Successful Install on Watchguard Firebox X700!

Quasar7

Finally managed it. My serial cable was "broken".

I am using a Transcend IDE Flash Module: http://www.transcendusa.com/Products/ModDetail.asp?ModNo=27&LangNo=0

Hi!

Could someone send me a working hdd image for my Firebox X700?

Thanks in advance.
Quasar7

ciscoinside

Here is a quick question while it is not really on pfsense it goes on this topic. I want to run pfsense on my x700 and run a UTM on my x1000, has anyone tried this with something like untangle? Is the hardware of these guys not that powerful? Not planning on using virus protection which I assume uses resources. I would ask on their forums but I really find no reference to the fireboxes there, but here the knowledge is known a lot more.

Quasar7

I tried Endian on my X700 without any problems.

netritious

I recently acquired a Firebox X1250e and (currently) cannot get pfSense to boot. Has anyone else here tried hacking the X1250e for use with pfSense?

On another note, in troubleshooting the issue I discovered the actual pin out for the PS/2 header on the (Foxconn?) motherboard and thought I would share.

NC KBC
7 1
. .

. . . .

8 6 4 2
VCC NC KBD GND

Legend:
KBC = Keyboard Clock
GND = Ground
KBD = Keyboard Data
VCC = Vcc (5V DC)
NC = Not connected

There is a Wikipedia page describing different wire colors and their designation here. I used this information to wire up an old 10-pin motherboard header (RS232) to a PS/2 keyboard. Could of just used a 40 pin IDE cable instead, but saw the old connector in the junk pile first.

Using the modified keyboard and a 1x PCI-e card I'm able view the boot process and reach the BIOS, but still no pfSense. (Or Ubuntu server for that matter…tried just to see.)

TIA! pfSense Rocks!

CaseyBlackburn

What do you see on the screen when it doesn't boot? What are you using for storage? How much storage space on it?

I've got a x750e so I can help you out.

netritious

What do you see on the screen when it doesn't boot?

DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER

What are you using for storage? How much storage space on it?

Using a SanDisk Extreme III (30MB/s) 4GB CF, but willing to use a 2.5" drive if necessary. I've tried embedded and non-SMP installs from LiveCD using a laptop with nothing else connected. I did initially try a 2.5" and 3.5" IDE at first but was before I had vid and keyboard connected. (Those drives wouldn't boot either.)

I've got a x750e so I can help you out.

That would be awesome! I have been hacking away at this thing for a week now and so far not so good.

What's even stranger is if I put the original WG CF back in, the x1250e boots fine.

CaseyBlackburn

You'll need to go into the BIOS and for the drive you are using, you'll want to switch it to Manual and CHS mode. You'll then want to set heads to 2. That's just from memory, but that should get you are set. The BIOS has a weird time with bigger drives(>~2GB) and it'll work if the heads are set to 2.

netritious

@CaseyBlackburn:

You'll need to go into the BIOS and for the drive you are using, you'll want to switch it to Manual and CHS mode. You'll then want to set heads to 2. That's just from memory, but that should get you are set. The BIOS has a weird time with bigger drives(>~2GB) and it'll work if the heads are set to 2.

Thanks! I now see 'GRUB loading, please wait…Error 18' but that is a good thing! Now to put pfSense back on the CF and give that whirl.

I would never have thought to change the cylinders for CF! :)

CaseyBlackburn

@ciscoinside:

Here is a quick question while it is not really on pfsense it goes on this topic. I want to run pfsense on my x700 and run a UTM on my x1000, has anyone tried this with something like untangle? Is the hardware of these guys not that powerful? Not planning on using virus protection which I assume uses resources. I would ask on their forums but I really find no reference to the fireboxes there, but here the knowledge is known a lot more.

Kind of late, but I just saw this.
I doubt Untangle can run smoothly on these machines at all. I believe I have read that someone got Endian installed on one of these and it worked just fine. I plan on installing Endian on a spare x700 of mine when I have some free time. I suggest adding more memory to the box no matter what UTM you are going to use. 256MB just isn't enough. Oh, and you'll want to use a hard drive rather than a CF (Unless it's a microdrive) because I don't know of a UTM that is made to limit writes to the CF to extend flash memory lifetime.

netritious

Stopped by to report a different issue but wanted to thank you again Casey for the help. I am now up and running with an X1250e with pfSense on a 4GB CF card. Video on my web site for anyone that wants a look at it spread eagle and working.

nry

Really considering setting up one of these if I can get one cheap.
Has anyone tested to see how much power these things actually consume?

Thanks

C7J0yC3

According to watchguard's site it uses 50W. My Kill-A-Watt shows 53W of useage, but I am also using a HDD instead of a CF card.

nry

Thanks, think this is a litte too high, may have to look into the alix boards now.

stephenw10

My X-peak uses about 37W (idle) with an underclocked processor.

Steve

subfire91

i found a driver in realteks website regarding the RTL8139+ found on x700s

im posting a RS link to driver. Can anyone test and see if watchdog errors are resolved??

http://rapidshare.com/files/423085904/uw-8139_220_.zip

stephenw10

That isn't a BSD driver and it's actually dated 2005!
I don't think it's going to help. :(

Steve

sevilla

I recently put pfsense 1.2.3 on x1250e and all works very well. I want use this system as a bridge filter. Im using the devices msk0 and msk1 (port 4 and 5) as bridge and let the port 1 and 2 as WAN/LAN. I enable a firewall rule to permit all, but isnt not forwarding nothing from one port to another.

Anyone are using bridge mode on pfsense 1.2.3?

wallabybob

@sevilla:

Anyone are using bridge mode on pfsense 1.2.3?

I have a wireless NIC bridged to LAN and it works very well.

I don't understand your configuration. You have msk0 bridged to msk1?, msk0 bridged to LAN?
What is connected externally to msk0 and msk1?

Firewall rules apply on the input side of an interface so saying you have a firewall rule to permit all doesn't really provide enough information to be useful.

It would probably help if you explained what you want to do. A configuration diagram would help that explanation.

This discussion probably belongs in a new topic.

3molo

Hi,

Just bought an x700 off ebay. I booted the pfsense live cd on a vmware fusion guest, with a 2GB CF card in a usb reader. Installation was successful, tried first without boot loader and second time with boot loader.

Trying to boot the CF card on a laptop, but after mountroot> prompt I get uptime - then automatic reboot.
Here's the terminal:

panic: Root mount failed, startup aborted.
cpuid = 0
uptime: 11s
Cannot dump. Device not defined or unavailable.
Automatic reboot in 15 seconds - press a key on the console to abort
–> Press a key on the console to reboot,
--> or switch off the system now

What might be the problem here? Someone suggested editing /etc/fstab, wouldnt I need to edit the equivalence of Linux/GRUB menu.lst?

Looking at the data, /etc/fstabs root filesystem was ad1s01, on the firebox it's likely to be ad0s1a? And this is probably why the laptop won't boot it, cause it has a hdd and cd so the CF is more likely ad2 there?

stephenw10

Why not just download the embedded image and write it to the compact flash card?

http://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/HOWTO_Install_pfSense#Embedded_.28Compact_Flash.29_Installation

Steve

Edit: I may have misunderstood your problem here. ;)