 port controller and the I/O chip has an additional controller. The usbdevs command shows 6 ports.

There are unpopulated headers on the motherboard for three additonal ports. They are just behind the existing USB port and labeled CN25 and CN27. In order to get these to function some soldering skills are required along with some bravery!

The 5V power for the USB ports is supplied via a fuse and the data connections are routed via a common mode filtering choke. Only the existing port has a choke and fuse in place, the others are unpopulated. Fortunately the existing fuse, Fuse 3 (FS3, 1.1A), supplies both the front port and CN27 so to get just one internal port we don't have to add any fuses. The filtering chokes are layed out in a line on the pcb labeled CK1-CK4. Only CK4 is present. I purchased the smalled choke I could easily find but it was still far too big (3x2mm!) as a test I simply used some wire instead of the choke and so far it seems to function just fine. It could be that the filtering is overkill or that I'm not really stressing it enough to show up any problems.

Warning: some very bad soldering is in this picture! :P

I don't have any surface mount reworking tools so I had to use the smallest soldering iron I could find which was still far too large. Despite that I had a huge problem getting a pin into the GND connection on the header. The ground plane on the PCB just sinks all the heat. In the end I had to drill it out with a very small drill bit! :o

The internal USB connection opens up some exiting possibilties: 3g modem, flash drive, etc.

StuartW

Hi

I ran the commands up to here:

@stephenw10:

/etc/rc.conf_mount_rw
Because I'm using an embedded image I first mount it read-write.
pkg_add -r mbmon
Add the mbmmon package.
 /etc/rc.conf_mount_ro
Remount the CF card read only.

But when I run this bit:
@stephenw10:

./mbmon -d
ioctl(smb0:open): No such file or directory
SMBus[Intel8XX(ICH/ICH2/ICH3/ICH4/ICH5/ICH6)] found, but No HWM available on it!!
Using ISA-IO access method!!
* Winbond Chip W83627HF/THF/THF-A found.

All I get is:


# ./mbmon
./mbmon: Command not found.
#

Any suggestion as to what I might be doing wrong?

Thanks

Stuart

stephenw10

You have to call it from the right directory or use the absolute path:

/usr/local/bin/mbmon -I

The -I causes mbmon to use only the ISA bus sensors, which are the only ones available on the Firebox under FreeBSD.

Steve

StuartW

@stephenw10:

/usr/local/bin/mbmon -I

That did it! Thanks…

# /usr/local/bin/mbmon

Temp.= 66.0, 127.0, 85.0; Rot.=    0, 4440,    0
Vcore = 1.46, 3.39; Volt. = 3.31, 4.87, 11.80,  -3.06, -6.14

Nice and warm ;)

stephenw10

Ooo, that is warm. :o
You only seem to have one fan?

Steve

StuartW

Yeah, this is an x700 firebox. Has one fan direct on the CPU, then three tiny fans on the back panel. Having in the loft probably doesn't help either….

stephenw10

I just got a hard drive caddy that fits the X peak perfectly.
It's nice and snug in the plastic rails and has a little handle on the back to pull it out without opening the case. ;D

It's from a laptop, an ECS-320. In the UK it was sold rebadged as an Advent 7081 and also Patriot 2005.
Possible models that used the same caddy are Advent 7086, 7094, and ECS 321. Make sure you get the adapter with it. ;)

Steve

shinyfoil

Hey!

Thanks so much for your great work on these boxes. I just got an x8000 off fleabay and tossed in your BIOS checking image. Looks like I've got the same version as you…I just put in an order for some new fans for this thing (it literally sounds like a small jet starting up) which will hopefully quiet it down.

stephenw10

While doing some throughput testing on my other Firebox I hit the limits of the my X-peak.
I'm using TTCP to measure network throughput/bandwidth. It's a useful tool since it has windows and freebsd versions and they're compatible so you can have any box at either end of your test setup.
I have used my X-Peak as the receive end connected to one of the gigabit ports. I found I was maxing out my one section of gigabit network at around 360Mbps. I had blamed that on bad network cards and a long length of cat5e carelessly routed past mains cable (who knew when I installed it 10 years ago!).
However some testing showed that the cpu was pinned at 100%. Bear in mind that this box is receiving the data only so actual throughput would be lower.

One interface 365Mbps in 19Mbps out = 100% cpu.

However! :P I am using an underclocked replacement cpu running at 1.2GHz. Scaling that may give 850Mbps with the original 2.8GHz cpu, assuming nothing else is limiting peformance. I might have to try that pin mod after all.

Steve

mmiller

Does anyone have a source for the WG FIrebox X8000 hard drive caddy in the United States?